New Amp: 2004 Soldano Hot Rod 50X Plus signed by Mike Soldano

I’ll admit, I splurged on this one and probably paid a little too much. I had my heart set on an Avenger, and I finally was able to check that one off my list just a few months ago. I thought my Soldano GAS was through, but when I spotted this red tolex, white chassis Hot Rod I decided it was worth a shot.

It has two less power tubes than my 100w Avenger, but gains an extra preamp tube for the effects loop. This amp design is closely related to the budget Jet City models such as the JCA50 or the JCA22 which I am intimately familiar with - I did my first ever amp circuit mods on a JCA22.

The first Hot Rod amps were basically more budget minded SLO’s, lacking the crunch mode and the large DeYoung transformers that made those amps famous, starting production in 1991 with the single channel 50w model. 100w models came later in 1994, and the plus version, like mine, started in 1995. These were made until 2005 before being replaced with an updated version for 2006, which removed the slave out from the rear and added a depth control to the front panel, sort of combining together the Avenger line and the Hot Rod line into one (aptly named the “Hot Rod Avenger”). There is also a Hot Rod 25, introduced in 2012.

The naming can be a bit confusing, but the original Hot Rod amps had two inputs and a very stripped down 6-knob, single channel design. The plus models added the second channel but sacrificed the low input. The Avengers first came out in 2003, and were similar to the single-channel Hot Rods, with the same two inputs and one channel, adding the depth control, and removing the effects loop along with a few tweaks to the voicing for more aggressive tones. This was during the era of ever-more-complicated multichannel amps, and a sizable number of guitar players really wanted that stripped down amp design, thinking even having the effects loop present negatively affected the tone - I’m not sure I believe that myself, but I’m sure that had a part in influencing the Avenger design.

Anyway, back to the Hot Rod. This is a great sounding amp, with the classic Soldano lead tone - bright, punchy, and extremely clear. It sports all Mercury Magnetics transformers. The “normal” channel also sounds quite good, although it shares the EQ with the overdrive channel so it does have some limitations there. Still, it feels quite natural when switching channels, keeping the same core tone with less gain and a hair brighter with the preamp knob set at half or below. The overdrive channel gets quite gainy but can be a little loose on the bottom end without a boost, but its open character means it’ll take that boost very well. I’ve played it a few times boosted with a Klon Clone and it takes the natural tone of the amp and kicks it into high gear, or alternatively using a Boss SD-1 or Tubescreamer and the bottom end tighten up while the mids get more prominent - great for solos or metal rhythms, especially with lower tunings. Truly a staple of high gain tones, and for good reason - and quite different tonally from its estranged family (Rectos and 5150/6505’s).

This particular amp was signed by Mike Soldano at some point, but it isn’t dated. I speculate that it must’ve been pretty recent, perhaps the amp had a health check in Seattle and that’s when it was signed. The amp is in absolutely minty shape so either way, it was very well taken care of.

More photos available here

New Amp: Hughes & Kettner Triamp Mk 1

This is another amp I occasionally look for because I suspect it would be an amazing bang for the buck snag, especially with the current Mk 3 Triamp retailing for a whopping $4400. In contrast, Mk 2’s are hovering in the $1300 range and this old Mk 1 only ran me about $650. In particular I was waiting to find one that had either the original footswitch or the MSM-1 Midi controller installed - well I really lucked out because this particular one came with both!

It’s in pretty good condition all around, and it is a very heavy amp with a lot of tubes. These were available with either a quad EL34 or quad 6L6 power section - mine has EL34’s. The preamp contains 8x 12AX7 tubes, plus another 12AX7 phase inverter - so 13 tubes total. The only amp with more that I own are Mesa Triple Rectifiers, with 14 total tubes, though there’s a lot more in the power section there. Interestingly, the Fender Super-Sonic 100 also has 13 total tubes.

The previous owner did replace the back panel with a nicely cut piece of wood, which has the reverb tank attached to the back - this is normal for Mk1 Triamps, though the original back plate would’ve been a metal grate. I’ve never seen another amp mount the reverb tank this way, and the RCA cables go directly into the rear panel of the amp, where a master reverb control sits. I found the reverb to sound very good, although this is an aftermarket tank so I can’t comment on the factory configuration - but usually a bad reverb has to do with the circuit more than the type of tank itself in my experience. The drawback is that with a single mix control, it’s difficult to dial in reverb to your liking for cleans or light crunch tones without ending up with too much on your higher gain tones.

