NAD & Review!

[7 Stringer]

Hey there man, how's it been?

I'm ordering another triple channel in about a week. I want he Regulus/ Gryphon. But now Im wondering about that GNL. How does it differ from the Gryphon? Does it still have those awesome growling mids?

I need to talk more with James to really make the perfect decision.

Chris

Heya Chris I'm good thanks mate.
Our 3 kids are old enough now that I'm starting to get some free time on my hands. So it's time to get back into playing and recording.
How about you?

I'm just on the road at work right now.
I'll respond in detail about the Gryphon vs GNL preamps later on.
Cheers man.

Ha ha, good to hear. I get ya on the kids groing up and freeing some time. I'm there now too!!!!! I just started skydiving, damn man, what a rush. Getting my license next week, did half an hour of wind tunnel last night woah, that's cool. Now I'm ready for my 9 free fall jumps, alone. Did a couple tandem jumps last week. Next is the real thing. Anyways.....

No prob on the comparison, I'm curious about your thoughts on this, always liked your tone on the Zombie album. Still listen to it. I'm really anxious to get another Peters on the go.

Thanks Gav,

Chris

 

[firejack]

Ha ha, good to hear. I get ya on the kids groing up and freeing some time. I'm there now too!!!!! I just started skydiving, damn man, what a rush. Getting my license next week, did half an hour of wind tunnel last night woah, that's cool. Now I'm ready for my 9 free fall jumps, alone. Did a couple tandem jumps last week. Next is the real thing. Anyways.....

No prob on the comparison, I'm curious about your thoughts on this, always liked your tone on the Zombie album. Still listen to it. I'm really anxious to get another Peters on the go.

Thanks Gav,

Chris

Whoa, that's awesome! You crazy guy. You got any vids? That'd be cool to see.
I don't think I could jump out of a plane. They'd have to push me out.

Thanks for the kind words mate. Good to hear the music is still getting some mileage ha!
Between the Gryphon and the GNL, the differences are mostly subtle.
The GNL has that Gryphon tonal DNA, but with a little leaner footprint and a bit more gain/aggression/attack.
It can be dialed back to imitate the Gryphon's warmth, but it doesn't quite get as thick.
You know how the Gryphon has that thick, chewy, molasses sound? Well the GNL gets close, but doesn't get it exactly.
Close enough for me though.
But that growl that I love in the Gryphon's voicing is definitely present in the GNL.
And it has the same sort of open high-end as the Gryphon.

Also, much like the Gryphon the GNL is still very responsive to input.
With the right guitar/pickup the GNL can get very close to the Gryphon sound.
I have a clip at home of my Charvel superstrat with a Seymour Duncan PATB2 Distortion that gets a very thick chewy tone through the GNL.
It's fairly different sounding to my last few vids/clips of my GNL.
I'll post it up later in the week.
Hope this helps man.

I also found an old post you may have missed that outlines the differences I found between the Hydra, Gryphon and GNL:

"My experience of the Hydra VS Gryphon/GNL...

HYDRA:
For my gear and the way I play, the Hydra is the perfect lead amp.
Thick, juicy and rich. Liquid and effortless to play. Single notes really sing when playing solos through the Hydra.
It's got more saturation and compression than the Gryphon, and as a result it sounds more sticky and elastic.
If I could afford a triple channel Peters amp, I'd get the Hydra as the lead channel. No contest.

For the way I play rhythm and riffage though, the Hydra isn't exactly my thing.
I like to dial my amp's gain down and hit the preamp hard with highly resonant guitars and med-high output pickups.
And way before I tried the Hydra, I found my perfect rhythm sound in the Gryphon with this approach.
Since discovering that sound, I've found that no other amp compares.
The Hydra is still a great sound for rhythm tones, but for me and the way I play it's just a little too thick and grunty.


GRYPHON/GNL:
The Gryphon and GNL both have a very similar tonal footprint with the key difference being the GNL has more gain and a leaner low-end.
Both have a plinky attack and open, strident highs in comparison to the Hydra's rich bloom and slightly attenuated highs.
And the mids on the Gryphon/GNL have more of a growl going on rather than the Hydra's grunt.
So when it comes to rhythm and riffage, all these characteristics of the Gryphon/GNL variants just work the best for me and my equipment.

