KVR Audio

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun May 13, 2012 11:33 pm

Peevy2000 wrote:Well lets say I'm 99% sure this is the Amp I'm going for. It ticks most of the boxes for me, pretty compact, 3 channels, decent Fenderish clean (well it is made by Fender), crunch & right up to Metal Mayhem. Preamp Lineout, headphones out that mutes the speaker out (I've heard some recordings of the headphones out that sound very good)

Woah! Cool! I didn't see that one coming and, if it does retain a great Fender clean, I can see it being one of the world's great amps. Seriously, even those little Hot Rod amps have excellent clean tones yet the Tone Master is the only Fender I've ever played with a great overdrive.

Peevy2000 · Post by **Peevy2000** » Mon May 14, 2012 9:12 am

Uncle E wrote:
Peevy2000 wrote:Well lets say I'm 99% sure this is the Amp I'm going for. It ticks most of the boxes for me, pretty compact, 3 channels, decent Fenderish clean (well it is made by Fender), crunch & right up to Metal Mayhem. Preamp Lineout, headphones out that mutes the speaker out (I've heard some recordings of the headphones out that sound very good)
Woah! Cool! I didn't see that one coming and, if it does retain a great Fender clean, I can see it being one of the world's great amps. Seriously, even those little Hot Rod amps have excellent clean tones yet the Tone Master is the only Fender I've ever played with a great overdrive.

Going by some of the better quality videos, the clean channel does seem very decent (especially compared to the original Peavey 5150 II/6505+) A couple more negatives concerning this amp, its supposed to be hard to dial in a decent clean to crunch tone but I think rolling back the volume on the guitar would sort that out. And there's supposed to be a big jump in volume going from clean to crunch but apparently only at low volumes. I'd probably be mostly jumping from channel 1 to 3 anyway

Peevy2000 · Post by **Peevy2000** » Tue May 15, 2012 7:05 pm

Peevy2000 wrote:
I've finally made my mind up what Amp to go for...DRUM ROLL PLEASE ......

Well lets say I'm 99% sure this is the Amp I'm going for. It ticks most of the boxes for me, pretty compact, 3 channels, decent Fenderish clean (well it is made by Fender), crunch & right up to Metal Mayhem. Preamp Lineout, headphones out that mutes the speaker out (I've heard some recordings of the headphones out that sound very good)

The only main negative is that the clean & crunch channels share the same EQ pots. I really want the matching 212 cab too, you can attach the head to it & tilt the whole thing back. But I'm really pushing the budget as it is, so I'm gonna go for a cheapo 112 cab for now.

Its looking like I won't be able to get my hands on an EVH until AUGUST!!

I really don't think I can wait that long to get a new amp. There's one place in the UK that might have one that someone was supposed to collect, I'll know for sure tomorrow. But in the meantime I'm wondering does anyone have any experience with one of these:

LANEY IRONHEART 60

Even though it looks like a pure Metal amp its supposed to be pretty versatile.

3 Channels: Clean, rhythm, Lead (Clean & rhythm share EQ but have independent level controls)

Pre boost

Watt Control (can take the output section down to less than 1 watt)

Self Biasing: (It comes with 6L6 tubes but you can swap them for EL34's & rebias with the flick of a switch)

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Tue May 15, 2012 7:48 pm

I like being able to swap out tubes at will, it's terrific freedom. (but then biasing is not all that hard and the tool for it is pretty cheap, if you can use a multi-meter you're all set)

About the wait, I hate this about the music industry...why they have to tease people is beyond me. I waited almost an entire year for the Jet City iso cab, every month they updated the date they would be in stock and every month it didn't come out. I did buy the iso cab but in the past there have been things I have not purchased for this very reason. This may sound cold hearted but I hope this practice hurts the big companies enough to stop doing this.

