VIDEO / AUDIO: 2010 LA Amp Fest - Hemispheres Recording

[jcj]

Wow!!! Lots of cool stuff here. I only listened to the Mod Squad offerings and was really stoked to hear Stevesamp for the first time and it sounded great!!! The biggest surprise was how much I liked the Splawns, especially the Nitro and I hate Splawns LOL( Disclaimer, I hated everyone that Iever played in tone and feel but I have definitely heard thes sound good when played by others.) That said, the Notro was my favorite out of all of them

The Fortin Bones was underhwelming which was another surprise because Ive prettty much dug everything that Ive heard and played of Mikes and the Bones that I played out in LI sounded better If I remember.

Loved the Cameron Aldrich alot better than the Jose and IVe heard better CCV's but that one didint suck, just didnt sound as cool as the Aldrich to me...

The Friedmans were cool as well but Ive forgotten which ones I liked and didnt like...

Cant wait to check out the others, especially the mid gain offerings..

Oddly enough, that CCV was the proto from the NAMM show vid's everyone loved. It just didn't translate well. Honestly, I thought it sounded really shitty on the recording. Not so, in the room. Ehhh...who cares Still my favorite amps by a wide margin

It was a GREAT time, and James and crew were very gracious hosts!

Thanks again fellas!

I agree. I believe I have played that CCV... Either way, I have recorded the CCV many times and all of the recordings come out good. Make me wonder what went wrong?

Again, a big thanks to James for doing this...

Yeah man, I had high hopes for the CCV and there were 2 in particular that I played(could have been the same one for all I know LOL) that sound great to me. However, they still cant compare to any of the Cameron mod Marshalls that I have played IMO. As some one said, we all have different ears. Standouts are an Aldrich head that Nick owns and a HG Jose that Danny Hops owns( I think its a HG Jose, not sure)...

Digi Scott has an INCREDIBLE Cali Mod SLP from Mike Fortin, It would have been interesting to see how it would have faired with everything else there...

Kage

I agree on the ccv, but i looked at the settings and i know it sounded killer in the room but with those settings to tape would be a little dull, I run the presence and treble much higher going to tape and less bass and punch, it tightens it up, along with backing down the gains to about 9:30 / 10 oclock with the gain switches to the left... to me going to tape thats the CCV sound in the room... all things aside though , capturing 80 or 90 amps in 1 day is a HUGE TASK! and they did an insane job... i think everyone should keep that in mind...

and yea dude my Aldrich is the best Cameron mod i've ever heard / played or owned. There is 1 setting that is just balls to the wall crazy... its super clean inside and has a tube loop and footswitchable 2nd channel / gain... she's a lifer...

Funny thing....I NEVER run both switches left. Mark likes that setting

I go bright 1 left, bright two right, mid clipping, gain at around 12 o'clock on each. Usually like low voltage with those settings.

Punch is around 8 o'clock and Bass around 9. Presence at 1 or so, middle and treble around 1, as well.

For the record, that amp is absolutely killer, not that you'd know it from the video/audio clips.

I wouldn't trade it for any amp there. Seriously.

 

[zz666]

Thanks for doing this amazing job. Love the Jose and Friedman amps, and thought the Aldrich sounded great till all the mids were dailed out!

 

[VoodooChild24]

Hate to say it, but I think the Jet City JCA100H pwned the SLO100.

IMHO...

Agreed. I thought the Jet City 100w sounded great.

That's how I felt too. The JC100 sounded better than the SLO. Thanks James for doing this and much props!
Steve, great job on your amp. Sounded really great.

 

[Random Hero]

Would have been nice to hear more cleaner tones. Carmen Ghia sounded great.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Thanks for this James...lots of work, much appreciated!!!!

Curious, what pickups in your LP?

Mark

Sunburst - WCR American Steele
Black - WB Fire

Excellent job on a practically impossible task. It can take me a few hours to tweak an amp and use a few guitars to get 3 or 4 'nice tones'. You guys rolled a lifetime of amps thru and got it all on tape for us to benefit from. That was amazing.

