New Amp: Egnater Renegade

This was another amp I remember testing out and enjoying around 2009 or 2010 when I was new to guitar. The idea of being able to blend power tube types was genius at the time - and still sounds appetizing today. These are very inexpensive online, and I spotted this one at a very low price on Reverb and grabbed it.

The clean channel is extremely full and thick sounding, I’d wager it’s one of the best clean channels I’ve ever heard really. The digital reverb is also fantastic sounding and can get really over the top. I found this channel best with the gain maxed out (don’t worry, it still stays clean) and the tweakable bright/deep switches can add some nice variation to the tone. I preferred this one turned all the way to 6L6 mode.

The drive channel is a bit underwhelming. Obviously my ear for tone has improved greatly over the years. I prefer it turned all the way to EL34, and with the gain around half it does a very good Marshall low-mid gain impression with good grit. However, keep turning the gain up and the amp becomes very flubby even to the point where when hitting an E chord for example, the upper strings cancel completely out and you can’t hear them at all because the bass takes over the whole sound. In hindsight, I understand this has to do with the voicing of the amp itself, so perhaps a few modifications to the circuit could open this up more to be more useful. The problem is even worse with high output pickups.

So it’s not what I dreamed of - an amp that would do the classic 6L6 high gain sound as well as the EL34 modded Marshall tones - but those expectations were probably unreasonable to begin with. What it does do is a pretty killer clean tone, maybe even a Twin Reverb impression, couple with a nice mid gain rock tone that allows the character of both tube types to come through.

New Amp: Splawn Quickrod (2009)

Picked this amp up for a great deal and couldn’t resist, despite owning another QR head already. This one is from 2009 and shares the same darker, mid heavy circuit of my 2008 model. One added bonus though, this one has the loop master volume, making it far more usable at lower volume levels and at home.

The flames “hot rod” head shell is not really my style, but it is a trademark Splawn amp look. Tones are exactly as I expected - thick and full sounding and a killer modded Marshall tone with a nice usable clean channel.

New Amp: Splawn Streetrod 1x12 Combo (2018)

Picked up this beauty using Guitar Center’s online used section. It was marked down in price and the idea of a miniature Splawn like my 2008 Quickrod, coupled with a Creamback speaker, sounded great to me.

This amp is much larger than I expected it to be - nearly 2x12 sized, despite housing a single speaker. The production date is from 2018 so it is the most recent circuit, although lacks the B+ voltage switch some of the newest ones are optioned with. The Blue tolex is gorgeous and contrasts nicely with the Marshall-like gold front panel and knobs.

This amp is both brighter and more scooped than my Quickrod head. The bass is much stronger and full sounding, and is definitely not as much of a “classic” sounding amp as the QR. The 2008 QR is an older circuit design, so I’m not surprised they are so different. I do find this Streetrod can get lost in the mix a little and when turning up the volume to compensate a little, it starts to sound a little thinner because the attack is concentrated in the upper upper mids, accentuating some of its flaws. Played alone however, it sounds fantastic - maybe the right mixing would bring this amp to life. The clean channel is extremely similar to my 2008 QR and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is identical in circuit, although the SR lacks the gain control of the QR heads here.

New Amp: ADA MP-2

I’ve had a lot of fond memories with my ADA MP-1, a few times while moving around it was my only amp and it pulled double duty as a practice amp, a microphone preamp, even a headphone amp run through my PC with an IR back in the early days of IR’s just to have something to practice on.

I knew that an MP-2 existed, although it isn’t as highly regarded as the MP-1, so I’ve always wanted one to find out for myself.

Well, I’ve finally gotten one - and I also picked up a 6-slot rack and someday I hope to fill all six slots with various rack preamps - Peavey Rockmaster, ENGL E530, Marshall JMP-1… all on my list to grab someday (I run these through the FX loop in of my Marshalls instead of through a rack poweramp, which is fine for my setup).

I think this is an extremely underrated amp and it is entirely held back by one thing alone - how complicated it is to set up. Most guitar players just want to turn a few knobs and start playing, and even on the MP-1, you basically chose either distortion or clean and a few EQ settings and started playing. On this amp, it’s not that simple - there are 10 different preamp voicings, and each has the usual ADA setup with two gains, a 4-band EQ section (there is a presence control but this is a preamp so it’s more like “very high treble”). That alone isn’t too bad, but some of the voicings are a little less interesting sounding because clearly this amp was intended by the designers for you to use the second part too - all of the effects. This amp has a noise gate, graphic EQ, and several effects including the classic chorus that ADA’s are famous for. The problem is that the amp relies on these to get the optimal tone - as opposed to the MP-1 which is a bit more plug and play, although that one also benefits nicely from further processing - how many MP-1 players say they don’t like the MP-2, but then use a BBE Sonic Maximizer and a rack mount Graphic/Parametric EQ in the chain anyway. It’s just a different way of doing it with the MP2 because it’s all self contained.

All of that said, I still think the MP-1 is superior in tone because I like the voicings better, but I’ve also had the MP-1 for a decade and I’m still new to the MP-2, so that’s probably a big part of it. Someone wrote a computer program to configure the MP-2, if I can get that working I think that will be a huge improvement for me if I can set up some patches in advance and then just download them to the MP-2 instead of having to program on the MP-2 itself. Either way, I think with the same 128 stored presets, and now so many voicing, effect, and EQ options, I would love the MP-2 as a touring musician if I played the same material constantly. I feel like I could program in 2-3 patches for every song in the set and still have space left over.

I’m glad to have this one in the arsenal, but it’s going to take some time to get the best out of for sure.

