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LucSulla

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Everything posted by LucSulla

  1. Those are rough. It's just hours of reminding yourself after each song that you aren't dying because it isn't a performance.
  2. My days of dropping $3k plus on a new amp are behind me, I think. I've made that jump more or less twice now, and for me it is just too much to tie up in an amplifier when all I am ultimately is just another gray-haired, weekend warrior.
  3. Playing clean with no compression from somewhere - a pedal, the power tubes, something - is not for the faint of heart for sure. That must have been wild.
  4. I already own two, lol. The clean channel does 100% that. It will do really lovely cleans, but you can run the gain up and do 70s rock with absolutely no problem. Through a boost in front, and it even does 80s hard rock pretty well.
  5. Got my board hooked into it tonight, and I really like this amp a lot. Running something fancy like a Lovepedal Eternity Burst, or something not fancy at all like a Boss SD-1, just sends this thing in all kinds of different directions. The cleans on the "plexi" channel are just fantastic as well. Given the prices, if you are looking at something like the SV-20 or SC-20, I would definitely give one of these a look. It's basically like having both of them in one head. It's not a "refined" Marshall circuit as much as it is what a really great version of a 20 watt Plexi or JCM 800 sounds like in your head. I can't imagine getting either one of those when this is $50 less at the moment unless you just really, really want a little Plexi or 800 that says "Marshall." I've owned both and still have the SV-20. I love that little fella, but it's definitely got some competition now. I haven't played Runts, Pink Tacos (well, not the amp), JJs, or some of the others, but between this amp, the Small Box, and the BE-50 Deluxe, this is my fav. It's got just a little "more" than the SB, but is more straightforward than the BE. I also just like it more than the BE-50.
  6. Yeah, running it through a 4x12 with Greenbacks it hit 115 dB on my apple watch. My 100 watt Jubilee is right around 117 dB for reference. While it doesn't have the thump that a 100 watt amp has, that's still shockingly loud for a 20 watt amp. Clean channel also hangs in there until much louder than most anywhere is going to let you play.
  7. So the Friedman JEL-20 came in. Very cool looking amp. Some quick takes after 30 minutes - It's fucking loud. If you want it to not be loud, the masters are great, but if you want it loud (and with all you Kiss fans around, I'm guessing that's the way you want it) it does that. It's at least as loud as any of the 20 watt Marshall stuff. It's definitely a lot more open than other Friedmans. Through an Avatar 1x12 with a neo Creamback in it, it feels like a much bigger amp. In some ways, it reminds me more of a Quickrod than the Splawn SS does. It's a big, glassy amp, even with the saturation on. I am looking forward to trying it through a 4x12. I think it's going to sound really good. Channels - Channel 1 goes from clean to a Plexi-like crunch. Some have reported a Vox-like chime, but I don't hear that. It sounds way more like my Marshall SV-20 than anything with a Vox flavor, but it does clean up great. Much more headroom than the SV-20. I personally like dialing in something close to a kind of "Lonely is the Night" level of grunt and then getting my cleans via the volume knob, but you could run it pretty bone clean and loud. Channel 2 does behave a lot like an 800 with a bit more gain. Same kind of open, balls kind of thing where the power isn't all just preamp distortion. There's a 3D heft to it that you get out of 50 and 100 watt heads. Also does not have the smoothed out, dark Booteek thing going on. It's a brash amp, which I like personally. There is a boost on Channel 2, but I like running the gain all the way up without the boost. There is a saturation switch that compresses the hell out of it, but once you hit about Noon on the channel volume, the volume is about the same with it switched on or off. I find I like the saturation switch on so far. The boosted Channel 2 sounds fine, but I have pedals that I like better than whatever is internal. I think what you gain in sustain for solos you lose in a nice, tight grunt. I played it for about 30 minutes before writing this, so some of this may change. So far though, I like it a lot. It was super easy to dial in. In fact, I think I just like all the EQ and presence at Noon. It's much more to my liking than the BE-50. I'd love to A/B it with a Small Box because it's been so long since I played one of those. I remember really loving that amp, but, with 30 minutes of playing again, I think I like this better. It's refined in the ways you want (like an EQ section that actually does stuff) but without losing a bit of the unruliness that makes older Marshalls so much fun. I'd say if you're a fan of Marshall-style circuits, it's worth checking one out. It's the most "Marshall" Friedman I've played so far.
