tbonesullivan

Yeah... this is honestly one of the reasons I love having amps with built in reverb: it covers up a lot of stuff!

This was talked about a bit in the JEL-50 thread, but Friedman had been working on a Jose Arrendondo "tribute" amplifier, and had actually brought the family in, and had Jose's daughter Marisol with him at NAMM, talking about all the stuff that her dad did in terms of mods. She had helped out at the shop so she knew quite a bit about the different pieces of equipment he worked on, which were not just Marshall amps. Anyway, Dave Friedman had known Jose, and actually purchased a Modded amp directly from him when he was 18 or something, and also has worked on a lot of Jose modded amps. He pretty much found out all the mods that Jose did, and put them all into ONE AMP based on a Marshall 4 input Super Lead, using a more modern implementation than Jose did. It's got two different presence knobs, so you can have the original presence, as well as the Jose style one which is almost more like a negative feedback control. It's also got two different master volumes, the various different gain mods that Jose did, and so forth. While it doesn't have the word "Marshall" on it, it does have Jose's Face and signature. There are no "official" demos yet, just some videos from NAMM, but if someone was after the "ultimate modded 80s Marshall", this might be it.

Right? They were all analog with lots of filters and well-designed. Were they engineered by Scholz himself? I can't remember. They seem to have been used by a ton of people for recording during the 80s.

Well, it IS NAMM time, which means that we get stuff like this. I love Boston songs, and I especially love THAT guitar sound. The Tom Scholz sound is as distinctive as the EVH sound, the Brian May sound, the David Gilmour sound, and others. As best I can tell, with this new pedal, you can get that legendary sound in a foot pedal, which seems to be designed to run direct to board / PA. The chorus is set to mono mode by default, but a switch inside can turn it to stereo. Even without headphones, the stereo imaging of the chorus effects sounds great.

Just noticed this part. Curious, how was it "upside down"? Was the rare panel attached incorrectly? Or was the vent on the bottom?

There are some companies that have chosen to stay they size they are. The growth model is not for everyone, and also comes with a ton of risks. One of those IS the loss of that feel and work ethic. Look at Soldano amplifiers: they never really grew huge, and then joined up with Boutique Amp Distribution after they had to close the factory.

Honestly, I've never quite been able to wrap my head around fuzz pedals. So many players for decades have used them to make great music and sounds, but I often find them just too rough / raw when compared to an overdrive or distortion pedal. This stuff sounds great though, so maybe I'll have to play with my OD-20 a bit more on the fuzz models to see if I can get something I like.

Sounds great, both the guitar and the vocals! A resonator is one thing I've always loved the look and sound of, but I'm just not a good enough player to really make one sound good. Is that one of the Dual Caliber amps? I also think I spy a Fulltone pedal on top of it. Yes I am that guy who is often more interested in gear than anything else.

Around the same time the IIC+ reissue rumors started, there was also word that Mesa was also working on a "90's Rectifier" reissue. It now is out, at the princely sum of $3499 MSRP, which is quite a bit more than the Multi-Watt Three Channel Dual Rectifiers with more bells and whistles were at $2699. I guess this kinda means that the transition to a "reissue" brand is complete. It definitely DOES sound awesome. It's got a series effects loop, the clean mode on the orange channel was revoiced so it actually sounds good, and all the switching components used back in the 90s that they don't make anymore have been swapped out. Mesa has NOT said whether it is closer to a Rev G or Rev F Dual channel, though since most of the Two Channel Dual Rectifiers were Rev G, I would assume that is what this one is based off of. Still, that's a pretty steep price, especially when compared to amps that have impeccable build quality like Soldano and Friedman. You can also pick up OG used Rev G Two Channels in very good shape for quite a bit less than $3500, even ones that are well maintained and have been sent back to Mesa for servicing. Rev G's are not massively priced unobtanium like the original Mark IIC+ is, so I honestly don't see nearly the same level of demand. I guess time will tell. I've got a Dual Rectifier Tremoverb combo, so this is of zero interest to me, but I can see people who don't have an early rectifier wanting to get one with a warranty and no obsolete parts inside going for this. The Ola Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpJrAOiLbc The Mesa Demo / Walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1LQZtnjMLA

Heh. Well it's only 8 tubes, 4 matched pairs. But that is enough to last a while. Two of the pairs are matched, so I could use them in a 100 watter, but I'm not playing arena shows.

