OK, last time I posted xDx helped me out a lot with my tone problems. Since then I ditched the MT-2, and the PQ-3. I also bought a Randall Cyclone and an Orange cab with V30's. I hate this Randall and I am not overly impressed with how the Orange handles high gain. I decided to stop being cheap and sell my soul for either an Engl Savage 120, Framus Cobra or Madison Divinity. I havent heard the Madison but have a friend that heard one at NAMM and said he was suprisingly impressed. Does anyone know of where i can hear one? I am looking for a tone similar to VDOP and Pierced from Within. The one thing that was pulling me towards the Madison is that it is cheaper than the other two. Although I heard a clip of the Savage on Rocksolid and it totally fucking slayed.
Oh yeah, my pickups are a SD TB-4, and a Dimebucker in the other guitar, (both of which I am thinking about replacing with either Bill Lawerences or DM x2n's.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I'm all for the Savage

those Madison things look pretty good but I haven't ever heard or seen one in real life, I guess they're not available in europe, else I would have known about them...

I own a bunch of Engl's and don't think I'll buy anything else soon, they've got just the tone I was looked for, since then I never bought another brand...

The Cobra is badass too, though it's not as agressive as a Savage or Powerball, they're voiced quite differently, more like hot-rodded marshalls or something, for me it was 'missing' something. but they're great amps, no question, just not my piece of cake.

those Orange cabs sound heavy as fuck but I also think they're crap in the hi/mid frequencies, if you want more of a mid 'honk' get a v30 cab, loads of good cabs have those speakers (IE. Engl/Bogner/Diezel/VHT/Mesa cabs)

oh, did I mention they look rediculous too?

The Orange does have v30's in them. Although you are absolutely right about the high/mid freq. With the rest of the band that cab was drowning. What do you think about any other speakers, or is it just the cab and not the speaks?

its the cab. compare the orange v30 cab with a mesa v30 cab.

I just got my framus cobra a week ago or so. And it sounds awesome. The high gain is very brutal.And very clear. I use 2 mesa boogie 4 x 12" cabs with it. I liked it better than the engl powerball I had

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so what, you got rid of the powerball?

don't know much about this madison thing... but framus stuff is amazing.. as is engl.
framus = modernized super marshalls.... almost soldano-ish.

engl = well, a tone of their own... not very mesa-american-like, but not to "marshally" either. certainly into the modern high gain tones though... hell, even on my 1986 straight 100 combo..

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you got the straight, you bitch???

like you see, to each his own, just try out all 3, preferably next to each other... the powerball really counts on the cab you connect it too, it sounds pretty horrible on an orange cab or 5150 cab. it sounds good on my marshall cab but even better on diezel cab with the diezel speakers (instead of the v30's)

Ive never played a Madison, but Kris from Darkest Hour used one when i saw them. The rhythm tone was absolutely fucking insane, i loved it to no end. The lead tone, however, wasnt quite so beautiful. Kinda trebly and screechy, but not to a disastrous degree. It wasnt terrible, but it didnt live up to the amazing rhythm crunch it had.

heck yes i did... traded some bro the voodoo modded mig 100 i had straight up for it.

value wise, he kinda got a little more out of the trade... but i got the better amp... and considering how hard these things are to find... i wouldnt be suprised if later down the road it's worth alot more. engl is starting to get alot bigger in the u.s.

and i'm pretty sure diezel just relabels and or modifies specific celestions or eminences for their speakers. just like thd does.

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i want to hear some Splawn clips mang

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OK, I talked to Derek from rocksolid and he was telling me to get the powerball instead of the savage or cobra. The thing is, I like the clip of the savage on his site more than the powerball. The sound I am trying to go for is the Pierced from Within sound of a vh-140c ampeg but without all the hassle of not being able to find one. I really want a precise and crunchy tone that is not muddy at all but sounds like hollow crystal if you know what i mean. So, Powerball or Savage? Alas, I can not try them out next to each other because I live quite a ways away from Rocksolid.

Hey man sounds like im in the same boat as you for a guitar tone

IM looking at a powerball to do a suffocation type sound as well


whats dereks email adress, i need to email him soon.

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rocksolidamps@bellsouth.net

Otherwise just go to his site and call him. I talked to him yesterday and he seemed like a pretty cool cat. anyway Powerball or Savage 120?

I'm so sick of looking for an amp it makes me want to !

I traded my powerball with this german fellow I spoke after a gig. He really liked the tone and asked if I would sell it to him. Fomr one thing came another and I got to his place and played the cobra and just like the tone a bit better for death metal. So we made the trade.