  8. I remember when the Wooten Brothers used to be the house band at 3rd and Lindsley for open mic. I was way to intimidated to ever give that a shot. Seeing the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies there just before Christmas in 2004 was the last show I saw before moving to Austin that winter. I mostly end up on the east side when I go up there ever so often now. Chopper is a pretty killer tiki bar, and there are some good dive bars over there if hipsters don't get your hackles up. If they do, avoid the whole area, haha.
  9. Just bought that Vibe. I'm such a sucker for those. I got rid of my Mini Deja Vibe box for a JHS Unicorn to get a smaller footprint. That was a mistake. Bought a Dunlop Rotovibe, and I love the Vibrato side, but the Chorus side NEEDS MOAR!. So I bought a treadle Mini Deja Vibe that is pretty sweet. Just got it two days ago, but that Vibronaut sounds really, really rad.
  10. That's another good use case for when they are life savers.
  11. Good drummers can fall on and off a click where needed, plus, you can program the click to speed and slow. I personally don't so the point of playing with one unless you have backing tracks with which you need to sync. Click tracks are one of a few things that I think have eroded to vitality of rock music by neutering it. But that would mean playing with out backing tracks.
  12. I wish I loved anything like some of y'all love Kiss. But not Kiss.
  13. I don't care which chromosome pairing she has - she does Pantera as good as anyone on YouTube - definitely more accurate than Zakk (he's fine though). I don't notice that male or female singers move me anymore or less than any other. I can't imagine not getting something out of Mavis Staples or even Dusty Springfield.
  14. I usually hate these videos because it's usually just eye candy with average chops, and the whole thing just feels awkward. All of us old dudes gawk at the cute chick playing Ozzy! This woman is absolutely killer though. She has a bunch of Pantera and Ozzy stuff on her channel and is just owning it. Her Pantera stuff is some of the best I've seen on YouTube. Apparently, the Kramer she is playing she picked up because her favorite guitar was the ML-style guitar that Hamer prototyped for Dime. This was as close as she could get to that look.
  15. I'm looking forward to trying it out, though I probably bought a redundant amp even if it is good. I really like the Friedman Small Box a lot. In the end, I found I was less found of the BE-50 that replaced it. I was gigging various Marshalls more because they just did want I like better, and it stopped making sense to have $3k tied up in an amp when amps that cost half that were getting used at shows more often. After a little honest fidgeting with the Splawns, I found they do everything I like. The Super Sport is actually really easy to make sound great, but the Quickrod took a little more effort to understand. It isn't complicated at all, but it does behave a little differently. The main thing that interests me about the new JEL-20, aside from being less smoothed out like most other Friedmans, is the build in XLR out with speaker IR. For a lot of gigs I do these days, have a decent, built-in direct-out is a really awesome option for getting my sound out front. That's the one thing it does that the SS and SV-20 don't really do and was enough of a difference to give it a shot. I've heard it's about as close to a 20-watt Small Box as Friedman makes, being voiced more like a Plexi on Channel 1 and a hot-rodded 800 on Channel 2. A couple of the reviews I watched noted it was more "open," which I usually take to mean it has a lot more punch like an 800 or Plexi. Friedmans and Bogners have a really nice, creamy tone, but it's just a little too round for what I like. I generally enjoy amps being a bit poky. They can be a little harsh in the room alone, but they really seem to sit in a mix better.
