Mmm... Amps.

Voodu Child

Hungus's amp thread seems to have vanished with the server/database re-conflibutation, so, as if by magic:

KARL HUNGUS wrote:

So, lets see if we can't get some discussion going, some gas, chat and what not too.

I've not had any gas for a new guitar whatsoever since I got my Petrucci, as one would imagine, but I do get the odd bit of amp lust, and something I've drooled over quite a bit is this baby here:


Basically, everything I've heard about this amp is fantastic. Better than any other Rectifier that Mesa has made, and the first 2 channels are basically the Lonestar. 4 channels of supreme tonal awesomeness that cover just about every style you could want.

Of course, probably number 1 amp in the world for me would be this monster:



It's just about the perfect amp. Every single aspect of it is midi switchable, from vintage/modern sounds to low/high gain, reverb, noise gate, all kinds of different boosts, like mid boost, 2 switchable prescences, volume, even wattage, and other options, it's all switchable and can be stored into 128 presets. The sheer wealth of tones possible with that baby, in all it's 5 channel glory, is just way beyond what other tube amps can do.

Plus it's got so many cool lights!


Lights, switches and knobs = tone. More knobs = more tone!

Some day, I want to upgrade from my Fireball, and get one of those babies.

LET THE GAS BEGIN!

I've always had GAS for a nice Diezel Herbert, stonking amps:

Or a VH4....mmm

I've been gassing for a VHT for a long while also, they're not something you see every day, or even hear much in these parts, but they are brilliant amps..

VHT amps were originally built in a kind of super-hot-rodded Marshall way, but by now they're got their own signature sound. Dave Weiner was playing a Pitbull at the last Vai gig, and by jeebus he slayed Vai's nasty, nasally tone...The amp in the pic is the new Sig X, creating a bit of a stir in the US high-gain amp scene.

sei046

hungus your petrucci a musicman ye? fair play! few pound out of the wallet there! its my ideal guitar

deaddonkey

hughes and kettner statesman, dual el84

2 channels each with 2 voicings, spring reverb (YES!), effects loop (classy), reverb balance knob (essential)

do want, and badly

pity about the hideous logo, it'd have to come off and be replaced with one that says 'donkey style'

also, i'm looking at upgrading to a better double bucker guitar

the agiles get great reviews, and the specs are spot on for me, and it's kinda cute



good thing my tax return and holiday pay have just come through. i need to get me one of those credit card thingies

-=al=-

Mmmmmm

or...



gime gime gime

Yakult

this thread depresses me

Sweet amps tho!!:D








Someday!

-=al=-

i wish somewhere in fricken ireland stocked some of those amps

Jack Vegas

Currently gassing away over ESP LTD F-400FM




:eek:

Finish is just gorgeous...it's just an orgasm in guitar form

bombidol

The daddy of them all I reckon

punchdrunk

i've just got this...


which should make a nice match to this...



and this...



i'm happier than a pig in the sticky brown stuff!

highlydebased

OMG i would love that. So nice..............

Voodu Child

bombidol wrote: »

The daddy of them all I reckon

If anything is the daddy of modern amps, it's a Soldano SLO. Much more GAS worthy than a 6505 also

Interesting/boring fact: The 5150 was an almost exact rip-off of the SLO (close enough for a court case at the time). Soldano had been working with EVH on a prototype that Eddie would endorse; as soon as it was perfected, Eddie just brought the head to Peavey and told them to copy it.

The Dual Rectifier also has a preamp circuit that is strikingly close to a SLO, and pretty much every modern high-gain amp (Diezel, ENGL, VHT, Bogner etc) include the cathode-follower circuit that was such a part of Mikey Soldano's designs.

So....the REAL daddy of them all :

-=al=-

ooh i forgot the soldano, good catch, i love the sound of those tihngs they're amazing

bombidol

agreed but the peavey is much more accessible

Voodu Child

bombidol wrote: »

agreed but the peavey is much more accessible

Yep, and I quite like them lately actually, great amps for the money. But still not the daddy

-=al=-

is that soldano still in music maker?

Karl Hungus

voodoo_child wrote: »

Hungus's amp thread seems to have vanished with the server/database re-conflibutation, so, as if by magic:

Thanks for the epic save man! Fair play.

sei046 wrote: »

hungus your petrucci a musicman ye? fair play! few pound out of the wallet there! its my ideal guitar

It is indeed:



Bestest guitar evar.

Definetly a chunk of cash, but nowhere near as much as you'd think, I actually scored it second hand. So, definetly keep an eye out if you want one, it's well worth it. Most of my main guitars now have been used, UV, K7, so you can really get some good scores for a lot less, and often times they can be absolutely mint condition. My UV for example is 10 years old, but to look at it, you'd swear it's a brand new guitar.

Anywho, back to amps!

