Has anyone ever compared Modded Marshalls side by side:

[sparkle**]

Has anyone ever compared Modded Marshalls side by side:
I mean cameron, rockstah, friedman, Fortin, BFG, Bray, etc....

I am asking because do you find you are all in the same "ballpark" with slight differences....or
not even close... I guess the all can have that..."JOSE" feel...?

Just asking...

 

[Gainzilla]

about 2 years ago, I played Nicks Cameron Ocean mod and Scotts Fortin Cali mod and both were insanely good, probably the best of either guys mods that Ive played. In the end, Scotts Fortin was the one I preferred but thats only due to my personal tastes and style. That isnt a knock against that Cameron though, that thing smoked....

The Fortin was OUTSTANDING!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever compared Modded Marshalls side by side:
I mean cameron, rockstah, friedman, Fortin, BFG, Bray, etc....

I am asking because do you find you are all in the same "ballpark" with slight differences....or
not even close... I guess the all can have that..."JOSE" feel...?

Just asking...

Right now, I have a Cameron Hi/Lo Gain Jose, a Cameron Aldrich and that trippy Cameron Standel thing and I compare them all the time. These three amps are very different sounding.

Steve

 

[glip22]

Has anyone ever compared Modded Marshalls side by side:
I mean cameron, rockstah, friedman, Fortin, BFG, Bray, etc....

I am asking because do you find you are all in the same "ballpark" with slight differences....or
not even close... I guess the all can have that..."JOSE" feel...?

Just asking...

I haven't played all of these but I think it would be safe call to say not even close and there are too many variations on different mods to make this call. You can have great one from one modder and a just ok one from another, etc. It's all relative. If you have never eaten steak, a shitty steak might be the best steak you have ever tasted but someone that has eaten the best steak would throw up the steak you ate that you thought was great. I love trying new amps but with this said I really stopped looking after I played the Camerons and I own three and all three are stellar yet very different from one another with inherent similarities such as staying together under high volume and gain, a specific feel to them, articulation and dynamics. I am sure there are great examples from all of them though.

 

[Red_Label]

Most of my "experience" comparing modded Marshalls (and other great amps) has been through Todd Duane's (Treetopper) YouTube vids. Love his stuff out there.

An example...

Hmmm... It just occured to me -- seems like this site would be the perfect place for a guy like Todd.

 

[glip22]

Most of my "experience" comparing modded Marshalls (and other great amps) has been through Todd Duane's (Treetopper) YouTube vids. Love his stuff out there.

An example...

Hmmm... It just occured to me -- seems like this site would be the perfect place for a guy like Todd.

Todd has been a member for a long time.

 

[Red_Label]

Todd has been a member for a long time.

Certainly makes sense. Just never noticed any posts from him.

 

[sjk]

Todd has been a member for a long time.

Certainly makes sense. Just never noticed any posts from him.

His name on here is Ampaddict. And yes his clips are indeed killer!

 

[Red_Label]

His name on here is Ampaddict. And yes his clips are indeed killer!

Good to know!

Always great tone and playing!

 

[warhead78]

I have and they can sound vastly different, even from the same builder.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Yes, at a Fortin fest years ago we had a few, a Fortin Cali, a Jose. Once I borrowed a few, a modded Friedman, the Cameron that Danhops is selling and my Fortin Cali I had.

To be VERY brief I'd say this....


Metal....Fortin Cali mod.

Van Halen....Cameron Jose.

ZZTop....Friedman BE.

 

[JTyson]

I've only compared what I own, but they are in fact very different, and deadly effective. I'm leaning away from diodes at the moment, I liked them for a bit, but have gotten away from them lately
Mikes Cali++ has spoiled me, it has twin sets of diodes if you want them but you'll never need them. Its a hydrogen bomb with speaker outputs

 

[guitarmike]

First off, as others have said, it is all in what you are after; the amp i like the best you may hate and vice versa.

That being said, I have or had the following amps:

Lee Jackson modded Marshalls
BFG modded Marshall
Friedman modded Marshalls
Cameron Atomica and CCV.

The tone I am after: Poison Flesh and Blood through Metallica Black album.

The Lee Jackson failed, I have owned 8-10 of his amps and they do not cut it at anything less than stadium volumes. Bass flubs out, weak tone.

BFG modded Marshall - It just didn't work for me. Brian's tone and mine aren't the same. Excellent work, great service, just not the sound in my head.

Friedman - Dave hears the same sound I do. Both amps I had were right there getting the tones i want.

Cameron - The Atomica has the tone, its right there. CCV is a little different but right there.

To the OP, each amp family I had was way different from each other with the exception of the Cameron/Friedman stuff. Both brands can get you the chocolate, woody gnarly tone I seek.

I still own a 1975 Friedman modded Marshall and the CCV. I only sold the Atomica to fund the CCV, I did not want to sell it, it sounded great.

Sparkle, pick the tone you want, then find some clips that get you in the neighborhood. Then ask more questions. The clips online do not do the amps justice. Finding the right amp takes time and if you do it right you will purchase a few to try and resell as you learn. Owning them and playing then is almost a requirement to finding your sound.

 

[joepete77]

I have had a few different ones over the years including a Cameron Jose, a lee Jackson , Dave bray, and a Friedman., etc.. I still have a bray and a Friedman ks. I mainly use my bray mod as my go to amp. The work is very clean and the amp is dependable and not noisy and most importantly it sounds killer even down to whisper volume levels and all the options are actually real world useful and worth getting. There's definatly some great choices out there these days though and there's a few that will please most.

