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Post by shreder75 on Mar 27, 2008 8:54:51 GMT -5
he does make a lower wattage amp! the competition is able to get down to 25 watts
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Post by shinysurface on Mar 27, 2008 8:54:57 GMT -5
The home/apartment/bedroom player demographic shouldn't be completely ignored though IMO, I think they make up a sizeable percentage of fans and potential customers. The fact that some players are trying all these different volume tricks is a testament to Splawn that they still want to own one even if they aren't on stage which is the amp's main strength  I'm sure some Splawn owners did play live/gig at some point in the past but are older now or maybe some other circumstance has changed their situation..... Wasn't too long ago I was blasting my QR with a drummer and now I'm primarily a basement dweller lol....I hope I can crank it live again someday though I feel most bad for the apartment dwellers, that has to the toughest situation volume wise IMO. At least if you own a house you can crank it up and enjoy it unless the people you live with get in your way lol..... Mybe someday Scott will make a low wattage amp, like the Marshall 18w so you can still get close to the Splawn tone at reasonable levels but for now these are 50/100/120w stage monsters. When I lived in my apartment the only time I turned the Splawn on was to give it a quick check before a show. It;s about the right tool for the application, I think. Using a 100w amp in your apartment is like using a jackhammer to drive a nail for a picture frame on your wall.  I can set my Quickrod's volume perfect for my basement, no complaints there If I was in an apartment though, things might get a little dicier  Hell even an 18 watt amp would tear through an apartment wall.... |
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Post by Silverwulf on Mar 27, 2008 9:08:15 GMT -5
Hell even an 18 watt amp would tear through an apartment wall.... Exactly...there's not that much difference between 18W or 20W and the 50W that everyone says is still too loud. Wattage isn't the issue, the it's the way the volume knob scales. |
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Post by shreder75 on Mar 27, 2008 9:58:02 GMT -5
Mybe someday Scott will make a low wattage amp, like the Marshall 18w so you can still get close to the Splawn tone at reasonable levels but for now these are 50/100/120w stage monsters. When I lived in my apartment the only time I turned the Splawn on was to give it a quick check before a show. It;s about the right tool for the application, I think. Using a 100w amp in your apartment is like using a jackhammer to drive a nail for a picture frame on your wall. I can set my Quickrod's volume perfect for my basement, no complaints there If I was in an apartment though, things might get a little dicier Hell even an 18 watt amp would tear through an apartment wall.... exactly!!! |
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Post by DonaldDemon on Mar 27, 2008 11:57:19 GMT -5
Hell even an 18 watt amp would tear through an apartment wall.... Exactly...there's not that much difference between 18W or 20W and the 50W that everyone says is still too loud. Wattage isn't the issue, the it's the way the volume knob scales. The difference is in headroom, not volume so much. But tht translates to breakup at lower levels. I have played a 15 watt tube amp and was able to get good distortion at a lot less volume than a 100 watter. |
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Post by Silverwulf on Mar 27, 2008 12:06:08 GMT -5
The difference is in headroom, not volume so much. But tht translates to breakup at lower levels. I have played a 15 watt tube amp and was able to get good distortion at a lot less volume than a 100 watter. Oh, there's a def headroom difference. But at level these guys are talking about playing at, you'd never get even a 15W amp to the breakup point where the difference in headroom would be noticable. The headroom really only comes into play when you start running out of it. If the volume pot scaled better, they could turn it up in smaller increments though, which would make a big difference. |
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Post by shreder75 on Mar 27, 2008 12:27:11 GMT -5
well, you just can't turn the volume knob with fooking reckless abandon...that's established..it is what it is...there's still moderate volume levels in there to be had..you just gotta be careful about it...
