This replaced 3 of my BEST Amps! 

On the distorted tone “FREE” the Marshall sounded better too me. Overall close enough. Super nice and versatile amp!!!

Turns out this channel’s whole purpose is so Mason leaves pedals to become a session guitar player. Killer playing dude!

yes, Landau was the guy that got me into this amp. I still own my Od-100 Classic Plus. I'm not a super high-gain guy and the Classic Plus had plenty enough gain for me, with also have more of an open raunchy early marshal tone.

Great job Mason. The amp sounds amazing and you keep getting better as a player!

Killer amp sounds from the OD100 and your playing has hit a new level.

Great video Sir. Always wondered about that amp. Soulful playing. Great tones. Sublime.

You nailed it Mason. I used to have the CAA OD-100 Standard Plus with 5881’s. I should have kept it. It was superb sounding, you got what you put into it and the overdriven rhythm tone and cleans were superb.

Sounded absolutely amazing man. Hats off to ya!

Damn Mason , you’ve really stepped up your RU-vid game in the last year. The vids have always been great but seem to have really stepped up another level. Your video with Paul Jackson was outstanding.

Sounds awesome and great playing Mason! The thing with this is that while it isn’t 100% the same as the amps it’s approximating, for the session players who need all those tones on the fly this is perhaps the ultimate amp! Sounds 95% the same and for the radio that’s more than close enough! Loving these types of videos you’ve been doing especially the ones diving into the 80’s studio sounds 🔥🔥

This was an AWESOME shootout! I think the fender clean was the closest with the SLO being #2. The Marshall tone was so close but there was something "cleaner" about the OD-100. The real marshall has more low end "wool" or haziness to the tone - to my ears. BUT WOW what a cool amp! I'd never heard of this before. There are a couple on Reverb right now - I'm very tempted to buy one!

Great video! Thanks 🙏. (Beautiful sounding amp too!)

Hi thank you for your videos and hard work. Your signal chain video help me put my first board together. 17 pedals . And I couldn’t have done it without your videos help! 🙏🏻 thank you.👍

I’ve been using mine since 2015-16, I bought it from the famous producer John Shanks, it still has his name on the frame from the custom order from Custom Audio, he was thinning out his studio at the time and I couldn’t understand why he would give it up, but after seeing pictures of his studio he obviously had quite the amp collection to cover anything anyway, I’ve covered every style of Music on so many gigs with this amp, it’s amazing, thanks so much for reviewing it and backing up my decision to get this killer amp! Great review!!

Well played!!!

Awesome tone, really enjoyed this episode

Always wanted one of these and regret not snapping one up many years ago. Can still remember the demo vid, incredible amp

Great playing, my hat is off to you. That amp fits your playing like a glove. I got my OD -100 Standard Plus with the CAA 2x12 cab back in 2008. Never heard another amp that's so versatile and at the same time high quality in tone and feel.Both channels take pedals really well and the fx loop works great. Tried Ecstasy 101 B and Boogie Mark 5 wich are both great amps. But i tend to get lost between switching a million buttons checking endless options until i get a more or less satisfying result. The OD-100 sounds amazing is simple to use and you get your tone very quick. A perfect tool in the hands of gods like Landau and Luke back in the day.Surprising that these amps are so underrated.

I've always loved the look of those CAE amps as well

This amp is simply legendary, amazing amp. Speaking about great and versatile amps I think that nowadays the pinnacle of this league is represented by the REDSEVEN Amplification DUALITY 100. 3 channels of pure bliss with a modern and a vintage mode; It also comes either with el34 or 6l6s.

The CAA is a bonafide legend, that amp was all the rage in the early 2010s, but it's far from the most versatile amp. I've had my share--Rectifiers, Uberschalls, Blackstar Artisan 100 (which I had modded to JTM 45/100 spec), Series One, Carvin X-100B, Triamp MKII, Trilogy, Duotone, Synergy Syn-50 (Ecstasy, BE/BB, Herbert, T-DLX and B-man modules), Marshall DSL-100, 1959 SLP Plexi, Egnater Renegade, Bogner Alchemist, and EVERY one of them had their matched cab with it. Out of all of them, the most versatile amps I've ever owned were the Synergy and the Triamp, without a doubt. Currently, I'm on a Grandmeister 40 DLX and it does all the things my other amps did, some of it BETTER. Clean channel goes from Fender to Vox via the boost, crunch and lead channels do all the Marshall stuff you could want (including the EVH and Early Metallica) stuff, and Ultra Channel does the Recto/5150/SLO-100 sounds depending on how you set the EQ and whether or not the boost is on or off. It didn't cost me a kidney either. Arguably the best amp I've owned. A big part of that is also having the functionality I want ON THE FLOOR with the footswitch. That's why I passed up the SLO-100 on 3 different occasions. 4000 bucks and you dont get access to the crunch channel with it's own switch on the floor, and no MIDI?! Huge "no" for me. This is 2024- I need 3 channels on the floor and MIDI, or I'm OUT.

