Hot _Grits
Buttery Toneologist
As some of you may know, I help out at a boutique amp/pedal importer.
Yesterday we had a bumper crop of stuff in.
First up, we had a guy come in with a Diezel VH4 and a brand spanking new VHT Sig:X and matching 2x12. the Diezel was in the middle of a retube by the time I got to work (really nice guts, though), but the Sig:X was running. I've gotta say, a very impressive amp for modern metal. It has that silly-tight VHT feel, if you want, but can also be run looser, and the frequency range of the amp (running KT88s) was full with no harshness in any area. Brutal yet pleasant. The clean channel was also remarkably good, with nice spank, warmth and fullness. The crunch channel was decent, but had the kind of midrange congestion that I hear in the medium gain tones of decent midprice amps like the rockerverb and roadster. Definitely not as open and clear as a simpler, more vintage amp would sound for that application.
Unfortunately, the switching seemed to fritz out and the dirty channels went quiet and weird, so it went off to our tech. But it was cool while it lasted, and there's lots of options to explore.
Next up, we had a very talented young player come in with a Goodsell super 17 and THD 2x12. I only heard this setup briefly by itself, but it sounded like a nice low wattage amp, and a good open canvas for pedals (this guy is a pedal freak). I don't think it's something I'd buy compared to a 65 London, but it's also a decent chunk cheaper.
Next up we hooked up the TC Nova delay to the Goodsell and a Swart AST in stereo, and explored the ping pong delays, amongst other settings. Driven by a guy who can really do delay this was quite amazing to hear. We also tried the Nova Reverb, and both pedals are excellent and very flexible. Great if you need presets, too.
After that, we went through the Goodsell owner's pedalboard. he had the Cusack Tap-a-whirl (cool, solid tap trem, not as many weird options as the catalinbread or duncan though), the lovepedal eternity (very nice mid gain pedal), the Timmy (very nice XOTIC-style boost od) and the Lovepedal Big Cheese. This pedal was awesome, sort of a big muff with loads more tonal options and more clarity if needed. Shame it's out of production.
Once we got all that out of the way, I had a play with the new Bogner shipment. FINALLY I got to hear the vaunted XTC101B (with all trimmings) in action.
what can I say, it's a hell of an amp. It definitely has that compressed, easy to play Bogner feel, and for that reason, I'd love to hear the stripped down classic version and see how that differs. But it's all there: lots of very balanced, brit flavoured tones, with loads of gain if needed.
I can see why the plexi mode is so well loved. It has a beautiful plexi flavour, whilst also being very 'polite' for lack of a better term. What I mean is that it's not as raw, immediate and brutal as a real cranked plexi, but rather, a more compressed, warm, and even take on the sound. Very pleasant on the ear.
I didn't run the whole gamut of tweaks o get the clean channel at it's best, so the cleans sounded decent but not incredible. Perhaps when I have more time.
After that, I played the 'forgotten bogner': the Shiva 6l6. Now I played the EL34 recently, loved the cleans and didn't really like the overdrive. Predictably, the 6l6 model delivers an even nicer clean (and I mean a true top class clean, not 'good for a channel switcher'), but the real surprise was the lead channel. It was just killer, one of the nicest 6l6 overdrive tones I've heard. At this point, I have to say it's my favorite bogner tone.
Bonus: if you crank the clean channel right up you get a wonderful vintagey overdrive that's nice and loose, like an older fender, which is a cool option alongside the tighter lead channel. Superb amp.
So, after all that, and a few hours to rest our ears, We did some recording for the defendants record. The aim for the session was to add second guitar tracks and special overdubs. So we fired up the London and my tele, and got some killer low gain rhythm tones.
After that, I decided to try the tele with the 6l6 shiva, and replaced some earlier tracks I'd done with a 65 Soho. Listening back to the results (semihollow into Victoria double deluxe down the left, tele into Shiva down the right) I was totally knocked out with the tones. So as a result, I'll be booking an emergency session this week to get as much Shiva on the record as I can before it ships down country to a dealer...