I cant give you any direct input on the IronHeart, it looks great and Laney has a very good reputation. Multi-channel is never really a factor in what I choose because I'm not gigging. I bet Eric can give more input

Peevy2000 · Post by **Peevy2000** » Tue May 15, 2012 8:34 pm

Hink wrote: About the wait, I hate this about the music industry...why they have to tease people is beyond me. I waited almost an entire year for the Jet City iso cab, every month they updated the date they would be in stock and every month it didn't come out. I did buy the iso cab but in the past there have been things I have not purchased for this very reason. This may sound cold hearted but I hope this practice hurts the big companies enough to stop doing this.

I'd probably be happy enough with the IronHeart but I just know I'll have that wee voice in my head saying "you shoulda been patient & waited for the EVH". As I said before, there's nowhere remotely near me I can just go to & demo any of these amps myself. Sometimes I consider opening such a store myself but that'd be a massive undertaking & I probably wouldn't have time to make music anymore

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Fri May 18, 2012 10:59 pm

You know, I'd just LOVE to take a guitar of mine into this place and just hear what these sound like. They are all WAY WAY out of any price I'd pay in this lifetime for an amp, but I'd just like to spend the day trying these.

http://theamphouse.com/AWSCategories/c/36/Amps

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sat May 19, 2012 8:38 am

hehe, sweet. I've played plenty of Carr, Divided by 13, Victoria, and Top Hat amps that completely let me down, as well as plenty of 65 Amps and Matchless that have floored me every time. You and Dean ought to be checking out Framus, I personally think they're the ultimate metal amps. A Framus Cobra stack is so damn mean looking, too.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Sat May 19, 2012 7:36 pm

Uncle E wrote:hehe, sweet. I've played plenty of Carr, Divided by 13, Victoria, and Top Hat amps that completely let me down, as well as plenty of 65 Amps and Matchless that have floored me every time. You and Dean ought to be checking out Framus, I personally think they're the ultimate metal amps. A Framus Cobra stack is so damn mean looking, too.

I like a wide variety personally, can't speak for dean. but I I'd probably rather a crunch amp with a killer high gain pedal more than anything else. Just because ibanez is my weapon of choice, doesn't mean I'm stuck to one style.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat May 19, 2012 10:58 pm

hibidy wrote:
Uncle E wrote:hehe, sweet. I've played plenty of Carr, Divided by 13, Victoria, and Top Hat amps that completely let me down, as well as plenty of 65 Amps and Matchless that have floored me every time. You and Dean ought to be checking out Framus, I personally think they're the ultimate metal amps. A Framus Cobra stack is so damn mean looking, too.
I like a wide variety personally, can't speak for dean. but I I'd probably rather a crunch amp with a killer high gain pedal more than anything else. Just because ibanez is my weapon of choice, doesn't mean I'm stuck to one style.

I agree, any decent tube amp should respond nicely for hi-gain with a good pedal. Too often forgotten the pre-amp tubes are part of the magic as well and they love electro-stimulation (that's putting the 'x' in 12ax7), imo that's their contribution to magic of a tube amp. Does it sound too simple? I hope so, because that is what tube amps are all about imo, there is no toanalistic aswomillater in there. Myself, I like more boost than distortion before the amp, for me if I keep it simple hi-gain is at it's best because that's what tube amps do

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun May 20, 2012 10:23 am

hibidy wrote:I like a wide variety personally, can't speak for dean. but I I'd probably rather a crunch amp with a killer high gain pedal more than anything else. Just because ibanez is my weapon of choice, doesn't mean I'm stuck to one style.

I think the Framus is a 4-channel amp. How much more variety do you want?

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun May 20, 2012 10:42 am

Hink wrote:I agree, any decent tube amp should respond nicely for hi-gain with a good pedal.

Personally, my two favorite high gain pedals are the Suhr Riot and the Mad Professor Mighty Red Distortion. Here are a few tones I'm looking for, do you have any suggestions for getting them with pedals?

1. The "clean sustain" tone (where the tone sounds clean yet plays fluidly like a dimed Dual Rectifier) of a Bad Cat Hot Cat R.

