Ocean or jose

[Anonymous]

which of the two is the more aggressive amp?

was thinking i would get the aldrich, but i've heard cameron is doing even newer mods with different circuitry/approach.

or is the fortin cali or the cherry bomb/plex rod the be all/end all for that live steve vai jose tone from whitesnake late 80s/early 90s.

 

[glpg80]

You would be hard pressed to find an ocean these days. I only know of two people that own them currently and both are RT members. Neither are wanting to sell them.

You'd be better off running a suhr OD100SE+ or PT100 for that whitesnake tone for sure. At least IMHO.

 

[glip22]

Ocean is less aggressive than a Jose. I have one Ocean and 6 Jose circuits, CCV included. Both are two gain stages and cathode follower. Aldrich is four gain stages. For the tone you listed Aldrich. Jose is a cleaner gain, smoother, bigger low end, rounder tone, more low mids. Aldrich is upper mids and highs with a thinner more cutting tone. Think of Jose as a club and Aldrich as a sharp blade. Don't confuse this to mean the Jose will be better live. According to Mark, the Aldrich fills out the mix more and cuts more. It hits the speakers at the right frequencies. Jose/Ocean great for recording. Just ask Lugo who bought the one I owned that Mark did for Dan H on here. I have found most speakers prefer the Aldrich. The Joses I have owned pummel the speakers in a way that is not always great. It makes them beg and you can hear them whining about it. Higher watt speakers included but I prefer the lower watt. Mark told myself and some other guys the Ocean was just a Jose. It was named that after Doug A made a comment about the sound of a Jose amp. I think that Jose was a little different. One gain control. Mark seems to have found the schematic or drawing for it so he can do them now. Basically a twist on his Jose mod

 

[ibenhad]

I have Dan H's old Jose LG/HG with a channel on the front and one on the back and it is pretty damn aggressive. From mild wild at the flick of a switch. Played it through a 2 x 12 yesterday with greenbacks and was dialing in all kinds of 80's sounds. Was also able to get it pretty modern sounding too. Mine has the SAG dial, bass freq and boost, the 5/6 way switch and a couple of more options on the back and push pulls on the front. Really cool amp.

 

[richardt4520]

I've had an Ocean, Jose, and Aldrich. Out of the particular ones I had, the Jose was the most aggressive. It reminded me of the 3rd channel on the Engl SE670 and Invader100 I had frequency-wise with that fast biting attack (in a good way) but it was thicker, smoother, and richer sounding. Great sounding amp! My Aldrich, which sounds softer and more vintage sounding than the Jose, seems to be a little different from the ones I hear online, which sound more modern and aggressive-which is what glip was saying. The Ocean I had was the smoothest with the least attack and cut. It was a pretty dark sounding amp and I was never able to dial in any sizzle or bite. Not a bad thing, because it was clear all the way from the bottom not of my 7 strings to the top and each note popped out and was consistent. Great lead amp! But that was a custom build and it didn't sound like the Ocean clips I hear online to me. The Aldrich is my favorite out of the ones I had, which is why I kept it.

 

[glip22]

I've had an Ocean, Jose, and Aldrich. Out of the particular ones I had, the Jose was the most aggressive. It reminded me of the 3rd channel on the Engl SE670 and Invader100 I had frequency-wise with that fast biting attack (in a good way) but it was thicker, smoother, and richer sounding. Great sounding amp! My Aldrich, which sounds softer and more vintage sounding than the Jose, seems to be a little different from the ones I hear online, which sound more modern and aggressive-which is what glip was saying. The Ocean I had was the smoothest with the least attack and cut. It was a pretty dark sounding amp and I was never able to dial in any sizzle or bite. Not a bad thing, because it was clear all the way from the bottom not of my 7 strings to the top and each note popped out and was consistent. Great lead amp! But that was a custom build and it didn't sound like the Ocean clips I hear online to me. The Aldrich is my favorite out of the ones I had, which is why I kept it.

A lot of variation on his mods. I have an Aldrich he did in 93 before it was called the Aldrich. Mark looked at the guts and said it was exactly like his original John and Doug used and that it was one of the first ten amps he ever modded. It's quite a bit different from my newer Aldrich he did for Josh. Both much more agresssive than any Jose/CCV I owned. Personally I am not a big fan of diode clipping. It's fun for awhile and I like what it does for the tone but it gets old on me quick. The Aldrich never gets old. My 2 are super quiet also. The one form 93 is as quiet as any amp I heard, considering 4 gain stages.