A VHT is something I'd really love to try at some stage. I know a fellow who uses a Pitbull Ultra Lead, and absolutely swears by it, but it's a pity they're so expensive.

I'd also like to have a go of the Soldano SLO. I've tried the Avenger, and was quite dissapointed in it, but the big daddy is definetly something I'd like to experience once in my life.

Diezel too would be something I'd love to give a go of.

red_ice

--> DROOL <--

with



for both guitar and bass... you filthy whore!

Karl Hungus

red_ice wrote: »

--> DROOL <--

There's a distinct lack of knobs on that thing. And where are all the cool lights? That thing can't possibly sound good!

Infact, a lot of the amps being posted here are seriously lacking in the knob department. More knobs = more tone.

As so:

Voodu Child

Heres another brand you don't hear much about on these shores: Splawn



Scott Splawn is a Marshall hot-rodder in the best tradition, he's been making sexy, hand-wired, custom amps, that hark back to the good old days. Anybody who plays a vintage Marshall or one of the hand-wired re-issues knows what im talking about a world apart in terms of tone from the stuff they're churning out these days. Definitely check them out.

red_ice

Karl Hungus wrote: »

There's a distinct lack of knobs on that thing. And where are all the cool lights? That thing can't possibly sound good!

haha, Need more knobs to compensate for something karl? Check the reviews my son, that amp is the fking daddy!

I cant however argue the point about there being no lights.. it does reak havkoc on the tone and sound of the amp due to its terrible ambient lighting

Karl Hungus

red_ice wrote: »

haha, Need more knobs to compensate for something karl?

Pfft, does a painter compensate for something by using a full pallate instead of just 2 colours? I think not!

Check the reviews my son, that amp is the fking daddy!

I checked the reviews, and they had this to say:

Features - 1
It's only got 7 knobs. You can't get diddley squat from it!

Sound Quality - 1
Totally lacks tone, as is evident by the lack of knobs.

Overall - 1
Wouldn't recommend it, unless you're looking for a knobless amp of lameness.

I cant however argue the point about there being no lights.. it does reak havkoc on the tone and sound of the amp due to its terrible ambient lighting

Honestly, I don't know where amp manufacturers get off with this kind of scam. Why even bother making an amp if it doesn't glow like a christmas tree with all it's little leds? You're just asking to be ripped off if you buy something like that!

Karl Hungus

Also:

Keyzer

One of these.... Fender 65 Twin Reverb


And, eventually, one of these...

Karl Hungus

Keyzer wrote: »

One of these.... Fender 65 Twin Reverb

Well, I suppose it's got more knobs than some of the other things that were posted. Still not very impressive in the knob department though.

Eoin Madsen

Too many knobs actually cause the tone to leak out, making your amp thin sounding. The less holes in the amp, the higher the density of the tone it can hold.

Voodu Child

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

Too many knobs actually cause the tone to leak out, making your amp thin sounding. The less holes in the amp, the higher the density of the tone it can hold.

Karl Hungus

Getting back to the absolutely godly Engl Special Edition for a minute, there's something I'd like to show you guys. Every channel on the amp has both vintage and modern voicing, and the best thing about that little fact is, that unlike some amps where channel voicing is a physical switch you have to flick up and down, it's a midi switchable function, so you can change your channel voicing from your foot controller.

Anyway, I want to give you an idea of what kind of vastly different sounds you can get from this amp.

Here's the clean channel on Vintage mode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hps2x5xchY0

Now here's the clean channel on Modern mode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK2L1nNAF0Y

Functionally, you can get such a vast array of sounds, it's quite easily the most versatile tube amp there is.

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

Too many knobs actually cause the tone to leak out, making your amp thin sounding. The less holes in the amp, the higher the density of the tone it can hold.

So, you're saying this holds the most tone:

Voodu Child

Karl Hungus wrote: »

So, you're saying this holds the most tone:

All these stupid shiny amps are a waste of money tbh...everybody knows tone is 'in the fingers'.

After much practice, im now able to tighten up a loose amp, increase gain, and scoop out the mids, just by the way my fingers press the frets. It's actually quite amazing.

Karl Hungus

voodoo_child wrote: »

All these stupid shiny amps are a waste of money tbh...everybody knows tone is 'in the fingers'.

After much practice, im now able to tighten up a loose amp, increase gain, and scoop out the mids, just by the way my fingers press the frets. It's actually quite amazing.

That's very true, but I find my fingers are very trebley, how can I best work on getting more mids in my fingers?

Voodu Child

Karl Hungus wrote: »

That's very true, but I find my fingers are very trebley, how can I best work on getting more mids in my fingers?

What's happening is that your fingers are too fat; so they're absorbing all the deeper frequencies. So your tone is very harsh and trebbly. Just like Yngwie.

Maybe lay off the doughnuts?