This is effectively a six channel amp as well, so it does make a few sacrifices in getting you there. These channels are separated into 3 “Amps,” where they have separate gain controls but shared EQ and master volume controls. I was pleasantly surprised at how closely matched the volume levels were between channels, but there are some issues especially on “Amp 1,” which is the cleaner side of things.

Amp 1’s two channels, A and B, are voiced noticeably apart. “A” is much brighter and spankier, but gets a very nice dirty tone with the gain turned up too. The drawback is that “B” is a bit darker and fuller sounding, so that shared master volume can be a problem here if you prefer two gain extremes - for example, using B as a crunch tone with the gain up and A for a very clean sound is not really workable in a live situation. With the controls near noon, they are closely volume matched though.

Amp 2’s channels follow the same basic voicing - “A” is brighter while “B” is darker and fuller. Both have similar amounts of overdrive available, and it seemed like anything but the most extreme settings kept the volume very close between them. This is definitely a British crunch inspired channel and the extra voicing/gain control is great for going from a rhythm or lead sound in that classic rock crunch realm.

Amp 3 changes things up a bit, with “A” being a bit of a “super crunch” channel (I’m hesitant to call it high gain, in the modern sense), while “B” is a much more saturated sounding high gain sound. It’s not really brighter or darker than A - maybe a little more hair on top - but a lot more gain available than A has even with A’s gain maxed out (which is still very tight feeling, impressive). Amp 3B definitely scratches my itch for instant gratification, it sounds and feels great to play, is voiced in a way that sounds great through both my V30’s and G12T75’s even with the EQ controls at noon, and gets saturated enough for classic metal tones and other heavier styles. It does not get nearly as saturated as many modern high gainers - this is no Diezel Herbert or Peavey 5150 kind of sound, it is much more polite than that. It also keeps it together a bit more, with less lows and extreme highs compared to something like a Rectifier or V-EQ’d Mark. I’d put it squarely in the more classic high gain territory and I’d prefer to use a boost on either A or B mode if I needed a more modern heavy sound. That doesn’t make it any less great sounding for what it does.

Here is the factory 7-button footswitch, which allows switching of any of the 3 “amps” and their A/B modes on the fly. The last button is for the effects loop, and this does not affect the Reverb - too bad. I figure they may as well have just done 8 switches so I could turn the Reverb off, and that single knob is a big limitation as I mentioned before. I haven’t used the MSM-1 yet, but I do wonder if the Reverb can be turned on/off via MIDI, which might solve the issue.

Interestingly, the Triamp Mk2 gives up its Reverb completely, so I figure others had the same complaints that I do about it. Personally I’d rather have the Reverb than not though, so while I haven’t played a Mk2, I’m very happy to have this Mk1. From what I’ve read, the Mk2’s main changes are related to the balance between Amp 1 A/B and Amp 2 A mode, so I wonder if that amp fixes my complaints about the volume differences when playing Amp 1 dirty. The Triamp Mk3 version solves that issue entirely by being a true 6-channel amp, where all channels/modes have separate gain, volume, and EQ controls, plus a noise gate. Apparently the Mk1 is more reliable as well, but that’s all hearsay - and judging by the very complicated looking internals of this amp, I’m sure it’d be a complicated amp to fix if something did go wrong.

Tangentially, these original Triamps came paired with a 4x12 cabinet that contained a quad of UK-made Celestion G12M25 Greenback speakers. I actually bought one of these cabinets earlier this month, but sadly the original speakers were all gone and replaced with some generic garbage so I had to return it. I’ve seen a handful of these Greenback equipped 4x12’s floating around in the $400-500 range, which these days is an absolute steal for that set of speakers, if they are still present. Eventually I’ll find one for myself, but I think it’s also worth noting that the original design of this amp was to be used with Greenbacks. I think that says a lot about why it excels so much in some of the more classic crunch and metal sounds. In contrast, the matching cabinet for the Mk2 switched to the more common V30 speaker, and the matching Mk3 cabinet is a H&K made speaker - no more celestions.

Overall, a really great sounding amp with great features.

More photos available here

New Amp: Rivera Knucklehead K-Tre

There are few groups of amps that are perpetually on my list to buy, with the end goal of eventually trying and comparing them all. One of those is the Rivera Knucklehead series, which started with a two channel amp which was more of a “Fender Clean + Slightly Gainier JCM800” kind of thing, back when that was a more novel idea. Next came the 3-channel Knucklehead Reverb, famously used on a handful of metal albums but most notably on Slipknot’s first few records, and sporadically since - this resulted in the KR7 Mick Thomson signature amp, which is the version that I own. Generally speaking I don’t like “signature” stuff, but I couldn’t refuse the price of the KR7 - but I’d have preferred a standard KR100.