 

[Marshall Law]

Ive' had a Bray, Friedman kitchen sink, and 2 bfg modded amps, a Marshall and a JCA 20,with another Marshall due in this morning, I can't wait, Brian is coming over around 10:30 am to deliver it now that is service,(clips soon), they are all great amps, that being said, I don't have the Bray anymore, Brian modded it and made it awesome. and I sold the Friedman. and I would like to also point out, that Brian's mods aren't just a 1 size fits all, he does lots of different mods and features and will voice his amps, however you like, he really isn't happy unless you are happy

 

[guitarmike]

Ive' had a Bray, Friedman kitchen sink, and 2 bfg modded amps, a Marshall and a JCA 20,with another Marshall due in this morning, I can't wait, Brian is coming over around 10:30 am to deliver it now that is service,(clips soon), they are all great amps, that being said, I don't have the Bray anymore, Brian modded it and made it awesome. and I sold the Friedman. and I would like to also point out, that Brian's mods aren't just a 1 size fits all, he does lots of different mods and features and will voice his amps, however you like, he really isn't happy unless you are happy

Every modder has their take on a given tone. for example, get 5 guys to do a "jose" mod and all 5 amps will sound different. As a player you need to find the one that sounds best to you and work with that guy. Having worked with Brian, I agree he really cares about making sure his customers are happy.


Here is what happened when I sent an amp to Brian to get modded:
I wanted him to clone my Friedman modded Marshall. He did a good job modding the amp but it sounded like a BFG mod, not Friedman (go figure ).

The amp sounded good but it was not what I wanted. The work done was all first class.
It is not fair to ask one modder to copy another, I should have sent the amp to Friedman if I wanted it to sound like a Friedman.

This is why it is so important to make sure the amp modder's core tones are ones you want, is that if you live across the country it can cost $100 to send an amp back for further tweaking, then $100 back to you. Neither the customer or modder can afford to send amps back and forth until it sounds right.

I recommend Brian and Dave to anyone. They are good people, care about their customers, and do very good work. Just do your homework before sending your amp to anyone.

 

[dawnofdreamx97]

about 2 years ago, I played Nicks Cameron Ocean mod and Scotts Fortin Cali mod and both were insanely good, probably the best of either guys mods that Ive played. In the end, Scotts Fortin was the one I preferred but thats only due to my personal tastes and style. That isnt a knock against that Cameron though, that thing smoked....

The Fortin was OUTSTANDING!!!!

yea! actually it was my aldrich mod, that is still the best amp I own and for sure the best sounding of "home boys" mods

 

[guitarmike]

about 2 years ago, I played Nicks Cameron Ocean mod and Scotts Fortin Cali mod and both were insanely good, probably the best of either guys mods that Ive played. In the end, Scotts Fortin was the one I preferred but thats only due to my personal tastes and style. That isnt a knock against that Cameron though, that thing smoked....

The Fortin was OUTSTANDING!!!!

yea! actually it was my aldrich mod, that is still the best amp I own and for sure the best sounding of "home boys" mods

Some amps just have "it" and sound incredible modded. When you get one of them, you never let go.

 

[ampjunkie]

I've owned them all at one point or another ... The Cameron's all sound fantastic in clips, but they haven't worked well for me personally.

The Friedman BE/HBE was awesome.... I thiink I liked the C45 mode best.

The Cali was awesome, but I found it tricky to dial in, I was constantly tweaking. I'd get these awesome tones, and then not be able to get them back. The clipping modes were useless.

The PWE Event Horizon was a killer sound ... a bit bass heavy for me, but with the bass low, I'd get some killer hot Marshall sounds to SLO type tones. Cleans were equally awesome. In the end it was not as traditional marshall tone as I would like.

I currently have a BFG-modded Metro Marshall. In JCM800 mode, it reminds me of the Landry but missing something. In AIC mode, it does a convincing DIRT tone. And AFD mode, again pretty convincing Guns tone.... Of course, the straight Metro tone is a fantastic plexi tone. So it does alot, but not one of them blows my mind.

Owned a Voodoo modded JCM800 years back that I loved.... it was so long ago now that I can't say how it compares. I *LOVED* the global control for setting the mids just right.

Owned a Splawn modded Marshall w/a Bray PPIMV. Great amp for Foreigner/Priest late 70s JMP stuff. In fact it kicked ass for that.

Still I think my favorite is the Landry LS100 ... Like everyone says, there's certain voices that were for certain people. That amp was the rock tone in my head.

 

[londaxe]

Has anyone ever compared Modded Marshalls side by side:
I mean cameron, rockstah, friedman, Fortin, BFG, Bray, etc....

I am asking because do you find you are all in the same "ballpark" with slight differences....or
not even close... I guess the all can have that..."JOSE" feel...?

Just asking...

I wouldn't say they're all in the same ballpark.

Of the ones I have (not many)

Friedman KS (w/ SAT & FAT) mod - many sounds available, but it still sounds like a great Marshall on all of them. probably my favorite.

Surreal VH mod - this doesn't have that many sounds available to be honest, but it does what it's supposed to and sounds great. closest to the fair warning tone.

Cameron Jose mod - this has a more modern sound I guess. the voicing of this amp is a bit different from the above two. I seem to either love or hate the sound of this amp...might just be the guitar I'm using with it

I just sold a Ceriatone AFD #35 which I suppose is a modded Marshall type amp. That was different from all of the above...I found it a bit over the top to be honest, but it was a good sounding amp