The Watering Hole

Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in. :-? This past saturday I got to spend a lot of time with the new 50 watt Fender/EVH head, even had one of my own guitars and pedals with me. I liked everything I tried with it, the cleans, the crunch, the very high gain, the pedal both into the clean channel as well as boosting the 2nd channel, and so on.

Anyway, it's a nice addition to my tiny amp collection. I've got a lot of options with just these three heads now.


Some test clips...keep in mind I'll tweak from here, just starter tones....


Clean Test / Download

Halen-ish Test / Download

Full Mix Test / Download (borrowed the drums & bass track from a previous clip I made, simply re-did the guitars with the 5150-III-50)

all those light dimmer switches! eek! ;)

sounds cool - do you still have the splawn?

LOL. And there's more on the back.  ;)

Nope, the Splawn is long gone. Sold it shortly after I got the modded Chewpacabra/Marshall. The Chewpa has a smoother gain to it and better touch sensitivity for soloing compared to the Splawn. More saturation as well. Just all around a little bit better tone, and nothing unusual about its mids, where the Splawn has this "thing" in the upper mids that can't really be massaged out. It also does a nice Plexi thing as well so it was a no brainer to sell the QR. The Quick Rod was great FWIW, hung onto it for three years, a lifetime for me, lol, but it was a one trick pony, no question about that and I simply stumbled onto something better!

ah, good to know. I've been interested in a splawn over the years but not enough to try/buy one - now I can just skip it in good conscience. ;) :)

the flexi has an upper mid thing that can't be dialed out (or re-tubed out... or effected by pickups/guitar) as well - gets annoying sometimes but that's it's thumbprint I suppose. I just live with it because I don't sell gear anymore. there isn't one guitar or device that I've sold off that I didn't want back at some point afterwards... mainly my JCM900 but even the original POD bean qualifies.

well, ok, an exception... I've never craved another variax since I got rid of it. heh.

Now that I have your Rock Master with all those NOS Mullards in it, you might not have a chance of getting that back Sheep!  :D ;D

Nice drool-worthy gear there Kabala!  :)

Yer killin me Smalls!  I want one of those SO bad.  If I had that and the Budda, and Tweaker, I'd sell all the other amps.  I will one day have this type of higher gain amp!  I'm going to try to sneak a listen in to the clips some time today. Can't wait to hear it!

Oh, and CONGRATS!  Even though YER KILLIN ME!

Hehe! Thanks Craig, Howie.

It's got more gain that one could ever need. The lead in the clip is with the gain at 10:00 (lead channel)...anything beyond that is just insanity and I'd say whoever needed more probably should be playing a different instrument!! Hell, channel two (rhythm/crunch) at full up is very gainy as well, enough to solo with for most (rhythm in the same clip is at noon). The amp doesn't need drive pedals at all unless one is specifically looking to just have more flavors handy on one amp. Channel one is beautiful and loves the pedals for example...

edit: Sheep, I don't think you'd gel with a Splawn. Just a hunch. They're cool and all, very "angry Marshall" like, but ultra cutting, bright and dry/stiff. Most of your tones sound warm and balanced. You'd definitely be wishing it had a "dimmer" knob to tame the sizzle. :D

Updated shot at some VH tone now that I've had this a week. Much closer I think....not close enough for the die-hard VH tone chasing guru's, but solid enough and much closer than I initially thought possible with this amp.

VH / Download

yep, sounds like it to me - paint peeler!

more gain than vintage VH maybe, but sounds cool.

Wow congrats! Cool amp, GREAT VH sounds !!

Thanks guys. I just added something to the home front that should help get me a more vintagey tone. Thread coming soon...