I have a Splawn Quick Rod 100w. That thing is the JCM800 2210 Marshall wished they built. It is tight, punchy, articulate, dry, has so much depth and punch while keeping that Marshall uniqueness. To me it is definitely the best high gain Marshall tone.
About 15 years ago I bought a reissue Plexi and brought it to Scott Splawns shop in North Carolina and he modded it and turned it into a three channel beast . It was an absolutely incredible amp. This was during the early days of him developing his own amp line . It’s the best amp I ever owned. I met him and he is very good man
I'm new to Splawn amplifiers but all I hear from Splawn is what high gain Marshall's should have always sounded like without any overdrive or distortion pedals in the chain.
I owned a JVM for a long time, modded it with a negative feedback mod an da gain decrease, made it much better, but Now I run a Splawn EL-34 Supersport. it's VH I out of the box, lots more usable gain than the JVM and a nice clean channel to go with it. run it with Scumback M75's and it's tonal bliss. Gear one actually sounds better for the stuff you're demoing here too, it's more open and less bass heavy. Channel one gain at 1:00 nails early EVH, way less gain than you're running here.
The Spawn,hands down...The JVM just has that woofy quality to it....The Spawn was clearer, more present, has that high mid tightness to it...The JVM just sounds sloppy in comparison...I had a JVM for awhile, but I never could get it right for me...
Glad to hear the Splawn sounding great through a Mesa 2x12. Ive heard cork sniffers saying youve got to use vintage greenbacks or creambacks etc, but I dont have room for multiple cabs at home.
I have a Splawn quick rod with Kt88. It’s amazing. And I got it for a steal. Mark my words, these amps will go up in value a ton when people realize how phenomenal they are once again. The quick rod is the amplifier that Marshall wish they made. One big factor, you have to have the right speaker cabinet combo for these amps Though. It will sound the way it should with the right combination. The quick rod can do so much. The only other amp that comes close or just as good, is the KSR Juno. To me they are the best Marshall hot rod amplifiers on the market. Both are very similar but also have their own flavor going on. Anybody watching this right now or reading my comment, do not buy an actual marshall. Get a splawn or a KSR. Thank me later
I liked both amps but I didn’t think the Splawn needed the overdrive at all. Just that good. I think I like the Nitros better for my playing style, but I think the Quickrod is the best sounding Marshall tone on the market.
*ass Don't self-censor, it's one of the most cringe things you can do to embarrass yourself :-x And why do it anyway? You wanna impress your mom on how much of a good boy your are?!
Great vid, the jvm seems to have a little more fizz on top, spawn is more glassy. Good on Motor City for doing this, class act. See if they'll let you put a nice Orange on the show sometime. I'm not going to give up till I see your impressions. lol Got a Rockerverb and I think you'd dig one.🤙🇺🇲🤘
Nice shootout! I"ve got a Streetrod (basically a 40 watt combo version of the QuickRod circuit) and that's the tone for sure. You said you had it on "OD2 which is the higher gear", but was it gear 1, 2 or3? Sounds like gear 1. Also what were your gain/volume settings if you remember. Thanks! Yeah I was a bit surprised, and pleased, to hear how good the Splawn sounded in comparison. The Marshall sounded good but had a lot of flub in the tone to my ears. P.S. Oh for the record my Splawn has a pretty decent clean channel as well!
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I wish I could remember the settings 😕. Sorry, I had the quickly get the amp back to the store before they closed.
I used to be a Splawn dealer, and I have to say, the SuperSport blew away all the other beasts from Scott, but I highly recommend you track SS down for a demo!
I had a JVM 50w,, sold it and I don't miss it, even a JCM800 sounds better to me. Fryette makes the best amps, I can do a better Marshall tone than any Marshall can with my Fryette.
@@arsentoplak2635 they can all do Marshall but better, sickest amps in the world. But soon new ultra lead pitbull and Sig X coming out. I can't get both but I'm getting on of the.. sig X does great classic Marshall.