The Gryphon/GNL is no slouch in terms of lead tones, but after owning the Hydra I can attest that the Hydra does it better.
When it comes to soloing and single notes, the Gryphon/GNL can feel a little stiff. I have to work harder when soloing on the Gryphon/GNL.
On the other hand, the Hydra seems to coax the notes out from under my fingers and has more complexity to the tones overall.

I'm more of a rhythm/riff guy than a lead guy, so that's where my priorities lie.
Presented with only one high-gain channel option, I chose to compromise on the lead tones and stick with the Gryphon/GNL channel.
But if I could afford a triple channel or wanted to prioritise soloing , I'd choose the Hydra without a second thought."

 

[rottingcorpse]

I have a vega/gryphon I got from gsxrbusa's wife at 1am on an on-ramp of an interstate in San Antonio...seriously. LOL!

Dude knows how to design and make a great amp. Mine has gold lion kt88's and crushes. It has both blue and orange l.e.d's.

My next purchase will be a chimera/fsm preamp to run into the return of the vega/gryphon.

 

[7 Stringer]

Ha ha, good to hear. I get ya on the kids groing up and freeing some time. I'm there now too!!!!! I just started skydiving, damn man, what a rush. Getting my license next week, did half an hour of wind tunnel last night woah, that's cool. Now I'm ready for my 9 free fall jumps, alone. Did a couple tandem jumps last week. Next is the real thing. Anyways.....

No prob on the comparison, I'm curious about your thoughts on this, always liked your tone on the Zombie album. Still listen to it. I'm really anxious to get another Peters on the go.

Thanks Gav,

Chris

Whoa, that's awesome! You crazy guy. You got any vids? That'd be cool to see.
I don't think I could jump out of a plane. They'd have to push me out.

Thanks for the kind words mate. Good to hear the music is still getting some mileage ha!
Between the Gryphon and the GNL, the differences are mostly subtle.
The GNL has that Gryphon tonal DNA, but with a little leaner footprint and a bit more gain/aggression/attack.
It can be dialed back to imitate the Gryphon's warmth, but it doesn't quite get as thick.
You know how the Gryphon has that thick, chewy, molasses sound? Well the GNL gets close, but doesn't get it exactly.
Close enough for me though.
But that growl that I love in the Gryphon's voicing is definitely present in the GNL.
And it has the same sort of open high-end as the Gryphon.

Also, much like the Gryphon the GNL is still very responsive to input.
With the right guitar/pickup the GNL can get very close to the Gryphon sound.
I have a clip at home of my Charvel superstrat with a Seymour Duncan PATB2 Distortion that gets a very thick chewy tone through the GNL.
It's fairly different sounding to my last few vids/clips of my GNL.
I'll post it up later in the week.
Hope this helps man.

I also found an old post you may have missed that outlines the differences I found between the Hydra, Gryphon and GNL:

"My experience of the Hydra VS Gryphon/GNL...

HYDRA:
For my gear and the way I play, the Hydra is the perfect lead amp.
Thick, juicy and rich. Liquid and effortless to play. Single notes really sing when playing solos through the Hydra.
It's got more saturation and compression than the Gryphon, and as a result it sounds more sticky and elastic.
If I could afford a triple channel Peters amp, I'd get the Hydra as the lead channel. No contest.

For the way I play rhythm and riffage though, the Hydra isn't exactly my thing.
I like to dial my amp's gain down and hit the preamp hard with highly resonant guitars and med-high output pickups.
And way before I tried the Hydra, I found my perfect rhythm sound in the Gryphon with this approach.
Since discovering that sound, I've found that no other amp compares.
The Hydra is still a great sound for rhythm tones, but for me and the way I play it's just a little too thick and grunty.


GRYPHON/GNL:
The Gryphon and GNL both have a very similar tonal footprint with the key difference being the GNL has more gain and a leaner low-end.
Both have a plinky attack and open, strident highs in comparison to the Hydra's rich bloom and slightly attenuated highs.
And the mids on the Gryphon/GNL have more of a growl going on rather than the Hydra's grunt.
So when it comes to rhythm and riffage, all these characteristics of the Gryphon/GNL variants just work the best for me and my equipment.