While the 3-channel KR55 and KR100 amps were being produced, a new model called the “Knucklehead II” came out, which was a simpler design that was kind of a hybrd between the old and new Knuckleheads. The II had a fender-like clean channel, but instead of a crunch channel, the second channel of the II was an all out high gain monster. This amp seems to be pretty unpopular - someday I’ll find out for myself.

Then came this amp - the K-Tre. This is clearly based on the II, with the same headshell size and a nearly identical front panel. I didn’t realize quite how old these amps are - this one dates from 2006. The modern K-Tre Reverb is again another very similar amp, just adding a spring reverb single control for it, and that version is still available brand new today. In fact, according to the Rivera website at the time of writing, even this non-reverb K-Tre is still available, but I couldn’t actually find one for sale anywhere (whereas the K-Tre Reverb is readily available in stock at Sweetwater and other retailers).

Most chatter online is that the reverb and non-reverb K-Tre amps sound different from each other, with a few comments that the Reverb version is more aggressive and modern sounding. I have to wonder if this is a case where there were some circuit revisions along the way, so comparing a 2024 K-Tre vs a 2024 K-Tre Reverb would likely sound identical, but obviously comparing a 2006 K-Tre vs a 2024 K-Tre Reverb would sound quite a bit different because it has nearly 20 years of voicing, design, or part revisions since then.

I also think it is interesting that the Knucklehead II is considered one of the “bad ones.” It looks the same as the Tre, but the II has even more tonal shaping options - a master volume for the clean channel, and the gain channel has pull switches on all 3 EQ controls (Sweet, Scoop, and Bass Boost). The Tre’s (both my 2006 and current production) don’t have any pull controls on the gain channel. Not that more controls means better tone of course.

To make things even a bit more confusing, I’ve seen a Tre Reverb with a 1999 date code, but the earliest “II” I can find is from 2003. So I have to wonder if the “II” was designed to be an upgrade of sorts to the K-Tre models, but fell flat for whatever reason - voicing changes, or maybe the extra tweaking added by the pull controls just confused people. We guitar players are a fickle bunch, and plenty of amps have died unceremonious deaths due to “it’s complicated to dial in” perceptions even if the actual amp circuit and tone was identical to its predecessor (Peavey Butcher II comes to mind…).

So, convoluted history aside, this is a really awesome sounding amp. I find it unique sounding compared with the KR7, and definitely different than the Bonehead. The clean is no surprise - Rivera excellence - and the gain channel I’ve heard compared to a Mesa Rectifier which I can see, but the low end feels a lot different on the Rivera. It can get a little muddy if you aren’t careful with the Foundation control, but keep it in check and it tightens up nicely. Overdriven chords are extra chunky and it’s a little easier to play than the KR7, if that makes sense. It can do metal gain levels right out of the box, but a boost in front really helps keep that low end in check, so I wouldn’t pick this over say, a 6505 or Uberschall for the same basic type of sound. I’d actually put it in a very similar category to the Elmwood M90 I just picked up too, it’s an amp that has its own very unique voicing and sound, can do ultra high gain, but my favorite tones are somewhere in the “heavy crunch” territory, and I’d boost it for faster palm muted riffing. Now to try a II… and a Tre Reverb… and a K55…

More photos available here

New Amp: Elmwood M90

The first time I’d ever seen - or heard rather - an Elmwood was in an Ola Englund demo video (back when it was just “FearedSE”). I remember thinking it sounded awesome, added it to some metal playlist on my old youtube account, and promptly forgot about it for most of a decade.

But let’s face it, I have a lot of amps, so now it’s time to explore some of the more uncommon, less popular stuff. Sometimes that means quirky budget amps like last week’s Peavey Butcher, but this time, it’s this Swedish made monstrosity.

It’s a pretty small head, physically speaking, but plenty heavy with large and uniquely shaped transformers. This is the big brother to the Elmwood M60, and as far as I can tell the only difference between the two is that this M90 is a KT88/6550 equipped amp while the M60 sports a pair of either EL34 or 6L6 power tubes. Both have the same controls and features - two channels, each with drive/boosts, and a pair of master volumes. Later M60’s also have a pentode/triode standby switch for power tube operation - looks like the M90’s always operate in pentode mode.

