Omega Obsidian: Am I missing something?

[psychodave]

Whatever you decide, trust your ears and feelings. Don’t force yourself to like something.

I’m inclined to think you won’t like this amp even if it is currently broken.

I had an amp made in early 2020 and got it a few months later. Amp sounded like shit. I tried to sell it. The amp builder contacted me after seeing my sale post and asked me what was wrong. He had me open it up… there were parts not soldered, not soldered properly, etc. I sent it back and wanted a refund. He sent me the money, I sent back the amp. He contacted me when he got it and confirmed there was something wrong with it and that he fixed it. At that point I asked for a refund of my shipping costs since it came from him broken. I got my money back and never bothered with that amp company again.

 

[RedB4Black]

Whatever you decide, trust your ears and feelings. Don’t force yourself to like something.

I’m inclined to think you won’t like this amp even if it is currently broken.

I had an amp made in early 2020 and got it a few months later. Amp sounded like shit. I tried to sell it. The amp builder contacted me after seeing my sale post and asked me what was wrong. He had me open it up… there were parts not soldered, not soldered properly, etc. I sent it back and wanted a refund. He sent me the money, I sent back the amp. He contacted me when he got it and confirmed there was something wrong with it and that he fixed it. At that point I asked for a refund of my shipping costs since it came from him broken. I got my money back and never bothered with that amp company again.

What was it. Armored?

 

[itsgoodnow]

This is NOT a dig at Dan (I love him and his amps, and am happy to keep waiting); but, this is my timeline.

I messaged Dan on Jan 9, 2022. He got back to me on Jan 11, 2022. In that message, he said his wait time was "approximately 7 months, due to high demand recently." I replied on Jan 13, 2022 and told him I wanted to be added to the list and we went back and forth a few times about the exact specs for my build. He added me to the list on Jan 14, 2022. He said that the 7 month wait would give him a ton of time to find an awesome donor amp in the UK, which I said was super cool.

I emailed Dan again on July 6, 2022 telling him there was no rush or pressure, I was just checking in, but asking if he had any update. He responded on July 11, 2022 and said he was taking some time off over the summer in Europe. He said, "Once I return, I still have a bunch of amps to get through, so I'm thinking it will be some time during the Autumn/Winter when I can mod an amp for you." He also explained he's been working at a slower pace due to Covid. He apologized for the delay and thanked me for my patience.

I haven't heard anything since. This is actually a nice reminder to ping him again.

For what it’s worth mine took 15 months from being added to the list to my door. Nothing at all against Dan as he is one man with a lot of demand and does impeccable work (and is a nice guy) but just my experience since I got my amp this year.

 

[hellzington]

Forgot to ask what cab and speakers you’re running it through?

Friedman 4x12 w/ V30's. It's my darkest cabinet, which also makes me nervous. I can't imagine how bright and midrangey it would be with my Diezel front-loaded V30 4x12.

 

[Techdeth]

I’m curious what do you prefer about the el34 one? I’ve only tried Wizard’s with 34’s and still have my 2016 MTL100 for almost 6 years now. I’m usually more of an EL34 guy, but 6L6’s or 6550’s/KT88’s in a Wizard sound like it could be interesting

The 6l6 one is great . It’s like a Mesa meets a vht but just the most punch . But the el34 wizard has these razor sharp highs that are rich and I love that .I do like both but that razor sharp thing I love . Back to back they sound nothing alike which I why I kept both. Makes me wonder if the preamps are even tweaked some for each poweramp . They are so different

 

[braintheory]

Friedman 4x12 w/ V30's. It's my darkest cabinet, which also makes me nervous. I can't imagine how bright and midrangey it would be with my Diezel front-loaded V30 4x12.

Fwiw, I’ve only tried them through Omega cabs. I think those cabs lean a bit dark (at least my friend’s one seemed to), but I have myself a Friedman 212/215 and also find it to be a darker leaning cab

 

[braintheory]

The 6l6 one is great . It’s like a Mesa meets a vht but just the most punch . But the el34 wizard has these razor sharp highs that are rich and I love that .I do like both but that razor sharp thing I love . Back to back they sound nothing alike which I why I kept both. Makes me wonder if the preamps are even tweaked some for each poweramp . They are so different

Yeah the highs of the MTL are great and imo part of what gives them this frosty type sound that I like. More punch from the 6L6’s sounds cool too as imo that’s their main forte. I’d just be worried if the mids get even more hollow and smoother/less growl. That’s the main thing I never liked in them. I think I’ve heard the transformers in them are different for each powertube type he uses, so there’s that too. Also maybe yours are from different years?