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ENGLs are one of the few amps with a tone that's their own, really. Marshalls/Mesas/Fenders have that, but all the other boutique amp companies tend to copy them. it's a very "open" tone, with a lot of useable gain.

they probably do, its done by many, many brands.. it just amazed me how much better the diezel cab with their 'own' speakers sounded then the diezel v30 cab..

way to go on the straight, those must be damn rare over there, seeming they're allready rare over here, except for Germany ofcourse..

Like halfmasttrousers said, engl's are one of the few amps with a really destinctive tone, I love it, you might not, so you'll just have to try one

as for DM, I'de take my powerball over a savage 120 too, it's just a bit more 'raw' and more geared towards metal IMO. I've been using my Powerball for quite a while now and it's never let me down tonewise or technically, it's a real tweakers amp too, I keep fiddling with the eq's and settings because they're so precise, for me it's good fun, for some it might be a pain in the ass.

what band do you play in man? sounds like a good deal, if you liked the framus more!

I play in a band called "catacomb" The name is kinda wierd but they already had that name when I joined it And we make death metal in the style of dying fetus. And the framus has something too it that I liked very much. But the powerball was amazing too for the time I had it. But there's soon coming a site of my band. with pictures and soundbits. I'll be posting the link later. Sorry if this is spam

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Hey Shroud Of Serpent's it was good talking to you the other day. Anyway I just recently was turned on to the Madison's and just heard a recording of one of onethat sounded killer to me. It's a pro recording done by a Colorado band called Skinned and I do not know how representative it is of the amp but like I said it sound's killer in this recording and I might just have to check one out myself.

http://www.skinnedweb.com/fiendforflesh.mp3

There's a place in Florida that sell's them for $699.00 which is pretty f'in cheap so maybe you want to check them out. Like I told you over the phone the Engl's arte my Favorite amp's but that' just me and you might have the opposite opinion.Let me know if I can help man.

Derek

Wow, that is pretty sweet tone! 699$ you say? Fuck. Go with that man!


As for the Peirced from within tone, the only things that can do that are an Ampeg VH-140C, Crate GX-130c and I've heard the Digitech 2120 can cop a tone pretty close to it too.

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Yeah, I just checked out that clip. It sounds pretty brutal. But, I wonder how they recorded it? But shit, 699$, that is definitely reasonable for my pocketbook.

Yeah, and I'm wondering if this brand even has a website? The closest thing I found was Ed Romans site.

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Yeah dude, their website is madisonspeakers.com. Check out that bitchin sword!

This stuff looks sweet, I defenitely want to try one out.

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Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but has anybody tried out the Framus Dragon 2x12 cabs? Are they better than the standar Marshall 1936 2x12's?

damn i had a fuckin good deal on a madison earlier. never playe one so i was wary but i put sumthin up on here and everyone was like ive never heard of it...dont buy it. alot of local bands around here have madison 8x10 bass cabinets. like 6 or 7

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A local sci fi grind band named weirding way uses madison heads and cabs man they sound amazing live and on recorded.here is a link if you want to lisin to it http://www.myspace.com/weirdingway

wrong.

Probabl, but those amps will get you either right there, or damn close to it, where as other amps may get you 80% or 90% of the way there. Once again, its all personal preference.

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i dunno man, you'd be suprised how many death metal recordings those ampeg heads, and the old schools crates have been on... and the digitech preamps... very popular for that shit.

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Yeh but he said ONLY the VH-140 and the GX-130 can produce those tones.. which is far from right.

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maybe the GX 130c could put out a tone of that quality if it had alot of extra stuff running in it.

Right now with my GX 130c plus maximizer it sounds pretty good, but it sounds pretty shitty cranked, but it is very brutal sounding, but there is not enough to clarity.

Im hoping when i get a new amp at the end of this summer that i will finally be satisfied with my tone.

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ha, good luck with that.

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Yep, I use a digitech preamp right now and I love its Death Metal tone... Very tight and full.

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damn, im nevr gonna get my new amp. i cant decide. sell my amps then get a new amp. tha could take a month to find the deal, set up and everything. so id be ampless for that long (scary). get my parents to pay for it then pay em back with my sold amp money. the latter is risky, what if i cant get what im askin for em...then again. my parents paye for my guitar and i payed em back.

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Or you could go with a "cheap" SS rack setup that kicks copious amounts of ass and has a very tight defined tone.

The rack I am building:
Digitech GSP 21 Legend
BBE Sonic Maximizer
Any type of graphic or parametric EQ
Carvin DCM600

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careful with those SS poweramps...there's veerrryyy few that are clean in a good way.

