Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

[Tetsuo]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

My negatives on the Framus were the clean was good but very bright and I do like bright but when I played just seemed overly bright... The lead tones were overly bright too even with messing with the EQ for my taste... a little scratchy nail on chalkboard type feel just a touch. Spent about 45 minutes with them amp but it didn't wow me but then again I was able to play Diezels bogners and VHT's all day too!

[Venomboy]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

http://www.robhough.com/venomboy/

There's some QT clips of me playing my Cobra. Recorded with a video camera so the sound quality isn't the greatest.

The Cobra overall is bright but that can be controlled. The volume you play at will also have an effect on the brightness. For me it comes down to how do I like the amp on it's own and how well does it fit with the mix with the other musicians I'm playing with. So far this amp works for me.

Nothing wrong with not liking an amp. No flamesuits needed. I look for all the pros and cons when buying gear so I love to hear the bad stuff too.

[Tetsuo]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

Venom your clips were the ones that made me want the Cobra in the first place and I so so wnated one but when I got to try it honestly I wasn't floored I think I was expecting something different maybe

[shredmonster]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

I have a Cobra. It kicks ass.

Clean is great. Lead channel is kind of "squishy" because it has more compression than the crunch channel.

The crunch channel is Spectacular. I use it for leads also and the harmonics just fly off the guitar.

Read the reviews on harmony-central. Most people that have one love it.

And it can easily get deafingly loud if that is what you want. Believe me - comes with a warning indicating it can damage your ears.

It can be bright or not depending on how you set it. I think people here that have tried one for a little while maybe have not had enough time to learn how to set the amp to their taste. I think it definitely should be rebiased.
I put JJ tubes in the preamp section and Groove Tubes in the power section.

I got it rebiased and I will have to say it does sound a lot better - less shrill, cleaner and cuts through the mix.

Sparkling highs, killer chunk sound and all the gain you will ever need. Clean is excellent. The crunch channel is magic for both rhythm and lead.

Very versitile sounding but you have to play with it to get familiar with how to set it like any boutique amp. 45 minutes is not enough time. It took me about a year and a half (of course I did not work on it for very long at any one time) but I finally got a killer sound.

It is programmable and you can use a midi pedal. 2 Master volumes so you can change volumes for the differrent channels. That is a really cool feature.

Read the reviews from the people who actually own one on harmony-central.

You have to play with it and get it rebiased and it will sound great. The JJ tubes I put in are normally a little darker I have heard so maybe that took away from any shrill or brightness.

But it sounds great now. The only thing I personally would trade it for might be a Diezel Herbert but thats about it.

I plan on keeping mine.

[Venomboy]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

I did some recording last night with my drummer. I had the crunch channel set to about 1/2 gain. It had more than enough gain for what we were playing. I cranked the channel master and I didn't have to raise the global master much. It will get very very loud. I agree with shredmonster that you have to play with it for a while. I used to love the notch switch on but now I leave it off and it cuts through a lot more.

[Matt Crooks]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

[ QUOTE ]
(putting on flamesuit...) Bill Leverty from Firehouse is a Framus endorsee these days. I got their last cd and while it was pretty good (if you're into them), the guitar tone on that album wass about the poorest I've heard from him, and he usually sounds good - but then again, "studio magic" could have screwed that up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bill hasn't sounded good since the 3rd CD, IMO. The last few albums have had a decent guitar tone but nothing like the early albums.... of course budget has A LOT to do with that.

[Tetsuo]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

I am revisiting trying out a Cobra right now.... What do you think of the lead tones on the Cobra and has anyone A/B'd a cobra and Powerball?

[shredmonster]

Re: Framus Cobra - Any opinions?

I don't know if you would get an accurate asessment unless you were playing on a Cobra that had been rebiased.

So if you went into a music store you would be playing one where it was most likely not done.

I think that is the key to the Cobra sounding great. It sounds good stock but when you rebias it - it sounds fantastic.