I just don't know what to get as an amp

[FSU_Seminoles]

I've owned a Mesa 2 channel Rectifier, Marshall JCM 800 2204, Randall Rh200 SC G2, Peavey XXX, ENGL Fireball and ADA MP-1 Peavey Classic 60/60

right now the amps that interest me are Splawns, VHT ULs/CLs, Mesa Mark IV, Rivera Knucklehead, ENGL Savage and there's the Krankenstein and Framus Cobra that could be good but I wasn't impressed by the clips

I'm looking for a lead tone a la Vinnie Moore on Meltdown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBE7u7byTk

rythm wise, I'm not sure that's the prob thus far. I play something kinda like Arch Enemy - Nemesis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjBK0FYjmUY

I'm not a huge fan of 5150s, I'd like something a bit more organic I guess. My guitar is a culprit and my cab is a Randall Warhead with vintage 30s.

[charvelguy]

Vinnie Moore used two slightly modded Laney Pro Tube 50. From what I've read, they were the Mk-1 versions...non cascading preamp (dual preamp)

His just had the six? knobs in front..just a basic master vol amp modded to have a little more headroom. To be honest.. I'm not even sure if these are diode clipping. From what I read VM wasn't so much fond of the rhythm tone but he really liked Laney's lead 'voice'

I have much of the similar gear as you...I would think you'd be able to get in the ballpark with what you currently have, maybe by trying different pedals or a different cab.. but I also have a couple older Laneys. I think if you go the route of aquiring a head similar to what he used, you may have to change out the caps, maybe not.. but I think it would get you to close to what he had with the right tubes. These amps sound best when pushed..and they are paint peelin loud.

IMO ..a Splawn competition or even the above Laney with his std mod maybe would be where you might want to go based upon clips.
I do not know if Scott Spawn would mod a Laney, but the ones similar to JCM 800 would be a great candidate for a Standard mod. Maybe look into a Soldano too. Of course... these are just suggestions... an idea of where you may get your tone but ultimately I have very little idea of what you hear in your head as the amp tone you'd have preference for. Good luck on your search

[FSU_Seminoles]

the main thing I was lacking from the Mesa Rectifier and other amps was the definition. I sounded a little too muddy to my liking

and I never hear a whole lot of clips from Soldanos. I always hear they sound good but I never got to play one or heard clips that showcased what I was looking for.

what gear do you have btw ?

[charvelguy]

Mesa Mk 3, Mesa 50 cal with graphic. Trace Allen Voodoo Mod Peavey Triple X, '74 Marshall JMP Mk2 (modded), '77 Marshall Mk2, Marshall 3203 30w, Laney Mk2 Pro Tube 50, modded Laney Pro Tube 100 mk1.. Ada MP1, MPclassic, MP2.. more rack stuff..blah blah blah, more amps..blah blah.. I have a ...more than I care to list and want people to know

If you have an amp that gets you close to what you want now.. like the dual rec.. a Trace Allen Voodoo mod may just be what you want to dial it in. You pay these guys some rediculous price to dial in your amp, change a resistor here or a cap there.. BUT Voodoo modded amps really sound good to me. I've not heard a bad one to me...but I'm assuming he's probably had an unhappy customer or two.. seems difficult to keep everone happy but I would say that he will do what he is paid to do. I think there are reviews of his mods on HC and there are clips on his site. Again.. just a suggestion. To me.. the point of asking for advice is to take in as many opinions as you can on options one may not have considered that tossed about in making a better informed decision.

[FSU_Seminoles]

yeah thanks for the info

and if anybody has Solodano clips let me know

[Boxcar Willie 84]

I use a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier with EL34s and a Marshall cab with Vintage 30s and I get plenty of definition...also I hear if you use the Tube Screamer type pedals as a clean boost with them it adds a lot of definition too.

[charvelguy]

You're welcome..

and since saying thank you isn't a social disease for some...I did a little more research.

It seems there may have been some clips lost when the board changed format as I could have sworn Chuckracer had some SLO clips-maybe they were in song titles. Maybe he changed his name to something else.. I don't know. At least the search function works better than it used too and I'm not walking the extra mile in utilizing it.


