FORTIN NATAS

[Pale Rider]

...SATAN?

Anyone played these?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxxdf2ibvgg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMq-rWQfDjY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnZpmLnfNEs&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MApWCD0Gdg


Makes any guitar go djent  :shock:

[Dmoney]

I've seen these clips. I've never seen one anywhere. small canadian builder though so not surprising.
I think the Natas is the result of the Fortin Hulk mod. some re-engineered marshall kind of thing with some Garnet tone controls for the girth and grind. Also a fancy bias circuit.

I quite like the idea of the Fortin Bones, the Meathead isn't my thing. I think with a lot of these high gain amps, they have so much gain its just crazy. I think the Natas can do some sensibly heavy tones though... getting one would probably cost a bomb.

[Matt77]

Sounds perfect for metal, but I prefer my gain flabby loose and out of control!

[ericsabbath]

the Bones would definitely give me a boner!  :D
all Fortin amps and mods have a similar tight and modern character, but I like the british vibe and simple features of the Bones

I'm not into the new wave of metal/hard rock boutique amp fanboyism at all (Larry, Friedman, Diezel, Cameron...), but Mike is one of the most polite and helpful guys on amp forums, and a true amp affictioned

when he started making amps, everyone (myself included) though he was intending to ripoff some of his expensive stuff in his huge amp collection (dozens of wizards, diezels, larrys, VHT's, bogners, soldanos), but he managed to create his own signature tone and he seems to have a lot of fun in coming up with new mods and tons of features

I have a friend that is spending some time in Toronto, so I asked him to visit Mike's place and record some video  8)

[shobet]

I read that as forty nanas.

[Matt77]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ifp_L9dl0U&feature=related

And here's one using a Bare Knuckle
Mmmmm sustainy

[Pale Rider]

My current favourite is the Splawn Nitro w/ KT88s but the NATAS is very interesting indeed. And yeah it's $3800. Ugh!

[ericsabbath]

well, you still can have virtually any other amp modded by him to a similar tone for a somewhat fair price
you could buy something that's already in canada and send it to him

[Pale Rider]

well, you still can have virtually any other amp modded by him to a similar tone for a somewhat fair price
you could buy something that's already in canada and send it to him

That's an interesting idea if you ask me. The Nitro's transparent low-mids with the Natas' metallic high-mids? Oh yeah, I'd say!

[ericsabbath]

well, you still can have virtually any other amp modded by him to a similar tone for a somewhat fair price
you could buy something that's already in canada and send it to him

That's an interesting idea if you ask me. The Nitro's transparent low-mids with the Natas' metallic high-mids? Oh yeah, I'd say!

the Nitro has a quite different texture, since it doesn't have a cathode follower
wiring a cathode follower would already change the Splawn character a lot
I'd send him a cheaper and more mod friendly amp, like a JMP or an used JCM reissue or something

I've listened to some Marshall Vintage Modern and Bogner Uberschall modded by him and he always manage to impose his mighty growly tone
a cheap good alternative would be a Jet City amp, for example, or some used old Ampeg VL (they go for $300-$500 on ebay and craigslist)

[Dmoney]

Jet City would be a good idea, but I would have thought a JMP or JCM would be better. PCB based amps being more hard work to mod than others. The Hulk Modded superlead is (I believe) the precursor to the Natas. I think it was close to a total rebuild of the amp that was modded. This is the one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD4SauyEBb8

It's most likely easier to mod an amp like that then a PCB based Jet City... not saying that he couldn't mod a jet city and make it sound even better though.

As for the Nitro, the plate driven tone stack isn't the only thing going on in that amp from what I've read. It has some other things that aren't really typical for a marshall, or many other amps. for example, I think it has really large value coupling caps between the PI and output valves grids, which probably explains the some of the low end. I think it has 3 triode stages that share the same cathode resistor too. I'd think things like that might make it more of an issue to mod to the region of the Natas.

If you like plate driven tone you could considering a more inexpensive plate driven amp... like a Sovtek Mig 100. If you're really interested you could also email Mike Fortin, tell him what you like of his, what else you like, ask him what he can do with particular amps to get what you want. He might have some suggestions of amps you could send to him.

[MDV]

The fred ones sound pretty good, but almost the same as my tungsoled powerball.

The rest sound like a peavey bandit...but sort of....worse

I dont get the fuss

[Pale Rider]

Ah thx for the advice everyone! Anyway it's a bit early (funds) for me to get into something like that yet. But I'll have these in mind in case I wanna do it later.

I'm in the process of getting my guitar's parts right now. Still on the guitar phase...

...after that it'll be the amp's turn... then a wah and a reverb and be set. phew

[ericsabbath]

Jet City would be a good idea, but I would have thought a JMP or JCM would be better. PCB based amps being more hard work to mod than others. The Hulk Modded superlead is (I believe) the precursor to the Natas. I think it was close to a total rebuild of the amp that was modded. This is the one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD4SauyEBb8

It's most likely easier to mod an amp like that then a PCB based Jet City... not saying that he couldn't mod a jet city and make it sound even better though.

all marshalls are PCB since mid 1973, except the overpriced handwired reissues

[Stevepage]

Prefer this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jkhMwix31M&feature=related