Or you could pick up one o' them Mosvalve thingers. I heard those are good.

This is true, but both guitarist from Decrepit Birth swear by them, and their live tone is very very clean IMO.

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youve seen em live?

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Yep, at the pound in SF.

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it's always good to have a backup amp... i have an old fender rocpro 1000, it's cheap, loud and sounds "good enough". so if i ever have to go a period of time without my main amp. i still got the rocpro just in case.

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Yeh, my backup amp is my 5150.. or the Engl it all depends on which tone I want that night

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who needs backup amps on gig nights anyways.

do you guys only play hometown gigs or what? I can't be arsed to drag along an extra top, let alone two extra tops (two guitarist) it doesn't even fit in the van anymore, haha. we only bring ONE spare guitar, a gibby les paul. I've had to use it twice now but I've never had amp troubles, the other guy had a broken footswitch once, that's basically it. We do bring spare tubes though, they're packed in my flightcase.

I'm planning to throw in a V-amp as my backup preamp/effects unit if my ENGL decides to crap out on me mid-performance.

I doubt it though, unless Satan blows up my tubes from Hell.

Even then I doubt it. German manufacturing = top notch.

yeah, i guess i could say something like that... i have the engl straight 100 and the splawn promod 100... both are amazing...

but i've had periods of time in the past where i havent had an amp... so i decided... what the hell? i traded some guy a hush super C and a bbe maximizer for his old rocpro.

it's nowhere near as nice... but it's a "just in case" amp.

i alway think it's a good idea to have a spare...
like a spare condom... better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

for a two guitarist band, i don't have any problem bringing one spare head...
not that i've ever had to use it but hey.

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beeing realistic, I can't even bring a backup, plus I don't want to go through the effort of taking a spare whilst I won't need it. If theres problems I can allways borrow other band's amps.. most places have their own guitar tops here too (ok, they're usually crap, but it's the idea that counts)

try playing once a week and dragging an extra top along, that shit doesn't fly.

Touring bands always have backups of everything..

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bullshit, only 'big' touring bands have huge-ass vans and roadies.

CC didn't even have backups with them. same goes for Bleeding Through and The Bled, BT only had a lame randall combo backstage haha.

I was watching that Lamb of God DVD (Killadelphia...what a ghey name...good band though) and one of the guitarists had a single Mesa Mark IV through a rack tuner and then a compressor. That's it. Nothing else. No backup. No spare. no nothing.

And I'd say LoG is a pretty "big" band in terms of the metal scene.

i've been there... and i really don't think it's that big of a deal... not like another head takes up alot of space on stage or in my van. and i'm not a pussy, i don't mind carrying my own shit in. and it doesnt add much, if any time to your setup unless of course you need to use it..

i don't have any roadies or anything... and you never know when something "unfortunate" may happen... sure your amp may be of very high build quality... but that doesnt mean shit to me.. ALL amps are vunerable. especially the ones with the magicall little tone bottles we call tubes.

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and that's why we bring spare tubes. but another head, no, we can't be arsed. and our van is allready packed...

cuz tubes are totally the only thing that could go wrong with a tube head.

well, you go ahead and do what you do... i just like the peace of mind.

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I like not hauling my ass of for no good reason

and yes, the only thing that ever broke in one of my previous tube amps, was indeed a tube. good job that we've got an EMS system so it even works with half the power tubes broken

no way you're dragging along an extra tube head every week, I don't buy it, haha.

but an extra head doesn't take up a lot of space. You can put in the driver seat if you have no choice I always brought my randall warhead along with me as a back up. My dual rectifier being the main amp. And we always drove with one van and one car. in the van we transported the drum kit, one cabinet. the mesa and the randall. And in the car we stuffed another cabinet. And 4 guitars.And 2 guitar heads for the other guitarist. We something only had difficulties with transporting the people forming the band

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co-driver's seat? there's a fat fuck called Bram sitting there...

we don't have the luxury of driving with one van AND a car, we just drive with one van and collect all travel fees, man if you need to drive an extra car, thats gonna cost you, especially if you're up in Fryslán like we are every now and then!

Darkest Hour... a pretty small band with no fucking roadies manages to have backup amps and everything. Its not that big of a deal.

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i saw darkest's hours drummers wang

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me too!

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DH a small band, right...

I'll see them again 20th august. I bet they have an interliner and a shitload of people around, I heard they had that the last time.

some people just don't have huge ass vans, plus I can't be arsed to drag an extra amp along. if mine breaks down I can allways borrow of one of the other bands. I didn't say it was a big deal to bring one, I'm just saying it's not allways possible and it's not allways necesairy, plus if you have to play every weekend, you'de rather have an amp at home instead of carrying it around every weekend and risking damage. I only have one flightcase and that's for the mighty Powerball...

yeah, I bet you inspected it thoroughly. you've got skills in that department BLS, I gotta hand it to ya.