Buy a lottery ticket or two. You are due some good karma for all that work you guys put in.

 

[James Lugo]

Thanks for this James...lots of work, much appreciated!!!!

Curious, what pickups in your LP?

Mark

Sunburst - WCR American Steele
Black - WB Fire

Excellent job on a practically impossible task. It can take me a few hours to tweak an amp and use a few guitars to get 3 or 4 'nice tones'. You guys rolled a lifetime of amps thru and got it all on tape for us to benefit from. That was amazing.

Buy a lottery ticket or two. You are due some good karma for all that work you guys put in.

Thanks man, the response to this has been massive and at times a little negative but I do respect everyone's opinion and understand why some feel the way they do. But I will say that many of the amps that didn't record well also didn't sound to hot in person for whatever reason (dialing, tubes, bias etc..), from all the years of recording while I was tracking some of them I knew it wasn't going to sound to great and I thought to myself 'some people are going to trip when they hear this and get offended'. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

 

[lolzgreg]

Agreed that the Henning Plexrod 100W was one of the best sounding amps there.

 

[Anonymous]

Agreed that the Henning Plexrod 100W was one of the best sounding amps there.

Steve

 

[James Lugo]

Hey guys I have taken some real criticism and some very hurtful things have been said. I know some of you guy's favorite amps didn't sound so great but I can't control everything. I did my best to show the amps in a good light. Anyway, I'm considering pulling everything off the web, I know people have probably downloaded stuff but I make records for a living and for my crew's recording skills to be questioned in a public forum isn't good for my profession. Bottom line.

I ask one thing out of respect for me, if I take it down if you've downloaded it please to not post it on the net or on a forum, just keep it for yourself.

James

 

[hunter]

Hey guys I have taken some real criticism and some very hurtful things have been said. I know some of you guy's favorite amps didn't sound so great but I can't control everything. I did my best to show the amps in a good light. Anyway, I'm considering pulling everything off the web, I know people have probably downloaded stuff but I make records for a living and for my crew's recording skills to be questioned in a public forum isn't good for my profession. Bottom line.

I ask one thing out of respect for me, if I take it down if you've downloaded it please to not post it on the net or on a forum, just keep it for yourself.

James

As stated on HRI, please don't.
http://www.hugeracksinc.com/forum/viewt ... 1&start=72

 

[King Guitar]

Hey Guys,

I am pretty damn disappointed in the users who blew James up on this. He put his blood, sweat and tears into doing this shoot out for you guys. He spent his own money and countless hours of studio time to give you guys the shoot out and a few whiners are going to ruin it for everyone. James is a big boy and didn't complain or rat out the users who have been hammering him but if he did I would get rid of you in a heartbeat for the better good of the forum. It is beyond me people who sit on their ass and don't do anything but Monday morning quarterback and complain.

The fact is James is a well respected studio owner and engineer and has made a bunch of killer sounding recordings. If your "horse" in the shoot out sounded like shit, it sounded like shit. Not James fault, some of the amps werent up to the test. There were others that sounded amazing. No problem with the recording or technique. He recorded what he was getting out of the amp and honestly put it out there good or bad which was the whole point of the shoot out.

This forum and its ownership respect James Lugo as an engineer and a stand up member and my forum is a better place for him being here.

Too bad a few crybabies ruin it for the membership. I will respect James wishes and unstick the thread but I am pissed. My 2 cents.

Brad

 

[zz666]

oh man, that sucks - a big fuck you to all those negative assholes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - NO RESPECT!
Again a huge huge thank you James, I hope you put those video's up again sometime

 

[hunter]

Yeah that sucks. James, job well done! Sorry it ended with such a bitter aftertaste.
We would still be more than greatful if you'd ever revise your decision and put the stuff back up!

 

[rupe]

How about outing the crybabies, get rid of their sorry, pathetic asses, and let the other 99% enjoy the work that was done? It sucks when a few douchebags are allowed to ruin it for everybody else.
James...thank you for the hard work, I thought the shootout kicked ass.

