Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

[Gtrjunior]

Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

I recently went back to playing a stock Marshall after a near 20 year hiatus. I've owned Splawn, Soldano, Cornford, Bogner, etc... I don't want to say my journey was a waste, but coming back to Marshall is like finding my way home. That being said, all three of my Splawn amps were great! A bit dry, but perfect for building upon. The key to getting the most out of a Splawn QR, is adding Lexicon plate reverb. I'd like to try a Splawn QR with some Classic Tone transformers. Not a fan of Heyboer iron.

Talk to me about the Lexicon plate reverb. I’ve been using a HOF on the plate setting. It does the job but I’m not in love with it.

Edit: Nevermind, I see you’re talking about a plugin

[BloodRose]

Re: Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

I LOVE my Quickrod. Scott offers a Drop B+ option which makes the amp more forgiving with more sag. IMO, the Quickrod the the amp Marshall couldn’t/wouldn’t build. It’s everything a modded Marshall should be.
I’ve also played the BE-100. It too is a killer amp, no doubt. But a little ridiculous at $4K. The Quickrod is half that price.

What diff does the drop B+ mod make??

[Gtrjunior]

Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

What diff does the drop B+ mod make??

It lowers plate voltage to give the amp more sag. It doesn’t feel so stiff.
Doesn’t change anything tonally. But the “feel” is better...a little more squishy, in a good way.

[67Mopar]

Re: Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

Talk to me about the Lexicon plate reverb. I’ve been using a HOF on the plate setting. It does the job but I’m not in love with it.

Edit: Nevermind, I see you’re talking about a plugin

I've never found a reverb in pedal form that delivers like a Lexicon rack, of course, so my experience is limited. As far as racks go, my personal favorite verbs are the room and plate verbs in the Lexicon PCM60 and PCM70. The later Lexicon verbs are great as well, but are too polished sounding, IMO. The PCM70 is just magical! The PCM60 is a great set-and-forget pushbutton box, but I wouldn't pay more than $350.00 for a mint one. Not when you can land a PCM70 for $550.00 to $650.00 USD. I've owned TC2290, Lexicon PCM42, and just about every other top-shelf delay out there. For me, the PCM70 is it.

I was ready to off my first Splawn, until I incorporated reverb. I believe at that time I was using a PCM80? The best pedal reverb I've ever used was Hardwire Supernatural. As long as I ran the Splawn with reverb/delay, all was good. In the end, I just couldn't get along with its dry sound and fast attack.

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

^^^^ I’ve been on the hunt for a good reverb for a while now. The Strymon Big Sky is killer but I just can’t Drop the coin for it.
I jus need one good reverb sound. I can use delay for extra ambiance if needed.
I like what I’ve heard for Neunaber. I’ll have to dig deeper into their stuff.

[BloodRose]

Re: Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

It lowers plate voltage to give the amp more sag. It doesn’t feel so stiff.
Doesn’t change anything tonally. But the “feel” is better...a little more squishy, in a good way.

Hmm,, sounds cool! Thanks for the info!!

[67Mopar]

Re: Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

Replacing the short filter capacitors with tall cans helps loosen the amp. Although they are the same value, the tall can discharge/recharge rate time is slower. I noticed this in both my Cornford RK100 and Mojave Dirtyboy amplifiers. It is slight, but enough to make a tangible difference. Voltage drops work as well, but as voltage drops amperes increase. Increased amperes = increased heat. This can be an issue with amplifiers that are fitted with Molex type power board connectors.

Example: Bogner 100B w/built-in variac feature. Excessive heat at the power board connectors (via increased amperage) resulted in some amps catching fire. If you have one of these amplifiers, or know someone who does, all power board wires need to be removed from the Molex plugs, stripped and dressed, then soldered directly to the pins using 63/37 solder.

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

^^^^ I’ve been on the hunt for a good reverb for a while now. The Strymon Big Sky is killer but I just can’t Drop the coin for it.
I jus need one good reverb sound. I can use delay for extra ambiance if needed.
I like what I’ve heard for Neunaber. I’ll have to dig deeper into their stuff.

Strymon Big Sky > Strymon Blue Sky > Neunaber Wet

Sounds like a used Blue Sky is the best solution for you Joe.

[Gooch]

Re: Friedman Brown Eye vs Splawn Quickrod vs alternatives

Bump. I've been loving my JJ100 for a while; it's modded with the JBE MV. But I'm rethinking Splawn; used to have a Pro Stock. ...A fully loaded Splawn with all the options may be the ticket and get me 80% of what I love about the JJ100 and I could put some money back in my pocket selling my modded JJ100, and right now I need the cash.

Thouhgts? Anyone compare a JJ100 and Splawn recently? What did you like or not like?