Question on Fortin Cali, Friedman, and Cameron Mods

ampjunkie

ampjunkie

Member
So I've picked up a couple great amps lately. I bought Psychodave's Cameron, which sounded great. It was nice and fat, more gain than I could ever use. Eq-wise, I loved it. Got all the tones I want. Ultimately, I liked my Landry a bit more, (also had a clean channel and verb), so I sold it.

Next up, a Fortin Cali 1987 mod. Different beast. More along the lines of hair metal. Thing is, I've loved all the clips of the Cali's, but I'm not bonding with it. Too scooped for me. Is this normal, in comparison to a Cameron? The Carl Roa clips have the tone I want, but I'm having a hard time dialing it in. I have the mids almost dimed, and my Landry has more ....

Any recommendations on speakers, settings, would be great.

So ... the Friedman mods ... would I be getting fatter mids with those? I've also got my eye on a V-Rock.... they sounded KILLER at the Amp Show, and I love the Global control, to set the mids from low to high ... (I owned a GREAT voodoo-modded Marshall years ago, miss it....).

But for now, I wonder why I'm not getting the tones I've heard in other clips on this Cali....?
 
My main guitar is a Tyler with a pretty gainy humbucker in the bridge.

For speakers, I've tried Scumbacks and ASW 60s (similar to Scumbacks). Also have a 4x12 with 2 G12H30s and 2 CL80s (killer cab for most rock stuff).
 
ampjunkie":1f8mj3uw said:
Next up, a Fortin Cali 1987 mod. Different beast. More along the lines of hair metal. Thing is, I've loved all the clips of the Cali's, but I'm not bonding with it. Too scooped for me. Is this normal, in comparison to a Cameron? The Carl Roa clips have the tone I want, but I'm having a hard time dialing it in. I have the mids almost dimed, and my Landry has more ....

Any recommendations on speakers, settings, would be great.

But for now, I wonder why I'm not getting the tones I've heard in other clips on this Cali....?
Click to expand...

Hi ampjunkie,

I was using a Cornford 4x12 cab loaded with V30's for all the clips you've heard from me, including the Cali clip. Mic was a 57 going to a Neve 1073 or API pre amp ... all parts of the signal chain will have an affect on the tone.

Certainly the pickup and guitar count. The Suhr has PAF style pickups. (DSV), and the Les Paul has 57 classics ... not high output pickups. I don't think EVH was using high output pickups back in the day (?) ... and to me, the Cali has more of that classic VH tone that I love. Got to hear Scott's Cali mod at the ampfest, and it's awesome.

I did speak with Mike Fortin recently about the mods ... and he did mention everyone will come out different because each amp IS different. Not a "uniform" Marshall amp ... all the internals of the amp will have an affect on the tone. Caps, transformers, tubes, pots ... yada yada ... all of it ... having said that, I have loved all the mods I have heard from Mike. :)

Hope this helps ...

Carl
 
My Cali has a bit more mids than my Cameron did. If you compared those 2 side by side the Cameron would seem to be the more scooped one, but the Cameron & Fortin have a different mid structure so....Maybe something is wrong or maybe the Cali's mid voicing just isn't what you're looking for because I can't imaging the mids being cranked and it not having enough mids. :dunno: . The only Friedman mod I'm familiar with is the Angry Hippie and that's a totally different beast. The BE & HBE would be the closest, but I haven't played those so I can't comment.

I will say this, the Fortin took me a little longer to learn compared to the Cameron since it had more switches and what not. The eq seems to be a little more sensitive too.

My 4x12 has 75xV30. I don't have it in front of me, but this is basically what my settings are at:
Pres: 2:00
Bass: 10:00
Mids: 1:00
Treble: 1:00
Gain Switch: Middle
Tight setting
Gain 1: 4:00
Gain 2: 3:00
Bright switches - one is to the left and the other to the right, but I can't remember which off hand :D
Depth: 12:30
I also lightly boost it because I'm using some pretty low output pickups, but it's a pretty transparent.

Oh, if you can't open the Cali up I would set the gain switch to the right or left. You can get those sounding good at low volumes, but I find the middle gain setting doesn't really start sounding good until you're well past bedroom volume.

