J
Jdub
Well-known member
Well I have been geeking out on amps again lately and made a trip to Portland and was able to play through many amps that I. my brief reviews
First up
My 1971 50 watt Marshall
No surprises here. Stock Marshall 4 holer. painfully loud, but does break up before your head does. just barely. Glassy and cutting and takes pedals well..
Next stop was guitar center which usually has nothing I want or like but they ha some things worth plugging nto
Bogner 101 B.
This amp is just as I remembered it. Love it and hate it both. Love the sag and squish. really elastic and bubbly but no snap. no crunch. Just too smooth and refined. I know how to dial these amp in as best they can be, but still it has no cut yet once you get them loud , they are really very fatiguing on the ears, despite not being crunchy. The clean is ratty thin and harsh..It lacks Kerrang as I have said before.. Fun as hell in the bedroom and oozes harmonics and sustain just doesnt mix with other instruments well. it sounds like a recording of an amplifier... safe to say, I will not be buying another 101b anytime soon..
Marshall JVM
I like this amp pretty well. It is versatile and yes it gets that Marshall crunch and several varieties of it. Lots of tweakability and all in all really really fun to play through. the trouble is. it sounds kinda cheap , but isnt price wise.. especially when cranked up. I had one a couple years ago and I brought it over to jam with a drummer friend of mine and he said what happened?? you dont have that "pro sound" you had with your other amp. ( He was referring to a Bogner 100b ) So yes the amp is fun and I think Marshall did a great job on this amp, but still, it sounds kind of brittle when loud. probably a products of the times and less than optimum quality part..
Egnater Vengeance.
This amp sounded pretty blah. it sounded cheap and lifeless but at least it was cheap. about 1000.00 new. probably not a bad value and with some fiddling, marginally passable tone could probably be found.. but tnot an amp that inspired me at all to say the least.
posting.php?mode=edit&f=3&p=1321898#
I almost left then but figured I would try one more.
Boogie Mark V
This amp surprised the shit out of me. I expected to hate it. I used to play a Mark 4 long long ago and also a triaxis 290 rig but I went away from Boogie in 1998 and never looked back.. until now.. wow. I managed to figure out how to turn it on and get it on the mark 2c/iv/ and extreme mode with the eq in preset mode. It sounded great. thick and crunchy with nice harmonics. plenty of snap crackle and pop.
I was shocked. I fiddled with some more and was able to make it sound like I expected it to. nasally and horrible, but man. I was absolutely shocked by how good it sounded witht he preset eq. someone tweaked it right. Maybe Ralphie(gainfreak) was in Portland recently....
The clean channel was sparkly and the Mark 1 channel sounded like a howling mess. again. all the horrible boogie tones are in here too but it has some great sounds in it. I couldn't help but bust out some whitesnake riffs etc. Dare I say, as much of a Marshall guy as I am, this amp rocks and I want one..
Next was on to Bro FF house. Long time friend and the guy I bought the Uhaul full of Marshalls from years ago. some may remember that.
Marshall Major
Again no surprise here other than it was tolerable on terms of volume. huge and glassy. PLugged in a Rock Box Boiling Point and forget about it. that was the RoddedMarshall sound in spades.. it was straight up killer.. Convincing Van Halen tones and any other great 70's or 80's Marshall sound you could conjure up in your head. stunning pedal!! Monster amp
Soldano Avenger.
Sounded way better than I remember it. Not that it ever sounded bad, but I dont remember it sounding this good.. Itwas about perfect really. Nothing wrong with it. Balance thick, creamy , crunchy , cutting and rich juicy mids. this amp is a winner and makes me want an SLO again. I swear this Avenger seemed to sound better than I remember my SLO's sounding. Probably tripping but in a nutshell, even with out the Deyoung transformers, the Avenger is a pro quality, ripping amp. Very modded marshallesque. moreso than I remember any other Soldano from my previous experience. I love Soldanos!!!
Lastly was CAE OD 100.
