Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

Recommended Posts

So, I guess it is a vote of confidence.....A bonus of sorts from investment clients that seem to appreciate what has happened in 2017 (as well as 2016)......This arrived yesterday, with a "Go Fuchs Yourself" sticker......Shown sitting atop one of my shop built "Forte" type cabinets. Not sure if the "snakeskin" is the perfect match, but I will take it.

38200983156_4c544dfe84_b.jpg

24384436738_1d48c9bc5b_b.jpg

Pretty amazing amp. And I recall a recent conversation about the "complexity" of the earlier Mk series Boogies. Even more options here. This one is going to take a while  to totally sort out. Tried it first with my "No 1" Dolphin. Excellent. But then with my favorite "Singlecut" (thanks BCR!). Even better.

Def will be a learning curve on this puppy, but it is NOT going back!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dang! Our clients have done well too... now I'm spending my bonus in my head. How would you describe it... clean n dirties n such? I've never even seen on in person, let alone plugged in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure it is easy to describe, as it is so flexible,

Maybe best way to put into perspective is to think of the original version from somewhere around 2000....The ODS was a pretty obvious attempt to do the "D-tone" at a price that mere mortals could afford. (Even then, not cheap, but I think Andy did a great job). I think it showed its respects to such as the original Mesa Mk series (itself derived from Fender) in that it uses cascading gain with switching options in what was, at least initially, a one channel amp.....The functionality sort of made it a "one plus" channel amp. One limitation of that is making it hard to dial in something that will let you switch from "clean" to  wherever you want to wind up, gain-wise. I think the ODS was a step forward, but you still tend to need to set the initial gain up a bit to drive the rest of the amp. At least to my ears.....With the ability to footswitch the OD, as well as a mid-boost and gain boost, quite versatile. Getting a "sparkly clean", not quite as easy.

(As a sidelight, using something like the Ethos Overdrive, with its "EQ compensation" in front of "the right" amp can get you a good portion of the way there, at a MUCH lower cost! That is a longer discussion).

This new one offers two distinct channels, so it eliminates that limitation. The clean side has a completely separate EQ function. With the master, as well as gain boost, EQ bypass (A monster!) and mid-boost, plus other pull knob options, it can offer a wide range of tones, many usable ones at the touch of the footswitch.

The second pretty much has all the functionality of the original ODS, and then some. Switching in the OD gives an incredible range of gain options, which can be further tuned with the footswitchable gain and mid-boost. There is also a separate tone control within the OD circuit, besides the normal controls, for added variations. To quote Andy, from "woman tone" to Plexi in a single knob. More gain on tap than I could ever use.

Add in 15 years of improvements such as dual FX loops, better speaker connection options, half power switch and (get this!) built in biasing meters for each tube and it is quite a package. And I will say intimidating. It is going to be a good while before I have a good grasp of the range of options. Looks to be possible to set to go from sparkling clean to gritty blues to "classic Boogie" to classic or brutal M-tones with minimal further knob tweaking. There are some demo videos on line, but I have yet to find one that totally does it justice......Guess that means I need to roll up my sleeves.....

It is going to take me awhile to sort out where I end up for my "set and then forget" favorite. All the more so since I like to use a guitar with an "effective" coil split to mix and match with the amp to get a wide variety of tones on the fly. Which implies yet more balancing. Did I say intimidating?

ETA.....At risk of stating the way too obvious, if a person is looking primarily for a clean platform or a full blown Brit-type for their preferred tones, this is pretty costly overkill!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...