It's amazing how much better these demos are when a host has an open mind and no pre-bias toward the product or it's manufacturer (see PRS MT-100 demo).
I agree. FLuff really had alot of bias in his video. And we all know how Glenn Fricker is?? Mark Tremonti acted like the thing had his name on it! He bragged about it like it made vanilla pudding and cooked eggs! One thing I like about Tone Wars........he treats each amp with unbiased resolve and tries to get the best out of every amp that he touches. Ola, Fluff, Pete Thorn, Michael Nielsen could ALL learn from Jarrod.
Great video, Jarrod! Thanks to Jason from GoldfingerGuitars for having you unbox it for all of us! Love the external Bias/Test controls that Mike Fortin puts on amps. You can put KT77s in it too!
Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Regardless of the whole Fortin polarization (hate/love), the amp sounds great. I hope NDSP manage to come out with this in plugin format - would be an instant buy
Love your demo videos. Still, I haven't heard many amps that beat out the top five you'll never sell. I'm still thrilled with the Revv Generator 120 you recommended. It does anything and everything I want. Sure the clean is just OK, but the other channels are incredible. Thanks.
@@Walkerbjj Which Ecstacy? I'm a big fan of Bogner. Been debating if I want an Ecstacy or Friedman next. If you search Tone Wars 5 amps I'll never sell, the video will come up.
@@Bognerman14 101b. I love Friedman but a/b’d it with a be deluxe and preferred the 101b. There’s something special about that chewy gain. Both amps are great. I laugh when people say an ecstasy won’t do metal. I play in a very heavy band and I don’t even run a boost people with mine.
@@Walkerbjj Thanks. I have a 20th Anniversary Shiva and love it. I have other amps too but the Shiva is my only Bogner. Next amp most likely will be a Bogner, Friedman or Diezel such as the Einstein or D-Mol. I have started using a boost with all of my amps regardless of gain. I just love the feel for me personally. I set my Friedman Buxom so that it's not really adding any gain, just giving me a feel I love. That said, I love my Shiva with or without a boost. For me the boost is more about feel than gain or heavy. All of my amps have more than enough gain. I recently sold a PRS Archon and Mesa Boogie Mark V. I had an EL34/6CA7 20th Shiva and sold it a several years back. I ended up getting another Shiva a little over a year ago and love it. Have you tried the Bogner Ecstacy 3534 50 watt? I would love to try a new Ecstacy Pandora.
The cleans on this amp are nice. NaTaS distortion is smoother , dryer, tighter. This amp is has a more fuzzy , spongy, distortion. To each his own. Still can be used in a mix. A different color on the palette of sound.
i have a Randall Thrasher 50 and as soon i hear this amp demoed in tonekiller channel, i immediately say its sound like Thrasher, for me to get rid of fizz i just bump the depth and less the presence and mids something like that but the again im no expert
I know it sounds crazy, but turn the highs all the way down and the mids all the way up. It’s the only way I could get my Randall Satan to sound good. Assuming it could be the same thing here.
Awesome! Been curious about Fortin amps as the amp modelers were loads of fun that I used for computer amp modeling. What is your all around favorite metal amp, Jarrod?
Monstrous amp, very nice. I think I hear something clipping though, maybe the mic input? (just sayin'). Hey where is the EL34 EVH? Keep up the nice videos.
Great video as always. Sounds like a really pissed off 5150. Like it came home and found its best friend plowing the wife pissed off. The second channel also sounds similar to the HiWatt you demoed.
I usually love your tone but man did that KK channel sounds waaaay better before you turned both gain knobs to 11 😅. Awesome review either way and as always, we appreciate the new flavors!
He’s running the guitar into a wireless into a huge pedalboard with a wah, volume, a bunch of overdrives, midi loop switcher, a bunch more pedals into the loop. Miles of cables going into a rack mounted head/cabinet switcher with another couple miles of speaker cables. For most videos, including this one he used a Mesa oversized 212 with UK V30s micd up with an SM57 and Royer 121 into a Focusrite Scarlet. I begged him not to hook all that stuff up for the demo but he wouldn’t listen. I believe that’s why he has to max the gain out and hit everything with an overdrive. All those pedals and cables are just killing the signal before the amp and in the loop. When I play the amp at home plugged straight in. It sounds fantastic. Super brutal. No fizz. No noise. No need for an OD and gain somewhere between noon and 2. I wish RU-vid would let me upload a photo of everything he has running for this demo. Hey Jarrod. Why don’t you make a video and show everyone your entire setup? Better yet, explain your exact signal chain and show a quick photo at the beginning of each video so people know what they’re listening to.