The Gryphon/GNL is no slouch in terms of lead tones, but after owning the Hydra I can attest that the Hydra does it better.
When it comes to soloing and single notes, the Gryphon/GNL can feel a little stiff. I have to work harder when soloing on the Gryphon/GNL.
On the other hand, the Hydra seems to coax the notes out from under my fingers and has more complexity to the tones overall.

I'm more of a rhythm/riff guy than a lead guy, so that's where my priorities lie.
Presented with only one high-gain channel option, I chose to compromise on the lead tones and stick with the Gryphon/GNL channel.
But if I could afford a triple channel or wanted to prioritise soloing , I'd choose the Hydra without a second thought."

Well that was instructive, thanks mate!!!!! Ha ha , love these terms you guys use.LOL

My initial idea was to go Gryphon/Hydra but i think he doesn`t do the Gryphon/GNL combined with the higher gain channels,well that`s per his site, but i think he mentioned it to me once. Something like the higher gain channels would bleed in the Gryphon/GNL and take away the more vintagy vibe they have. Don`t quote me on this though.

I will be getting in touch with James next week and start talking about all of this. Gryphon/Hydra would rule though, but we`ll see.

Now if i can get my Sig X to a new home, my triple would be payed off completely, just returned my Carvin JB200C and waiting on my refund to send that off to James to get this going.

Thanks Gavin for your input, helping me in the right direction, one step at a time

Chris

 

[jd267]

That amp looks cool dude I here they sound even better!!

 

[hstlaurent]

It's awesome. I tried Firejack's setting on it. And I haven't changed them since. He posted them in one of is pickup thread review here on right talk. I'm using 6550 in it right now. I will try with el-34 soon. With the 6550, I can get a nice breakup sound when I let chords rings. It's really neat.

Hey man how's things? The GNL is a badass amp!
Try the Electro Harmonix EL34's biased a bit colder than usual to tame their saturation.
Gets that Winged C dry percussive flavor without the exorbitant price tag.

Things are great man. I hope you're doing well too! Thanks for the EL34 tip. I will try it out for sure! Winged C tubes are out of my prince range now. . Thanks for sharing your amp settings by the way. Great tones!

 

[firejack]

Well that was instructive, thanks mate!!!!! Ha ha , love these terms you guys use.LOL

My initial idea was to go Gryphon/Hydra but i think he doesn`t do the Gryphon/GNL combined with the higher gain channels,well that`s per his site, but i think he mentioned it to me once. Something like the higher gain channels would bleed in the Gryphon/GNL and take away the more vintagy vibe they have. Don`t quote me on this though.

I will be getting in touch with James next week and start talking about all of this. Gryphon/Hydra would rule though, but we`ll see.

Now if i can get my Sig X to a new home, my triple would be payed off completely, just returned my Carvin JB200C and waiting on my refund to send that off to James to get this going.

Thanks Gavin for your input, helping me in the right direction, one step at a time

Chris

No worries Chris, always happy to talk shit about gear.
Haha yeah I like to use colorful descriptions.
And I also dig when folks do the same in reviews and such.

Btw Gryphon and Hydra don't work together either I think.
If I remember correctly way back when I was on the verge of ordering either a dual lead preamp or a triple channel amp, I asked about using the Gryphon and Hydra preamps together and JP advised me they can't be had in the same amp.
Let us know how it goes man.

Things are great man. I hope you're doing well too! Thanks for the EL34 tip. I will try it out for sure! Winged C tubes are out of my prince range now. . Thanks for sharing your amp settings by the way. Great tones!

No worries at all mate, good to hear.
Cheers!

 

[flimz]

Thanks guys! This really is a cool amp, as many of you who own a Peters amp already know. His quality and customer service are the best Ive encountered. I highly recommend his products. Unfortunately Im in need of selling most of my amp gear right now, and this one is now available if anyone is interested. Let the pain begin!!