Chris O
Well-known member
Couple new amps! I'm on a roll, but I'm going to have to roll into retirement from amp buying for a bit...
New (to me) Splawn Quick Rod! It's a 3-pre model I got here recently from "Inca Roads" - thanks, Rick - it was a pleasure to deal with you!!
1997 Marshall JCM 900 Dual Reverb 100/50 Watt 2x12 combo in great condition. I had a 50 Watt head years ago, but didn't know the ins/outs of amps well then, and really never used it to it's potential. Throw an SD1 in front of this sucker, and it rips! Local CL purchase - sure as heck didn't need it, but after going to see it, it was hard to pass up.
Instead of writing a book, I'll c&p an email I wrote to a buddy this morning...
AND...since I was "lazy" last night and skipped any form of exercise, I took some time to get to know all three amps again.
I will say this - the Jet City w/the Friedman mods is a diamond, and not necessarily "in the rough". That little sucker hangs in with the big boys with NO problems. I'm sure that might not be the case at L-O-U-D gig volumes, but for "too loud for the house" volumes, it's GREAT. Both the
The Chupa is a hotter amp than you would think. Hotter in a "sizzle" way than the Splawn at "mortal" volumes. I played around with the MXR/CAE line boost and put it in a couple spots, and it works great! Much quieter than the Ceriatone buffer, although not what I would quite call "quiet". I don't know that I've had an amp with the palette of tones on hand that this one has - it easily rivals the JVM, but with arguably better tones available FOR MY TASTES. I think a person could easily cover 3 decades of Van Halen tones with this amp, no boost necessary at all, but a boost/OD will give it an extra voice if you really needed one. As simple as this amp seems, it's actually a little complicated to dial in tones with all the option available with the voicing and gain/cut/bright switches. The manual was certainly helpful to get a base tone.
The Splawn is simply a monster. It seems to have one basic voice that doesn't change much with the "gears", and the EQ is a lot like Marshall - no big changes throughout the range of the knob. I run the volume about 9:00 with the volume pedal in the loop on the 50 watt setting. The 100 watt setting does open it up a bit for sure - I'll spend more time in that setting one my Suck Box comes in. It has a great mid that I like quite a bit - more than a dimed Marshall, less than a dimed Mesa. I pretty much run everything at about 2:30 or so, except for bass, which is at about 10:00. I still need to spend more time with this amp to figure out the sweet spots.
The JCM 900 is also a good amp, and will probably benefit from a little loop volume control. It's "typical" of the series in that it's a little hot on the high end, and tough to dial that out. I think that if I send it in to Trace @ Voodoo to get it modded, I'll get that addressed right away. Otherwise, it sounds great with the front end getting hit with the SD1, and the clean channel is decent for a Marshall. If I used the type of reverb it has, I'm sure it would be great as well, but I'm not a big spring-type reverb fan. The tones I get out of this remind me of what I was trying to get with my Mesa F-100 combo.
All three amps take effects well - rack or pedal. The Chupa was problematic at first, but I think I have that sorted out now.
I thought I'd really miss the Spider Valve, but I don't...yet. I have a boatload of Marshall-y stuff to dig into. Can't lose with any of these amps.
So there ya go. Here's the whole shooting match. The only thing missing is a Greenback-loaded cab. That's the last piece of the puzzle.
New (to me) Splawn Quick Rod! It's a 3-pre model I got here recently from "Inca Roads" - thanks, Rick - it was a pleasure to deal with you!!
1997 Marshall JCM 900 Dual Reverb 100/50 Watt 2x12 combo in great condition. I had a 50 Watt head years ago, but didn't know the ins/outs of amps well then, and really never used it to it's potential. Throw an SD1 in front of this sucker, and it rips! Local CL purchase - sure as heck didn't need it, but after going to see it, it was hard to pass up.
Instead of writing a book, I'll c&p an email I wrote to a buddy this morning...
AND...since I was "lazy" last night and skipped any form of exercise, I took some time to get to know all three amps again.
I will say this - the Jet City w/the Friedman mods is a diamond, and not necessarily "in the rough". That little sucker hangs in with the big boys with NO problems. I'm sure that might not be the case at L-O-U-D gig volumes, but for "too loud for the house" volumes, it's GREAT. Both the
The Chupa is a hotter amp than you would think. Hotter in a "sizzle" way than the Splawn at "mortal" volumes. I played around with the MXR/CAE line boost and put it in a couple spots, and it works great! Much quieter than the Ceriatone buffer, although not what I would quite call "quiet". I don't know that I've had an amp with the palette of tones on hand that this one has - it easily rivals the JVM, but with arguably better tones available FOR MY TASTES. I think a person could easily cover 3 decades of Van Halen tones with this amp, no boost necessary at all, but a boost/OD will give it an extra voice if you really needed one. As simple as this amp seems, it's actually a little complicated to dial in tones with all the option available with the voicing and gain/cut/bright switches. The manual was certainly helpful to get a base tone.
The Splawn is simply a monster. It seems to have one basic voice that doesn't change much with the "gears", and the EQ is a lot like Marshall - no big changes throughout the range of the knob. I run the volume about 9:00 with the volume pedal in the loop on the 50 watt setting. The 100 watt setting does open it up a bit for sure - I'll spend more time in that setting one my Suck Box comes in. It has a great mid that I like quite a bit - more than a dimed Marshall, less than a dimed Mesa. I pretty much run everything at about 2:30 or so, except for bass, which is at about 10:00. I still need to spend more time with this amp to figure out the sweet spots.
The JCM 900 is also a good amp, and will probably benefit from a little loop volume control. It's "typical" of the series in that it's a little hot on the high end, and tough to dial that out. I think that if I send it in to Trace @ Voodoo to get it modded, I'll get that addressed right away. Otherwise, it sounds great with the front end getting hit with the SD1, and the clean channel is decent for a Marshall. If I used the type of reverb it has, I'm sure it would be great as well, but I'm not a big spring-type reverb fan. The tones I get out of this remind me of what I was trying to get with my Mesa F-100 combo.
All three amps take effects well - rack or pedal. The Chupa was problematic at first, but I think I have that sorted out now.
I thought I'd really miss the Spider Valve, but I don't...yet. I have a boatload of Marshall-y stuff to dig into. Can't lose with any of these amps.
So there ya go. Here's the whole shooting match. The only thing missing is a Greenback-loaded cab. That's the last piece of the puzzle.
