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Post by murphshall on Oct 5, 2017 10:41:45 GMT -5
Hello fellow rodders of the street! I've been playing guitar for a number of years and have always lusted over the hot-rodded Marshall tone. Unfortunately, every Marshall I've had has let me down in one way or another Enter the Splawn Street Rod combo! I just picked the amp up used last week. I love the modded Marshall tones, as I am an 80's hair metal freak, and the SR seems to be able to cop that tone quite easily and the clean tone is very good as well. With that said, I'm reaching out to my fellow SR users for some advice. While I love the 80's hair, I also love the tones of AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and early Def Leppard. I'm searching for a way to tame gear 1 to make it more open, maybe not quite as hot-rodded. There seems to be a lot of compression going on. Has anyone had good luck with going to a less hot preamp tube and which socket would it be placed in? Any other ideas? I've also found this amp to be particularly bassy and boomy having to run the bass below noon for the best sound. Even further, I put an MXR 6 band eq in the loop to help tailor the tone. It has the Small Block speaker. I love both gear 2 & 3, but I'd like to soften the edge on gear 1. If it affects gears 2 & 3, that won't be an issue. There are some users on here that are getting monster tones out of this amp, so I'm stoked to be part of the family Thanks in advance Murphshall
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Post by cvogue on Oct 5, 2017 11:05:31 GMT -5
Hey Murphshall, welcome to the forums!
I believe V2 is the preamp tube for the OD channel... having said that, I've had good luck copping lower gain stuff on gear 1. What do you have your gain set to? I can get some nice AC/DC tones on gear 1 as well as (surprisingly!) some nice hotter Vox sounding tones too.
The amp is bassy, I agree. I tame it with an MXR 10 band EQ. But... in a band context that extra bass sounds really good (at least in my last band!) Don't be afraid to embrace the bass!
I have the Creamback 65 in mine, FYI.
Are you attenuating the output with the loop volume a lot? It does open up when you use less loop attenuation. I have to use the loop volume because, as you've found, these things are LOUD! I also like the OD channel volume on the front at about 10:00.. If you go too high (past noon) the Solo doesn't do anything any more.
Enjoy your SR!
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Post by murphshall on Oct 5, 2017 17:41:47 GMT -5
Hey cvogue! Thanks for the reply and advice! I'm running the gain around 1 o'clock - just short of where the real gain starts to kick in.
I'm also running a Weber Mass Lite between the amp and speaker, keeping the loop master at full.
I definitely want to try a Creamback in this amp!
Also, I'm running the treble, mid and presence at 1 o'clock with the bass around 11 o'clock.
Again, thanks for the reply!
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Post by murphshall on Oct 5, 2017 17:43:44 GMT -5
Forgot to mention that I'm running the volume around 11 o'clock.
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Post by cvogue on Oct 5, 2017 17:56:21 GMT -5
11:00 is pretty high for the volume, maybe back it off a bit and take off some attenuation from the Weber? There's a pretty narrow range for the OD channel volume control if you want to use the solo boost. Not enough and you loose the "oomph" too much and the solo capability is gone. Yeah I had my gain at about 1:00 and for my purposes that wasn't enough, I have it at about 2:30 now. But... if you want lower gain sounds maybe back it off from 1:00? Finally... I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the loop volume control versus the Weber attenuator. How do they compare as far as affecting the tone? P.S. I'd like to try a Creamback 75 in there too... it's a little edgier than the 65, 65 still sounds great. Scott has a video of himself playing through a Street Rod and it has one of his Big Block speakers in it (don't think he makes those any more) Sounds glorious! www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-6OL8fSShc
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Post by cvogue on Oct 5, 2017 17:58:20 GMT -5
Oh... and if you aren't getting any sound out of it, make sure the volume control isn't off!!!!
(Sorry, see my other thread...)
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Post by murphshall on Oct 5, 2017 19:22:08 GMT -5
Ha! I think I saw that thread (user fail?) Sorry for the time lapse - I've been jamming Right now I have a pretty decent classic rock sound (I think) running the gain on gear 1 (od1) on just below noon, volume at 9:30-10o'clock, treble at noon, mids at 3 o'clock, bass at 2 o'clock and presence at 2 o'clock. I've switched to my Boss GE7 eq in the loop (for more frequencies plus the level control) with the Weber. It is starting to come around. As far as the Weber goes, I love it! It definitely works better than the loop master because it has two volume controls - low/mids and mid/highs. You can really fine tune the overall tone, as well as the volume with it. It's definitely a good attenuator, and I've tried a lot of them over the years I also have a Monte Allums modded Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive to boost it, instead of using od2, which gives it more definition. Thanks for getting back to me brother!