 

[RedB4Black]

Yeah the highs of the MTL are great and imo part of what gives them this frosty type sound that I like. More punch from the 6L6’s sounds cool too as imo that’s their main forte. I’d just be worried if the mids get even more hollow and smoother/less growl. That’s the main thing I never liked in them. I think I’ve heard the transformers in them are different for each powertube type he uses, so there’s that too. Also maybe yours are from different years?

The transformers are different for each tube type. I also have a '16 el34 MTL and a '21 6L. I actually sold my '20 mk2 el34 because I preferred the voicing on my '16 more. There is some voicing variation over the years. Nothing I don't think you could correct with the EQ or one in the loop. The '16 is definitely more scooped sounding than later ones I've played. The 6L is closer to the voicing on the '16, but with that mesa/meets Wizard that Techdeth descirbes. The KT88 models have the biggest punch and are the tightest. Definitely my favorite of the three. I have put 6550s in my KT150 as well and it gives it slightly more grind in the upper mids and more crisp in the lows.

 

[Techdeth]

Yeah the highs of the MTL are great and imo part of what gives them this frosty type sound that I like. More punch from the 6L6’s sounds cool too as imo that’s their main forte. I’d just be worried if the mids get even more hollow and smoother/less growl. That’s the main thing I never liked in them. I think I’ve heard the transformers in them are different for each powertube type he uses, so there’s that too. Also maybe yours are from different years?

About a year apart . But man I truly love both .

 

[Bram576]

Friedman 4x12 w/ V30's. It's my darkest cabinet, which also makes me nervous. I can't imagine how bright and midrangey it would be with my Diezel front-loaded V30 4x12.

Gotcha. Yeah, I was running mine through a Mesa w/ v30s too. Just sounded the weakest compared to all my other heads to me. Like others have said, seems like no one hangs onto these things…

 

[braintheory]

The transformers are different for each tube type. I also have a '16 el34 MTL and a '21 6L. I actually sold my '20 mk2 el34 because I preferred the voicing on my '16 more. There is some voicing variation over the years. Nothing I don't think you could correct with the EQ or one in the loop. The '16 is definitely more scooped sounding than later ones I've played. The 6L is closer to the voicing on the '16, but with that mesa/meets Wizard that Techdeth descirbes. The KT88 models have the biggest punch and are the tightest. Definitely my favorite of the three. I have put 6550s in my KT150 as well and it gives it slightly more grind in the upper mids and more crisp in the lows.

Based on your descriptions sounds like I might also enjoy most the KT version one. I also prefer 6550’s to KT88’s. I feel that punch is what really sets wizards apart from other amps, so I wanna play up that strength of it as much as I can. The mids on those Wizards I think will never satisfy me, so more hollowness from those 88’s or 6550’s probably won’t matter much to me. I’ve had my 2016 MTL100 for 6 years now. I had a 1996 MC (C transformers) in the past. Very good amp too, but much prefer the MTL I kept

 

[RedB4Black]

Based on your descriptions sounds like I might also enjoy most the KT version one. I also prefer 6550’s to KT88’s. I feel that punch is what really sets wizards apart from other amps, so I wanna play up that strength of it as much as I can. The mids on those Wizards I think will never satisfy me, so more hollowness from those 88’s or 6550’s probably won’t matter much to me. I’ve had my 2016 MTL100 for 6 years now. I had a 1996 MC (C transformers) in the past. Very good amp too, but much prefer the MTL I kept

i bought my ‘16 brand new as well. I’ll never sell it. I am selling a ‘19 KT88 MTL in the classifieds. Actually have 2 KT88 MTLs. The mids are more full and thicker as well With my KT150. Maybe would be less hollow To your ears.

 

[braintheory]

i bought my ‘16 brand new as well. I’ll never sell it. I am selling a ‘19 KT88 MTL in the classifieds. Actually have 2 KT88 MTLs. The mids are more full and thicker as well With my KT150. Maybe would be less hollow To your ears.

Bought mine used, but mint condition in 2017. If I can get another 2.5-3k worth of my stuff sold I’d definitely consider it, but I don’t think it would last by then. Gonna check out some clips of the KT versions. The MC I had had much more mid & uppermid presence, but equally smooth/lacking growl or character to me in that frequency range. That was not for the better for my taste

 

[hellzington]

Just following up on this with an update.

First, I want to say that Mike (the actual builder) at Omega is a great guy. He really went far out of his way to help and, whatever you think of his amps, his customer service has been excellent.