Maybe try the right guitar/pickups for the job? I'm not sure if it's how you have it mic'd, the room, speakers, or what, but this is the boomiest 'brown sound' I've heard in years, dark sounding in general, with either amp. Maybe a bit too much of that Royer 121 in the mix, but you probably could've just used one SM57 or used an SM57 around the rim of the dust cap of the speaker, and another SM57 halfway to the rim with a lower % in the mix, idk. I just know with my PRS S2 Custom 22 and 410h I can get more raw, gritty distortion than what I heard. The Splawn sounds great too but it's definitely more mid-focused and the breakup doesn't sound quite as pleasant (or accurate to the brown sound) as the 410h imo.
Now that you have a quickrod AND a Nitro, wich do you prefer? I have a couple Nitros but really gassing for a QR. Please do a comparison! I know there’s some videos out there, but i like how you do them. thanks-Boogieplex Ps..Do you know if Motor city music still has that QR? I couldn’t find it on their website..Thanks
@@TONEWARSgearshow Thanks brother.🤙 Still want ur opinion on wich u prefer, QR or Nitro. Some people say U could dial in a Nitro to get QR tonez but not the other way around.
@@Boogieplexi wanna hear too which between the QR or Nitro he likes best. Thinking of selling my BE100dlx for a Splawn..... Not enough grind on the BE.
@@framuscobra That comment i made was 7 months ago, ive since got a Quickrod,so i can tell you the Quickrod is probably the better amp,but by a cunt hair. Its unbelievably good. However, Nitro is going to be your “go to” for a deeper low end and more gain,and much easier to play. But idk what it is, the QR just has this aggressive bark going on that is crazy. But I’ll say this, if you get a Nitro, get El34, cuz with kt88 it just gets to be a bit too much going on. El34 Nitro is awesome. QR is god tier.
Call me nuts but I prefer the JVM410 boosted over the Splawn QR. It sounded more balanced and the mids fell apart on the Splawn. I also feel the JVM sounds less refined and more aggressive.
Mercury magnets,,, could it be? There is a lot to be said about real good transforms! Yankee ingenuity, Scott Splawn giving the players what they want to hear!
this like more of a 90s EVH tone since you used way more gain than the early records to my ears. Should have played some Poundcake or Me Wise Magic haha
Can you please add eq pedal to jvm maybe you can get it to sound close to spawn. Spawn chug sounds better than marsh I know you can get it used for 1500 I don’t know about the spawn and if it’s harder to find used
Splawn sounds better . Iv seen some live video with the spawn though and it wasn’t very clear sounding and I feel that was an official band live recording too . The thing with mid forward amps is they can be too mid forward and get dark, they sound nicer infront or close mics because they are thicker but off axis they don’t cut heart as well as something brighter . I have a satriani jvm and want a fuller more articulate midrange and less high end fizz but I also don’t want something that is too thumpy . Sometimes I hear recorded versions of these types of sounds and they sound clear but also sterile ish/ one dimensional . Tough to say though until I play one , since everyone has their preferences with their setups . But with vocals /drums,bass in a mix, you may have to dial back mids and since it doesn’t have as much of a voice outside of strong mids, you may find little space left for the guitar to shine unless it’s overpowering everything . Whereas something that seems lacking in isolation, will wrap around other instruments in context
Yeah, the Splawn beats the JVM. I think the EVH Stealth on the blue channel can get those same tones. I'm hearing an EQ difference between the JVM and Splawn.
EVH stealth blue channel can for sure, it will also get close to SLO100. EVH sleath red channel with gained backed down to 9 can get more OG 5150 block letter tone. Great combination. I was sold on it and I will never sell it.
@@realtruenorth They sound killer. But the problem is, they are not made all that well. And they are not cheap. So I will never own one. They have dirty circuits. They are made in Mexico.
@@TheCyberMantis LOL,, are you saying the circuits are dirty because they are made in Mexico? (It's a joke) I can understand preferring made in USA, I get that. But that's a whole different conversation. I will NEVER own a guitar or amp made in China. Never. Maybe I can't buy a microwave that isn't made in China, but it's time to turn things around in our country.
@@realtruenorth Too funny. No, that is not what I meant. I mean the circuits are designed bad, and they use cheap/weak components. You ever wonder why you need a "noise gate" on your tube amp, because the thing hums and hisses so bad when you are not playing? The company would tell you "that's because it has so much gain!". LoL, no. It's because the amp is a piece of crap. They are designed and built for maximum profit, not maximum quality.
