EVH5153 50w vs Splawn Quickrod

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sixstringking713

sixstringking713

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EVH5153 50w vs Splawn Quickrod.......??????

similar to my last post about evh50w vs soldano, now i'm looking @ splawns.

Local store had a splawn quickrod and a nitro. I didn't like the nitro as much. My favorite setting was the quickrod @ half power and "gear 1" with the gain @ about 3 or 4 oclock. Sounded very good to me @ low volumes even, didnt have the capability to blast the amp in the store as there were lessons nearby. Also, I really liked how it had a "solo" volume knob and that on the footswitch. I currently have an mxr micro amp on my pedalboard to do that exact thing so that could eliminate that from my board... However, one thing that confused me was the overdrive 1/2. didn't really notice a huge difference between the 2. I definitely noticed a difference between "gears" tho. Could someone explain the overdrives?

Also worth mentioning - they had a splawn nitro there also. Didnt seem to jive with the splan nitro as much as the quickrod, not really sure why. Seemed to be voiced more compressed/modern/smoother sounding? quickrod definitely had more marshall edge to it... or atleast IMO

Any advice between these 2 amps? Any problems with splawn as a company?

Edit: found out about splawn "competition" model which is a 50/25w version. How does this compare to the quick rod? Is the just the overdrive portion of the quickrod circuitry or is there a larger difference?? I dont think i would use the clean often so it sounds like the splawn competition would suit me better

thanks
 
If you played the Spalwn and liked it go for it, you won't find a better company to do business with. The Splawn QR is very open sounding where the EVH 50 has more of a compressed metal tone. I have a 2012 QR and its a good sounding amp.
 
I had a 50w EVH and still have a Quickrod. Sold the EVH because it just had a synthetic nasally tone I couldnt gel with. Fun amp to play, but didnt feel natural too me...compared to my splawn at least. I also have a Peavey 5150 I like more

The QR has to be LOUD to really see where it shines. You'll notice the od1/od2 alot more with VOLUME. The QR is also very picky with speakers, pups and guitars. Ive had mine as my #1 amp for over 6 yrs
 
Lord Toneking":21jvmdeh said:
I had a 50w EVH and still have a Quickrod. Sold the EVH because it just had a synthetic nasally tone I couldnt gel with. Fun amp to play, but didnt feel natural too me...compared to my splawn at least. I also have a Peavey 5150 I like more

The QR has to be LOUD to really see where it shines. You'll notice the od1/od2 alot more with VOLUME. The QR is also very picky with speakers, pups and guitars. Ive had mine as my #1 amp for over 6 yrs
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is the circuit in the "Competition" model the same as the quick rod just excluding the clean channel portion of the circuit?
 
All Splawns spawn from the Quick Rod

But yeah the Competition is effectively a 50w Quick Rod with no clean channel. Some would argue it has a bit more spank due to that.

I run my QR at half power so I'm at 50w all the time. To me that is the sweet spot wattage wise. You've got headroom when you need it and you can also dig in and get raunchy. The Quick Rod will cover a fairly broad base of genres. I do clean chord passages all the way down drop C Killswitch Engage type stuff. Yes, the Nitro is a modern version of the QR and has its own vibe going.

Splawns are hand built by Scott Splawn and a small crew one at time. They take approx 12+ weeks to build. They come with a lifetime warranty and some of the best customer service in the business. I've emailed late at night asking a dumb questions and received a reply from Scott sometimes within minutes. He also has a lot of character and cares deeply about the amps he builds and the people that buy them. I bought mine used and he still treats me as if I bought it new. The warranty is not transferable. There should be a significant bump from OD1 to OD2 but maybe it was because you were playing at lower volumes. If you liked it at low volumes you will be blown away once you get some air moving. My fav setting would be Gear 2, OD2, EQ pretty flat across 12 noon maybe bass on 10 oclock, and then volume between 9-10 oclock and gain between 12 - 2 oclock. Solo volume should be set a bit above your channel volume. But yeah - the Solo boost is a great feature.