This particular amp seems to have lived an interesting life - it was sold on Reverb over 8 years ago, and at that time it had the stock piano black plastic face panel. It was traded on TGP, this time with a new dark wood grained panel, behind a plexiglass front, and newly printed control names - before popping up again on Reverb in 2023 and then traded in to GC where I got it. It looks like they used the correct font, but they couldn’t replicate the “M90 Modena” logo that normally goes about the power and standby switches. Additionally, they misspelled “Drive” on both the channel 2 drive switch and drive amount controls - it’s a minor thing, but what a weird thing to screw up… why not just reprint?

Cosmetic issues aside, it’s a very good sounding amp. The clean channel is particularly exceptional, and adding the boost really feels great - a useful crunch setting without just sounding like a pedal, or some other sacrifice made to add some oomph to a channel that otherwise would prefer to be clean. The drive channel is very mids heavy, and can do heavier metal styles right out of the box with the boost engaged. This boost also seems to cut bass in just the right way, so it stays tight and focused just like using an external boost - I’d love to see a schematic on this one, and I’d be interested to know if this is a tube boost (I doubt it, I guess?) or a more pedal-like diode or opamp clipper.

This aggressive built-in boost with its adjustable control knob reminds me a little of a progenitor of the modern Driftwood amps. This Elmwood dates to somewhere around 2009, a solid 5 years before the first Driftwood amps came out. Of course that’s not to say that no one has ever put a tubescreamer-like circuit into an amp before or after this, just interesting the way it looks/feels on this amp.

This amp is no rectifier or 6505 clone that’s for sure though, for better or worse. That mids-forward sound, even when boosted, is always present. It’s a great amp for developing YOUR tone and sound, but it wouldn’t be my choice if I wanted to cover some classic Recto, Mark, 6505, or even Marshall sounds. I hate this cliche, but it truly is “kind of its own thing.” What this really means is that some people will just not like this amp, while others might love it - it’s more specialized than others in this category. I think it got a bit of a “metal” reputation, but I actually think the place it excels the most is in some crunchy modern hard rock, and I bet it would sound absolutely insane in stereo with a wider/scooped amp like the aforementioned Rectifiers.

More photos available here

New Amp: Peavey Butcher Series 2

I occasionally search for some of the older Peaveys hoping to get a good deal. Sadly I missed out on the days when VTM’s and 80s Butchers were $300 amps, and I still can’t seem to find an Ultra (teal stripe) for sale. Bravos and Triumphs are still pretty available though and those are great amps.

Anyway, I spotted this Butcher 2, with original footswitch and in mint condition. I remember when this amp came out, and at the time I was still playing my TSL most of the tone, so the idea of an amp with Clean + Crunch, but no Lead, just seemed like a straight downgrade. My view of amp tone was a lot simpler then…

So before pulling the trigger, I took another journey through past youtube demo videos - all of which seem absolutely terrible for this amp. Old marketing material barely seems to describe the amp beyond the catch-all terms like “versatile” and “brutal british tone.” At introduction in 2010, this amp was $1499 - at the time, this was a few hundred dollars more than a 6505, 6505+, or 6534+ (introduced alongside this Butcher). I can see why, if you wanted an EL34 flavored amp, and the 6534+ was introduced at the same time as a similar, 2-channel amp based on the provenance of the 5150/6505 series, you’d completely ignore the Butcher II - I know I did back then.

Taking a second look though, I was really missing you - we all were really. This is a USA made amp that is a nearly exact copy of two Marshall circuits, with a few mods that may as well be lifted straight from the Marshall or Metropoulos forums.

The clean channel is very close to the high treble channel of a 1987 or 1959 Marshall amp, with a 1n bright cap on the volume control (on this amp, the gain control for the clean channel). For reference, the 1987X uses a brighter 4n7 cap here, and the normal channel would just be the bright cap not there at all. The main change up from the Marshall is that in this case, the Gain control is located before the first gain stage, as opposed to a standard 1987/1959 where the gain (volume) control would be located between them. Two gain stages, cathode follower, and the tone stack also has the same values - mostly - except for a pair of 49k resistors in parallel with the mid pot - not sure what those do exactly so someone can fill me in there.

