Xeromus
Tone Ninja
So I had mixed feelings about this amp, it's not like anything else out there, it has a unique sound and is very middy and bassy. I was playing earlier today and was like wtf! after playing my other tube amp. The bass range sounded like garbage. And there was no note definition in chords. I went inside and swapped around the power tubes and moved swapped preamp v1 and v2. I don't know how much of a difference it made but I put it back together, turned it on, twiddled with the EQ more drastically and I got my sound. And I'm blown away. This amp sounds unreal. It's just very finiky and you really need to dial it in. It has a pretty good range of tones. Over the next few days I'll record a good clip. I've also found that this amp was made to work with pedals for tone shaping. A tube screamer on the lead channel makes this baby wail. And after thinking it wouldn't be suitable for metal, I was able to get 'er to chunk and chug like crazy. Just have to mess with it. It's a really think and smooth lead channel, not fizzy like marshall or 5150, hard to describe. The set up I like for the lead channel is: presence 7, treble 8, mid 2, bass 6. You really need to accentuate the treble and cut the mids to get a marshall type sound that most (and I) am/are accustomed to. With that setup it sounds like a marshall with a lot of extra balls and low end. Keep in mind that really isn't a scooped sound either, this amp isn't balanced with the knobs all on 5, it's muddy at that point, bassy and middy, thick. But the range of tones you can get with the knobs is more than most amplifiers. you can really get icepicky, or super mud, etc. Really cool stuff. After spending all afternoon with it, I am extremely happy with it all over again. Even the first time I got it and played it I wasn't sure if i liked it. I would go between loving it and sometimes being like wtf this is weird. Carvin put electro harmonix sovteks in at the factory. I have a feeling these tubes aren't all that great because I got a improvement when swapping them around, I'll get around to changing them at some point, but not right now. This amp has some major mojo, but it ain't for everyone, you have to be patient with it. I love it now.