This amp came from CAE not Suhr. I spoke with both John and Bob Bradshaw about it. Suhr's design built by Bradshaw. It is the original CAE OD 100 which was made with Deyoung Transformers. Many think that only Soldano uses these, but no true , there in there. Maybe made to differents specs? as a matter of fact my Bogner 100b had Deyoungs as well. Clearly marked. for better or for worse. ok so whatever right. This amp sounds like an OD 100. it is an OD 100. It is huge sounding. It can be too huge, but I manged to tweak it to sound pretty friggin awesome. Not quite what I would call modded Marshall. it had more its own thing going on. Big and round. Less crunchy than I really like, but it does fit a niche for me.
the cleans are stellar , big and jangly and can be pushed into PLexi territory. Not quite as woody , but very satisfying clean tones. I expected to be displeased with the OD channel but I like it it its own way. It is not my favorite, but it is cool. but could not be my only amp.... meaning, if you want a Marshall, get a Marshall.. and this is not it.. but cool in its own way and I have Marshalls... The Od can have a bit of a hard edge to it, but I found with some very subtle tweakin on the knobs I could get some "familiar" tones but also dial its own unique voice. Is it my favorite lead channel?? No.. but it is actually inspring me to play more of my own stuff instead of regurgitating a medley of hair metal riffs we all know and love. It can do that too, to a degree, but it is more suited to finding your own tone and running with it. PLaying sinlge note lines was a blast and beautiful singing harmonics popped out with ease. Intellifex in nthe loop and it was really liquidy sounding.. think "flying in a blue dream" . this amp had me playing some satch and vai bits and pieces and really enjoying the outcome.. The loop is awesome and very transarent and the power amp output level control is so useful for playing at low volumes..
All in all. I like this amp a lot.... so I brought it home. It is mine now. It is literally brand new. The original owner got it factory direct in 2006 and it went straight into hawk. it has never been played until yesterday. Literally . never played.. we got it out of the hawk shop yesterday, opened the box and played it for the first time 6 years after production!!
My ears are still ringing . ok well there you have it. a : brief recap of my earblasting tour to Portland yesterday.
Cheers. sorry about he typos. hope it makes sense..
First up
My 1971 50 watt Marshall
No surprises here. Stock Marshall 4 holer. painfully loud, but does break up before your head does. just barely. Glassy and cutting and takes pedals well..
Next stop was guitar center which usually has nothing I want or like but they ha some things worth plugging nto
Bogner 101 B.
This amp is just as I remembered it. Love it and hate it both. Love the sag and squish. really elastic and bubbly but no snap. no crunch. Just too smooth and refined. I know how to dial these amp in as best they can be, but still it has no cut yet once you get them loud , they are really very fatiguing on the ears, despite not being crunchy. The clean is ratty thin and harsh..It lacks Kerrang as I have said before.. Fun as hell in the bedroom and oozes harmonics and sustain just doesnt mix with other instruments well. it sounds like a recording of an amplifier... safe to say, I will not be buying another 101b anytime soon..
Marshall JVM
I like this amp pretty well. It is versatile and yes it gets that Marshall crunch and several varieties of it. Lots of tweakability and all in all really really fun to play through. the trouble is. it sounds kinda cheap , but isnt price wise.. especially when cranked up. I had one a couple years ago and I brought it over to jam with a drummer friend of mine and he said what happened?? you dont have that "pro sound" you had with your other amp. ( He was referring to a Bogner 100b ) So yes the amp is fun and I think Marshall did a great job on this amp, but still, it sounds kind of brittle when loud. probably a products of the times and less than optimum quality part..
Egnater Vengeance.
This amp sounded pretty blah. it sounded cheap and lifeless but at least it was cheap. about 1000.00 new. probably not a bad value and with some fiddling, marginally passable tone could probably be found.. but tnot an amp that inspired me at all to say the least.
posting.php?mode=edit&f=3&p=1321898#
I almost left then but figured I would try one more.