That said, I've played the 5153 III 100w and that thing is frickin monster. It undoubtedly has a better clean channel and runs 6L6s but otherwise I'd say it is very similar to a Splawn. It handles drop tunings like a champ and looks pretty ballin as well. Ultimately, for me it was the build quality that pushed me toward Splawn as I was on the fence. I have not played the 50 wattr but from what I've read so far - the 100 wattr is just better.

I didn't see your other thread but the Soldano Hot Rod is just a whole other animal. You really have to play all of them and make up your own mind. There are other amps too you should check out.


Why are you looking for lower wattages?
 
The Quickrod is a killer amp...It kinda only does a couple tones, but It does them so well! I might be outta the norm here, but I don't see a huge difference in the gears besides bass response? :confused: I owned mine for 5 years and loved the first 2 gears, but mostly played in 1st gear. Did more Savatage stuff in 2nd. But, there are a couple pita's for me...

1) the loop wasn't as transparent as I would like*although I didn't have the newer loop.
2) to rebias it you have to pull the whole damn heavy ass chasis out. Fuck...it's a tank.

But still, put in the right tubes, and the right cab/speakers...it kicks sonic ass.
 
311splawndude":1uz9kbuj said:
All Splawns spawn from the Quick Rod

But yeah the Competition is effectively a 50w Quick Rod with no clean channel. Some would argue it has a bit more spank due to that.

I run my QR at half power so I'm at 50w all the time. To me that is the sweet spot wattage wise. You've got headroom when you need it and you can also dig in and get raunchy. The Quick Rod will cover a fairly broad base of genres. I do clean chord passages all the way down drop C Killswitch Engage type stuff. Yes, the Nitro is a modern version of the QR and has its own vibe going.

Splawns are hand built by Scott Splawn and a small crew one at time. They take approx 12+ weeks to build. They come with a lifetime warranty and some of the best customer service in the business. I've emailed late at night asking a dumb questions and received a reply from Scott sometimes within minutes. He also has a lot of character and cares deeply about the amps he builds and the people that buy them. I bought mine used and he still treats me as if I bought it new. The warranty is not transferable. There should be a significant bump from OD1 to OD2 but maybe it was because you were playing at lower volumes. If you liked it at low volumes you will be blown away once you get some air moving. My fav setting would be Gear 2, OD2, EQ pretty flat across 12 noon maybe bass on 10 oclock, and then volume between 9-10 oclock and gain between 12 - 2 oclock. Solo volume should be set a bit above your channel volume. But yeah - the Solo boost is a great feature.

That said, I've played the 5153 III 100w and that thing is frickin monster. It undoubtedly has a better clean channel and runs 6L6s but otherwise I'd say it is very similar to a Splawn. It handles drop tunings like a champ and looks pretty ballin as well. Ultimately, for me it was the build quality that pushed me toward Splawn as I was on the fence. I have not played the 50 wattr but from what I've read so far - the 100 wattr is just better.

I didn't see your other thread but the Soldano Hot Rod is just a whole other animal. You really have to play all of them and make up your own mind. There are other amps too you should check out.


Why are you looking for lower wattages?
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I want lower wattages because I'm not playing big enough stages to warrant the need of larger than 50w tops. I currently have a tsl100 and I cant even crank it past 9oclock @ a show. So Seems to me, on paper atleast, that the Splawn "Competition" would work well for what i want as far as 50w/25w capability and tonewise. That way if I needed extra juice, I could flip the switch and pop back to 50W. Also, I rarely use a clean tone, so it seems like me purchasing a quick rod would be kind of a waste of $ (and plus the fact it's 100/50 W).

I'm a huge VH fan (if you couldnt tell) and I really liked the splawn quickrod because it seemed to have that plexi vibe but with a slight modern edge. In addition, I enjoyed the "feel" of the amp's attack for some reason when I was playing.

I basically want my next amp purchase to be <$2k, be 50W (or less), have great out of box tone, be able to cover a few different tones (i'm usually in cover bands), and be reliable.