  16. So are you a complete killer like every other musician I know who went to UNT? lol
  17. 6v6s. You done forgot! They aren't exactly alike, but I think most of the difference can be explained as just having five times the wattage. I'm smacking the 6v6s a lot harder than the EL34 are seeing (which, by the way, yes it is an EL34 QR), so I imagine there is a much greater flavor of power tube distortion on the SS. I've never gotten on well with high gain 6L6 amps, though I've never played a Soldano. I kind of like the way EL34 and KT66s turn into a very pleasing hot mess when they are getting worked hard. I get why people prefer 6L6s hanging together better, but it's just not for me. I play a little sloppy, so I guess I also enjoy a little slop in my amp. They're both great amps. I hear Scott has all the work he can handle, so I guess saying Splawns are underappreciated isn't quite correct. But he still doesn't get the gushing reviews Friedman and Bogner get despite deserving them IMO.
  18. I've had this thing for just over a year. At first, I didn't quite get it, but I finally figured out how to dial it in. In my humble opinion, it's the best hot rodded Marshall style amp I've ever heard. I've had Friedmans, Bogners, and Mesa's couple of attempts at an EL-34 amp, and Splawn just kills them all, mostly because it moves air like a Marshall. It's got a fat ass, and it can get pretty bright, the latter of which I think bedroom players hate about old Marshalls. Having gigged the little Plexi a ton, I love that brightness because it cuts through the mix. It's a really unruly amp, which I think is awesome. Out of all the gussied up Marshall circuits I've played, this is the only amp that really feels like a hot rodded plexi or 800. The Bogner and Friedman are great, but they are just a little too smoothed out. They made a helluva a noise, but they never took me to t-top Trans Am land. There's a place for more refined amps, but I like something that feels like a Muncie 4-Speed hooked up to a 4.11 positraction rear end. I get why Scott goes with the hot rod theme. I've got a Friedman JEL-20 on the way. Supposedly, they are much closer to a Plexi and a JCM 800 on the two Channels, rather than a Plexi or something else on Channel 1 and some flavor of BE channel on the other. In other words, it is supposed to be a much less of that refined Marshall thing than other Friedmans. I'll be real curious to see if it will hang with the Splawns I have.
  19. I use a Keely Caverns V2. At has a delay side, but I use it mostly for Reverb. It does way more than I need and isn't too much.
  20. When they were testing it on military officers, around 90% came away saying basically, "Well that was weird and kinda fun!" And that was about it. The other 10% seemed to have an epiphany experience that made them question a great deal of things they previously held to be true. In the world of medical research, that is an enormous effect size, and was more than enough to convince the CIA that it could be very dangerous to systems of hierarchy. Outside of the world of research, 10% isn't all that much, but I think these days that number would be much higher because there is almost a century now of being told that taking a hit is going to change your life. So it does. The longer I stay in the social science game, the more I've come to think that, practically, the truth is whatever people believe it is regardless of whether or not that is objectively true.
  21. I think guitarists are conservative to a fault. For some reason, bass players seem less so. Quilter sure did save my ass last night after my tube amp went down though. Did they? Or is that just what we all grew up seeing so that's what a guitar is? Had some headless, minimal design been popular in the 50s, would that be what we all love? Maybe, maybe not. Is the failure of the Flying V and Explorer initially a sign that the earlier designs were the best or that the template was already set? That's the fun thing about existence being an N of 1. We can argue this back and forth, but there is really no way to know. I'm not a fan of psychedelics, but it is interesting to read about early research into LSD back before people already had a set notion of what a trip would be. Some accounts fit the narrative; some don't. It's hard to know after a norm is set what is just sort of a quintessential aspect to a thing and what is just the norm influencing perception.
  22. Give A Monkey A Brain And He'll Swear He's The Center Of The Universe is so killer.
  23. Kiedis is really not far removed from being as bad as Henry Rollins.
  24. That's a good price on a workhorse of a guitar. My silhouette was my favorite do-everything guitar that I ever had. Only reason why I sold it was that my thumb just does not get along with EBMM neck profiles. I hated to see it go.
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