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Geo
Well-known member
The one thing I noticed about the XTC was, you couldn't make it sound bad. It worked with every guitar pickup and cab.
The one thing I noticed about the XTC was, you couldn't make it sound bad. It worked with every guitar pickup and cab.
RaceU4her
Well-known member
best demos going
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
Jesus that 101B sounds great.
Also, to your point @ZEN Amps , a lot of people mistakenly do write these amps off as being too dark, especially if they don't know what the controls do and how they work.
Also, to your point @ZEN Amps , a lot of people mistakenly do write these amps off as being too dark, especially if they don't know what the controls do and how they work.
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thegame
Well-known member
The 101B sounds good but polished but not very raw. You can turn the treble and presence as high as you want but it never gets that open, airy top end quality of a good Marshall. There's something a bit plastic-y about the tone which bugs me.
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braintheory
Well-known member
Agreed, that’s mainly why I didn’t keep my 101B when I had one
mooncobra
Well-known member
Viva la zen!
Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
Zen these videos rule
ZEN Amps
Well-known member
Thanks as always guys, it means a lot.
Yeah the log treble pot seems to throw off the Marshall guys or those who use their eyes to dial in tones. I think Jason from Headfirst did a video on this recently.
Agreed - it's certainly more polished like a Friedman, but then again everything is compared to an old Marshall. My view on these 'modern' British amps is that they are compliment to, not a replacement of, a 1959 or 2203.
I don't think I'd say plastic-y, although I admit I'm not totally sure what that term means. I think the only time I may have experienced that is with some modern high gainers. ENGL and REVV come to mind.
mooncobra
Well-known member
I think Bogners sound and feel great. The 20th xtc with el34s is killer. I always liked the grind around the edges this clip got.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
Absolutely. Shiva 20th's are fantastic amps. They have one of the best, if not the best, reverb I've ever heard from a head. The clean channel is exceptional, and the gain channel feels like it has the DNA of a JCM 800 but with a smoother gain texture. And at very high gain settings, it starts to sound, I don't know... bubbly? Sorry but that's the only word I really know how to use to describe it, like there's a mushy and harmonically rich low end while the high end still stays clear somehow. I've never really heard or played anything else like it.
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braintheory
Well-known member
The Engl’s & Revv’s definitely have that even more. Kinda the epitome of that type of sound. IME though pretty much any amp I’ve tried from the ‘70’s or earlier is raw like the Marshall’s (some even more raw). To me the most raw sound I’ve heard in an amp is still a good example of a ‘50’s Tweed Champ. I played one not long ago with my aged nitro Charvel loaded with an ‘80’s Dirty Finger and it sounded amazing
thegame
Well-known member
Yeah, the 101b is certainly more organic than ENGL or REVV, just not to the same degree as the old stuff in general.
Frehley12
Well-known member
Keep 'em coming! I love your demos. How about a Bogner Goldfinger 45SL play through.
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Philhouse
Well-known member
Great vid. I need to mess around with your settings. I have a love/hate relationship with mine. Some days I'm digging it, other days I only last a few minutes and it's pissing me off (ch 2 and 3 I mean). Maybe I need to spend more time with it, more foreplay than a wham-bam method.
Great sounds on the clean video too. Channel 1 always sounds good to me.
xenrelic
New member
Cool demos!
Beyond Black
Well-known member
Another great vid, Zen, best on the webz.
My buddy has a 20th Ecstacy and a few guitars with old Bill Lawrence X500XL‘s in them, and that amp LOVES them. They give the Bogner some killer, ceramic sizzle and aggressiion. Highly recommended.
My buddy has a 20th Ecstacy and a few guitars with old Bill Lawrence X500XL‘s in them, and that amp LOVES them. They give the Bogner some killer, ceramic sizzle and aggressiion. Highly recommended.
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gtrwun
Well-known member
Raw = Hiwatt DR103 or 504.
I played a DR103 as my rhythm sound for many years and that amp makes you embarrassed really quick if you don’t have your chops together.
I’ve never played a real vintage tweed but would love to.
I did have a modded 65 Bassman that was a blast to play.
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braintheory
Well-known member
Yeah the Hiwatt’s are very unforgiving and open (more so than Wizards), but if we’re talking just rawness I feel they’re roughly equal to Marshall’s of the same era. I think it has a lot to do with just the era. Those ‘50’s amps ime tend to be even more raw/rough around the edges. A lot of what gives a piece of gear a perceived rawness to me is the extra nuances/details going on around the notes, some of which may not seem like it perfectly belongs there, but not in the way that some amps made today try to superimpose that quality onto the sound
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gtrwun
Well-known member
I agree about Marshall’s and Hiwatts of the same era. You have to factor in the difference between each amp. All Marshalls are not created equal, that’s for sure. But those old amps that don’t have a ton of overdrive and compression are hard to wrangle compared to a lot of modern amps. I know I’m stating the obvious.