WCR IronMans vs MCP Detroiters > Ibanez JS1200 > Peters GNL

[firejack]

This time it's my Ibanez JS1200 with a set of WCR Iron Man pickups installed. The JS1200 isn't as aggressive sounding as my Ibanez RG550 Genesis, but the Iron Man pickups manage to give it some extra growl and attack.

And for comparison sakes, here's the JS1200 with a set of Motor City Detroiter pickups.

Yes the mic is better in the first vid, but you still get a fair idea of the sonic differences between the two pickup sets.

 

[Drkorey]

Def more beef with the Ironman from what I can tell. Did you get Jim to make a 53mm trem spaced bridge pup for you or did you just put his "regular" build 50mm model in there?

 

[Beandust]

Cool man. The mC detroiters sound good! Nice playing/legatto!

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Nice

What's the full signal chain?

 

[firejack]

Def more beef with the Ironman from what I can tell. Did you get Jim to make a 53mm trem spaced bridge pup for you or did you just put his "regular" build 50mm model in there?

Yeah definitely beefier. The Iron Man adds some intense chunk and growl while retaining a percussive quality in the attack. I had Jim do a 53mm F-Spaced bridge. I know it's only cosmetic, but it drives me nuts when the poles don't align with the strings.

Cool man. The mC detroiters sound good! Nice playing/legatto!

Thanks BD.

I still like the MC Detroiters, but I've gravitated to higher output pickups lately. I have an order with Wade to wind me a Solution Bridge. And I'm working on convincing a friend of mine to sell me his two Hell Baby Bridge pickups that are just sitting around in his spares drawer collecting dust. If I can obtain them I'll be able to compare to the Jim Wagner Iron Man Bridge.

I also have Wade winding me a Hot Head/2nd Degree BB set right now for one of my guitars to satisfy my lower output needs.

Cheers.

 

[firejack]

Nice

What's the full signal chain?

Heya Mike.

The rhythm, riffing and dry leads are guitar straight in.
When I'm playing leads with delay added, it's my Providence Chrono Delay with my Catalinbread Naga Viper for a little added juice.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Nice

What's the full signal chain?

Heya Mike.

The rhythm, riffing and dry leads are guitar straight in.
When I'm playing leads with delay added, it's my Providence Chrono Delay with my Catalinbread Naga Viper for a little added juice.

You gotta be shittin me...that amp is that tight straight in! Wow...Now I really need to grab a Peters. Almost grabbed a Gryphon a few weeks back, but chickened out. And then thought about grabbing that Chimera here but wasn't sure if it's be right for thrash and early death metal tones. I should probably look into the FSM too cause I see those pop up fairly regular.

 

[7 Stringer]

Damn i love that Peters tone!!!! You can tell just by listening. It also looks bad ass with the matching cabs. Love your rig man, very classy.

Not too shabby playing also.......


Damn nice shops you got going.

 

[firejack]

You gotta be shittin me...that amp is that tight straight in! Wow...Now I really need to grab a Peters. Almost grabbed a Gryphon a few weeks back, but chickened out. And then thought about grabbing that Chimera here but wasn't sure if it's be right for thrash and early death metal tones. I should probably look into the FSM too cause I see those pop up fairly regular.

Yeah as long as the guitar you plug in is resonant and inherently tight in the lows, you'll get a nice tight tone out the other end. Each Peters amp I've owned had this revealing quality about it. Moreso than other amps I've owned or tried. It's almost like having a dud-guitar detector. Not a problem if you try your guitars in-store before buying them. Plus you can dial in an average guitar with the right pickup swap. Or boost. I have some guitars that are really tight and percussive that don't need a boost into the GNL. Then I have others that aren't as percussive and that's when I'll use a boost to quicken the attack. But the GNL won't respond well to anything subpar. If the guitar is too dark and has a rubbery attack, then there's no saving it. Well you could try extreme EQ settings, but it won't sound the same as plugging in a guitar that sounds at least good acoustically (hopefully I'm making sense?). And then when you nail the magical combination of a great sounding guitar with the perfect match pickups, whoa boy.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

You gotta be shittin me...that amp is that tight straight in! Wow...Now I really need to grab a Peters. Almost grabbed a Gryphon a few weeks back, but chickened out. And then thought about grabbing that Chimera here but wasn't sure if it's be right for thrash and early death metal tones. I should probably look into the FSM too cause I see those pop up fairly regular.