Anyways..IMO...it's likely considered stating the obvious that Soldano has its own tone..and variants of. They went to R & D and obtain a certain sound and set themselves apart from the herd.
There does not seem to be much in the way of stand alone clips on the web doing a google search. I seem to recall Soldano used to have some clips years ago, but now has nothing on his site but descriptions. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but it does force people to get out and try the product based upon the rep he has built. Considering that recording wise..alot of artists did use Soldano..
all you have to do is listen to Neil Schon on any given Hardline tracks and I would say-that's Soldano.


I jammed with a local guy years back from Conditioned Reponse (Paul Christenson) and he was using Soldano HR 50+ or XL thru a 4x12 (I think it was a Mesa or Soldano cab) with a Les Paul. He had a tight, punchy 'Soldano tone', a really impressive gain tone, smooth.. nice sounding rig for leads and drivin rhythms but his clean sounds were almost what I'd consider a joke live because they weren't very clean.
They have some clips. Rick is flat out a great singer..one of the best in the cities or many others IMO, he and Lance King are in the same league.
Blind..the main solo is Paul and I'm pretty sure he still is using Soldano.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=43861207

Since I occasionally dabble interest in aquiring a Soldano off and on.. I too wondered where some amp clips were on the net...so I googled and came up with this link of a Soldano dealer/rep playing an Echord with various settings of the depth mod. http://www.ernieball.com/forums/arch...hp/t-7414.html

I tested all clips for and virus they were clean.

Again.. what you have ..'should' get you what you want.. I would think.
V30's in a single Randall cab may not be giving you what you want to hear.
I get shit from my bass player that he has about 8 cabs of mine (most of which are in his studio and garage-which is likely why he bitches) they all differ from one another and don't match.. it's for a reason...most all have their own speakers or construction which differs from the others so I can mix it up and find a match I like. At best.. a pair of cabs will match with the same speakers but most have different speakers. For me, that lends to having more weapons of choice as each has its own characteristic to offer. Celestion 25's, V30's, 35's, 50's, 60's, 75's, EVL12's, Eminence, old rolas, Jensens, JBL.

Could very well be you just may need to focus on speaker research as well, find a cab loaded with 75's or whatever and test drive that with your amp before spending big bucks on a Framus or whatever. -again, just tossing ideas out there.

Likely...too much info ..

[GodOfRhythm]

You should try an external EQ for the recto's, for post distortion EQ. That REALLY opens up the possibilities/versatility of recto's + might give you some more definition. The TS is a nice approach too.

But if you want to be done with it, a Mesa Boogie Mark III or IV and you're there. :p

[FSU_Seminoles]

You're welcome..

and since saying thank you isn't a social disease for some...I did a little more research.

It seems there may have been some clips lost when the board changed format as I could have sworn Chuckracer had some SLO clips-maybe they were in song titles. Maybe he changed his name to something else.. I don't know. At least the search function works better than it used too and I'm not walking the extra mile in utilizing it.


Anyways..IMO...it's likely considered stating the obvious that Soldano has its own tone..and variants of. They went to R & D and obtain a certain sound and set themselves apart from the herd.
There does not seem to be much in the way of stand alone clips on the web doing a google search. I seem to recall Soldano used to have some clips years ago, but now has nothing on his site but descriptions. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but it does force people to get out and try the product based upon the rep he has built. Considering that recording wise..alot of artists did use Soldano..
all you have to do is listen to Neil Schon on any given Hardline tracks and I would say-that's Soldano.


