Scott Holt & Obrien Amps

[charvelguy]

The builder of Obrien amps lives in my neck of the woods. Yesterday they had Steve Holt doing a clinic at a local music store around the block as Steve was in town to play the Cabooze. http://www.scottholt.com/

Needless to say Steve tore it up, but he was there to promote Obrien amps as he has become an endorser.

These amps are of like say 'matchless' caliber but they have a very cool feature - foot operated variable gain.

Very pricey tho. http://www.obrienamps.com/_index.asp

Since the guy is just down the road from me, I'm going to be checking into these or at the very least corresponding with him. He works at the music store that did the clinic.

[KevinDguitar]

Re: Scott Holt & Obrien Amps

Tim used to work/live here in Columbus GA and is a very cool guy. One of my students does his website as well. VERY nice amps! The foot/expression controlled gain is a nice feature, especially when looking for all the in between grey areas of dirty and clean.

[charvelguy]

Re: Scott Holt & Obrien Amps

Wow, that is cool that one of your students does his site. It seemed very well laid out I thought. I didn't know he live in that area of south, but maybe that would explain a few things on his target endorsers.
It was a nice sounding amp, lots of natural sustain, beautiful cleans and a smooth gain.

oops, I meant to say Scott tore it up. If you're into SRV, Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne...Scott is right up that alley and quite a decent showman too, much along the lines to SVR but with his own flair.

[Twisteramps]

Re: Scott Holt & Obrien Amps

Hm. They have a patent on 'foot operated variable gain'. It's a foot pedal with two pots - as one increases, the other decreases, one is clean channel volume, one is overdrive, and it's like a mix control. I'm sure their actual application is more esoteric (from reading the patent I got a headache) but it's basically two pots that are wired reversed to each other that run the volumes of two channels at once. Amazing what you can get a patent for.

I know it's not exactly the same, but you could do the same thing with some older mesa boogies using a volume control and the fx loop I think... I'd have to look it up. I remember reading that though.

If you like the concept, check out the Line 6 Vetta - you can mix any of 74 different amp emulations that way - continuous variation of clean/dirty or two clean or two dirty.. in stereo or mono. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Pete

[charvelguy]

Re: Scott Holt & Obrien Amps

I figured that the variable gain was running both channels at the same time and the volume control was a treadle to blend differing increments of either without having to manually switch between channels.

This is a quote from Scott on his website:

"I have tried out the Line 6 stuff and it's really pretty good. There's a lot of versatility involved with "modeling amps" but the danger is getting too wrapped up in playing the amp, rather than the music.
I'm currently using a Fender Bandmaster and an Obrien 4X10 combo (the red one) that is one of the best tube amps I've ever used. While I think that solid state technology has come a long way, I still find the warmth and feel of tubes to be more "organic" and easier for me to feel.
Of course the real answer is no matter what you're using, play from your heart and the tools will take care of themselves."

[Riscchip]

Re: Scott Holt & Obrien Amps

Wow...$3000 4x12 cabinet. Hoo-ah!

Seem like cool amps, though.