New Amp: Mesa Mark IV

A while back, I listed my Marshall TSL for sale online. At the time, I was enjoying the 6100LM more and figured it made sense to sell it off if I wasn’t using it. Thanks to a number of interested and chatty folks I met on Reverb, I learned some new settings and grew to love the amp again, so I took the sale down. However, one person was interested in a trade for a Mark IV combo amp - which didn’t go through as he was able to sell it for cash first. While researching the trade, I started to really like the Mark IV tones and thought it would be great to have especially since it would be so different from my mostly Marshall-like collection so far.

Fast forward a few months and I found a Mark IV Medium head for a really great deal and picked it up. I specifically wanted the Medium head so that the “lead voicing” switch was on the front panel. I’m really a tweaker at heart and though I would use that switch with enough frequency plus the medium head is a better platform in case I had to place another head on top.

This is a killer amp - the high gain tones are super tight and articulate, and even sounds great boosted. Throwing a light chorus and reverb in the loop can get tones very close to Whitesnake’s 1987 album tones (even though they used a Mark III), and of course it can nail those modern metal tones such as Lamb of God.

Dialing this amp is a steep learning curve, and I understand now why players come back with such conflicting reviews on the Mark series amps. Their EQ is situated much earlier in the circuit, right after the input gain stage. This is very different to the usual Marshall style post-EQ that most high gain amps employ. On the Mark, you really need to bring up the treble control to maximum, keep the bass low to avoid flubbiness, and use the graphic EQ to shape the sound you want in the room. The idea of maxing out the treble control on a Marshall style amp is totally alien, but it sounds fantastic with this style of circuit.

Caps in this unit date to 1997, and it came equipped with 2x 6L6GC and 2x EL34’s, which sound great to me.

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New Amp: Marshall 6100LM... again

I was so thrilled with my 6100LM that I spotted another one for a very low price on Guitar Center’s used lisings, so I pulled the trigger. I figured I could keep whichever one I liked better and sell the other and pocket a few bucks along the way. This unit dates from 1995 and has the same 5881 power tubes as my 1997 model.

Turns out, this one has been modified - and poorly. Channel 1 and 2 feel about the same, but channel 3, the most exciting part of the 6100LM to me, has far less gain and less fullness. Looking inside, there is some shoddy soldering on the lead PCB and I didn’t take the time to investigate further as I’m able to return this amp for 45 days no questions asked.

New Amp: Marshall 6100LM

Finally added another Marshall to the collection! This time another 3 channel one, and from around the same era as my TSL. This one dates from 1997, very late in the production run of these 6100LM’s and is equipped with 5881 power tubes.

I’m very happy with this amp and it barely steps on the toes of my TSL. It does cover some of the same ground, but the tones of this model are definitely more classic sounding than the TSL, especially the crunch channel, though it sadly lacks the TSL’s great spring reverb.

The most exciting part of this amp for me is the “LM” lead channel - I thought the TSL had a good amount of gain but really felt best boosted with the gain rolled down. This 6100LM needs no boost to achieve the same level of gain - especially with the mid boost switch pressed in. Channel 2 is also capable of a similarly massive amount of gain with both switches in (Mode C), though it lacks the mid boost ability. Also usable on channel 3 is a “contour” switch, which shifts the mid frequencies and scoops some of it out. While I don’t usually use the contour switch, my first impression is that with that switch in and the gain turned up can get very brown sounding, and could probably do a great impression of the Unchained riff.

New Video: Laney AOR 50 Playthrough

A quick playthrough demo I put together for a buyer when selling this amp. I used my ESP Maverick Deluxe with an EMG 81-X and a cabinet with a Celestion G12M-65 Creamback. Audio is from the camera mic in the room.

New Amp: VHT Pittbull 50/CL

I picked this up really on a whim. Usually I research for months/hours of clips, forums, reviews etc, but I only knew that this was a popular amp for metal styles and a few minutes I spent playing a VHT Pittbull 50/ST in a guitar center about 5 years ago.

Well I am sure glad I did, because this is a fantastic amplifier. Somewhat unique to Pittbulls, this one is optioned with tube powered spring reverb, and no graphic EQ. I’m sure the graphic EQ is great to have, but I love the ambience the reverb adds with its relatively short tail, and I can always add an EQ to the FX loop later. Also a very cool feature is the switchable 5U4 tube rectifier, which can be set to both channels, or none, or only on Red but not Green (my preferred setting).

Both channels can be set exactly the same, which I really like as I can dial in two high gain tones, or two crunch tones, or clean/high gain or anything in between.

New Amp: Splawn Quickrod (2008)

Since the Laney AOR didn’t quite scratch the JCM800 itch, I went on the hunt again. A local vintage music shop had been posting listings on craigslist, but the owner does not ship. I saw a JCM800 2204 in some photos, so I took a day and drove down to see what was in the shop.

This shop is Jimmy’s Vintage Music of Auburndale FL, a beautiful small town roughly halfway in between Orlando and Tampa. It was no let down - vintage Fenders, Marshalls, and all manner of beautiful guitars were on display.

After trying out the JCM800 2204 and feeling that the master volume was just too difficult to control, the knobs very easy to rotate and slightly scratchy at the lowest settings due to age made it hard to imagine taking it home to my studio. The owner suggested I try the white Splawn, complete with a road case and matching white 4x12 Splawn cab.

I was immediately thrilled by the sound - it wasn’t overly gainy, but it was much thicker, fuller, and more in line with the modded Marshall tones I wanted out of this type of amp while keeping its vintage Character. After some quick negotiating, I took the head home sans cab and road case. The cab was fantastic - no argument - but I just couldn’t justify the space at home.