I have 2 Cobras with me when touring, a main and a back-up. better safe then sorry..besides another head dosent take up that much more room when its all packed into a trailer.

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well, there you go, you've got a trailer

we've got an Hyundai H100, which is a total joke.

i don't see why you can't accept it...

i drive a 1996 plymouth grand voyager nukka... it's a MINI VAN. one person sits shotgun, i drive, the other bros sit on the back bench and i take the middle seats out so we can cram gear and shit... most gigs are local, maybe an hour away at most so multiple vehicles are occasionally used.. if it's out of state or something barrow a trailer.

i bring a little two space rack, my splawn or engl, a 4x12, the parker and the rg(backup), and the rocpro as a backup..

now the rocpro is a really small head, and it's not tube... so it's small, light, and sounds decent.

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well, we've got to take six people every time we play somewhere, which is the front seats and the rear bench, we take two cabs, 3 flightcases (bass/guitar/guitar heads) and another two bass cabs, with that and the guitar cases the whole thing is fully loaded..

we're looking for a bigger van but we don't want to spend a lot of money on it, we're thinking about buying a friggin motorhome

try to find an old retard bus

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Well what I meant is they do everything themselves.. They have van they all sleep in, and thena trailor for there gear, as for a shitload of people around.. it will be them, Tito the tour manager, Mike Garrity, and maybe two roadies/techs..

you can see the pics here sweetie http://www.returntothepit.com/conce...nd=darkest_hour



Thats what pantera did back in the day.

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why buy a new vehicle? why not just a trailer?

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Well, I think I am going to go with the Madison. The sound clips are broodal and as much as I would like an Engl it just isn't within my reach financially. I am going to try to get an endorsement from Madison and hopefully get some free shit! Hells yeah bitches!!

what band are you in?

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I think he was joking... atleast I hope so.

Madison is a small family owned company, they have better things to do than send out free amps to artist that wont influence sales one bit....

They aren't Krank...

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man i picked up a guitar mag the other day and appearently everyone plays a krank

are they anywheres near worth their price (the amps)?

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No.

They have horrible customer service and even people who enjoy the tone of Krank's agree that there price is just way too much.

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wait, there are people that enjoy the "tone" of krank without endorsements???

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yeh, nevermind what I said.

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like i said before. Krank endorsements are as easy to get as a 12 year old girl in Thailand.

I am in a band called Devitalize. Death metal along the lines of Suffo mixed with kind of a Machinehead flair. About the endorsement, I wasn't joking. I wrote them a letter asking to be endorsed even though I don't have a website, demo, or bio. HAAHAHAHAHAH! What a dick! That totally rules! I for sure will not get it, but hey, no harm in fuckin' trying. Plus, there are no Madison dealers here in MN. But their website says something about partial endorsements. Even that would be nice but I'm not counting on it.

"partial" endorsements usually mean you can purchase everything "at cost"... which is still fucking good.

my friend was in fairwell my enemy, and he got "partially endorsed" with mesa, so he got a brand new dual recto for like $950 out the door. which is a great fucking deal as you'd be hard pressed to find a used one at that price.

i'm sure with the big boys like petrucci and mettalica, they send hella free shit... but that's mesa, they're a huge brand and can afford it... this madison shit, i've never heard of it until i saw this thread (and i know my amps ) so i doubt their desparate to give alot of hookups to random people.

maybe if your band kicks ass and you send them a demo and some additional info.. they might say "hey these fucks are pretty good" and talk negotiations.

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Nudeath is bad... very bad

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wtf is nudeath? If you are referring to my MachineHead comment, I guess a better way of describing my band would be Suffo. without tons of blast beats. Don't get me wrong, I love blasts and we still have plenty, but our drummer is more like Longstreth when he played with Skinless.

I've seen BLS try, it looked to be pretty difficult for the guy...

We played with Darkest Hour a week or 2 ago and I was talking to Chris about his Madison, The amp didnt sound to bad. So I contacted the company and theyre sending me out a Divinty head and cab to check out. ill let you guys know how compares head to head with a Cobra. Also I have some Framus guitars coming next week too(a Diablo and a Camarillo). anyone ever play one? Im curious what theyre like.

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Man, I would have killed to see The Absence and Darkest Hour..

Rapture, your a lucky bastard.. I have to Darkest Hour with a bunch of shitcore bands

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