Yeah as long as the guitar you plug in is resonant and inherently tight in the lows, you'll get a nice tight tone out the other end. Each Peters amp I've owned had this revealing quality about it. Moreso than other amps I've owned or tried. It's almost like having a dud-guitar detector. Not a problem if you try your guitars in-store before buying them. Plus you can dial in an average guitar with the right pickup swap. Or boost. I have some guitars that are really tight and percussive that don't need a boost into the GNL. Then I have others that aren't as percussive and that's when I'll use a boost to quicken the attack. But the GNL won't respond well to anything subpar. If the guitar is too dark and has a rubbery attack, then there's no saving it. Well you could try extreme EQ settings, but it won't sound the same as plugging in a guitar that sounds at least good acoustically (hopefully I'm making sense?). And then when you nail the magical combination of a great sounding guitar with the perfect match pickups, whoa boy.

Thanks for the detailed response I've got a Mayo that I bet would rock through most any Peters based on your comment. I used to think my Carvin was an articulate/tight sounding guitar (well it is...don't get me wrong there) but when played side by side with the same amp/settings with the same pickups there's a pretty drastic difference in favor of the Mayo (Mayo being tighter/more articulate).

 

[firejack]

Damn i love that Peters tone!!!! You can tell just by listening. It also looks bad ass with the matching cabs. Love your rig man, very classy.

Not too shabby playing also.......


Damn nice shops you got going.

Ha thanks Chris.
The Gryphon lineage of Peters amps has a very recognisable tonal footprint for sure.

 

[firejack]

Thanks for the detailed response I've got a Mayo that I bet would rock through most any Peters based on your comment. I used to think my Carvin was an articulate/tight sounding guitar (well it is...don't get me wrong there) but when played side by side with the same amp/settings with the same pickups there's a pretty drastic difference in favor of the Mayo (Mayo being tighter/more articulate).

No prob mate.
For what it's worth, I'd grab one of the newest iterations of James amps. They have a much larger versatility scope and by the sounds of it, aren't as picky with guitars as the older format amps. I'm seriously considering selling my GNL and replacing it with the current Fire Hammer. It can get Jose modded Marshall type tones at lower gain settings, my GNL's high gain tones somewhere in the middle, and then more into FSM territory at the higher end of the settings spectrum. Very tempting.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Thanks for the detailed response I've got a Mayo that I bet would rock through most any Peters based on your comment. I used to think my Carvin was an articulate/tight sounding guitar (well it is...don't get me wrong there) but when played side by side with the same amp/settings with the same pickups there's a pretty drastic difference in favor of the Mayo (Mayo being tighter/more articulate).

No prob mate.
For what it's worth, I'd grab one of the newest iterations of James amps. They have a much larger versatility scope and by the sounds of it, aren't as picky with guitars as the older format amps. I'm seriously considering selling my GNL and replacing it with the current Fire Hammer. It can get Jose modded Marshall type tones at lower gain settings, my GNL's high gain tones somewhere in the middle, and then more into FSM territory at the higher end of the settings spectrum. Very tempting.

That is probably sound advice Both the Fire Hammer and Plasma Blade sound like they'd be right up my alley. I'm seriously starting to consider selling an amp or two and ordering a new Peters.

 

[firejack]

That is probably sound advice Both the Fire Hammer and Plasma Blade sound like they'd be right up my alley. I'm seriously starting to consider selling an amp or two and ordering a new Peters.

Oh yeah the Plasma Blade. That's the other option... Keep my GNL for the Gryphon tonality, and pony up for a Plasma Blade for an all out metal assault. Just need to grow a money tree out the backyard now.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

That is probably sound advice Both the Fire Hammer and Plasma Blade sound like they'd be right up my alley. I'm seriously starting to consider selling an amp or two and ordering a new Peters.

Oh yeah the Plasma Blade. That's the other option... Keep my GNL for the Gryphon tonality, and pony up for a Plasma Blade for an all out metal assault. Just need to grow a money tree out the backyard now.

I wish he could do both OD channels in one amp because I'd definitely get the Fire Hammer and Plasma Blade in a two ch amp. I'm gonna email James and get it right from the horses mouth as to why that can't work. I thought the older models allowed for two, or three separate OD channels? I've seen old posts where people had two ch Peters: Chimera/FSM or Gryphon/Hydra..etc...etc.

I'd just buy both the FH and PB, but I'd have to hit the lottery first

 

[JamesPeters]

I wish he could do both OD channels in one amp because I'd definitely get the Fire Hammer and Plasma Blade in a two ch amp. I'm gonna email James and get it right from the horses mouth as to why that can't work. I thought the older models allowed for two, or three separate OD channels? I've seen old posts where people had two ch Peters: Chimera/FSM or Gryphon/Hydra..etc...etc.