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Post by murphshall on Oct 5, 2017 19:32:26 GMT -5
By the way.. I have the three button foot switch with my SR. Is there a four button foot switch available through Scott?
I'm not exactly sure of the year of build with my amp. Maybe Splawns website has that info?
Thanks man..
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Post by gtrjunior on Oct 6, 2017 12:03:14 GMT -5
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Post by gtrjunior on Oct 6, 2017 12:12:51 GMT -5
Cvogue pretty much coved the bases with his answers. I found that for me there was a bit of a learning curve with these amps. "Typical" amp settings don't necessarily work. You've got to set the controls with your ears and not your eyes! These amps like true bypass pedals as opposed to buffered (in my experience) and they are a bit picky with speakers. I also have small block speakers which I think are fantastic. I honestly think that the Creamback and Small Blocks are so close in what they do that you probably won't notice a huge difference if you swap them out. I'd just let them break in (20 or so hrs of hard work) and they smooth right out.
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Post by gtrjunior on Oct 6, 2017 12:15:14 GMT -5
Ha! I think I saw that thread (user fail?) Sorry for the time lapse - I've been jamming Right now I have a pretty decent classic rock sound (I think) running the gain on gear 1 (od1) on just below noon, volume at 9:30-10o'clock, treble at noon, mids at 3 o'clock, bass at 2 o'clock and presence at 2 o'clock. I've switched to my Boss GE7 eq in the loop (for more frequencies plus the level control) with the Weber. It is starting to come around. As far as the Weber goes, I love it! It definitely works better than the loop master because it has two volume controls - low/mids and mid/highs. You can really fine tune the overall tone, as well as the volume with it. It's definitely a good attenuator, and I've tried a lot of them over the years I also have a Monte Allums modded Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive to boost it, instead of using od2, which gives it more definition. Thanks for getting back to me brother! Ive been gassing for a Weber mass 200 attenuator. But with the loop volume, I'm having a hard time justifying spending the money on it. But I'm glad that you are finding that it works well for you. I'm sure at some point when I have a few xtra bucks I'll grab one.
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Post by murphshall on Oct 6, 2017 13:38:16 GMT -5
Hey gtrjunior thanks for the link to the manual and the advice! I can definitely see (no pun intended) that setting this amp up with your ears and not your eyes is the way to go with this monster. I was able to get a pretty good classic rock sound going on last night that I could jam along to Def Leppard's "Let it go" and I thought I was "steamin' Steve Clark" for a minute I got my Weber Mass Lite off CL for $100. It's the 100 watt version. The Webers are cool because they're not ohm dependant. I've used it with a number of amps and it's always performed well. I also have a 3rd Power British Dream and it really let's that amp come alive. Thanks again to you and cvogue for all your help! I can't wait to get this amp at practice with the band! Peace Murphshall \m/
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Post by gtrjunior on Oct 6, 2017 15:27:56 GMT -5
No problem! Even though the forum is pretty slow nowadays, there's still a handful of guys that pop in and post now and again. Welcome aboard!!
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Post by murphshall on Oct 6, 2017 15:52:20 GMT -5
Thanks, I appreciate that!
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Post by cvogue on Oct 6, 2017 16:10:08 GMT -5
Hey hey!! We have some activity on the forums! Cool...
Regarding a 4 button footswitch, you can definitely get a 4 button switch for your SR, but I don't know if any mods need to be made to the amp to support it. Worth a bit of searching and maybe even an email to Splawn. They're good about getting back to owners with questions.
I thought about the 4 button switch but to be honest I don't think it would buy me that much. Basically the extra button will change between whatever gear you're in and second gear. It won't cycle through the gears (that would be a really nice feature). I don't know that I need to switch gears during a song though... OD1/OD2 will give a bit of a gain boost and with the solo boost capability I'm pretty much covered. I go to different gears for different songs but my amp isn't that far away so a quick front panel adjustment to switch gears is fine for me.
YMMV
Edit: Yeah let us know what you think of it in a band situation. I had to tweak it quite a bit from home practice... sounds awesome but took a bit of work to get it there. Again the bassiness (especially in gear 2) worked well for me in a band setting.
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