plug into a marshall 2204 and see if its' any better..it's WORSE
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Post by Silverwulf on Mar 27, 2008 12:40:03 GMT -5
well, you just can't turn the volume knob with fooking reckless abandon...that's established..it is what it is...there's still moderate volume levels in there to be had..you just gotta be careful about it... plug into a marshall 2204 and see if its' any better..it's WORSE Yeah, you have to be careful with it, but you still have to thread the needle to try and get it moderate. This is all in relation to apt and bedroom playing here. If it scaled better, I don't think people would really care as much about a MV and hardly anyone here would be using volume boxes and volume pedals in their loop. It's kind of like the old gain pot from the older QR's. Once you hit around 3:00 on the dial, the rest was useless. So, Scott switched over to a different pot with a smoother taper to give people more flexibility in the 12 - 3:00 sweep range. Doesn't matter to me since I don't use those middle settings, but some people preferred the extra sweep range and ability to dial in more mid-gain tones (though some people still b!tch about that too and I'm not sure why - you want LESS flexibility? anyhoo, another topic all together). If the current volume pot gave you volume you get from "off" to about 9:00 on a taper that stretched that same span of volume between "off" to 10:30 or 11:00, then I think people will be happy. I think it will change one of these days, just like the gain pot did. The 2204 actually does scale better, but you won't get similar tones because the preamp is voiced different and it doesn't have the same preamp saturation on tap as modern amps. So, you'd have to crank it more or it would sound more like @ss. |
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Post by shreder75 on Mar 27, 2008 12:43:35 GMT -5
well, you just can't turn the volume knob with fooking reckless abandon...that's established..it is what it is...there's still moderate volume levels in there to be had..you just gotta be careful about it... plug into a marshall 2204 and see if its' any better..it's WORSE The 2204 actually does scale better, but you won't get similar tones because the preamp is voiced different and it doesn't have the same preamp saturation on tap as modern amps. So, you'd have to crank it more or it would sound more like @ss. that's exactly my point =) |
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Post by DonaldDemon on Mar 27, 2008 14:33:48 GMT -5
My Crate VC30 actually had that problem. It would go from a whisper to HELLLOOOOO! and it was hard to find that point in between. You basically had to tap the knob. I think that's common with tooob amps though.
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Post by SonicExplorer on Mar 27, 2008 15:52:48 GMT -5
Did I miss something about the history of the gain and volume pots?? Didn't Scott recently change both the gain AND the volume pot compared to say, the 2006 models and prior?? I know for a fact the gain taper was changed, but I also thought the volume taper had been improved as well. ?
Sonic
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Post by TJ on Mar 27, 2008 16:08:40 GMT -5
That's what cracks me up about a lot of negative reviews on Splawns. Usually their from peeps who played the amp in their bedroom and want that ultra high sustain/distortion at low volumes where they don't tick off their neighbors be it in an apt. or a house. Splawns are made to be played at high volumes. Rock music is meant to be played at high volumes. Splawn amps shine at gigging volume. I think what Craig does is perfect and works great. If you want that tone and don't want to rip peoples heads off in your house put a blanket over the cabinet. Alot easier solution then putting a master volume on the amp. Which I still don't understand why you would want to do that? The home/apartment/bedroom player demographic shouldn't be completely ignored though IMO, I think they make up a sizeable percentage of fans and potential customers. The fact that some players are trying all these different volume tricks is a testament to Splawn that they still want to own one even if they aren't on stage which is the amp's main strength I'm sure some Splawn owners did play live/gig at some point in the past but are older now or maybe some other circumstance has changed their situation..... Wasn't too long ago I was blasting my QR with a drummer and now I'm primarily a basement dweller lol....I hope I can crank it live again someday though I feel most bad for the apartment dwellers, that has to the toughest situation volume wise IMO. At least if you own a house you can crank it up and enjoy it unless the people you live with get in your way lol..... I agree with you 100% on this. In no way should they be ignored. I was just making reference to the posts of negative reviews from people who kept the amp for one day. That's all I was making reference to. I still don't see how a Master Volume would help you play with tubes barking at a lower volume? I would think a power soak or something like that would be more beneficial. |
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Post by shreder75 on Mar 27, 2008 18:00:54 GMT -5
