Author Topic: New Amp Day! (Read 3338 times)

MDV · « **on:** February 21, 2008, 09:28:40 PM »

Well, its arrived.

The super amp has landed.

The final stretch was run by the Bogner Uberschall and the Engl Powerball.

The testing of various cabs led to the conclusion that it HAD to be the Uberkab. Its just so deep, and yet so clear. Superb cab, and made the marshal cabs present sound like toys. TOYS I tell you!

The uberschall on its own was a little unimpressive: I found it overly dark and loose. It lacked real punch, going instead for shear low end. If I played doom I wouldnt have looked any further. But I need precision.

Enter the TS808. Infront of the amp this mad GODLY tone. Stunning. Deep, tight, hammering, saturated, clear as a bell.

BUT, through the uberkab, the powerball was hot on the heels of this sound. Really close, and what the PB ever so slightly lacked in depth (which it has tonnes of, especially through this cab), it made up for in snarl and attack. I found it to be the more dynamic amp too, but that was a close one.

The clincher: the Uberscchall has an OK clean, but not to my tastes: dark and rich, rather than bright and glassy. It also only has one sound. An incredible sound (when its got a TS infront of it!! It wouldnt have been a contender without). A sound to wake the dead and make them start a pit, but just one sound. The PBs versatility won the day.

It now sits one foot to my right.

The moral of the story, however, is if you play metal GO GET AN UBERKAB.

NOW!!!

P.S. Big props to the guys at Guitarguitar, newcastle. Great shop, outstanding staff. They were changing heads and cabs about for me for 3 hours, giving me the nod when the shop was clear enough to proper blast the amps, hints and tricks (like the TS808 infront of the uber) on how to get the best tone out of them, and they made me a coffee 8)

That is all

As you were.

dave_mc · « **Reply #1 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:37:11 PM »

sweet! :)

what all did you try, out of interest?

noodleplugerine · « **Reply #2 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:41:31 PM »

AWESOME!

Sounds like you had one hell of a day =D

I'd love to do the same >:D

Roobubba · « **Reply #3 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:45:26 PM »

Fantastic!

So would you say it's worth getting something in front of, say, a 5150-II (just plucking an amp out of the air, of course) to tighten it up like you found with the Uberschall?

Congrats, btw :)

Roo

Dakine · « **Reply #4 on:** February 21, 2008, 10:02:25 PM »

AT F'ING LAST!

:D

Good on ya Mark. The Uber is'nt too tight or much more than 1 thing so glad ya got what ya wanted eventually.

MDV · « **Reply #5 on:** February 21, 2008, 10:57:28 PM »

Dave, the only other amp I played today was the deliverence.

It was very nice. Really sweet high gain sound. But a bit middy, and lacking depth. couldnt help but shred a little on it, though: it was great for that. Not that tight though.

The biggest problem with the deliverence was the fact that you cant get a clean sound to balance. You have to use the guitars volume, obvioulsy, and a true clean gets utterly swamped by the high gain sound.

I ruled out the VHT Pitbull ultra lead by way of cost and that I've heard it said that the deliverence has a really similar high gain sound. Great sound, but the uber and PB crushed it IMO.

The others fell by the wayside when I was reminded how awesome the PB is, and the uber putting up such a good fight (with the OD!!).

Diezels are off the cards for now, too pricey and I wont use MIDI. It just looks like hassle. I'll be changing the presets all the time.

Mesas and peaveys I didnt look twice at: been there, done that.

Riveras are SO hard to find, and I decided not to hold out for them.

Basically, I could hear the sound(s) I wanted were in these two somwhere and wasnt really compelled to continue the search.

Roo: absolutely. Yes. The 5150 is, I'm told by the dude in the shop (jon, nice bloke, knows his amps) what it comes from to tighten up and brighten up the gain of a 5150. Its an Andy Sneap trick. I think KSE used to do the same thing with Rectos, too.

It didnt make much difference with the PB. It already has the tightness and cut that the OD gives in abundance. You can hear a difference, but its not worth it. With the Uber it was night and day.

I think it'll work really well with any loose, dark amp (and intend to try it with my TSL602 tomorrow, along with the EQ-in-the-FX-loop trick that really cleans and tightens it up too: I alread like my marshall with this trick more than my screamer; its a really good sound; I expect it to be awesome through the Uberkab :D )

Nick, hell yes. Its been a wait!!! Had to get the right amp though, and the clean, breakup and heavy sounds of the PB are pretty close to the head of the nail for me. I'm still gonna try other stuff, cos now I can just pile heads on one another :twisted: But the hunt is over for the time being. I'm really happy with what I have now (6 months down the line is another matter!! We all know how that is, but as I sit here typing, I think my tone(s) $%&#ing rule!

opprobrium_9 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2008, 12:35:52 AM »

Pictures pictures pictures

I know we have all seen the PB before, BUT I DEMAND PICS!!!1!!!11!!

hunter · « **Reply #7 on:** February 22, 2008, 04:39:09 AM »

Congratulations for some serious investments there! Bogner cabs are la crème de la crème and the PB plays in a top league.

So will there be rehearsals/gigs soon to crank them?

And surely we require clips and pics, otherwise we'll ignore any further mention of this gear of hell :O)

hamfist · « **Reply #8 on:** February 22, 2008, 08:03:05 AM »

Nice one MDV. Sounds like the guys at Guitarguitar treated you like a prince. Kudos to them ! It's a pity they are several hundred miles away from me.

MDV · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2008, 03:48:31 PM »

The wall of destruction.

indysmith · « **Reply #10 on:** February 22, 2008, 04:03:22 PM »

Put the head on the cab ya muppet. ;)
Looks AWESOME :twisted:

MDV · « **Reply #11 on:** February 22, 2008, 04:05:18 PM »

I like it where it is, cos I can sit by my pc to the left and tweak when recording. Which I havent done yet, but no doubt I'll like it :lol:

dave_mc · « **Reply #12 on:** February 22, 2008, 05:21:39 PM »

Quote from: indysmith

Put the head on the cab ya muppet. ;)

hahaha +1

seriously, though, i agree about the deliverance. it was sweet, but being single channel, if you don't already have a multi-channel super amp, does narrow down the versatility a bit. and also if you can't already get the really modern high-gain thing, it's perhaps not modern enough. there's something awesome about just being able to kick between all the tones you want.

a while back, in the guitar guitar in edinburgh, i tried the deliverance, engl se, and bogner ecstacy and shiva head to head. all were great, but the extra versatility of the SE edged it (with the ecstacy coming in close second- personal preference, of course). pretty much came to the same conclusion as you- and I didn't expect to, as considering i already had my engl at the time, i thought i'd be blase with the engl tone, lol.

i wouldn't have a problem going with a single-channel head now i already have a multi-channel amp, but (for the variety of stuff i play, at least), i'd need to have the multi-channel versatile amp first.

Not saying single channel amps can't be versatile, of course.

MDV · « **Reply #13 on:** February 22, 2008, 07:31:05 PM »

I kind of am saying they cant. Not to the extreme of jumping from pure-clean to pure-facemelting in a volume jump.

Sweet though. Really responsive and dynamic.

PLus

I put the damned head on the damned cab HAPPY NOW??? :lol:

_tom_ · « **Reply #14 on:** February 22, 2008, 07:55:24 PM »

Pics or it didnt happen. :P