I jammed with a local guy years back from Conditioned Reponse (Paul Christenson) and he was using Soldano HR 50+ or XL thru a 4x12 (I think it was a Mesa or Soldano cab) with a Les Paul. He had a tight, punchy 'Soldano tone', a really impressive gain tone, smooth.. nice sounding rig for leads and drivin rhythms but his clean sounds were almost what I'd consider a joke live because they weren't very clean.
They have some clips. Rick is flat out a great singer..one of the best in the cities or many others IMO, he and Lance King are in the same league.
Blind..the main solo is Paul and I'm pretty sure he still is using Soldano.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=43861207

Since I occasionally dabble interest in aquiring a Soldano off and on.. I too wondered where some amp clips were on the net...so I googled and came up with this link of a Soldano dealer/rep playing an Echord with various settings of the depth mod. http://www.ernieball.com/forums/arch...hp/t-7414.html

I tested all clips for and virus they were clean.

Again.. what you have ..'should' get you what you want.. I would think.
V30's in a single Randall cab may not be giving you what you want to hear.
I get shit from my bass player that he has about 8 cabs of mine (most of which are in his studio and garage-which is likely why he bitches) they all differ from one another and don't match.. it's for a reason...most all have their own speakers or construction which differs from the others so I can mix it up and find a match I like. At best.. a pair of cabs will match with the same speakers but most have different speakers. For me, that lends to having more weapons of choice as each has its own characteristic to offer. Celestion 25's, V30's, 35's, 50's, 60's, 75's, EVL12's, Eminence, old rolas, Jensens, JBL.

Could very well be you just may need to focus on speaker research as well, find a cab loaded with 75's or whatever and test drive that with your amp before spending big bucks on a Framus or whatever. -again, just tossing ideas out there.

oh well, thanks again hehe

Soldano definately looks attractive I'll look further for clips. Are the Hot Rods somewhat similar to the SLOs ?

I was looking on ebay and there's some Hot Rods 100 and XL for a fair price, so thanks for the info ... I kinda stoped looking at Soldano a while ago since I couldn't find any clips but now I'll give it a look. There's no dealer here in Quebec so it would be hard to try one.

[charvelguy]

You may have to drive a way to test drive a Soldano. Luckily a dealer just happen to be a few miles from where I live. http://solidbodyguitar.com/Soldanopage.htm


I'm not a Soldano amp owner- I do have a couple Hot Mods which I think are very cool... but from what I've read and taken in ... the SLO 100's are pretty much their own breed and the mainstay as they used to have specially handwound transformers. -I do not know if this is still consisitant with its history-they may have gone to mercury mags
but it would stand to reason they would not mess with a good thing.
Someone -feel free to correct me on that.

There's probably some info on them in the archives as this all has been tossed about with a good deal of extensiveness in the past.

The other 100watters have a base design but they are variants that differ from the SLO in some way and so.. as far as I recall..the SLO remains unique to itself. Of course.. there's variations on the choice of output tubes available to order in a SLO.
The other models may have different tube configurations and obviously differing output sections per wattage. Preamp sections too have varied in models over the years. So.. you do have some models of Soldano that are considered more desirable by some owners just like any amp maker..Mesa, Marshall etc.

[sl2lover]

My Knucklehead is real clean!! But it does lack presence!

[Racerx2k]

Go for broke and buy a Bogner Exctasy!

[siggy14]

I have this amp, great amp and will get you the tone. But also remember he uses effects, plus everything is put through mixer boards and probaly eq'd there, so might be hard to get him exactly.

Go for broke and buy a Bogner Exctasy!

[FSU_Seminoles]

I jammed with a local guy years back from Conditioned Reponse (Paul Christenson) and he was using Soldano HR 50+ or XL thru a 4x12 (I think it was a Mesa or Soldano cab) with a Les Paul. He had a tight, punchy 'Soldano tone', a really impressive gain tone, smooth.. nice sounding rig for leads and drivin rhythms but his clean sounds were almost what I'd consider a joke live because they weren't very clean.
They have some clips. Rick is flat out a great singer..one of the best in the cities or many others IMO, he and Lance King are in the same league.
Blind..the main solo is Paul and I'm pretty sure he still is using Soldano.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=43861207

sounds really good, a little different from whatt I was looking for but it's interesting none the least

[FSU_Seminoles]

My Knucklehead is real clean!! But it does lack presence!

how metal does it get ?

do you think it can cover Arch Enemy/In Flames type of tone ?