Did I miss something about the history of the gain and volume pots?? Didn't Scott recently change both the gain AND the volume pot compared to say, the 2006 models and prior?? I know for a fact the gain taper was changed, but I also thought the volume taper had been improved as well. ? Sonic he did that with the solo boost pot actually..mine's like a hair trigger..shocked me at first but I got used to small adjustments (baby steps!)...he's since changed them out for a better taper |
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Post by erock503 on Mar 27, 2008 19:55:09 GMT -5
The home/apartment/bedroom player demographic shouldn't be completely ignored though IMO, I think they make up a sizeable percentage of fans and potential customers. The fact that some players are trying all these different volume tricks is a testament to Splawn that they still want to own one even if they aren't on stage which is the amp's main strength I'm sure some Splawn owners did play live/gig at some point in the past but are older now or maybe some other circumstance has changed their situation..... Wasn't too long ago I was blasting my QR with a drummer and now I'm primarily a basement dweller lol....I hope I can crank it live again someday though I feel most bad for the apartment dwellers, that has to the toughest situation volume wise IMO. At least if you own a house you can crank it up and enjoy it unless the people you live with get in your way lol..... I agree with you 100% on this. In no way should they be ignored. I was just making reference to the posts of negative reviews from people who kept the amp for one day. That's all I was making reference to. I still don't see how a Master Volume would help you play with tubes barking at a lower volume? I would think a power soak or something like that would be more beneficial. yeah, my understanding of a master vol, is it controls the signal level hitting the powersection. Cranked up full, it just lets the full signal hit the poweramp, just like having only 1 volume control like it is now. It's not cranking up the power section into saturation. If that worked, every amp would have a master volume, and there would be no need for attenuators at all. The poweramp needs to be driving hard to create volume to go into powertube saturation. The only way around it, is an attenuator that bleeds the power going to the speaker, or something like a London Power scaling box in the circuit. The only time I find a master vol useful, is if the preamp doesn't have a lot of gain on it's own, and you want to drive it harder by cranking the volume level. That way you can drive your preamp, but still control the signal level hitting the poweramp for volume control. |
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Post by snappinnecks on Mar 27, 2008 20:00:26 GMT -5
That's what cracks me up about a lot of negative reviews on Splawns. Usually their from peeps who played the amp in their bedroom and want that ultra high sustain/distortion at low volumes where they don't tick off their neighbors be it in an apt. or a house. Splawns are made to be played at high volumes. Rock music is meant to be played at high volumes. Splawn amps shine at gigging volume. I think what Craig does is perfect and works great. If you want that tone and don't want to rip peoples heads off in your house put a blanket over the cabinet. Alot easier solution then putting a master volume on the amp. Which I still don't understand why you would want to do that? I don't have a problem with the extreme volume the Nitro puts out as far as disturbing the neighbors. It is in a soundproofed studio. The issues I have is live I get the -10db button on the board (ghey) and the best tone the Nitro puts out is at a level that is too hot for my mics in the the studio (E609, SM57) to the point it clips on the board no matter what level you have the input at. It just needs something other than the volume knob in the loop trick. I like to have a super hot rythm track right and left to work with and then start stacking virtual tracks a little less hot to find a good blend. The Nitro swats everything I have put up against it, but teh volume issue is aggravating. My live rig can get even louder than the Nitro, but I can get the same tone at good soundman friendly volumes that I do at earbleeding volumes. I mainly got the Nitro to record with, but also wanted to give it a shot live. I haven't been able to really use it in either due to trying to figure out how to work with the volume issue. I'm not going to mod it. For some reason I have a bad feeling about messing with it. I did however get another opinion on the whole mod issue from i think his name is Trace at Voodoo Amps. They modded a local guitarists Dual Rec and it sounds amazing, so I thought I would give them a call. He said he has actually worked on a couple of Splawns (quickrods) in the past and done a few things gain stage wise on them. He has not however added a master volume to one. He did say that depending one how and where one could be added would depend on whether it affect saturation on the power tubes. He didn't mention at lower volumes, but did say the sheer massive volume needed to get the good tone issue would be remedied with a master volume. He also said the amp may react differently for better or worse when it comes to pinch harmonics and other gain related stuff. I'm going to try and keep working with the Nitro to get some stuff recorded cause it is brutal through Texas Heats. |
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