New to Splawn

[IPFH]

Hey All,
I am new to these forums and really have gained some knowledge
so far. I have had my Competition for about 4 months now, 07 model I believe, and it has taken me forever to get used to this beast. I was playing through an 84 JCM 800 combo before and I traded a guy straight-up for it(his idea). I am running a G-Sharp through the loop and am finally getting things worked out. It has KT88's not sure of brand but the 12ax7's are JJ's, I had to replace them as 2 were blown when I got it, no big deal. Any info or advice on tubes, settings or anything really would be great.

[Ayton(e)]

What a trade!

What speakers are you playing through, and what sort of tone are you looking for? Tube wise I can only tell you that I use the original Splawn combination of JJ pres and Mullard EL34 PTs, but I like it so much I keep using the same type so I can't offer a lot of objective opinions on others! I imagine the 88s will be a bit more zingy in the top end.

1st Gear OD2 with the gain pretty high is home for me, you just can't beat it. After a load of tweaking my dials are pretty much pointing straight up, heh. This is I guess where Scott voiced the amp — so it sounded right to him at 12 o'clock — and after all sorts of experimenting that's where I've ended up, with maybe a notch less on the Mids and an added notch on the Treble depending on the day/pickups.

I've tried a lot of speakers and favor all Greenbacks, or Greenback/H30 split (which I'm running now).

All of this is because I'm shooting for the hottest, chewiest, moddiest, crunchiest Plexi tone I can get, with the occasional slip into 2nd Gear for giant thick 800 slab-tone, so it might be useless to you depending what you're going for. Welcome in any case.

[IPFH]

I have an 87 Peavey 15 ply birch 4x12 with 2 v-30 and 2 g12k- 85 in x-pattern @16ohms, this thing empty weighs about 85 pounds. Right now I have presence@9:00, bass@11, mids@8, treb@11, gain@3 running in 3rd gear, volume depending on if the wife is home or not runs between 7 & 10:00. The tone I like is real crunchy and I get that out of my Schecter Blackjack Tempest that I got for little of nothing, The guy that had it bought it to get into a band that played in C# so I set it up for him to do just that, then the band thing fell through and he wanted to sell so I gave him 350 for it and called it done, he only used about 6 hours and he bought new from GC. Any way the style of music I play is contemporary Christian and metal, Decypher Down, Disciple, Hillsong United and so on. Yea I know but I was called to it and have been blessed as you can tell from these 2 items. I have not used this rig at church yet but I am going to take it try it out soon. I have a VOX night train with a custom 2x12 cab and various pedals that I am using right now. Got a bit side tracked, I am really starting to fall for this beast of an amp, but in the Houston area not many people have even heard of Splawn. I put it on CL and didn't even get one hit on it, their loss. Now I have decided that I won't get rid of it at all and am planning on getting a pair of small blocks for my cab to replace the g12's or maybe build another 2x12 cab to compliment not sure yet. Thanks for the welcome mat and by the way is it cold in PA yet?

[speedemon]

hmm,

anyone can tell you what they do, which is not a bad thing, but it would be helpful to tell what YOU want from the amp, then someone who gets that from theirs can point you.

If you are really a Marshall guy, I suggest you get the small block speaker! great distortion, lots of classic midrange and plenty of power handling. I like the Mullard reissue 12ax7, and YMMV on that end.

Have fun and good luck!

[shreder75]

that's hands down my favorite cosmetic arrangement...I LOVE that basketweave on the face!

[IPFH]

Thanks shreder75, that pic really does it no justice, plans are to get the tolex and weave so I can redo the cab to match. You can't really see it but it has gold piping as well. I am really proud to have this amp.

[IPFH]

Speedemon,
How is the noise with the Mullards? I wouldn't say that I am a Marshall guy, but I played that combo and loved it for what i was doing at the time. I got it with the V-30's in it and I had the original G12m-70's that came in it so I did a swap. I have a buddy that has a QR with a 4x12 cab with the SB's in it and it sounds so bad a--, but I was wondering how they would be with the Comp. I hope to check it out soon. I am really not a midrange player I have set @9:00 right now as I had it cranked up earlier, but I like it to have a tight punch on the bottom with a nasty crunch and so far the older 85's can handle the breakup pretty nice and the V-30's take care of the rest. Back to the tubes, I have ordered from tube depot and tubes and more out of Phoenix before any suggestions on that. Right now I am on a tight budget with Christmas coming up but after the first of the year it is all out on getting this setup to it's full potential. Believe me I am taking notes on all info I get and am constantly doing research.
Thanks man