Splawn Owners chime in!! (examination of gears 2 & 3)

[danjovi]

Ok.. so I lean towards Gear 1 cause it seems to naturally cut through a lot easier than gears 2/3.

Am i the only one that thinks/hears that you gotta push your treble/mids/presence more around 12:30- 1'clock/2'oclock range in gears 2/3 in order to get the amp to get the same cutting effect?

to my ears it makes the amp sound not as in your face and distant if you don't adjust EQs.

alls feel free to chime in! =]

I run my QR(el34) in gear 1(treble/mids at noon or slightly less) with the gain a little passed noon and my PM(6550 at Gear 2) (treble/mids atleast at 1 oclock, mids tiny bit less) with the gain at about noon. (double amp setup)

i use more presence(bout 1-2 o clock) with my PM since gears 2/3 are darker and the 6550 tubes. But thats ONLY in gears 2/3 . Gear 1 has a natural brightness on both amps.


Also what do most yall think is the biggest difference in terms of tone Gear 2 vs 3. (ill post my opinion after) =]

both my QR and PM are 2005 models (2nd version?) . And this Is not a complaint thread, cause i love all the gears, but it does take adjustments imo to get it to not sound all dark/blanket effect in 2nd and 3rd gear.

 

[mysticaxe]

I usually hang out on 2nd gear on my Competition. 1st gear doesn't tend to have the "oomph" I'm looking for. To me, it seems like 2nd gear acts like a boost on 1st gear, and 3rd gear is a boosted 2nd. I tend to use 3rd gear for heavier tones, but it also feeds back a lot more (if I'm not carefull). I haven't played with the knobs a whole lot on the other gears once I found a tone on 2nd that worked for my application, and it cuts just fine.

 

[Chubtone]

I love 1st Gear OD1 and OD2 and I like 3rd Gear quite a bit too. I use 1st Gear for the EVH, Warren, Lynch type tones and most of what I try to play. I like Gear 3 for Zakk and Sykes and Akira and more aggressive tones. For some reason I don't spend much time on 2nd Gear.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

I love 1st Gear OD1 and OD2 and I like 3rd Gear quite a bit too. I use 1st Gear for the EVH, Warren, Lynch type tones and most of what I try to play. I like Gear 3 for Zakk and Sykes and Akira and more aggressive tones. For some reason I don't spend much time on 2nd Gear.

I'm the same way, either 1st or 3rd I hardly ever use 2nd gear

 

[EightmanVT]

Interesting. I can't remember the last time I was on Gear 1 or Gear 3. I just sit on Gear 2 - adjust vol knob or gain as needed.... once in a while kick in a clean boost if I feel the need to cheat and round the lead town out a bit - which I'm not afraid to do. It's the Splawn sitting on Gear 2 that shows me how inadequate my JVM (at least my current one - #2 -- still waiting for GC to get me #3) is at cutting through in a mix. I play the JVM...and it sounds thin ...lacking punch....in a band setting - I will play the Splawn on the next song...and it just muscles through....

I probably should experiment with the other gears a little more....

 

[Odin]

I pretty much stay on Gear 1 OD1 (gain between 9 o'clock and 1 o'clock depending on the music) and hit the OD2 on some songs for a little more saturation. I wish Gear 1 was a little less bright, but I dial that out. Gear 2 is too bassy the way I EQ Gear 1 so I have to re-EQ if I go from Gear 1 to Gear 2. Gear 3 is cool but more gain that I use for anything other than playing around.

I play with a guy who plays a TSL100 and his amp literally disappears next to the Splawn no matter how loud he turns up. I have tried to like the JVM and every time I compare it to my Quickrod I'm left feeling like the JVM is weak. If I'd never played a Splawn I would be playing a JVM right now, but after playing the Quickrod the JVM just can't get close.

 

[mysticaxe]

I pretty much stay on Gear 1 OD1 (gain between 9 o'clock and 1 o'clock depending on the music) and hit the OD2 on some songs for a little more saturation. I wish Gear 1 was a little less bright, but I dial that out. Gear 2 is too bassy the way I EQ Gear 1 so I have to re-EQ if I go from Gear 1 to Gear 2. Gear 3 is cool but more gain that I use for anything other than playing around.