I sent the Obsidian back to Omega at Mike's request so he could test it. Everything was to spec except that one of the preamp tubes that was supposed to be 7025 was a 12AX7B. He tested the amp and said it is working as intended. He then recorded several videos for me comparing it to several amps that are similar to ones I own. He used these amps for the comparison:

• Wizard MTL clone
• Diezel Synergy preamp into a 2/90/2 power amp
• JMP 2204 reissue w/ Jose mod
• Obsidian (of course)

He used guitars in standard tuning, drop D, and drop C# and even wired up a 4x12 with Chinese V30's just like my Friedman cab to try and get as close to my exact setup as possible. (This really surprised me and was far beyond what I'd ever expect from customer support.)

I listened to the clips through my Apollo Twin X Quad into my Yamaha HS8 studio monitors w/ the HS8S subwoofer.

In his clips, the Obsidian sounded great. Not going to lie. I didn't hear any of the upper-mid clank I heard in the room. He even put the Obsidian to my exact settings. It sounded very dark and thick. Frankly, it sounded most similar to the Wizard MTL clone.

All of this is to say, I have no idea why the Obsidian sounded like shit here in the room. Just something about my cab maybe? Perhaps it was the Power Station I was running it into? (I did try it w/o the Power Station; same sound.) Maybe cables and guitars? No idea.

So he asked what I wanted to do. He would send the Obsidian back to me or I could return it, but I'd pay a restocking fee and have to cover the original shipping costs.

I mentioned to Mike that I had been listening to a ton of clips of the Obsidian and the Granophyre. I shared this one with him, which I felt was best. It compares the amps with totally flat EQ's, then compares them with the EQ tweaked to this guitarist's taste.



I told him that I had preferred the Granophyre here, and in every other clip I'd heard. In fact, I told him I could pick the Granophyre out in every comparison video I could find. He said that while people seem to perceive them as the same amp (i.e., that the Obsidian is the Granophyre plus a clean channel), they are totally different amps. He said the Obsidian is based on an Soldano SLO-100 with some Peavy 5150 influence. That's the "American" sound they're referencing in the marketing materials. The Granophyre is a totally different circuit based on a Marshall (he didn't say which one) and other "classic European amps." He said the Granophyre would probably be a better fit for me since I'm a self-described "Marshall Guy."

One hole in this story is why the sales guy, Paul, didn't suggest this. I told him in my discussion with him that I was a "Marshall Guy" and that is why he recommended EL34's in my Obsidian. I wonder why he didn't just suggest the Granophyre. Mike said EL34's in the Obsidian are not his favorite and recommended 5881's or KT77's if I stuck with the Obsidian.

So, Mike said he'd make me a deal. He said he couldn't sell the Obsidian as new anymore but they could use it as a demo amp. He said he'd wave the restocking fee and all shipping costs if I wanted to switch to a Granophyre. Only catch is that the wait is a month or so. So I decided to switch to the Granophyre. At Mike's suggestion, we are loading it with 6CA7's, which is great because I am a fan of those tubes.

I asked him if it was cool if we chose a new aesthetic for this amp that borrowed from my favorite amp ever: my '87 Jubilee. He said that would be very cool and he could give it a more vintage Marshall vibe with gray tolex (they don't stock the Marshall silver one), a cloth front panel like a Jubilee/JCM800, silver piping, all silver HiFi knobs, and a red jewel light. He even said he'd load it with preamp tubes to give more of a vintage vibe.

So now I'm waiting for that amp to be built. We'll see how it goes. I hope it will be more to my taste. Good news is that by then I'll have my other speaker cabinets (they're in storage in Arizona) so I'll have more options to test the amp out with.

Also, interestingly, Mike said they voice the amps around a Celestion Creamback H75 speaker. This fascinated me because Omega makes their own cabs loaded with custom Eminence speakers. Also, while V30's are generally the speaker of choice for higher gain players, Mike said he doesn't like them except the old Marshall and Mesa versions (which I have in my old Jubilee cab that I'll get back from storage in February). So I'm planning to try the amp out with my Suhr oversized 2x12 loaded with H75's and my Carstens cab loaded with a 90w Alnico Cream and a 100w Weber Blue Dog to see what that yields.

More updates to come.

 

[Apex1Rg7X]

Honestly man I'm not surprised to hear this. Mike has always been super helpful in the past when I got my Granophyre and with other things I've had as well. I have yet to try the Obsidian but I'm with you and I prefer the Granophyre in just about every clip as well. There is no doubt that your Grano build is gonna look sick AF since his custom aesthetics always turn out amazing!

 

[ErikT]

I actually contacted Omega about returning it already

LoL! When I did the same for my Granophyre they said I was the first person to want to return one. I actually thought there was something wrong with the amp (which after receiving it back they said it was fine). It had a quick attack but just sounded distant. It was a very weird feeling.

Very cool look, nice guys to deal with but just not for me at all.