Karl Hungus

voodoo_child wrote: »

What's happening is that your fingers are too fat; so they're absorbing all the deeper frequencies. So your tone is very harsh and trebbly. Just like Yngwie.

Maybe lay off the doughnuts?

Hey, I've lost a lot of weight lately, and it's not affected my tone at all.

What do you think about those SE videos by the way?

Duff_Man

i got this bad boy there last week! its got like 6 knobs on it but you now what they say less is more and so on!



and im playin these bad boys through it! couldnt be happier now!:cool:





the pics of the les paul dont really do it justice! its possibly the nicest looking cherry burst iv ever seen!

Karl Hungus

Duff_Man wrote: »

i got this bad boy there last week! its got like 6 knobs on it but you now what they say less is more and so on!

Who says that?

Eoin Madsen

Karl Hungus wrote: »

So, you're saying this holds the most tone:

No. I mean, I'd say it's good at holding the tone it has, but it's too small to hold all that much tone. You need a big amp. And a big closed cab. Open backed cabs don't focus the tone enough, it all gets out the back.

Voodu Child

Here's another one: Fenders new EVH 5150 III


This is a strange one: it's made in Mexico so you'd imagine it would be fairly affordable, but i think they're knocking on the door of 2 grand in Europe...so i'd love to know how much Eddie gets for each one...

In any case, they've gotten decent reviews, and i'd imagine a few Fender dealers will be getting them in stock here. Definitely one to check, out of curiousity if nothing else.

Yakult

I dont know!

Personally, it would be only outta curiosity like! I will stick with the trusty 5150/6505 thank you very much!

Keyzer

Duff_Man wrote: »

Tasty, is that a blues breaker re-issue?

Karl Hungus

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

No. I mean, I'd say it's good at holding the tone it has, but it's too small to hold all that much tone. You need a big amp. And a big closed cab. Open backed cabs don't focus the tone enough, it all gets out the back.

Ok, I think I get it now.

So, if you got that big Mesa Boogie amp with lots of cabinets in an isolation tank, it would be best? All the tone would stay in the tank, right?

Ger the man

I'd settle for these two If I had a spare 12-15k hanging around!

Duff_Man

Keyzer wrote: »

Tasty, is that a blues breaker re-issue?

aye thats the one alright! some poke outa her!

Yakult

br00t4lzzzz!!

Karl Hungus

BLEH!!!

I threw up a little in my mouth.

Yakult

yeah i sorta died a little myself posting it! but it was coming haha!

deaddonkey

those amps are giving kids the world over that marshall only make complete crap

they're the most awful amps i've ever played through

i played the new marshall jvm something or other, the head and cab setup
loadsa channels, loadsa knobs, the gainier channels are quite nice

pity about the digital reverb, it's too clean sounding

Karl Hungus

Hmm, I have heard good things about the JVM, and I think one fellow on these boards owns one.

It does have a lot of knobs.

deaddonkey

loadsa knobs

i was actually terrified by all the knobs (ha!)
but it's simple enough when you get used to it
it's the first amp i've spent any time with that has separate eqs for each channel, which is nice
but all those knobs are overkill for me, when all i really want is an amp that can do good smokey cleans

and i'm not paying those prices for an amp with digital reverb. i play way too much surf to get away with that.

Karl Hungus

deaddonkey wrote: »

but all those knobs are overkill for me, when all i really want is an amp that can do good smokey cleans

I could do with a good clean, crunch, rythm and lead myself, so the more knobs the better.

Of course, the amp has to sound good too!

Karl Hungus

Mmmm... Knobs...



Can't say I like the EQ settings though.

Voodu Child

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Mmmm... Knobs...

Can't say I like the EQ settings though.

They've got the styling down to a T on that amp..would love to try one out some day.

I've never played a MK50 or MK50II, so im not sure if they'd be to my tastes, maybe a little vintage/low-gain, but while were going through the rounds of sexy amps, got to give them a shout-out...fantastically well made amps.

Ive heard some great tones out of Cornford amps from the likes of Rob Balducci, Ritchie Kotzen...even Yngwie (:eek:)

-=al=-

I ehh... concur


another amp id like to try ^^^

Karl Hungus

voodoo_child wrote: »

They've got the styling down to a T on that amp..would love to try one out some day.

I've never played a MK50 or MK50II, so im not sure if they'd be to my tastes, maybe a little vintage/low-gain, but while were going through the rounds of sexy amps, got to give them a shout-out...fantastically well made amps.

Ive heard some great tones out of Cornford amps from the likes of Rob Balducci, Ritchie Kotzen...even Yngwie (:eek:)

Yeah, wouldn't mind giving one of those a go either.

There's not many places in the country that stock high end amps though, and even then you've got rude staff who mightn't even let you near it, never mind crank it to optimal volume. Pity there isn't somewhere here that has a soundproof room for amps, like some places I've been in abroad.