Played a Splawn Quickrod

[Wayniac3]

I had some time to kill while I was waiting to pick up an order yesterday, so I wandered into the local GC. They had a Fortin, a couple of Freidman JJ's, and a Splawn quickrod.

I grabbed a Gibson studio LP, plugged into the Fortin... it was OK, but I wasn't blown away. Didn't really get to spend a ton of time with it, so I probably didn't hit the full potential of it.

Next was the Splawn.. holy crap it sounded & felt great under the fingers. I tried one a few years back (Nitro I think?), and it was stiff as a board - lifeless, fought every note.. This thing - nope! Very good clean (not Fender, but clean), decent gain (AC/DC) and the lead stuff was a nice VH-ish sustain without a lot of hair. Then you could also dial in some hair.

I think it was an older one, footswitchable clean, OD1/OD2 and solo boost, full/half power. - no gears. I had to walk away to keep my "no new gear" promise. I looked online last night and it had sold.
Was a pleasant surprise from my prior experience with Splawn, but aligned with some Kemper profiles I have played.

 

[grimmchaos]

I've always wanted to try out a Splawn, this isn't helping!

 

[SoooRad]

Quickrod's rock. One of the easiest amps to get a great sound out of I've used.

 

[Fusionbear]

Love the Quickrod. I just sold mine, but have, and will keep my Streetrod. It's the little brother to the Quickrod. In my FM9T, it's the model I use most for OD and Lead tones.

 

[sandman]

I’ve owned two Quickrods. Loved them. Should have kept one. Lol

 

[Rackman]

I've had two of them at various times - one with a gear switch and one without.

They sounded OK but nothing special IMO. The features were OK but again nothing special. Just a 2-channel amp without enough options to play a full cover set without pedals.

Totally generic nothing-special amp.

 

[311boogieman]

Gear 2 / OD2 / Treble on '0' baby

 

[hellzington]

Plate driven amps are sooooo fun to play. You should check out the Bogner Snorkler 50 too.

 

[csguy0]

Plate driven amps are sooooo fun to play. You should check out the Bogner Snorkler 50 too.

Did you end up keeping your Snorkler? I love mine - gets really saturated and cleans up beautifully. The Blue channel takes boosts really well - I'm fond of the JHS moonshine which helps hold the bass together with the clean blend.

 

[hellzington]

Did you end up keeping your Snorkler? I love mine - gets really saturated and cleans up beautifully. The Blue channel takes boosts really well - I'm fond of the JHS moonshine which helps hold the bass together with the clean blend.

I did not because I have an order in for one of the new Snorkler Deluxe’s

 

[csguy0]

I did not because I have an order in for one of the new Snorkler Deluxe’s

Dang, I can't find any information on that one... must be special Youtuber privilege

 

[Tone Monster]

I've had two of them at various times - one with a gear switch and one without.

They sounded OK but nothing special IMO. The features were OK but again nothing special. Just a 2-channel amp without enough options to play a full cover set without pedals.

Totally generic nothing-special amp.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with this. They sound fine, but there is nothing special going on with that circuit. Kind of a 2D tone for lack of better words.

 

[hellzington]

Dang, I can't find any information on that one... must be special Youtuber privilege

That would be cool but no, haha. It was shown on Instagram by a Japanese shop a few months ago. I'm not sure if it's still up. It is 100w, has one more optional gain stage, and a few other things unknown right now.

 

[LP Freak]

I never understood people who buy amps they’ve never heard and know very little about

 

[hellzington]

I never understood people who buy amps they’ve never heard and know very little about

I mean, it’s not like it’s a complete unknown. We all know “that sound.” I’ve owned a Cantrell-modded Fish into a VHT 2150, and a BFG Snorkler Modded Marshall, and a Bogner Snorkler 50. This is a 100w, tricked out version of the Snorkler 50. Sort of like the Helios and the Helios Eclipse. So it feels like I know what l’m chasing and what I’m walking into here, but yeah I don’t know much about it, that’s true.

Good news is I don’t have any money put down and my SW rep will call me when he has more details or when it’s in, and then I can choose to keep or cancel the order. So it’s not like I’m locked into anything. If I decide it’s not that great and I want the OG Snorkler 50 they’re around all day at $2200.

 

[napalmdeath]

I've had a few. I have to say, the most recent one I bought and ordered new, (50 watt Competition in the mini headshell), did NOT sound like the older ones. I'm not sure what it was, maybe the iron he's using now, don't know, but I was underwhelmed. I've had much older ones, even one that had the 3 gears as an experimental mod before it was a production mainstay. It was a 2005, no loop volume, and it was ungodly loud. It was a 100 watt Quickrod. I've always been a Competition fan. Life's too short for clean channels.