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Well I have bust yet another amp, this time my Peavey 6505+. Power tubes are not lighting up, so it’s back to Peavey for repair under warranty. This is the first time any Peavey I’ve owned has let me down and this one has been gigged and rehearsed with constantly since I got it last year, so can’t really complain.
When I returned it to Sounds Great in Manchester, they very kindly said that I could take an amp out of stock on loan until my 6505+ is returned. They offered me a Soldano Hot Rod 50, a Roadster, a Stiletto, a JVM 410H and an ugly Krank 100 watt combo in blue. I know you can’t really tell what any of these amps sound like at shop volume (and without a band), but none of these amps did anything for me except for maybe the Roadster. Anyway, I was about to settle on the Roadster when I spotted that they had a Splawn Nitro with EL34’s. It sounded really good on low volume, so they let me have that on loan.
When I got home, it was too late to mess about and tweak the Splawn, as I had to load up my car and re string my Charvel for that night’s gig. I trawled various websites for sample settings for the Nitro, scribbled them down on the back of an envelope and set off for the gig.
I left the Splawn set the way it had been at the shop and did a 2 minute sound check at the venue. Straight away, the amp sounded amazing. I left it on the OD2 setting (didn’t use the supplied footswitch) and half an hour later we were on stage blasting through our set.
My playing got better and better at an amazing rate. This amp just gave me confidence. Every note sang and every chord was crushing and defined. I’ve never heard anything close to the quality of this amp ever. Usually, when an amp is this articulate, you have to be really precise with your picking, attack, palm muting etc, as the amp will precisely replicate what ever you put into it…not this amp, it remained articulate, had separation in the chords and was extremely fluid and allowed for (and somehow covered up) my sloppy playing.
As some of you will know from my previous posts over the years, I consider the KsE End Of Heartache tone to be the tone to die for. The Nitro nails it. I ran a Maxon OD808 with an NS2 through the front and had it hooked up to my Peavey 6505 cab. My guitar for all of Saturday night was my Charvel San Dimas reissue strat with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge.
I’m now going to sell almost everything I’ve got and buy a Splawn…my search is over…well, pending future breakages.
When I returned it to Sounds Great in Manchester, they very kindly said that I could take an amp out of stock on loan until my 6505+ is returned. They offered me a Soldano Hot Rod 50, a Roadster, a Stiletto, a JVM 410H and an ugly Krank 100 watt combo in blue. I know you can’t really tell what any of these amps sound like at shop volume (and without a band), but none of these amps did anything for me except for maybe the Roadster. Anyway, I was about to settle on the Roadster when I spotted that they had a Splawn Nitro with EL34’s. It sounded really good on low volume, so they let me have that on loan.
When I got home, it was too late to mess about and tweak the Splawn, as I had to load up my car and re string my Charvel for that night’s gig. I trawled various websites for sample settings for the Nitro, scribbled them down on the back of an envelope and set off for the gig.
I left the Splawn set the way it had been at the shop and did a 2 minute sound check at the venue. Straight away, the amp sounded amazing. I left it on the OD2 setting (didn’t use the supplied footswitch) and half an hour later we were on stage blasting through our set.
My playing got better and better at an amazing rate. This amp just gave me confidence. Every note sang and every chord was crushing and defined. I’ve never heard anything close to the quality of this amp ever. Usually, when an amp is this articulate, you have to be really precise with your picking, attack, palm muting etc, as the amp will precisely replicate what ever you put into it…not this amp, it remained articulate, had separation in the chords and was extremely fluid and allowed for (and somehow covered up) my sloppy playing.
As some of you will know from my previous posts over the years, I consider the KsE End Of Heartache tone to be the tone to die for. The Nitro nails it. I ran a Maxon OD808 with an NS2 through the front and had it hooked up to my Peavey 6505 cab. My guitar for all of Saturday night was my Charvel San Dimas reissue strat with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge.
I’m now going to sell almost everything I’ve got and buy a Splawn…my search is over…well, pending future breakages.
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