The crunch channel is our 2203/2204 copy, with 3 gain stages, including the exact same 10k cathode resistor on the second gain stage just like the Marshalls. The tone stack is identical on both channels of this amp - same slopes, pots, and cap values. What this ends up meaning is that you can jump from your “plexi” clean channel to your “800” crunch channel without any major upset in tone - it’s a smooth transition if you want it to be EQ’d that way. Great for classic rock.

Okay, so two amp clones packed into one, with a footswitch to go between them that’s great already. But remember there are some “mods” to talk about now!

Mod #1 Dual PPIMV’s, plus a standard MV on the clean/plexi channel: The most obvious addition, to me, is the addition of a pair of post phase inverter master volumes, that are also footswitchable. That alone is a huge plus - you can get your grind from the clean channel without needing the huge volumes a quad EL34 NMV amp would normally need to do that. The clean volume control is also a “mod” in a sense, it is a pre-PI master volume located after the tone stack - same place a stock one is located on a 2203, and the same place my personally modded 1987X has its master control. If you still want your NMV style goodness, simple turn the master and channel volume all the way up, and use the “gain” control to dial in your sound, just like you’d do on a real NMV Marshall. Of course I’m sure someone would complain if I didn’t mention that having those volumes in the signal path, even if fully opened, still places some load on the signal, and that turning down the PPIMV does not result in power tube overdrive - if you want those things, an attenuator or playing super loud are your only options. This amp provides an extremely usable compromise for most of us.

Mod #2 Punch Control: The next major mod is the “punch” control, which only works on the crunch (2203) channel. This punch control has 12 different settings, and the way it works is by changing the values of a cap and resistor on the cathode of the first gain stage. In short, selecting position “6” of the punch control (1 is all the way to the left, position 12 is all the way to the right), you have the stock value .68u of an unmodified Marshall 2203. Personally I’ve found this control to sound best in this “stock” position, but a notch or two left or right is really useful for fine tuning. I found it a bit too extreme at either end but that’s all personal preference, and admittedly with some different EQing, or a boost in front, that opens up a lot of options for this amp.

Mod #3 Built-in Boost: Both the clean and crunch channels have separate, footswitchable boosts. These are gain boosts - not volume. The crunch channel adds a switchable cap on the 2nd gain stage, which adds a lot of gain but does result in some looseness on the low end. The clean boost works in a similar way, but on the very first gain stage of that channel. I find these boosts to work really well in tandem with a bass-cutting tubescreamer type boost in front of the amp, but they are a little too muddy otherwise. That said, turning the punch control down and shaving some bass would probably tighten it up nicely, but you’d have a brighter rhythm/unboosted sound as a trade off. It’s not perfect but it’s definitely usable - this is the kind of thing that would just be hard wired on some boutique amp and no one would be any wiser, but this amp lets you have both your modded/boosted voice and the stock voice too.

Mod #4 Effects Loop: This is an easy one, but the amp has a series effects loop, which is tube buffered, and located after the EQ’s of each channel (including the channel volumes), but before the PPIMV’s. Technical details aside, this is a really effective way to set up a good loop and it sounds great so far with everything I’ve put through it, though I’m a relatively simple player when it comes to pedals.

Final Touches: I suppose these technically count as “mods” in some sense, but they are a little more “features” in a way. First is a half power switch, this is simply drops two power tubes from the circuit. The other is the “MSDI” function, which is a compensated line output using balanced XLR, taken off the speaker tap. It is simple but effective - it has a 3-way tone switch, a level control, and a very useful ground lift button.

I never thought I’d be writing so much about a relatively forgotten Peavey, but for the price and features it’s hard not to get excited about it. If I described an amp like this: “Authentic Marshall circuit clone, big transformers, switchable mods, simple controls, USA made” - you’d probably think I was talking about an expensive boutique amp, not an inexpensive Peavey. They aren’t very common, but if you happen to walk by one I’d highly encourage you to check it out, it’s a true sleeper hit.

Photos and schematic here

New Amp: Mesa Mark III Blue Stripe from 1989

Spotted this one online in the GC used section and figured it was worth a shot. It was described to include the footswitch, but no 1/4 cable, and fully working.

It arrived in decent condition, but with mismatched power tubes - it’s normal to have 2x EL34 and 2x 6L6 with these, but while the EL34’s are matched JJ’s, the 6L6’s are two different tubes. They still sound and play well, so I suppose no real complaints there.