What are your settings? Cab, speakers, guitar, & pickups?
 
fearhk213":1vyzylvn said:
My Cali has a bit more mids than my Cameron did. If you compared those 2 side by side the Cameron would seem to be the more scooped one, but the Cameron & Fortin have a different mid structure so....Maybe something is wrong or maybe the Cali's mid voicing just isn't what you're looking for because I can't imaging the mids being cranked and it not having enough mids. :dunno: . The only Friedman mod I'm familiar with is the Angry Hippie and that's a totally different beast. The BE & HBE would be the closest, but I haven't played those so I can't comment.

I will say this, the Fortin took me a little longer to learn compared to the Cameron since it had more switches and what not. The eq seems to be a little more sensitive too.

My 4x12 has 75xV30. I don't have it in front of me, but this is basically what my settings are at:
Pres: 2:00
Bass: 10:00
Mids: 1:00
Treble: 1:00
Gain Switch: Middle
Tight setting
Gain 1: 4:00
Gain 2: 3:00
Bright switches - one is to the left and the other to the right, but I can't remember which off hand :D
Depth: 12:30
I also lightly boost it because I'm using some pretty low output pickups, but it's a pretty transparent.

Oh, if you can't open the Cali up I would set the gain switch to the right or left. You can get those sounding good at low volumes, but I find the middle gain setting doesn't really start sounding good until you're well past bedroom volume.

What are your settings? Cab, speakers, guitar, & pickups?
Click to expand...

Huh, this has me scratching my head. The Cameron definitely has more mids, by a large margin. Guess I'll check the bias.
 
i run the mids on mine at 12:00.
i have had mine for a little over a month and am just starting to get to know it.
i like the sat switch to the right/tight setting and no bright switches with 7strings lately and it is pure awesome.
 
My Fortin has a switch on the front for more/less mids. It scoops it a little bit in the less mids position. If i want it to sound close to the Friedman modded amp I'm borrowing i have to set it to the less mids position. And with my normal mid knob, i usually keep it halfway up. Plenty of mids on my amp. Not sure what's going on with your amp?
 
Psychodave were hearing the same thing. More lower mid chewiness with the Cameron.

My Landry seems to have the best balance in the mid for what I like.

I still have alot more tweaking before I throw in the towel.

Thanks for everyones input.
 
psychodave":2n4smzp6 said:
What spekers are you using?

It may very well be that you like the voicing of the Landry the best...which isn't a bad thing :thumbsup: The diode clipping may be the difference as well.
Click to expand...
Which one has the diode clipping?
 
psychodave":1vfed9h0 said:
Death by Uberschall":1vfed9h0 said:
psychodave":1vfed9h0 said:
What spekers are you using?

It may very well be that you like the voicing of the Landry the best...which isn't a bad thing :thumbsup: The diode clipping may be the difference as well.
Click to expand...
Which one has the diode clipping?
Click to expand...
Jose style amps like what Fortin, Cameron and Friedman do.
Click to expand...
Hmmm, never paid attention, but I wonder if my Rev2 has diode clipping? :confused:
 
if you like the Landry, then why chase after that modded Marshall tone?

The speakers play a huge part... I loved the tone I had with Greenback type speakers with my Cameron, but just didn't vibe when I used CL80s.

Then again, some people have had great experiences with CL80s and Camerons
 
Khoi":12yie10e said:
if you like the Landry, then why chase after that modded Marshall tone?

The speakers play a huge part... I loved the tone I had with Greenback type speakers with my Cameron, but just didn't vibe when I used CL80s.

Then again, some people have had great experiences with CL80s and Camerons
Click to expand...

I'm just exploring .... can't tell me none of you all have chased tones... I love the Landry, but I keep trying to see if I like something better.

The Landry really does have the modded Marshall tones.... just a different voicing.... it's a hot-rodded JCM800 type amp.
 
Based on what everyone is saying, I don't think there's anything wrong. It's just a different voicing.... I actually like it.... it's very open sounding, no mushed out chords.
 
I love my Landry too man.I believe Bill modeled the LS100 after a really great JMP head he had.It's got some Plexi character in it too.I just recapped mine with Sozos and its beastly.
 
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