Nice job - The custom sounds great but if I was recording I would certainly want the real deal - the Marshall sounds top notch- the versatility of the custom is undeniable great

I had the OD-100 SE+ then sold it for the OD-100 Classic Plus. So much happier I did that. The Classic Plus does the amazing Fender and classic 70’s Marshall tones, but can easily get super high gain tones by hitting the front end with a Suhr Koko Boost. Sounds incredible.

nice tones, nice sounds!

Back in the late eighties I had a twin reverb with jbls. I had a Marshall artist. It had get front-end with el34 power section. It also had vintage 30 speakers. I had a silver face vibro champ. I used a Chandler Tube Driver and the jbls. Clean, med gain and clean sustaining lead. I wish I still had these.

Clean R&B guitar is soooooo Beautiful. Loving those tones. Another versatile little Beast: Mesa Rectoverb 25 = Fender-like pristine cleans and turns into a Fire-breathing Dragon.

I was never super into this amp but I LOVED the cabs. Specifically the 2x12

Great tones, great playing.

Excellent effort, mason. We see what you're going for. You actually achieved it with the clean tone - you got very close to the MJ target tone from the Fender, and then you matched it with the Custom. That was impressive. Not so much the other two examples. First of all You didn't come close to either of the original tones for either Mick Ralphs or Steve's sounds. Both were so much better, but remember both those took hours in an excellent studio to produce. Not faulting you -- what you're attempting here is daunting indeed what with the large number of variables contributing to any final guitar tone, and then coupled with YT's one-EQ-fits-all funnel. But still I think you accomplished your goal - which was to pique someone's interest enough to find one of these amps somewhere and try it out live, at volume. Obviously there are so many sounds that could come out of that amp with minor adjustments, right? We'd all want a couple hours alone with that amp in a basement somewhere with a Spotify connection into a PA. Again, we appreciate the time you put in Mason. Good on you mate.

The clean riff sounds so good.

That’s cool that you gave an honorable mention to the Rivera. My Rivera Rake is arguably equivalent to the versatility you describe.

Great, great tones and superb production, Mason! I was wondering if you have tried the 3rd Power Kitchen Sink? Like the OD-100, it has clean and Plexi channels, with boost, but with the added feature that the clean can be configured as Fender black/brown or Vox w/ or w/o TB. Furthermore, you can mix the Fender and Vox voicings. Extremely versatile.

Good video also great sound quality.

I love a good tube amp and a good versatile one even more. I have a ‘65 Bandmaster, Marshall Astoria and the lead channel on my Lonestar would be closest I have to match the Soldano lead sound. I did get a Bluguitar Amp1 for the size and weight but also has great versatility as it does a great clean, crunch and lead sound. Tube amps stay at home, Amp1 is great for moving about with. So light! Interested to see what the AmpX can do!

Love the OD100!!!

Wow! Not a gear head and found something else to put on my bucket list. Never had anything but a Fender Blues Jr. for my needs.

Great video.

Holy smokes what an amp! Marshall + LP sounded great too!

Never heard of that amp until I saw Andy Summers use them on the last Police tour. He nailed every tone he ever had and then some. Amazing amp. Versatile for sure but just a great sounding amp. Authentic reproduction? I couldn't say but I wouldn't miss the others.

The layout and concept of the OD100 is very similar to the Rivera M&S series, specifically the M100. Especially since both amps have rack mount roots. The Rivera hit the market earlier I believe. Granted, the Rivera M&S series although extremely good at getting the sounds portrayed here, they do have a specific “Rivera” sound... in the same fashion Mesa has a “Boogie” sound. The OD100 undeniably nails those sounds like you showed us in the video. Again, great feature and incredible playing! Keep bringing the same awesome content!

Very impressive amp for sure. I think if you were looking for a currently made amp that covers those particular sounds, the Friedman Steve Stevens model would be very much in the ballpark. More money yes, but we are comparing new to used prices here, and you get superb Dave Friedman support with the Friedman. By the way, your bourbon burst (which almost made me go check the case to make sure it's still in there because nan, it REALLY looks like mine) looks like its aging very nicely. And finally. your playing is sounding very good these days too.

Your vid inspired me to fire up my OD50 Classic + ...man I had forgotten how good it is! I've got some shows coming up and I'm going to work out a bit to get my strength up so I can cart the head around Lol I also have a Mesa MKV head and I've realised that I have it set up so the 3 channels mimic what I already had on the CAE! I'm so chuffed with myself for not selling it as that head is now pretty rare here in NZ :O)

Sounded great on the Channel 1 and 2 modes, but it sounded kinda weak on the "third channel" compared to the Soldano which sounds amazing.

Great video. I really enjoyed watching it in its entirety. I can't hear any difference when you switch back and forth between amps. Awesome amp, that's for sure. I would be very interested, as an extension of this video, how you would rate a RedPlate Stardust or the RedPlate Astrodust...As far as I know the Stardust is no longer built, but maybe you can get your hands on one? Thumbs up from me anyway for this great clip! Best regards from Germany. Michael.

