VIDEO / AUDIO: 2010 LA Amp Fest - Hemispheres Recording

[Digital Jams]

Not hurt at all James and would not question your ability as I always take your advice when you talk recording! Yeah in the end we all would love to have whatever we own just kill, we are human

Thanks again for the effort and would have loved to have been there just to take in the scene!

 

[glassjaw7]

James, can't express how cool this whole thing is. Thanks man!!! This is the best collection of clips/videos to ever be put together!
Now some thoughts after watching every vid in full:
Mid Gain The 12 watt Mojado, Dr. Z, and 1974x were awesome!!!(only stock Marshall I liked at all TBH)
-Randall RM 50 extacy and Mashall modules surprised me, sounded great!
-Bad Cat and Ugly get honorable mention

Classic Gain
-The Friedman Dirty Shirley and Reeves '78 just dominated! That Reeves is really hard to beat, especially for the cost.
-Event Horizon sounded phenomenal here, (but not so good in the mod squad)
-Goldfingers and Ugly were great!

Mod Squad
I was really surprised here...amps that sounded killer on the live stream didn't sound as good to me, and ones that I passed on sounded great when properly mic'd.
-The Wizard Modern Classic crushed everything in my honest opinion I didn't think I would say that, but it was just perfect! Many of the other amps sounded small and "grainy" in comparison.
-H&K Trilogy surprised the heck out of me! Sounded great and at way less $ than the Triamp!
-'74 Friedman and new Marsha were killer, no surprise there.
-The Bones and Event Horizon did not sound good at all...something weird going on with the low end or something...sounded like a broken speaker. Kind of a letdown, as I was really looking forward to hearing the Bones. (maybe it wasnt dialed in correctly?)
-CCV and Custom 75 sounded really cool, but to my surprise (and relief) I liked others a bit more.
-Chupa seems pretty badass for the money.
Liquid Metal
-Friedman Naked and VH4 were f'ing awesome! Cut, clarity and huge sound! (and they have some similarities in tone)
-Mesa stuff was just ok...I wanted to like it more, but I guess I'm spoiled by my Friedman recto!
-The Ubers sounded killer! I didn't like them on the live stream, but just goes to show proper mic'ing makes all the difference!
-Brown Eye was killer for metal, right on that line between 'brown' and modern.
-Triamp was cool, but sounded how I remember it sounding in person: a bit buzzy and loose on the bottom. I liked the Trilogy more in mod squad.

If I had to choose just one amp that blew me away more than any other, it would be the Wizard! It just sounded amazing and huge! No grainy high end, just thick and cutting and big sounding!
These are just my opinions (but I'm right )
Awesome job everyone involved! Thanks!!!

Here is a Bones clip that imo sounds like what I have always played,

It must have been crazy setting all those amps up though and trying to get the best out of each!!!!! I do not envy that job nor will I complain, killer stuff for sure!

I know some people are going to be weirded out or hurt if their amps don't sound as good as other amps. The Bones was dialed in by it's owner not us. I messed with it some but couldn't get the low end right, I tried and I know how to dial in an amp. Even gregg tried adjusting the gain structure, Hey you know it's one day with one amp, it isn't gospel.

Oh for sure man, I understand. I wasn't knocking the quality of any of the amps. Just stating my opinions on what I heard. Trust me, I know how much even a small tweak to one of the settings can affect an amp's tone.
It just sounded like the Bones and the Event Horizon (mod squad vid only) had too much low end that was farting out the cab. I've heard both amps sound good so I'm not ripping the amps.

James, I want to make it clear that we all really appreciate you going through the frustrating, sleepless days and nights to put this thing together for all of us. You're a big part of the reason why this is such a cool forum!

 

[James Lugo]

Yeah I just found out from the owner of PWE that the Event was dying at the event. I guess the tubes were bad. I would have not kept it in the video if I knew, I took it off the soundclick.

 

[Anonymous]

Steve(sah5150)Your amp sounded really good. Especially the high gain tone. Loved it!

Out of the Mod squad pt 1 I liked the Plexrod, Friedman and Trilogy in that order....great job on your amp Steve!

Thanks dudes! I'm just really proud to have had my amp be a part of this.... and your comments really make all the hard work I put in on it worthwhile. To be able to showcase my amp with those of many of my favorite builders is a dream come true for me... I just wish I could have been there... Cool to see Mark Cameron dialing my amp in in my absence though!

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks to James for making this happen! You ROCK, man - and your hard work is much appreciated.

Now I gotta go and check out all the other amps!

Steve

 

[dstroud]

been scanning throught the videos - awesome job James!!!! Lots of great sounding amps - hard for me to figure out what I like the best!

