Tweet
For those of you who aren't familier with Splawn Guitars, Scott Splawn is in the upper eschelon of amp modders in the US. If I had not gone with Jeff Seal, I believe that my amp would have gone to Scott Splawn. I took in my Alvarez to have all the pots and wiring re-done, and to have a proper setup on my Floyd. It's due, and I just don't have the time or energy to do it myself right now, besides, I wanted an excuse to drive to his shop.
Scott's shop is about 30-40 minutes from my house, and well worth the drive. It's a small, modest shop, but that's where the modesty ends. As with many small retailers, he doesn't have a ton of guitars due to overhead, but he sure had some nice one's. Mainly Jackson's and Charvel's for the new stuff. A small mix of used stuff and some acoustics.
Held and played briefly a couple of nice Strat neck Charvel's, one was a sweet cherry burst with a birdseye maple neck, and a single Seymour Duncan HB at the bridge. Also played one with the same config, but with a red and white bullseye patern. Very well made guitars...not my style, but very nice. If I was still in my Jackson shredder mode, there were 5-6 very nice one's with different graphics.
The real treat is the amps. I didn't get to play one this time, as there were a couple of guys already jamming in the small isolation room, and the guy that was playing while I was there had some serious chops. He was playing a Charvel strat with a Rio Grand BBQ at the bridge, thru one of Scott's custom heads. Man, the tone was wicked, fat, beefy, articulate....just absolute meaness eminating from the amp. The cab was a custom built Splawn with 4 Eminence Redcoats...and they had wicked tight lows, smooth highs and screaming mids. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to hear the new line of Eminence speakers, and they sure live up to their billing.
Scott does a similar sounding mod as the one Jeff Seal does to Marshall's, from what I can tell initially, it involves removing the existing wiring and PC board, and building the circuit by hand. I'm sure there are tonal differences, I plan to talk to Scott more about it when I go back. The one I heard today seemed to be voiced much more aggressively from what I received from Jeff Seal. I prefer the more vintage Marshall sound for most of my taste in music, but the tone I heard today is an interesting twist. It wasn't the tone I prefer to have all the time, but it was wicked.
Scott is also now building Custom heads, and he is doing all the tooling himself, from the chassies up. Using top of the line components and transformers. The heads that I saw have that Plexi look to them. He also builds 2x12 with the 4x12's, and the construction looks top notch. I've been considering the Avitar cabs, but I may look into the Splawn 2x12. They are rock solid and man are they pretty. Looks like you can have tons of tolex color options, including purple, black green....ect.
Anyhow, Scott is a really down to earth guy, and took the time to sit down on a stool and talk to me for a few minutes. I had my daughter with me, and she was getting somewhat bored, so I didn't hang too long. When I go back I plan to spend some more time. Check out his website, and listen to some of the soundclips of his amps....really neat stuff.
Scott's shop is about 30-40 minutes from my house, and well worth the drive. It's a small, modest shop, but that's where the modesty ends. As with many small retailers, he doesn't have a ton of guitars due to overhead, but he sure had some nice one's. Mainly Jackson's and Charvel's for the new stuff. A small mix of used stuff and some acoustics.
Held and played briefly a couple of nice Strat neck Charvel's, one was a sweet cherry burst with a birdseye maple neck, and a single Seymour Duncan HB at the bridge. Also played one with the same config, but with a red and white bullseye patern. Very well made guitars...not my style, but very nice. If I was still in my Jackson shredder mode, there were 5-6 very nice one's with different graphics.
The real treat is the amps. I didn't get to play one this time, as there were a couple of guys already jamming in the small isolation room, and the guy that was playing while I was there had some serious chops. He was playing a Charvel strat with a Rio Grand BBQ at the bridge, thru one of Scott's custom heads. Man, the tone was wicked, fat, beefy, articulate....just absolute meaness eminating from the amp. The cab was a custom built Splawn with 4 Eminence Redcoats...and they had wicked tight lows, smooth highs and screaming mids. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to hear the new line of Eminence speakers, and they sure live up to their billing.
Scott does a similar sounding mod as the one Jeff Seal does to Marshall's, from what I can tell initially, it involves removing the existing wiring and PC board, and building the circuit by hand. I'm sure there are tonal differences, I plan to talk to Scott more about it when I go back. The one I heard today seemed to be voiced much more aggressively from what I received from Jeff Seal. I prefer the more vintage Marshall sound for most of my taste in music, but the tone I heard today is an interesting twist. It wasn't the tone I prefer to have all the time, but it was wicked.
Scott is also now building Custom heads, and he is doing all the tooling himself, from the chassies up. Using top of the line components and transformers. The heads that I saw have that Plexi look to them. He also builds 2x12 with the 4x12's, and the construction looks top notch. I've been considering the Avitar cabs, but I may look into the Splawn 2x12. They are rock solid and man are they pretty. Looks like you can have tons of tolex color options, including purple, black green....ect.
Anyhow, Scott is a really down to earth guy, and took the time to sit down on a stool and talk to me for a few minutes. I had my daughter with me, and she was getting somewhat bored, so I didn't hang too long. When I go back I plan to spend some more time. Check out his website, and listen to some of the soundclips of his amps....really neat stuff.
Comment