 

[mentoneman]

i cannot imagine anyone saying stuff so harsh that JL had to pull the vids. and if he's worried that the negative comments will reflect poorly on his engineers and studio then that is the wrong attitude to take and will probably fuel the troll fire.

but this is a good opportunity to put this on a dvd set and sell them to recoup some of his money and get compensated for his time and effort instead of giving it away and being pounded for free.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Wow. JL puts out a ton of effort, cash, time, hassle, and just because a particular amp(s) didn't perform well, he's had to kill the videos.

I'd like to see what the naysayers and negative comment posters could do better than James did with over 80 amps. What a bunch of ungrateful pussies with twisted thongs in their butts. Go take a Midol/Pamprin and insert your favorite tampon/vibrator into the far rear opening, sit on it and rotate, you'll feel better.

 

[jimistheman]

Hey Guys,

I am pretty damn disappointed in the users who blew James up on this. He put his blood, sweat and tears into doing this shoot out for you guys. He spent his own money and countless hours of studio time to give you guys the shoot out and a few whiners are going to ruin it for everyone. James is a big boy and didn't complain or rat out the users who have been hammering him but if I did I would get rid of you in a heartbeat. It is beyond me people who sit on their ass and don't do anything but Monday morning quarterback and complain.

The fact is James is a well respected studio owner and engineer and has made a bunch of killer sounding recordings. If your "horse" in the shoot out sounded like shit, it sounded like shit. Not James fault, some of the amps werent up to the test. There were others that sounded amazing. No problem with the recording or technique. He recorded what he was getting out of the amp and honestly put it out there good or bad which was the whole point of the shoot out.

This forum and its ownership respect James Lugo as an engineer and a stand up member and my forum is a better place for him being here.

Too bad a few crybabies ruin it for the membership. I will respect James wishes and unstick the thread but I am pissed. My 2 cents.

Brad

Totally agree with you, Brad. This is a major bummer! James did this out of the goodness of his heart, and I'm really upset it's come to this. I just want to express my thanks to James for doing this in the first place!

 

[Giga]

Over here we have a saying that, translated, says something like: if you are a big tree you'll likely catch a lot of wind. One might add that apparently you're a tough sob or else you wouldn't have become that big. So James, I'm sure you're big enough to handle criticism and very well able to weed out the remarks that were founded on non-issues.

The bigger the project gets and the more people are involved the higher the chances not everyone stays happy, so be it. To be honest that was a fear of mine when I realized how big you were going to do this. Sadly it became truth...

I don't think however that this will hurt your business. I think artists that hire you or your studio have a much better understanding of all the really important factors involved in producing a good endresult and could care less about what some whiners think you should or shouldn't have done.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride including the live stream during the recordings and I can only imagine how much blood, sweat and tears went into this.

So, thanks a bunch to you and everybody involved !

Giga

 

[Audioholic]

Really sad, would hate to lose such an awesome reference tool. The recordings are stellar! Such a great way to compare and listen to each amp. Please don't let a few douche comments ruin and take away all the time and effort, and amazing reference tool. Heck, people on guitar forums take shots at great players like Stevie ray vaughn, and tons of top notch players, and people critisize greatness all the time on these dang forums. your recordings are great, and your finished products are top of the line, I seriously doubt a few comments would distract from what you do and what you come up with. Anyone who doesn't understand the time and work put into something like is clearly does not do audio and music for a living. Amazed that you could take the time out for such a task, truly greatfull!

Thanks again for all you did, amazing!

 

[RACKSYSTEMS]

This is a shame. A big F you to all the whiners. There is no absolute fair way to do this, there will be criticism no matter what way its done. What was not fair ? Same speaker and mics for all the amps. I have been around major records being recorded for the last 22 years. Every record for distorted guitars used a v30 or 25 watt greenback in a marshall style cab period. No other kind of speakers or cabs at all. In fact most of the time it was a vintage 30. For one a amp should not be that hard to dial in a good tone and the way it was miced obviously worked for many many of the amps. So happy scrooge day to f'n everyone who caused this.