 

[PaulyPanacea]

man...so many great amps!! i always miss the cool shit being on the East Coast

my favs:
Diezel VH4 - of course
Friedman Marsha- wow! good stuff
Wizard
Friedman Dirty Shirley
Bogner Twin Jet Purple Mod

thanks again James & all the cats that "donated" their amps..

us guys on the East Coast MUST answer sometime..LOL

 

[mightywarlock]

ok, i feel better now...i had a hard time playing the Racto (dialed in too bubbly for my style), but all the other amps I played ok on. thought I was too sloppy, but it sounded alright.

cool!

 

[magh8]

nice gonna take a while to watch them all....markV got smoked???

didn't sound right to me after the first chord

 

[jerrydyer]

Bummer. thats not the lead channel. Mark f'd up. thats the crunch channel.

I like a lot of those. I like Steves , its deifferent. The Hughes and the Reeves were cool.

so many good en's

 

[Nico]

Bummer. thats not the lead channel. Mark f'd up. thats the crunch channel.

I like a lot of those. I like Steves , its deifferent. The Hughes and the Reeves were cool.

so many good en's

Yeah I agree, the Reeves was reaaaaally cool!

 

[duesentrieb]

Must have been like visiting" toys are us" - for my son

Excellent !!!

The Henning sounds very cool, congrats, Mr. Henning !!

 

[Nico]

Bummer. thats not the lead channel. Mark f'd up. thats the crunch channel.

I like a lot of those. I like Steves , its deifferent. The Hughes and the Reeves were cool.

so many good en's

Ok, so then there was no lead channel recorded for the CCV?

What a pitty, reaaaally wanted to hear it...

By the way I was really dissapointed with the sound from the Fortin Bones. From other clips I heard it is a killer amp. But it sounded worse than my fender with the tonebone pedal...

The Wizard was an amazing surprise! Incredible sound, does anybody know what transformer if A or C is in there???

Friedman rocked the house as usual with ALL its amps! I loved the Dirty Shirley and the Naked. The new Marsha is just epic, it will be mine one day...

 

[James Lugo]

Bummer. thats not the lead channel. Mark f'd up. thats the crunch channel.

I like a lot of those. I like Steves , its deifferent. The Hughes and the Reeves were cool.

so many good en's

Ok, so then there was no lead channel recorded for the CCV?

What a pitty, reaaaally wanted to hear it...

Jerry was talking about the Surreal not the CCV.

 

[JerryP]

My favorites so far from what I listened to were the Wizard and the Jose. I've been planning to put together an ampfest here and I can talk to my local studio about maybe doing something similar for the east coast guys.
Jerry

 

[James Lugo]

On another note I just cut a solo for the intro to a video and started with the Marshall and went to the Ceriatone Plexi which was much better for the part. After finishing it I plugged into the Reeves Super 78 and it was perfect, so I recut the part. Dialed the drive down and cranked the gain and master and it just sang and sat perfect in the track. What an incredible amp.

 

[PaulyPanacea]

My favorites so far from what I listened to were the Wizard and the Jose. I've been planning to put together an ampfest here and I can talk to my local studio about maybe doing something similar for the east coast guys.
Jerry

hey Jerry
if u plan on doing an East Coast one...im up for a road trip!!! i bet i can get a few guys from PA to that would come. Keep me posted.

 

[ConcreteVampire]

Yeah I just found out from the owner of PWE that the Event was dying at the event. I guess the tubes were bad. I would have not kept it in the video if I knew, I took it off the soundclick.

Haha, James yoi beat me to it! I was gonna Say in its defence it caught fire after a few riffs, hope it was just tubes. That sucked, hate to watch amps go south.

 

[JerryP]

My favorites so far from what I listened to were the Wizard and the Jose. I've been planning to put together an ampfest here and I can talk to my local studio about maybe doing something similar for the east coast guys.
Jerry

hey Jerry
if u plan on doing an East Coast one...im up for a road trip!!! i bet i can get a few guys from PA to that would come. Keep me posted.

I had talked to Mike Fortin about an ampfest at some point and he sounded like he might like to come too. This could be fun!
Jerry

 

[Erock]

wow, that was awesome, thanks so much for taking the time to do this James. Everything sounded pretty amazing. Gotta admit, that VH4 sounded pretty killer. Also loved the Wizard, but no surprise there. That Marshall Jose sounded badass too. Gah, too many of them sounded killer, would be easier to think about ones I didn't care for.

Jerry, would love to make it to an ampfest if you plan one, I'm only a couple hours away I think.

 

[ejecta]

Of the ones with more gain..... that Wizard killed IHMO.