My actual complaint is that the reverb does not work, and this wasn’t disclosed beforehand. I took a look at the basics - tubes and RCA connectors - all is connected properly but there’s just noise when turning up the reverb control on the amp’s front panel. In addition, it blew a preamp tube (cracked, white color above the getter) after a few hours of playtime. I phoned the store that sent me the amp and they gave me a run around, and after some pressing only refunded me the cost of the shipping (about $35). It’s still not worth returning the amp, as the price paid was very good for an otherwise fully working GEQ Mark III, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Either way, I’ll replace the reverb tank, which fails the continuity test and hopefully that’ll solve the problem there, and I’ve already replaced the blown tube at my own cost.

As for the sound of the amp, it’s wonderful, as expected. The “Blue Stripe” Mark III’s supposedly have the most aggressive lead channel, and I hear it. Someone before me also conveniently added a volume control on the rear panel for the Rhythm 2 mode, to better balance that with the other channels. Rhythm 2 is a fantastic sound as well, keeping the same feel as the Lead but with a little less hair and saturation - sounds amazing boosted, as an alternate texture to the built-in Lead channel.

I generally set the amp up the same way as my Mark IV - volume on 8, drive on 8, treble 10, mids 5, bass 2, and GEQ in a nice smile shape. This does make the cleaner Rhythm 1 mode get into break up with humbuckers, but it’s not too bad. Still, I can see why the Mark IV has a separate volume control for Rhy1 and Rhy2, since that’s effectively the gain control. In addition, this Mark III doesn’t have the output master of the IV, so there is no overall master volume, which makes it a little less flexible in channel switching situations. I solved this problem by placing a volume box in the loop for home practice, and removing that box brings the amp up to expected “gig volumes.”

I’m also enthralled with the pull deep function, especially on the lead channel. I can fine tune how bassy the tone is with the GEQ, but the deep drastically alters the feel of the low end when playing - much spongier, more saturated response, which I really like, especially for lead playing.

I can’t wait to do some more comparisons between this amp and my Mark IV and Mark V, especially on the Rhythm channels.

More photos here

New Amp: Splawn Pro Mod 2005

As a bit of a Splawn fan, I’ve made it my goal to try out all of the various circuits that Scott and his team have offered over the years. One of the harder ones to find are very early high/low input models, made from late 2004 to 2005, such as this one:

These early amps have two channels and no “gears” like later models. The clean channel is controlled with a simple volume knob only, and has no EQ or other frills. Still, it’s a very nice, usable and bright clean channel, and it doesn’t seem to be affected by the preamp gain setting on the overdrive channel - this is in contrast to the 2006 QuickRod where the clean is much dirtier when using higher gain settings.

This particular amp is actually a “Pro Mod,” which is identical to the Quick Rod except it sports a quad of KT88/6550 power tubes instead of the QR’s quad of EL34’s. This amp predates the KT88 equipped “Nitro” models, and documents from the era seem to imply that the Pro Mod is aimed a little more at louder, more aggressive styles and players. However, this is no super high gain metal monster - it has far less gain than Splawns 2006 and newer. The tone is a very open, less bright than a 2203, with a tad more gain and fullness - a bit more of a classic “modded Marshall” tone, while still staying faithful to the original sound. It is less congested in the mids than my other Splawns and really lends itself well to taking a boost in front, which really adds to its versatility.

It’s also interesting that this amp predates the more modern Splawn cabinet construction, and came in a shell that is much more similar to a Marshall 1959 type. While I’m a big fan of Splawn amps, I do think their head cabinets are their weakest point, based on how many I’ve received damaged in shipping, and this finger-jointed cabinet seems much more resilient.

These amps use Magnetic Components transformers (prior to the Classic Tone branding), although it has a Mercury Magnetics choke installed. By the next year, these transformers would be Heyboers instead, before eventually returning to Magnetic Components again.

Now I’m only missing two amps in the lineage. First, for a short time in late 2005, there were some QuickRod/ProMod models that had the high/low inputs, no gears, but the clean channel had a separate 3-band EQ. The other is a current production QR with the new/old and drop B+ switches - I’ve had a recent Street Rod (nearly the same as the QR preamp) but without those switches - I’d love to compare a current model in old mode against my original 2006 QR, which supposedly that mode is based on.

More photos here

New Amp: 2004 Soldano Avenger

I’ve been wanting an Avenger for a while, and though I was tempted by a few Hot Rod’s that came up for sale recently, I’m glad I waited. The Avenger is the higher gain version of that amp, theoretically the same or very similar circuit as the flagship SLO100’s lead channel with a few voicing changes. This early revision Avenger is equipped with Mercury Magnetics transformers, as opposed to the DeYoung transformers of the SLO100 or Onetics that some very early metal-panel Avengers had.

