Best tube head for early Fear Factory(SOANM)

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MR MARCUS

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I know this topic is a little silly and is totally subjective. I'm fishing for opinions because I'm having a hard time deciding what amp to buy. Also I know he played a Metalhead Modded JCM800. Used to own a FJA FD Marshall. That amp was killer but it didn't resemble that album tone at all. Trying to keep it under $800. XXX? 5150III?
 
wIsEbLooD":34dcmcx5 said:
fortin cali
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-well that would definitely do it!!.. but if you can find one for 800 frog skins let me know, I'd buy a pile of them!!

-I'm old and no longer brootalz, and I forget which re-badged Peavey is which now, but I've owned both, the XXX has active tone controls that mess with people's minds, but they're a bad ass amp with some tweaking, -(like a bias mod)-and they're dirt cheap!!... the Fender 5150 III-(50 water-is a hell of an amp and a lot more flexible than the XXX
 
wIsEbLooD":c90fx1dx said:
fortin cali
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I'll keep that one in mind. We're trying to pay our house off so the budget is tight until then. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
A boosted JCM800 with scooped mids can come close. You might try a DSL100 with a SD-1 in front, and an EQ in the loop to scoop out the mids.

I see you have builds listed in your sig. I have a 2203 JCM800 based amp I built that can come close. It is basically a 2203 circuit with an extra gain stage and depth control. With the EQ at B:10, M:0, T:10, P:7, it gets very close to the SOANM tone.
 
Dude! That and Deman are my dream tones. I even had a Metalhead modded 800 last year. The characteristics were there but wasn't "it." Supposedly Dino had several of these modded 800's but only the one that got stolen sounded like that. I went through 5 heads this past year. Ended up with another Engl Savage 120 which I had for 9 years before selling to try different heads. The new one has a bigger OT and has a bit more low end which I thought my older one was too thin. The Savage definitely doesn't have the low chunk that some other amps do but the Savage is the only amp I've touched that has the tight, together, refined, semi dry, raging gain structure that those albums had. Everything else didn't come anywhere close. As for your budget being $800, maybe a used 5150/6505 or try a Marshall DSL. Keep an eye out for some used Engl's. GC used had or might still have a Blackmore for $700. Or save a bit more and get an Engl Fireball 100. You can find those around $1000 and supposedly they rage. Supposed to have a lot more bottom end compared to other Engls.
 
Splawn Competition. Might get lucky and get into one for $900-ish. Worth a couple extra bucks and gets you closest to that more raw, aggressive Marshall voicing. I think a Peavey might sound too Peavey, (not in a bad way, just saying). If I went the Peavey route, JSX and a boost. Killer amp under $500 all day long, more Marshall voiced, and wipes the floor with alot more expensive amps. Another unsung hero, would be a Randall Diavlo. Sick amp for little money. I've owned that amp 3 times.
 
Tube? Why was I under the impression that he used line 6 heads in the early days?
 
I got to jam through one of Dino's 800s back '97 or '98. I have owned LOTS of 800s , both modded and not and I can say that his head had zero Marshall characteristics. It sounded and felt like someone had gutted that thing and started from the ground up. Unbelievably tight. I would've bet my life that there was a noise gate circuit built in there , but he swore there wasn't.
I know he had Mike build him an amp recently , but he is a full digital convert now. If I were trying to cop that tone now , a tube amp would be the last place I looked. Unless you're budget is substantial.
 
I have a Metalhead modded 2203 and I think it pretty much nails that sound BUT...not all of them are created equal. I came across a few pictures of these amps while I was looking for one, they're all set up a little differently. Mine has the built-in noise gate and bass boost but I've also seen one that didn't have them. Then you've got the fact that the JCM 800 went through a number of changes during the production run, I can see where they may not sound consistent from one to the other.

Be careful looking at "hot rodded Marshall" voiced amps, a lot of them are geared toward the more old school shredder/80's vibe, not so much all-out brutal tones. It will be tough to find a tube head under $800 that nails the old school FF sound without some work. I'd broaden your search a bit and look at some older solid state amps like the Ampeg VH-140C/SS-140C or Marshall Valvestate (Dino actually used one of these in Divine Heresy). They are tight, have a good gain character and fast attack.
 
Norton666":2p2lgdmv said:
I got to jam through one of Dino's 800s back '97 or '98. I have owned LOTS of 800s , both modded and not and I can say that his head had zero Marshall characteristics. It sounded and felt like someone had gutted that thing and started from the ground up. Unbelievably tight. I would've bet my life that there was a noise gate circuit built in there , but he swore there wasn't.
I know he had Mike build him an amp recently , but he is a full digital convert now. If I were trying to cop that tone now , a tube amp would be the last place I looked. Unless you're budget is substantial.
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There was a few magazines where he mentioned it had a noise gate...Dino was very protective of that amp and switched stories around a bit over the years.

I had some fantastic articles on that amp...to me it was the greatest metal tone of all time.

AFAIK Dino uses a Kemper profile of the Fortin amp that was made to nail the Demanufacture tone.
 
Honestly, for that tone I would go for a solid state amp. Maybe an old Randall, a Peavey Supreme 160, or an Ampeg VH140 as stated above. Throw a BBE Sonic Maximizer in the loop.
 
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