A long day, but a hell of a lot of fun.
Yesterday we had a bumper crop of stuff in.
First up, we had a guy come in with a Diezel VH4 and a brand spanking new VHT Sig:X and matching 2x12. the Diezel was in the middle of a retube by the time I got to work (really nice guts, though), but the Sig:X was running. I've gotta say, a very impressive amp for modern metal. It has that silly-tight VHT feel, if you want, but can also be run looser, and the frequency range of the amp (running KT88s) was full with no harshness in any area. Brutal yet pleasant. The clean channel was also remarkably good, with nice spank, warmth and fullness. The crunch channel was decent, but had the kind of midrange congestion that I hear in the medium gain tones of decent midprice amps like the rockerverb and roadster. Definitely not as open and clear as a simpler, more vintage amp would sound for that application.
Unfortunately, the switching seemed to fritz out and the dirty channels went quiet and weird, so it went off to our tech. But it was cool while it lasted, and there's lots of options to explore.
Next up, we had a very talented young player come in with a Goodsell super 17 and THD 2x12. I only heard this setup briefly by itself, but it sounded like a nice low wattage amp, and a good open canvas for pedals (this guy is a pedal freak). I don't think it's something I'd buy compared to a 65 London, but it's also a decent chunk cheaper.
Next up we hooked up the TC Nova delay to the Goodsell and a Swart AST in stereo, and explored the ping pong delays, amongst other settings. Driven by a guy who can really do delay this was quite amazing to hear. We also tried the Nova Reverb, and both pedals are excellent and very flexible. Great if you need presets, too.
After that, we went through the Goodsell owner's pedalboard. he had the Cusack Tap-a-whirl (cool, solid tap trem, not as many weird options as the catalinbread or duncan though), the lovepedal eternity (very nice mid gain pedal), the Timmy (very nice XOTIC-style boost od) and the Lovepedal Big Cheese. This pedal was awesome, sort of a big muff with loads more tonal options and more clarity if needed. Shame it's out of production.
Once we got all that out of the way, I had a play with the new Bogner shipment. FINALLY I got to hear the vaunted XTC101B (with all trimmings) in action.
what can I say, it's a hell of an amp. It definitely has that compressed, easy to play Bogner feel, and for that reason, I'd love to hear the stripped down classic version and see how that differs. But it's all there: lots of very balanced, brit flavoured tones, with loads of gain if needed.
I can see why the plexi mode is so well loved. It has a beautiful plexi flavour, whilst also being very 'polite' for lack of a better term. What I mean is that it's not as raw, immediate and brutal as a real cranked plexi, but rather, a more compressed, warm, and even take on the sound. Very pleasant on the ear.
I didn't run the whole gamut of tweaks o get the clean channel at it's best, so the cleans sounded decent but not incredible. Perhaps when I have more time.
After that, I played the 'forgotten bogner': the Shiva 6l6. Now I played the EL34 recently, loved the cleans and didn't really like the overdrive. Predictably, the 6l6 model delivers an even nicer clean (and I mean a true top class clean, not 'good for a channel switcher'), but the real surprise was the lead channel. It was just killer, one of the nicest 6l6 overdrive tones I've heard. At this point, I have to say it's my favorite bogner tone.
Bonus: if you crank the clean channel right up you get a wonderful vintagey overdrive that's nice and loose, like an older fender, which is a cool option alongside the tighter lead channel. Superb amp.
So, after all that, and a few hours to rest our ears, We did some recording for the defendants record. The aim for the session was to add second guitar tracks and special overdubs. So we fired up the London and my tele, and got some killer low gain rhythm tones.
After that, I decided to try the tele with the 6l6 shiva, and replaced some earlier tracks I'd done with a 65 Soho. Listening back to the results (semihollow into Victoria double deluxe down the left, tele into Shiva down the right) I was totally knocked out with the tones. So as a result, I'll be booking an emergency session this week to get as much Shiva on the record as I can before it ships down country to a dealer...
A long day, but a hell of a lot of fun.
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