Here's what the amp really sounds like for anyone that's interested. Also working on putting together my own video since this guy butchered it so badly. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EtskZdqTaWk.htmlsi=xz5kK5HuqYJYABjN
Great demo!! The clean and second channels were superb (although I preferred the sound without any boost to be honest) but the third one was bad imho. It's like if the channel already had a boost in front, gain to 10, overloading it, giving some unpleasant crackling sounds or something.
Is the stress you were talking about in the other video the rising tension during recording this as it progressively didn't pan out for the friend who brought the amp over? Certainly looks like things were getting kinda solemn as the video went on.
Great review. i probably need to have it in the room but the cleans sounded a little dull and sterile channel 2 was a little fuzzy and brittle channel 3 very staticy and lacking depth and low end fullness. Also 2 and 3 seemed like they could get clanky real easy too but kinda expected that from Fortin though. Seemed like an engl wanna be even though they are meant to be a Larry / Steavens copy
It sounds great but i heard some noise on the Pumpkin Channel. Dunno if it was the amp itself or something with mics. I thought both gain channels were really good but I personally liked the KK out of the two. Four grand though. Yeesh. My wife would sell my organs if I bought that sucker! 😂
Not so much digging this one. I’ve only played a Fortin Cali, and it was lot my favorite modded Marshall by any stretch. I feel like a lot of Fortin is just hype. This one has a lot of fizz and some unpleasant frequencies. I like an aggressive and raw top end, but there is some weirdness with this one.
not really my forte but definitely a nice amplifier. Much like yourself I am partial to the second channel mostly. Don't think I would spend the money on this just to have that channel but for the people that like channel 3 and channel 1 yeah it's pretty nice. I can think of a couple other amplifiers that would benefit from that sweep function though. Great video brother, I appreciate the content. as soon as I get my tonex for Christmas I will be purchasing all of your captures on your website because I want them all. It's nice to have a collection of awesome amplifiers and not spend your life savings getting them and I appreciate you for that. I already have several friends who have purchased them from you and they are awesome. look forward to it. Hope you're having a great day and once again thanks for the great video.
I am too. I tell Jarrod all the time to set the frame rate to 48khz and he says it works better at 44.1khz. Maybe he should set the frame rate to a 20-1 ratio with 50% reduction? AND set the buffer to 2048 samples? That should give the 44.1khz time to cycle up to 48khz and reduce the load on the 20-1 ratio?
I mean, it’s a great amp. It’s got a lot of power and a lot of gain can it beat an Engel savage no I don’t think so but there’s things about it. I like power drive.
Similar to my Natas I'm not really into the top end. Alittle too stiff for my liking. Great features and look. Really modern IMO Killer video Brother Like always !!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. if I had the amplifier here longer I could compare it to other amps but unfortunately it was only here for one night
Always a great video Jarrod. Didn't like that cracklin' though.....seems like an amp in this price range shouldn't have that characteristic. Not a bad amp though. Sounds really good even without a boost.
Yeah I dunno about this amp... sounds very sizzly, almost fizzed out and unpleasant to me surprisingly. I spose that could be a symptom of the chosen mic placement...
I get ear-fatigue watching these videos. Everything starts sounding the same after awhile. My butthole puckered when I saw the price of this amp. 😆 I think your EVH Stealth sounds better. I think the ENGL FE sounded better. Great job on the demo. You gave it a fighting chance. But it's just another high-gain tube amp that doesn't really live up to the "hype" or the "pricetag". I was also kinda disappointed with the MT100. I still like the BadCat LYNX. You could run 2 LYNX in a stereo config with two 2x12 cabs. Two LYNX would be cheaper than one Evil Pumpkin. 😉
Good demo and dial in. This amp is not for me. Too much grind in the upper mids and very top'y. Low end is super tight...too tight for me. Probably cuts like nothing else in a mix though and I see why some would dig it
Sounds brutal, in a bad way lol. Jarrod couldn't polish this turd if he had it detailed. I hope he didn't catch whatever disease this amp was carrying.
i had been thinking what it reminds me of and you're spot on.. that fuzzy girthy sound in lower mids with almost recto like fizzy treble when you push the grind up... somehow i think it's meant for lower tuned guitars.. it's almost a bit nasty around standard tunings and on single note runs...
UUUMMMM FUCK MY LIFE. I love that amp, damn. I thought the engl savage 120 mk2, Purple Nightmare, and the REVV generator MK3 were sick. I love all 4 through.
So this is the video where he was under so much “stress.” If he hated the amp he should have just said so. It’s an absolute beast of an amp and 1 of the best and meanest sounding amps out there.
First of all, you have no idea what you're talking about. Also, just because your Mommy didn't make your favorite smiley face pancakes for you this morning, doesn't mean you gotta come here and take it out on me and everybody else.