HAH! It is definitely Fridge sized. That bass stack came to PSP V or VI. I can't remember which. Maybe both. I know the rack came with me every time. I really need to get back out there.

Those are great amps though. LOUD, but great. Those early designs were the favorites of people like Santana and Keith Richards. One of the guys that hangs out in the Mesa facebook groups owns one of "keef's" former Mesas. Also seen some of Prince's old Mark IIB and Mark IIC+ coliseum heads floating around.

Does it bark? Yes, yes it does indeed, and it is full of KERRRAAAANNNGG. Classic Marshall tones from the 70s and 80s, done right. I had been thinking about a Friedman, particularly the JEL-20, for a long time, before this one was announced. As I have a good stock of SED EL34s, and wanted a bit more "thump", i decided to go for the larger wattage example. There were a bunch of pretty much brand new returns, so I saved a bit and picked one up. Cabinet is an Avatar contemporary closed back with two Avatar M65 speakers by FANE. I did not expect to bright switches to have such a huge impact on the sound, especially at lower gain levels. Gonna get to know it a bit better, and then swap in some old production glass into V1 and V2. Also gotta change the strings on the guitar to 9.5 or 10 gauge, as 9s feel like noodles to me. As it is, channel 1 is pure plexi style, and it's got the three way bright switch, which is almost like a gain control at lower gain levels. With it to the right I think it's the same as an OG Plexi, which is quite bright, though I don't have confirmation on that. In that setting it's hard to even get a clean sound, but with the bright switch in the left, or the center where it's the least bright, it's got a great clean sound. As you up the drive you get more dirt, and I think even near the highest gain levels you still get a good amount of extra bite with the bright switch to the right. With the gain fully dimed you're definitely a bit past AC/DC level gain, but if you want the real "plexi" sound you do need to get the master up above 5. However per Pete Thorn, Dave Friedman designed the amp so it isn't as woofy at lower master volume levels, so it still sounds good. Channel 2 is the JCM 800 style channel, and serves that up just right. The bright switch is also quite useful at lower gain settings, but once you get above 7 or so you can barely tell it's on. I'm not sure if it even makes a difference when you pull out the boost on the lead gain, but I think I can hear a change. The gain is usable throughout the entire range, and pulled and pushed are kinda like two different voicings, so there's a lot of ability to customize the sound using the pull gain and the bright switches. The presence and thump in the back are great as well, though they are more something I would set depending on the room I'm in, or the cabinet I'm using. And speaking of that, this is the first time I REALLY got to put some volume through the Avatar cabinet with the M65 speakers as well, and I can say they are definitely some really nice speakers. I'm fairly certain that Avatar pretty much asked Fane to make some Creamback style speakers, but they definitely have their own voice. Nice and crunchy with a lot of definition. I'm going to make that my standard cab for a while, and hopefully break them in a bit more.

One of these days, I'll actually put together a Guitar pedalboard based around the Plethora X5. Just trying to decide if I want to get an outboard Noise SUpressor, or to use the "Sentry" that is part of the pedal. Also gotta get a pedalboard that can handle a Bad Horsie Wah.

I've got a DC-5 which I played a lot for a while, but since I got a Mark V combo, it pretty much hasn't gotten any love, so I'll have to move that along. Mesa also just announced a "Reissue" of the "90s Dual Rectifier", the two channel version that doesn't really have any of the "modes" the current ones do. I already have a tremoverb combo, which aside from weighing like 80lbs, also sounds incredible. They make good amps, but they are not the easiest to service due to how complex a lot of their recent offerings have been, with the Fillmore being a notable exception due to the simple design.