JVM is "bloated", not raw, I like Marshalls (6100, JCM800, DSL), but I remember once when I was checking some guitar in the shop I needed to switch from JVM to solid state as I liked it better lol. Even JVM Joe Satriani is not as raw as 6100. What Splawn is usually missing (Nitro, Competition) is some thick, edgy JCM800 or DSL mids(like Slayer), it is rounder like a plexi, and imho there is some initial compression going on compared to raw Marshalls. But that can be a good or bad thing, it is just different. My buddy had the JVM, also modded JVM (dont remember exactly, but he definitely added the choke), mods did improve clarity. We compared them to Splawns and Promod was the closest to JVM, it had these bloated mids
These amps sound great but this does not achieve a van halen tone. It’s a great tone, but nothing remotely similar to VH. Way too much gain and the speakers have the wrong character. Needs greenbacks or cream backs or some kind. Van halen is a stock plexi with everything on 10 through greenbacks. It’s a simple sound and not much can recreate it.
For me (on my computer, with my headphone, and heard with my ears) the Splawn sounds way more middy, honky and boxy. I don't like it at all. The JVM sounds way better, with or without boost pedal.
Scott Splawn belongs among the Mount Rushmore of amp designers! With that being said, has anyone spoken to Scott or even heard from him in the past several weeks? I've been trying to reach him to no avail
Hmmmm. I’m concerned now. He is building me a custom SS1 and it was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago and I haven’t heard from him. Gonna try to call him tomorrow.
Um, great playing and all, but honestly neither one was close. They are both missing those critical upper mids that bring that in-your-face Eddie thing.
Great playing but for Eds tone both amps have way too much midrange and gain. The way the amps are dialed in are super fun too play on but thats not Eds classic tone. You would have been better of with the 5150 EVH EL34 Blue channel or Green channel fully cranked
Coming to the Spawn it's only because he dialed it in with tons of gain and that it was used in Gear 2 with OD2 "the internal boost" engaged. If you use the Splawn in Gear 1 without the internal boost you can get it to almost crystal clean even though it's a gain channel. The gain on the Splawn cover all from almost clean to Sykes, Aldrich and way beyond even without the use of an external boost/overdrive in the front. A common problem is that most people use way to much gain. When I play and record people often ask me how it can sound so clear with that much gain going on...the thing is that I'm using very little gain and that makes it sound clear and more aggressive, just the other way around than most people think. So if you want it to sound more clear and aggressive, turn down the gain.
JVM was one of the most disappointing amps I've ever bought because of the price and expectation. I now own a Splawn Quick Rod and a Germino which makes the JVM sound like a toy.
As far as getting close to Ed's sound: the Marshall blew the Splawn away- easily. Much more definition in the chord tones, especially in Panama. I think the one thing that got away from you in this shoot out is that you kept upping the gain (going for more aggression) for easier play ability, whereas Ed's "Sound" is/and always will be about "finesse." You are looking for tight chug, because you prefer it, and like the modern "tight" sound, but Ed's sound is about a warm bass, and articulation and dynamics versus chugging low end. If you really want to replicate ed's low end, and "chug", it's all about your attack; restring to 9-42s, and use a medium thick pick. It's the thin pick hitting the windings on the bass strings that get his "chugg-ish" sound coupled with NOT preamp gain- but a dimed out power stage overdriven sound. Best examples of this are on the songs "Romeo Delight" and "Sinner's Swing". Oh and "Loss control" for the definitive ED chug.
Well this one is easy Splawn QR all day! Sell the bloated JVM. Marshall needs to go back to the design board. I own a QR 100 for several years and had a Marshall of that error. Nothing but crappy tone with the Marshall and unreliability with bias drift. The last of the good Marshall's are the 800s and the DSL are pretty good backline work horses.
The Splawn maybe nicer to play but the JVM sounds way better to me, more complex and articulate in the mids , nice defined top end and round full bass. The Splawn sounds overly compressed, blurry in the mids, not much top end definition, a bit like it has a tube screamer running in front all the time