What I usually do when I play live and need a clean tone - i just roll back the volume on the guitar, so I dont see me needing a clean channel for now. Maybe later in my career if I ever need an actually usable clean channel, i'd just tour with a separate little amp dedicated for cleans - so I will worry about that if that ever evolves.

What is your take on this, and what other amps would you suggest I look at ?

yeh/neh?
 
You should definitely check out the Splawn Street Rod then. It is such a great sounding simple amp. I bought my QR after I played the SR.
 
dfrattaroli":1tx1dw4y said:
You should definitely check out the Splawn Street Rod then. It is such a great sounding simple amp. I bought my QR after I played the SR.
Click to expand...

yeah it seems like it is. I have a 2x12 cab I plan on using for "lighter" trips. I'm pretty stuck on using the head/cab combo. Just not the same having only 1x12" speaker (plus the fact greenbacks are only 25w handling..
 
sixstringking713":i5rp6l0j said:
dfrattaroli":i5rp6l0j said:
You should definitely check out the Splawn Street Rod then. It is such a great sounding simple amp. I bought my QR after I played the SR.
Click to expand...

yeah it seems like it is. I have a 2x12 cab I plan on using for "lighter" trips. I'm pretty stuck on using the head/cab combo. Just not the same having only 1x12" speaker (plus the fact greenbacks are only 25w handling..
Click to expand...


Pretty sure the Street Rod can now be ordered in a head configuration.
 
sixstringking713":255tb3cj said:
I want lower wattages because I'm not playing big enough stages to warrant the need of larger than 50w tops. I currently have a tsl100 and I cant even crank it past 9oclock @ a show. So Seems to me, on paper atleast, that the Splawn "Competition" would work well for what i want as far as 50w/25w capability and tonewise. That way if I needed extra juice, I could flip the switch and pop back to 50W. Also, I rarely use a clean tone, so it seems like me purchasing a quick rod would be kind of a waste of $ (and plus the fact it's 100/50 W).

I'm a huge VH fan (if you couldnt tell) and I really liked the splawn quickrod because it seemed to have that plexi vibe but with a slight modern edge. In addition, I enjoyed the "feel" of the amp's attack for some reason when I was playing.

I basically want my next amp purchase to be <$2k, be 50W (or less), have great out of box tone, be able to cover a few different tones (i'm usually in cover bands), and be reliable.

What I usually do when I play live and need a clean tone - i just roll back the volume on the guitar, so I dont see me needing a clean channel for now. Maybe later in my career if I ever need an actually usable clean channel, i'd just tour with a separate little amp dedicated for cleans - so I will worry about that if that ever evolves.

What is your take on this, and what other amps would you suggest I look at ?

yeh/neh?
Click to expand...
There is a shit ton of other cool amps to check out. I bring up the wattage because you are not going to notice much volume difference between 50 and 100. IMO the 5153 100w is better at lower volumes than a Splawn. I mean honestly, the TSL and Quick Rod will be similar issue volume wise at 9 o'clock. It just needs to be cranked. If you don't need a clean channed and like the Splawn tone then a Competition might be the way to go. I just buy used amps so my point there is that there a lot of Quick Rods out there used, where not so much with the other Splawns. Check out the Splawn forums if you want to learn a bit more and see what is for sale there.

Conversely, you can get some nice low gain, blues, classic rock tones off the clean channel of a Splawn.

Yep - they have a Street Rod head now. I 'think' it will be a bit more vintage sounding from what I'm hearing. I guess that was another reason for me getting a Quick Rod. I wanted the vintage up to modern tones. So again, to me watts plays a big part of that.

A long with big transformers :lol: :LOL:

Check out the Egnater Renegade and Vengeance too. I love both of those amps.
 
311splawndude":2ojlwjw6 said:
sixstringking713":2ojlwjw6 said:
I want lower wattages because I'm not playing big enough stages to warrant the need of larger than 50w tops. I currently have a tsl100 and I cant even crank it past 9oclock @ a show. So Seems to me, on paper atleast, that the Splawn "Competition" would work well for what i want as far as 50w/25w capability and tonewise. That way if I needed extra juice, I could flip the switch and pop back to 50W. Also, I rarely use a clean tone, so it seems like me purchasing a quick rod would be kind of a waste of $ (and plus the fact it's 100/50 W).

