MadAsAHatter
Well-known member
This one was a planned purchase that I was just waiting until the end of the year to buy. Purchased brand new from Rob DeAntonio of Jaded Faith Mods. I'm not exactly sure how long ago, but Rob branched out from doing MTS mods and designed an amp from the ground up. It was initially designed for Tom Monda. When I was talking to him about it he said he took all the years experience doing the MTS mods and incorporated it into this amp. It is the culmination of his life's work and you can tell how much thought he put into it.
These are the specs copied from his website
The clean channel really reminds me of the way a Trainwreck circuit sounds and operates. For the most part it remains clean but max the channel volume and you get some really good grit. Depending on how yo have the tone stack set you can clean thins up more or push it into something a little more dirty. I'm not much of a pristine clean player so I didn't spend much time here. What I can say is the clean channel is more than just an afterthought like on some high gain amps. It is 100% useable and if that's your style I think you'd be fully satisfied.
The dirty channel to me is where this amp is at. The heart of this channel is in the Vari-Q and mid knobs. It's basically set bass and treble to taste then dial in the tonal character with the Vari-Q and mid knob. The compression and Mid shift switches further dial in the tone. This is where you can go from having a perfect 60's plexi sound, make a few adjustments, then be slamming it with full on brutal modern metal. With compression off, mid shift on, and Vari-Q from full counter clockwise to about noon is where the classic rock sound are. From about 10-2 on the Vari-Q is where you get the 80's-90's type hard rock & metal tones. Using the mid shift and compressions helps dial in early 80's to late 80's. After 2 o'clock on the Vari-Q kick on the compression and start getting the modern metal tones. Anywhere in those mixes of tones you can hit the boost for an extra little push in saturation if needed. There really isn't much it can't cover.
A couple of discoveries I made right off... the comp switch doesn't just squish your sound into tonal sterility. Yes you get compression, but to me it acts more to tighten up the bass; like if you were to put a boost out front. Th other thing it the channel 2 volume knob. Up to about noon it increases volume (duh). But once you start pushing it past noon it really starts to thicken up the sound. It's a much different effect that turning up the master. The master just adds the volume the higher you go. The channel volume will thicken things up more as you crank it. If you start cranking the channel volume then turn on the comp you get a nice thick tone yet tight sound.
another thing to note is how quiet this amp is. Especially with high gain I'll run a noise gate at least out front and sometimes in the loop. I forgot to turn the noise gate on and didn't even realize it. I only noticed some noise when I was messing around and maxed out the gain. Then I realized the noise gate was off.
One last thing to note... Unlike a lot of other amps you actually get a footswitch with your purchase. That actually made me really happy when I saw it in the box.
Overall Rob did an outstanding job on the design. Like I mentioned earlier how some amps try to cover everything but end up sounding mediocre at best. The EVO is quite the opposite. It can cover a lot of ground ad sound exceptional while doing it.
I'm not going to have a chance to do any clips soon. Until then check out the video on Rob's site. It's pretty much 1:1 of how it sounds in person.
https://evoamps.com/tm50-tom-monda-model
Now the really good stuff.... Pictures.
These are the specs copied from his website
- 50-Watt all tube head
- Two channels
- Handwired in the USA
- Individually autographed on the rear panel by Tom Monda of Thank You Scientist
- 2 x 5881/6L6WGC power tubes
- 3 x 12AX7 preamp tubes, 1 x 12AT7 phase inverter tube
- Bright and Midshift switches provide tonal variety
- Boost and Comp switches add saturation and sustain
- Channel 1 - Volume, Bass, Middle and Treble
- Channel 2 - Gain, Bass, Middle, Sweep, Treble and Volume
- Channel 2 features our "Vari-Q" circuit for complete control of the critical midrange content
- Dual independent Post-Phase Inverter Master Volumes (PPIMV's)
- Transparent series effects loop
- No global negative feedback provides a highly interactive playing experience
- 4, 8 and 16 ohm speaker outputs
- Proprietary EVO transformers from Mercury Magnetics
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Dimensions: 22" (W) x 8.5" (H) x 10" (D)
The clean channel really reminds me of the way a Trainwreck circuit sounds and operates. For the most part it remains clean but max the channel volume and you get some really good grit. Depending on how yo have the tone stack set you can clean thins up more or push it into something a little more dirty. I'm not much of a pristine clean player so I didn't spend much time here. What I can say is the clean channel is more than just an afterthought like on some high gain amps. It is 100% useable and if that's your style I think you'd be fully satisfied.
The dirty channel to me is where this amp is at. The heart of this channel is in the Vari-Q and mid knobs. It's basically set bass and treble to taste then dial in the tonal character with the Vari-Q and mid knob. The compression and Mid shift switches further dial in the tone. This is where you can go from having a perfect 60's plexi sound, make a few adjustments, then be slamming it with full on brutal modern metal. With compression off, mid shift on, and Vari-Q from full counter clockwise to about noon is where the classic rock sound are. From about 10-2 on the Vari-Q is where you get the 80's-90's type hard rock & metal tones. Using the mid shift and compressions helps dial in early 80's to late 80's. After 2 o'clock on the Vari-Q kick on the compression and start getting the modern metal tones. Anywhere in those mixes of tones you can hit the boost for an extra little push in saturation if needed. There really isn't much it can't cover.
A couple of discoveries I made right off... the comp switch doesn't just squish your sound into tonal sterility. Yes you get compression, but to me it acts more to tighten up the bass; like if you were to put a boost out front. Th other thing it the channel 2 volume knob. Up to about noon it increases volume (duh). But once you start pushing it past noon it really starts to thicken up the sound. It's a much different effect that turning up the master. The master just adds the volume the higher you go. The channel volume will thicken things up more as you crank it. If you start cranking the channel volume then turn on the comp you get a nice thick tone yet tight sound.
another thing to note is how quiet this amp is. Especially with high gain I'll run a noise gate at least out front and sometimes in the loop. I forgot to turn the noise gate on and didn't even realize it. I only noticed some noise when I was messing around and maxed out the gain. Then I realized the noise gate was off.
One last thing to note... Unlike a lot of other amps you actually get a footswitch with your purchase. That actually made me really happy when I saw it in the box.
Overall Rob did an outstanding job on the design. Like I mentioned earlier how some amps try to cover everything but end up sounding mediocre at best. The EVO is quite the opposite. It can cover a lot of ground ad sound exceptional while doing it.
I'm not going to have a chance to do any clips soon. Until then check out the video on Rob's site. It's pretty much 1:1 of how it sounds in person.
https://evoamps.com/tm50-tom-monda-model
Now the really good stuff.... Pictures.