 

[braintheory]

Good to hear. Hopefully the Granophyre works better for you. Congrats also on the 1970 1987T. I bet it’s impressive given how my 1972 SuperLead 100 is

 

[hellzington]

Good to hear. Hopefully the Granophyre works better for you. Congrats also on the 1970 1987T. I bet it’s impressive given how my 1972 SuperLead 100 is

I wouldn't know; unfortunately, it arrived broken.

Called the shop I bought it from just up the road in LA and they claim it was working a few days ago when they shipped it. There's no output at all. Tried both speaker jacks, all inputs, all knobs, etc. Just zero output. I opened it up and I did find one preamp tube broken, which I replaced, but still no output from the amp at all. So who knows what's wrong.

I actually bought it to mod. I normally wouldn't screw with a vintage Marshall but it's not original at all so a very good modding candidate. It's in overall good shape but had its OT replaced in 1990 with a Drake, caps replaced at some point, and some pots and other parts replaced.

I was going to ask Dave Friedman to do the #39 mod on it the real way by using the tremolo circuit as an additional gain stage. I might have him add a master volume as the original amp had one but I do like the sound of NMV amps. From there, I'll let him take it by ear to change whatever component values to get the tone right. I also want him to do some unglamorous but necessary maintenance on the amp, like change the impedance selector to a more modern version.

We'll see, though. Once he gets it fixed and working but before he mods it, I'll ask him to play it and see if it sounds godly to him. If it does, I'll tell him to leave it alone and get another amp to do this mod.

 

[braintheory]

I wouldn't know; unfortunately, it arrived broken.

Called the shop I bought it from just up the road in LA and they claim it was working a few days ago when they shipped it. There's no output at all. Tried both speaker jacks, all inputs, all knobs, etc. Just zero output. I opened it up and I did find one preamp tube broken, which I replaced, but still no output from the amp at all. So who knows what's wrong.

I actually bought it to mod. I normally wouldn't screw with a vintage Marshall but it's not original at all so a very good modding candidate. It's in overall good shape but had its OT replaced in 1990 with a Drake, caps replaced at some point, and some pots and other parts replaced.

I was going to ask Dave Friedman to do the #39 mod on it the real way by using the tremolo circuit as an additional gain stage. I might have him add a master volume as the original amp had one but I do like the sound of NMV amps. From there, I'll let him take it by ear to change whatever component values to get the tone right. I also want him to do some unglamorous but necessary maintenance on the amp, like change the impedance selector to a more modern version.

We'll see, though. Once he gets it fixed and working but before he mods it, I'll ask him to play it and see if it sounds godly to him. If it does, I'll tell him to leave it alone and get another amp to do this mod.

Oh no, sorry to hear that. Yeah that sounds like a solid idea for Dave to do that. I heard a clip not long ago of a #36 mod that sounded great to me. I would just keep in mind that he may be biased a little bit toward voicing the amp a little darker or smoother/less raw, which I personally don’t like, but I guess some guys do. I think no matter how we advise, we all still go by what our ears like

 

[hellzington]

Oh no, sorry to hear that. Yeah that sounds like a solid idea for Dave to do that. I heard a clip not long ago of a #36 mod that sounded great to me. I would just keep in mind that he may be biased a little bit toward voicing the amp a little darker or smoother/less raw, which I personally don’t like, but I guess some guys do

Yeah, luckily I like that Friedman sound. My ears tend to lean towards a darker amp then using the treble and presence to brighten it up rather than vice versa. One thing I really like on Dave's amps, and all amps TBH, is a Response/Headroom/VNFB control. That way you can get it gnarlier or smoother depending on what you like. I'm actually taking my Smallbox to Dave to have this done.

One interesting thing about Friedman amps that I actually learned from Fractal (of all places) is that Dave's amps have different NFB amounts depending on what ohmage you run it. Kind of fascinating and I bet most buyers of Friedman amps don't know this. I tested it on my Friedmans here and it absolutely makes a difference.

Source: https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/...st#FRIEDMAN_SMALL_BOX_.28Friedman_Smallbox.29

1. "If you want more clarity in the low mids (...) reduce Negative Feedback. Friedman's designs are a bit odd in that he takes the feedback off the speaker jack rather than off a transformer tap. (...) The amp will sound tighter and clearer in the low mids." [295]
2. "The design is weird as the negative feedback is taken off the speaker jack. So if you use a 16-ohm speaker you get more feedback (and much more bass) than if you use an 8-ohm speaker. (...) It's too much bass for me so I turn down the Depth and reduce Negative Feedback a bit." [296]
3. "I always lower the negative feedback. Friedman amps are a bit strange because the negative feedback is taken off the speaker jack instead of one of the transformer taps. The matching cabs are 16 ohms but if you use an 8-ohm cab you'll get 30% less feedback." [297]