I'm a huge VH fan (if you couldnt tell) and I really liked the splawn quickrod because it seemed to have that plexi vibe but with a slight modern edge. In addition, I enjoyed the "feel" of the amp's attack for some reason when I was playing.

I basically want my next amp purchase to be <$2k, be 50W (or less), have great out of box tone, be able to cover a few different tones (i'm usually in cover bands), and be reliable.

What I usually do when I play live and need a clean tone - i just roll back the volume on the guitar, so I dont see me needing a clean channel for now. Maybe later in my career if I ever need an actually usable clean channel, i'd just tour with a separate little amp dedicated for cleans - so I will worry about that if that ever evolves.

What is your take on this, and what other amps would you suggest I look at ?

yeh/neh?
Click to expand...
There is a shit ton of other cool amps to check out. I bring up the wattage because you are not going to notice much volume difference between 50 and 100. IMO the 5153 100w is better at lower volumes than a Splawn. I mean honestly, the TSL and Quick Rod will be similar issue volume wise at 9 o'clock. It just needs to be cranked. If you don't need a clean channed and like the Splawn tone then a Competition might be the way to go. I just buy used amps so my point there is that there a lot of Quick Rods out there used, where not so much with the other Splawns. Check out the Splawn forums if you want to learn a bit more and see what is for sale there.

Conversely, you can get some nice low gain, blues, classic rock tones off the clean channel of a Splawn.

Yep - they have a Street Rod head now. I 'think' it will be a bit more vintage sounding from what I'm hearing. I guess that was another reason for me getting a Quick Rod. I wanted the vintage up to modern tones. So again, to me watts plays a big part of that.

A long with big transformers :lol: :LOL:

Check out the Egnater Renegade and Vengeance too. I love both of those amps.
Click to expand...


ok thanks! Yeah i am aware 50w vs 100w isnt a big difference in volume but that's why i seem to like the splawn "competition" model on paper atleast w/ the 25w capability. I played a quickrod in the store and it sounded good. As I understand it, (and i emailed scott @ splawn), the "competition" head is basically the quickrod's preamp with out the clean channel. I would like to try out a "competition" model somewhere in person but I can't find anyone near me who has one for sale. I might just have to buy it and hope for the best haha

the fact the competition can go to 25w is a big bonus for me - 25w would be noticeably quieter than a 100w head. I think the rule of thumb is you need 10x the wattage to equal twice the perceived volume? so a 10W amp would be half as loud as a 100w theoretically
 
colimofsmoke":9nj3g6dt said:
so how is the Quick Rod for downtuned stuff?
Click to expand...
It's the perfect type of amp for de-tuned. It is tight and upper mid voiced.
 
hmmm, good to know. thanks. only played the nitro, and briefly. thought it was ok. played next to a framus cobra it was was less fizzy/nice tube crunch, but seemed lacking somewhere. shoulda played it longer.
 
The clarity, note definition and articulation of the Splawn really helps IMO for teh dropped tunings. Not saying other amps can't do that too....the EVH 5153 is a great example. I like a lot of bass and it is very hard to get a Quick Rod to flub out. I'm talking EL34 here too.


:cheers:


PS: I've been running an EQ in the loop lately with the mids cut out a bit and it gets even tighter.
 
sounds great. been fighting the flub since I picked up a seven.
 
Splawn QR all the way.....I have a 2012 QR and it is the best sounding Splawn i have ever played.....The loop on the 2012 is awesome no tone loss at all and sounds great at low volume playing.. Scott has got the new ones kicking ass.... Have heard the both and the Splawn is the winner for sure not to mention Scott is the best in the business for customer service.... :rock:
 
If I'm looking for one that does the VH brown sound, which Splawn would you recommend?
 
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