Pics Of My New Competition

[LooseCannon]

Actually I need someone to upload them for me, so if anyone could do it i'd appriciate that.

[Jammermatt]

... and so how do you like it?

[Ayton(e)]

No problem LC, send them to me. I want to see this baby myself!

[LooseCannon]

Ayton I sent you an email.
Jammermatt I love it, it's aggressive and articulate, but it's a very bright amp and i'm used to playing a mesa mark 2 type amp which has very smooth highs so i'm having problems with the brightness. I have a 2x12 cab with vintage 30's and I run the treble off and it's still very bright. I took it to a store yesterday and tried a few cabs with vintage 30's, greenbacks, and t75's, and I liked the greenbacks best but still had the treble off. When I stepped farther away from the cab it was warmer so I guess it also has to do with sitting right in front of the cab.
I also have a problem playing legato with it, i'm not sloppy but legato playing with this amp isn't very fluid.

[Ayton(e)]

Loosecannon's Competition:

(These are pretty big so I'm using clickable thumbnails.)

[Ayton(e)]

Sometimes I think I should stop reading this forum while waiting for my Comp. Not very fluid with legato?! Legato's like 50% of my technique!

[LooseCannon]

Hey Ayton, compared to some amps it's less fluid, but if you max the gain on second\third gear it get pretty fluid. I've also tried a boost pedal in the shop and it helped a lot, it's not just like adding gain on the amp or moving to higher gear, it actually adds more juice and compression.

[Jammermatt]

LooseCannon: That brightness could be either 1) V30s 2) sitting right in front of the cab 3) the cab. 4) Not enough Master Volume. I play through an Avatar 4x12 w/ V30/H30 cross. The H30 definitely nicer to my ears. Try a different cab or speaker, and sit off-axis. SHOULD work. Some guys can get it sounding great with master volume below 9:00. When I play that low it is bright. TRy putting a volume pedal in the effects loop to get the MV above 9:00 (if you haven't tried it yet). I've got mine tweaked so well now that it just sounds killer even at very low volumes. It sounds better at low volume now than even my Line 6 did, and I had that sucker tweaked great. I'm getting a Splawn 2x12 one of these years.

Ayton: The fluidity thing. I noticed it at first but I came from playing a Line 6 which is probably forgiving as hell. I'm sorta a hack, and decided to work on my technique a little more. After sitting with a guitar teacher for about an hour, we found the problem was me - not the amp. I simply was doing PO's wrongly - and my Line 6 was letting me get away with it all this time. I am a somewhat better player now, and that is the goal after all. However, using a pedal in front will fix any fluidity problems. I used a TS9DX at first, but now I don't need it at all. If you check out TJs, Craigs, Shredders, Mixo et al's clips, there's plenty of fluidity in there. I won't lie that I had to re-examine my playing after getting the Splawn. Frankly, my playing needed help and that's hard to face sometimes. The Splawn has made me a better player and that is the end goal for me at least. I'm still a hack, but I'm a hack with tremendous tone.

[LooseCannon]

Jammermatt, like I said I tried a few other cabs, in high volumes as well. The V30's does have more brightness to it but I think it has more to do with sitting in front of the cab. I should try the volume pedal in the loop trick, so far i've tried an eq pedal with the volume down but it didn't work. My concern with using a volume pedal for low volumes is that when the effects loop is engaged it sucks too much tone.

[Hacksaw]

you will get that beam of brightness from sitting in front of just about any speaker. BOZ put a little tape over the grill cloth of this g12t-75's and centered them over the VC and it takes that away. "I think" the weber beam blockers cover too much and get a little muffly.

[LooseCannon]

Yeah I got that brightness from the greenbacks and 75's as well, but with my other amp which has a mesa mark 2 like tone, I never got that no matter how close I was to the cab. Which speakers should I get for the warmest tone? I'm considering either eminence man o' war\governor, eminence wizards, g12-30's, greenbacks, G12T-65's, or EVL 12's.

[DonaldDemon]

hacksaw said:

you will get that beam of brightness from sitting in front of just about any speaker. BOZ put a little tape over the grill cloth of this g12t-75's and centered them over the VC and it takes that away. "I think" the weber beam blockers cover too much and get a little muffly.

I started doing that with my V30's too. Great little trick, even if it looks a bit ghetto. I am still considering getting beam blockers for my main cab.

[LooseCannon]

btw does anyone else find the volume control and solo boost to be too sensitive? I think they should be more linear.

[Jammermatt]

loosecannon said:

My concern with using a volume pedal for low volumes is that when the effects loop is engaged it sucks too much tone.

This hasn't been my experience. But then again, I ain't the best judge of tone in the world, and perhaps my ear has adapted to the low volume tone - which I really dig for some strange reason. To me it sounds fine - considering that any kind of attenuating device will alter things. I tried a Hot Plate and I tried the volume pedal thing, and I prefer the volume pedal thing and besides it's like 200 bucks cheaper. To my ears, my Splawn now at low volume beats out my Line 6 at low volume - and love 'em or hate 'em, the Line 6 products sound damn okay at low volume IMO.

Give 'er a try, it will only cost a few bucks, if you don't like it sell the volume pedal. I got my little Morley unit for about 35 bucks on the ebay. I haven't tried any other pedals in the loop, so I can't report on that.

Come to think, do a search for a thread by "Windsen". He explained his setup pretty well and his findings - it's what got me to do the pedal thing.

[splatter]

grove tubes 12ax7c for the pre amps helps tame the briteness . I put them in my splawn and in my marshall .