sixstrings
New member
My Elmwood Modena 19" rackmount arrived today. I spent about 2 hours with it so far. Definitely a cool layout of the controls and the external bias is nice to have. Very lightweight and easy to carry around.
First thing I checked out was the clean channel. I was immediately impressed. It has a very very nice clean channel; in fact, one of the best I've heard. I then clicked on my Maxon OD820 at full gain to check out some overdriven sounds through the clean channel. It was incredible. Very articulate, clear, and warm. I engaged the boost and got a nice tight slightly compressed crunch sound. I clicked on my OD820 again and was in high-gain territory. By then I was really rockin.
At this point, I'm loving the M60. The clean channel was what I expected of this amp before I got it. The overdrive channel was kind of the surprise though. I didn't expect it to be so compressed. It's definitely a high-quality tone, and very unforgiving. You can't get away with sloppy technique. It sounds fantastic, but a bit more modern than I thought it would be. Not a bad thing in any sense, just not exactly what I was expecting.
The drive channel is tight, compressed and a bit focused. With some tweaking, I was able to get close to some of the classic tones like Schenker and VH, but I think it's too modern sounding to get vintage tones. I can't say that for sure yet because I've only had it for a couple of hours, but that's my first impression.
I read a couple of places that said the M60 doesn't get brutal, however, I think it can get pretty brutal without sounding sterile and bassy. So far, I've been able to dial in pretty good Metallica and Megadeth sounds. The scooped sound is pretty good on this amp so it's definitely more versatile than just blues and rock. I think it has plenty of gain without the boost, but with the boost it's even more saturated and compressed.
When I first heard the drive channel, it sounded like a cross between a Diezel Einstein and a Koch Twintone. It kind of has that modern, hi-fi sound like the Einstein; and focused, compressed like a Twintone. Litterally, it sounds to me like a cross between those two amps. Maybe in some ways, it reminds me of my DSL. It has an intersting, squashy pick attack that I love about my DSL100. It's also kind of got that midrange presence like Marshalls have.
Obviously, I have a long way to go to understand this amp, but this is my first impression. I must say that the cleans are my favorite part. I'm not sure if I like the drive channel as much. It's good, and definitely world-class, but I wasn't expecting as much focus and compression.
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied. Thanks to Rob at Tone Merchants for hooking me up. This is my second time doing business with him and he's done a fantastic job. I'll be buying from them again soon.
First thing I checked out was the clean channel. I was immediately impressed. It has a very very nice clean channel; in fact, one of the best I've heard. I then clicked on my Maxon OD820 at full gain to check out some overdriven sounds through the clean channel. It was incredible. Very articulate, clear, and warm. I engaged the boost and got a nice tight slightly compressed crunch sound. I clicked on my OD820 again and was in high-gain territory. By then I was really rockin.
At this point, I'm loving the M60. The clean channel was what I expected of this amp before I got it. The overdrive channel was kind of the surprise though. I didn't expect it to be so compressed. It's definitely a high-quality tone, and very unforgiving. You can't get away with sloppy technique. It sounds fantastic, but a bit more modern than I thought it would be. Not a bad thing in any sense, just not exactly what I was expecting.
The drive channel is tight, compressed and a bit focused. With some tweaking, I was able to get close to some of the classic tones like Schenker and VH, but I think it's too modern sounding to get vintage tones. I can't say that for sure yet because I've only had it for a couple of hours, but that's my first impression.
I read a couple of places that said the M60 doesn't get brutal, however, I think it can get pretty brutal without sounding sterile and bassy. So far, I've been able to dial in pretty good Metallica and Megadeth sounds. The scooped sound is pretty good on this amp so it's definitely more versatile than just blues and rock. I think it has plenty of gain without the boost, but with the boost it's even more saturated and compressed.
When I first heard the drive channel, it sounded like a cross between a Diezel Einstein and a Koch Twintone. It kind of has that modern, hi-fi sound like the Einstein; and focused, compressed like a Twintone. Litterally, it sounds to me like a cross between those two amps. Maybe in some ways, it reminds me of my DSL. It has an intersting, squashy pick attack that I love about my DSL100. It's also kind of got that midrange presence like Marshalls have.
Obviously, I have a long way to go to understand this amp, but this is my first impression. I must say that the cleans are my favorite part. I'm not sure if I like the drive channel as much. It's good, and definitely world-class, but I wasn't expecting as much focus and compression.
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied. Thanks to Rob at Tone Merchants for hooking me up. This is my second time doing business with him and he's done a fantastic job. I'll be buying from them again soon.
Elmwood modena 60''s are just incredible. You will need to take a good amount of time with it or you will be cheating yourself out of soo much. 
I use my Modena 60 with a scumback loaded cab almost exclusively.
And they all play Elmwood modena 60's.......... 
Liquid lead!