Hey guys,

You may have read some old posts of people saying they *wanted* to get Gryhon/FSM in an amp, but that was never an option. I kept telling people what the possible configurations were, replying to posts on forums and also making it as clear as possible on my website what I could and couldn't do for channel options (including using color coding). Unfortunately posts like those kept happening, which made other people assume I could do that. My posts wouldn't be referenced; instead it was people referring to posts like those, of people saying "I'm going to get Gryphon/FSM in the same amp" etc. (that's probably what's happening now).

It had been possible to do some combinations of OD channels in the same Professional Series amp--such as Chimera/Hydra--if the two channels had enough things in common in the circuitry. Even so it would compromise one of the channels a little bit. Gryphon/FSM or Gryphon/Hydra in the same amp though (etc.)--those were never options. To accomplish this I'd have to build two separate preamps in the amp, and that's a lot of work (and means the amp would need 9 preamp tubes).

Also: I never made an amp with 3 overdrive channels. I don't know who said that, but it wasn't me.

The newer Format 7 amps are significantly smaller/lighter, and the cost is significantly lower. With these there's no way I can "just" put two significantly dissimilar OD channels in the amp, even if I wanted to.

Anyway an amp doesn't need to have both Fire Hammer and Plasma Blade to be very versatile. That's why the Firejack and Body Hammer aren't in the lineup anymore. I added new voicing features to the amps, extending their flexibility; because of this, the channel lineup could be reduced. Sure you're not going to get a Fire Hammer's sounds in a Plasma Blade and vice versa, but there's enough overlap in their "gain regions" you could be happy with either one for similar styles. That is if you want some good medium gain sounds, Plasma Blade can do that (better than Body Hammer), even though it won't sound just like Fire Hammer while doing it. You have plenty of flexibility in both amps, and they both sound great. Now you just choose the channel you know you want, and know that you'll have more flexibility than ever. There's no need to second-guess yourself anymore.

So to anyone reading this: can you please remember this if you're going to post about it in the future (or for that matter, just refer to what's on my website, because that has the answers even if they're not stated this explicitly). I'm only one man (approaching 50 years old at that) who makes these amps entirely by himself, and I'm only capable of so much.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

^^^
I read it on your site but this now explains why Thanks for the clarification James! Either the Fire Hammer or the Plasma Blade WILL be in my future. Trip to Mexico to off one of my kidneys booked; you only need one right

Edit: I'm pushing 50 too but sounds like your already there old-timer

 

[JamesPeters]

Apparently Iran is the only country in which it's legal to sell a human kidney, so book the flight there instead. Good thing though: even in Iran, despite the relatively high number of kidneys available on the market, you could still get well more than the amount required for the amp.

As a note to anyone reading this casually and assuming my amp prices are extremely high (based on things which were said on the thread at the time of this post my Format 7 dual channel amps cost $2300. The last time I sold a dual channel amp at that price, it was in 2007. Even so, those amps' feature sets were lacking compared to Format 7, in the following ways:

-They were 50W, not 100W
-They didn't have two full channels (EQ was shared between the channels)
-The effects loop had no buffer and didn't work well with pedals (at anything other than lower volumes)
-The designs weren't nearly as refined as they are now (including fewer voicing switches), not nearly as good for "tight metal"
-The only configuration possible was overdrive/clean (no option for 2 overdrive channels)

So the Format 7 is a very strong effort to lower my prices while also providing the best of what I can do.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Apparently Iran is the only country in which it's legal to sell a human kidney, so book the flight there instead. Good thing though: even in Iran, despite the relatively high number of kidneys available on the market, you could still get well more than the amount required for the amp.

As a note to anyone reading this casually and assuming my amp prices are extremely high (based on things which were said on the thread at the time of this post my Format 7 dual channel amps cost $2300. The last time I sold a dual channel amp at that price, it was in 2007. Even so, those amps' feature sets were lacking compared to Format 7, in the following ways:

-They were 50W, not 100W
-They didn't have two full channels (EQ was shared between the channels)
-The effects loop had no buffer and didn't work well with pedals (at anything other than lower volumes)
-The designs weren't nearly as refined as they are now (including fewer voicing switches), not nearly as good for "tight metal"
-The only configuration possible was overdrive/clean (no option for 2 overdrive channels)

So the Format 7 is a very strong effort to lower my prices while also providing the best of what I can do.

I don't think your prices are high James. I've never seen or played one of your amps, but everyone that has raves about the quality of construction and the tone. Based on what owners have said and the fact that you make them yourself, I think they're a fair price.

 

[JamesPeters]

Thanks Mike. I just figured I'd post that for the odd person who casually reads the thread and thinks "sheesh, his prices sound as though they must be high..." and then they just cross me off their list as a result.