A previous owner looks to have added a few holes to the amp - 3 on the front panel, and 3 on the rear panel, as well as two holes in the top of the chassis that had tube sockets mounted in them at one point. Based on the position of one of them, it looks like a tube buffered effects loop was added, but I’m not really sure what the 3 holes in the front with that tube were for… maybe a tube overdrive with gain/volume/tone controls? Either way, all of these mods have been reversed and I checked over the amp meticulously, and it’s completely restored to stock Avenger values.

Normally I’d be a bit annoyed about the extra holes, but I have to say this amp sounds absolutely fantastic. It’s crystal clear even under high gain, although it never gets metal saturated on its own - very unlike the Splawn Nitro from the previous post. However, this has to be one of the best amps I have ever played for taking a boost. Almost any boost I throw at it provides a great sound, using the Avenger tone as the basis and the pedal for texture. My favorite reliable Ibanez TS7 is great here, with the gain set around 6-7 on the Avenger and all other controls at noon and it’s already a killer high gain tone. Tweaking the bass and depth helps tighten up for very low tunings, or dipping the mids down for chording in standard just sounds great. Consider me very impressed.

More photos here

New Amp: 2015 Splawn Nitro... Another Shipping Mishap

I’ve been wanting to try a Nitro out for a while to compare to my other Splawns, and from what I understand they follow the same Splawn voicing - pretty dark from introduction up until 2012, then brighter and more aggressive after that. I was particularly excited to compare the Nitro with its quad of KT88/6550 power tubes with my 2005 ProMod, which also has the same power tube arrangement but is a much different amp design.

Sadly, it arrived packed in a very oversized box, with poor packing material around it. This means it had a lot of room to move around inside the box and took quite a few knocks in shipping, and because the Splawn head shell cabinets are not finger jointed and just glued (I’ve had 3 Splawn heads with this same shipping damage out of the 6 I’ve owned, so that’s not ideal), this head got really smashed up.

The good news is that electronically, the amp still works, so I was able to demo how it sounds at least. I’m not sure quite what I expected, but now that I’ve played it, I’d really just describe it as a QuickRod if it had a 4th gear. It’s got more bass than the 3rd gear of a QR, and a hair more gain - but not a ton more. Still plenty enough to get very saturated even without a boost, easily up to 5150 III Red channel levels of gain despite having fewer stages from what I can figure from the design.

All that said, I do really like the way it sounds. It is easy to play on, thumps really well without getting lost, and doesn’t have any brittle frequencies that I can find so far. The Nitros don’t have gears, instead that hole on the chassis is used for a power amp resonance control, and the 6550 power section does lend itself to very clear reproduction of low notes. I can definitely see why someone would want this amp, even someone not necessarily the heavy metal player this is aimed at. I personally don’t find a Quickrod’s 1st or 2nd gear to be that great, there are other amps I’d prefer for a crunch tone, so I usually use them in 3rd gear anyway most of the time. With the Nitro, I can just keep that high gain sound plus I get extra control over the low end of the power amp, which feels like a pretty good trade for my style.

This particular model being from 2015 has the later voicing as well as a set of Classic Tone transformers, as opposed to the Heyboer or Mercury transformers of the earlier ones.

Now to wait and see what happens with the shipping/insurance claim, but I won’t hold my breath. Last time I had major amp damage like this, the Bogner Twin Jet, I waited almost 60 days before I finally got fed up waiting for a refund and returned the whole unit. In the meantime though, I’ll enjoy this Nitro and it’ll definitely be on my list to find again if this one doesn’t work out.

Update July 2024: I contacted Splawn and got a quote for a replacement head shell. GC was willing to give a partial refund in that amount, so I took it. For the time being, I’ve glued/clamped to original headshell. It’s ugly, but functional. However, now the clean channel occasionally makes no sound - so back to the bench for this one. Sometimes the clean channel comes back after moving the amp around - probably a loose/cracked solder joint somewhere, so I’ll re-flow anything that looks to be part of that circuit.

New Guitar and Amp: Kramer Pacer Melaga Purple and Fender Prosonic

In a rare but exciting double whammy day, I picked up a new amp and a new guitar today.

First, the guitar - it’s a 1982 Kramer Pacer Imperial. Exciting, but I already have quite a few, but this one is unique. This is a very cool color, “melaga purple.” These aren’t too common and it’s a color I’ve had my eye out for a long time, so when a friend posted this for sale on facebook, I immediately sent a message saying I’d take it. I had it paid and he shipped within a few hours, and I got it before the end of the week - awesome.