2. The aggressive yet smooth lead tone of a Framus Cobra

3. The Slash tone of a Marshall Vintage Modern

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sun May 20, 2012 6:23 pm

Uncle E wrote:
Hink wrote:I agree, any decent tube amp should respond nicely for hi-gain with a good pedal.
Personally, my two favorite high gain pedals are the Suhr Riot and the Mad Professor Mighty Red Distortion. Here are a few tones I'm looking for, do you have any suggestions for getting them with pedals?

1. The "clean sustain" tone (where the tone sounds clean yet plays fluidly like a dimed Dual Rectifier) of a Bad Cat Hot Cat R.

2. The aggressive yet smooth lead tone of a Framus Cobra

3. The Slash tone of a Marshall Vintage Modern

I have no idea what you expect me to say, I'm not some guru of all things guitar tone. The first two are moot because I have never tried either a Badcat or a Framus and as far as the dimed DR my idea of that might not be the same as yours. The last one is not something I would ever concern myself with, sounding like someone else...I might make basic attempts but get distracted by something else along the way but I have never set my sights on a sound or a players sound and sounded just like them. I dont have "Total Tonal Recall", if you do that's amazing and probably quite useful.

Keep in mind my way is only that and probably much different than others but that really makes no difference. My view is basically three "stages" of amplification for guitars (with lots of sub-stages), clean, crunch, and hi-gain. Clean fades into crunch but imo hi-gain has a threshold with a sharp attack, when you're there you're there but there is a wide spectrum and lots to explore within the hi-gain stage (as there is with all three).

I dont actively say "I want that tone" and the go after it (again I might try but never make it), I explore tones and find where tones lead me. I add things that I hope will inspire differences albeit often subtle and tbh I must always keep in mind the "contrast" effect, "does it really sound better or is it's just because it's different". Of course there are elements I look for that trip my trigger and basic formulas in how I go about locating those elements, but I could never define to myself what those elements are let alone explain it to thers...either they're there or they're not.

My random

beliefs

Tube amps easily jump into my definition of hi-gain and exceeding that threshold with a little encouragement from added gain in the amp or before the amp (I prefer before).

More gain makes the sound much more forgiving

More gain means more noise

Depending on the amp more gain often means less definition (more so with push/pull than single ended class A)

I'm really not a fan of fuzz at all

The more I grow by my standards when it comes to hi-gain tones growth is often reflected in the amount of gain needed to obtain what I want. The more I grow the lower the gain seems to go (but still within the hi-gain stage).

So I dont know how to answer you my friend, I cannot put myself in your head. Whether it be with my YJs or single ended it's quite apparent to me (again, by my definition) that Class A would be where I would start with the first two questions. I think when it comes to hi-gain often it's an illusion once it's in a mix, Class A is a cleaner high gain and imo doesn't take up or dominate more than it's fair section of the spectrum. With less unnecessary mud and noise it leaves room for other instruments in the mix to work with and affect the guitar tone, but that is under the right circumstances defined by the piece itself. If I want some really heavy power chords or a fatter lead tone Class AB is going to really take control and command the "heaviness" of the song.

I told you I am in my own world

BTW the noise in the clips that insonicbloom posted of the Frenzel would literally cause me to come completely unglued to the point of being this close to throwing all my gear out the window..and that is no joke

i

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun May 20, 2012 6:40 pm

Hink wrote:I dont have "Total Tonal Recall", if you do that's amazing and probably quite useful.

See, that's why I'm just going to get a Kemper and profile all those amps.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sun May 20, 2012 8:07 pm

Uncle E wrote:
Hink wrote:I dont have "Total Tonal Recall", if you do that's amazing and probably quite useful.
See, that's why I'm just going to get a Kemper and profile all those amps.

and if the Kemper suddenly bites the dust? We live in a disposable world of planned obsolescence, like a wheel a tube will never become obsolete, it may be disposable but it will never be obsolete.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Sun May 20, 2012 10:02 pm

I kemper is in my future! I'll have swimming pool (

) and omni paid off in about 2 months. Then I'm going to look seriously at it. I don't care about recording with it, I've given up on the recording industry.....I just like to play.

One thing I never thought of is how it does with bass

Your next amp