See, I have the reverse problem. I've dialed 2nd gear where I like it, so the amp sounds thin if I don't re-eq for 1st Gear. 3rd Gear works fine with the same EQ settings (for me). I think my gain is only at about 11 o'clock.

The other guitar player has used: XXX, 5150, 5150 II, Recto, and Randall V2 since I got the Competition. I think I ate the 5150 for lunch. The others, he EQ'd more to the lower mids, so we have separate space. The V2 just has stupid amounts of bass, so I tried to encourage him to use something else...

 

[Odin]

I pretty much stay on Gear 1 OD1 (gain between 9 o'clock and 1 o'clock depending on the music) and hit the OD2 on some songs for a little more saturation. I wish Gear 1 was a little less bright, but I dial that out. Gear 2 is too bassy the way I EQ Gear 1 so I have to re-EQ if I go from Gear 1 to Gear 2. Gear 3 is cool but more gain that I use for anything other than playing around.

See, I have the reverse problem. I've dialed 2nd gear where I like it, so the amp sounds thin if I don't re-eq for 1st Gear. 3rd Gear works fine with the same EQ settings (for me). I think my gain is only at about 11 o'clock.

Yeah, if I dial in 2nd Gear then 1st Gear is way too thin and bright with the same settings. Gear 1 is very much like a Marshall plexi in the sense that it has to be EQ'd different than most amps, you need to cut highs and add lows. Gear 2 and 3 are more like most amps in that you can set the controls pretty much anywhere and it sounds good. I tend to cut the bass back a little on Gear 2 because I'm from the "old school" of metal tone where the bands had a bass player to handle the low end.

The other guitar player has used: XXX, 5150, 5150 II, Recto, and Randall V2 since I got the Competition. I think I ate the 5150 for lunch. The others, he EQ'd more to the lower mids, so we have separate space. The V2 just has stupid amounts of bass, so I tried to encourage him to use something else...

Hire a bass player and he won't need to dial in those lows.

 

[mysticaxe]

The other guitar player has used: XXX, 5150, 5150 II, Recto, and Randall V2 since I got the Competition. I think I ate the 5150 for lunch. The others, he EQ'd more to the lower mids, so we have separate space. The V2 just has stupid amounts of bass, so I tried to encourage him to use something else...

Hire a bass player and he won't need to dial in those lows.

We have a bass player. I told him he made a mistake when he bought the amp. Then I told him that all of his other amps sound better. About 3 months later, he came to the same conclusion!!!

 

[Odin]

I never understood guitar players who want to play the bass part on their chugga chugga br3wTa7z skullfukker amp and cab. Let the bass player play the low parts and get that guitar tone happening in the midrange where it belongs. The LimpKornbizquickz thumb slapping the detuned E string style of guitar pretty much ruined guitar tone for an entire generation of players. The Splawn is the epitome of hard rock guitar tone, it cuts through the band mix with clarity and balls and sits right where it belongs in the mix.

 

[danjovi]

great post guys! thanks for chiming in =]

I love all the gears too! thank God i have 2 splawns for live shows so that I can play with 2 gears Got my promod dailed in on gear 2 for more low end umph and a lower mid sound.

While my QR is dailed in Gear 1 with less bass/gain little passed noon, good amount of midrange and letting that handle the articulate chords come through 100% (my PM is just as articulate, but its a different flavor)

I keep both my amps on OD1. I don't really like the OD2 engaged (on any amps that have that feature really)

yes im bragging, but i busted my ass to get my amps! =]

 

[danjovi]

by the way...

anyone else like 50 watt mode over 100watt?

My ears just seem to prefer 50watt mode. I can crank both my amps more live, get the tubes cookin quite a bit more(i end up using less gain) and to me it still feels like i still have a lot of punch/cut.

just something about how 50w mode feels too..

maybe i need to try them both @ 100watt mode =]