Boogie Mark V
This amp surprised the shit out of me. I expected to hate it. I used to play a Mark 4 long long ago and also a triaxis 290 rig but I went away from Boogie in 1998 and never looked back.. until now.. wow. I managed to figure out how to turn it on and get it on the mark 2c/iv/ and extreme mode with the eq in preset mode. It sounded great. thick and crunchy with nice harmonics. plenty of snap crackle and pop.
I was shocked. I fiddled with some more and was able to make it sound like I expected it to. nasally and horrible, but man. I was absolutely shocked by how good it sounded witht he preset eq. someone tweaked it right. Maybe Ralphie(gainfreak) was in Portland recently....
The clean channel was sparkly and the Mark 1 channel sounded like a howling mess. again. all the horrible boogie tones are in here too but it has some great sounds in it. I couldn't help but bust out some whitesnake riffs etc. Dare I say, as much of a Marshall guy as I am, this amp rocks and I want one..Next was on to Bro FF house. Long time friend and the guy I bought the Uhaul full of Marshalls from years ago. some may remember that.
Marshall Major
Again no surprise here other than it was tolerable on terms of volume. huge and glassy. PLugged in a Rock Box Boiling Point and forget about it. that was the RoddedMarshall sound in spades.. it was straight up killer.. Convincing Van Halen tones and any other great 70's or 80's Marshall sound you could conjure up in your head. stunning pedal!! Monster amp
Soldano Avenger.
Sounded way better than I remember it. Not that it ever sounded bad, but I dont remember it sounding this good.. Itwas about perfect really. Nothing wrong with it. Balance thick, creamy , crunchy , cutting and rich juicy mids. this amp is a winner and makes me want an SLO again. I swear this Avenger seemed to sound better than I remember my SLO's sounding. Probably tripping but in a nutshell, even with out the Deyoung transformers, the Avenger is a pro quality, ripping amp. Very modded marshallesque. moreso than I remember any other Soldano from my previous experience. I love Soldanos!!!
Lastly was CAE OD 100.
This amp came from CAE not Suhr. I spoke with both John and Bob Bradshaw about it. Suhr's design built by Bradshaw. It is the original CAE OD 100 which was made with Deyoung Transformers. Many think that only Soldano uses these, but no true , there in there. Maybe made to differents specs? as a matter of fact my Bogner 100b had Deyoungs as well. Clearly marked. for better or for worse. ok so whatever right. This amp sounds like an OD 100. it is an OD 100. It is huge sounding. It can be too huge, but I manged to tweak it to sound pretty friggin awesome. Not quite what I would call modded Marshall. it had more its own thing going on. Big and round. Less crunchy than I really like, but it does fit a niche for me.
the cleans are stellar , big and jangly and can be pushed into PLexi territory. Not quite as woody , but very satisfying clean tones. I expected to be displeased with the OD channel but I like it it its own way. It is not my favorite, but it is cool. but could not be my only amp.... meaning, if you want a Marshall, get a Marshall.. and this is not it.. but cool in its own way and I have Marshalls... The Od can have a bit of a hard edge to it, but I found with some very subtle tweakin on the knobs I could get some "familiar" tones but also dial its own unique voice. Is it my favorite lead channel?? No.. but it is actually inspring me to play more of my own stuff instead of regurgitating a medley of hair metal riffs we all know and love. It can do that too, to a degree, but it is more suited to finding your own tone and running with it. PLaying sinlge note lines was a blast and beautiful singing harmonics popped out with ease. Intellifex in nthe loop and it was really liquidy sounding.. think "flying in a blue dream" . this amp had me playing some satch and vai bits and pieces and really enjoying the outcome.. The loop is awesome and very transarent and the power amp output level control is so useful for playing at low volumes..
All in all. I like this amp a lot.... so I brought it home. It is mine now. It is literally brand new. The original owner got it factory direct in 2006 and it went straight into hawk. it has never been played until yesterday. Literally . never played.. we got it out of the hawk shop yesterday, opened the box and played it for the first time 6 years after production!!
My ears are still ringing . ok well there you have it. a : brief recap of my earblasting tour to Portland yesterday.
Cheers.
sorry about he typos. hope it makes sense..