Pictured in its original hard shell case.

This paint is very interesting. There is a tiny crack in the finish by the floyd post that reveals a red undercoat, but the top is a very soft, pastel purple. However, this purple fades away with time - I’ve seen quite a few faded nearly all the way. Luckily this one is still mainly purple, but you can see a handful of spots where it has worn, either from sunlight or handling, to a sky blue color. This is certainly one that will get the “white glove treatment” here - no hanging on the wall, no leaving it out on the stand by the window, no putting it away wet or dirty. I want to preserve that finish as long as reasonably possible, because it’s not exactly a color you could get in a refinish.

The fade to blue is very visible here, with a few marks on the face of the body as well as on the forearm contour.

More photos here: 1982 Kramer Pacer Imperial Melaga Purple

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Next is the amp, a 1997, Bruce Zinky designed Fender Prosonic. This amp came about around the same time as the Tone-Master head (released 1994), predating the current Super-Sonic which seems to follow a similar lineage (released 2010). Like those amps, the Prosonic has a two-channel layout unique for most Fenders, pairing a clean channel with an overdrive channel. To be specific, the Prosonic first came out in 1996.

I find the clean channel to be excellent, although it is extremely loud - louder than I expected from a 60w amp. It’s not that it gets louder than other amps of the same power, but the volume is all there from basically “1” up on the knob, so it’s a bit difficult to tame for lower volumes - although a volume box in the effects loop solves that easily. The clean channel only uses the volume, treble, bass, and middle controls, so it’s very simple and classic Fender, just with the addition of the mids control in the EQ.

The overdrive channel is really hard to understate, and I am absolutely blown away after my first sitting with this amp. I expected something much more tame, lower gain, less aggressive. I’d argue this amp’s gain channel is better for metal or heavier rock than even the modern Super-Sonic amp, it’s voiced to be much more open, and the EQ just works wonderfully. While on the overdrive channel, the master volume helps control the output although it’s still a loud amp, and in addition to the 3-band EQ, there are two gain controls.

Somewhat uniquely, you can set the Gain 2 control to zero and the amp still sounds fantastic - most amps with two gain controls, if you set the second one to zero the amp makes no sound (such as the Marshall SLX, or Ceriatone Yeti/Chupa/KingKong). Dialing up the Gain 2 control adds more compression and thickness in the low notes, making the amp feel looser and squishier, but not adding a lot more in terms of gain or attack. Gain 1 is downright aggressive by only “3” on the knob, and into metal territory by 7 or 8 - even without a boost. I think this amp would catch a lot of people off guard. Dial up the amount of looseness or sag you want with the Gain 2 for solos and you have an extremely versatile amp. If I had a complaint at all, it’s that I’d like a little more taper on the Gain 1 control, so I could dial in a more tame crunch tone instead of trying to find that sweet spot between 1-3 where it hits that more classic soft crunch tone - but those tones are definitely in there, just have to make tiny adjustments to that control.

Speaking of feel, this amp also has a switchable tube rectifier, a GZ34 type that actually is attached to a 3-way rotary switch on the rear panel. It can select a solid state rectifier with the power amp in push-pull class AB, the tube rectifier in AB, or even the tube rectifier in “class A” mode, which is simply a cathode bias configuration (like a Vox AC30 or Orange Rocker 30). Class A mode makes the amp a hair louder, at least at middle volume settings, and a little punchier to my ear - I really like it. The trade off is that the noise floor is a bit higher on that setting, but still very usable.

In terms of other features, it has a 1/4 jack for a 1-button footswitch, which allows you to switch between the clean and drive channels on the fly. The combo version of the amp has a built in spring reverb tank, so a 2-button footswitch can be used on that model to turn on/off the reverb. I do wish the head version had the reverb tank, I’m a big fan of built-in spring reverbs. It also has a simple series effects loop that does its job perfectly well. There is no presence or depth control, but the EQ seems to perfectly balanced it doesn’t feel like a big loss. Even setting a nice scooped clean tone still sounds great on the drive channel without getting too anemic.

I expected to like this amp, but I’m really shocked at how much I like it. At some point I’d like to pick up a Tone-Master head and do a comparison between all three of these similar Fender amps, and see which one really speaks to me.

More photos here: 1997 Fender Prosonic