GREAT AMP, GREAT PLAYING!

Amazing amps! I have the PT 50. Love it! Have to change an input jack in the effects loop though...so that may be a weakness with these....(sound comes and goes when using effects loop)

I thought it nailed the Fender and Soldano tone. It was really close to the Marshall tone, but the Marshall was a little more round and had more depth to my ears. This was an awesome demo!

The sounds were spot on, looks like a cool amp there is one on reverb for 1500 but it is in japan. I have owned a half dozen Mesas Fenders a GK 100 twin. a couple of Vox, a Marshall Valve state and my all time most versatile is the Marshal lJVM210C the 2 channel 3 mode amp sounds like most of the amps marshall has made the clean tone is so chimy and there is dirt and grit of all different sorts all over the channels. the cab sim is awesome to record. for me it is every sound I could want. I play a wide verity of styles and guitars. it is everything I WANT IN AN AMP. THE 3 CHANNEL jvm HAS EVEN MORE GAIN BUT THE 2110C IS PERFECT FOR MY NEEDS OTHER THAN IT IS A 2-12 COMBO WT OVER 70LBS. oops caps lock not intentional . good content!!

Man, I gotta ask; what cabinet is being used on that second audio example? It sounds so great. I have an SE+ myself and it's a dream of an amp, but I didn't know it could recreate that older Marshall sound like that. Very cool.

Love this amp. One other that can do this kind of sounds its the Bogner Ecstasy (love that one too).

Great video, great amp, both the Marshall and the Soldano seem to have a bit more "oomph" in the low mids...

hey man! as always thank you for this amazing video 🙏🏻 i was wondering if you have any opinion on the Free The Tone ARC switcher. those guys put a lot of effort to make their devices noise-free and i was wondering how it compares to rjm, gigrig etc… love your channel man, thanks!

Mesa Boogie Mark V is a super versatile amp. I’ve had mine for almost 12 years now and IMO it handles the Fender cleans, Marshall crunch, and then the Boogie high gain like a champ.

Impressed!

Love the OD100 but I swapped my ML version for a Bogner Ecstasy 101B and I do prefer it. The OD100 though was fabulous as well, only a matter of taste and nuances

Your fender and Marshall settings were spot on but the real soldano had more bass and maybe slightly more mids too

The Friedman BE50 is very similar in concept. Amazing Fenderlike clean channel, BE is Marshall and HBE which is essentially a boosted BE channel.

still on the fence to regret the conversion of my OD100SE+ into a PT100 which kills on the 2nd channels with minus 1 tube stage for the gain. Still can get on then se+ territory. The PT is THE amp for controlling the gain with the volume on the guitar and flexibility. My SE+ was at Suhr on warranty when the PT100 came out in 2009. I made a bet. Still not sure if I would go for the mod even today, the SE+ is an epic amp. The only thing was the 2 separated volume and gain for CH2. The 2 vol/gain mod was the same price back in the days. SE100 is kind of tighter, it loves higher volume. I added the feedback mod. To summarize I reach the high gain/whomp tone even closer to the OD100 with the KokoBoost low mid boost with the help of the depth control. All good stuff, especially with low boosted, the Archer Ikon is amazing with the gain at 3 on the SE100 that has a perceived less gain IMHO that shine when the amp is cranked, sounding like the a pissed off OD100SE+ big brother who's coming to give you the beat up of your life... good analogy to me. Just go and see Doug Aldrich rig rundown. When you push the SE100, the gain and lows erupt like a volcano and can easily become to much. That's why I don't use the depth ctrl at high volume. Very unique amp. All OD100 family is good stuff. The CL+ is tempting me too for smooth/pedal sounds. Hard to resist. Ps: the use of Klon still pedal in CH1 or CHaseBliss PrempMKII pushes the boundaries over it's limit with the PT100 which still has the CH2 for more mids which can sound very very good with the neck humbucker and volume control no pedal with the help of whomp. I'm about to contradict my comment above but you can't really go wrong with the whole OD100 family (including the the CAA PT100 which is based on the OD circuitry and all the mods made by John over the years. The Suhr PT100 is more like a plexi sound with its details definition than the higher gain CAA PT100 IMO)

Mason starts out on the clean channel playing what ?...no way....what a unexpected but killer song choice and playing. You cannot overplay Free either, perfect band for the tone. Shout out to the east bay from the peninsula !

The Friedman Steve Stevens signatures (both variants) do the Fender Clean, Plexi-ish and modded Marshall tonal options, I believe.

Great vid. Something has made me keep my CAE OD50 Classic + when I've moved on all my other amps...But it weighs a tonne! - I've been using the Bluguitar Amp1's for gigging lately to save on chiropractor bills. :O)

I like the Marshall just a little better. I actually liked the OD100 instead of the SLO. The clean tones were certainly Fender inspired type of clean tones. Just a great and uniquely flexible amplifier.

i had an OD50. killer clean. dirty is amazing but very unique in mids.

The whole preamp distortion into a 100+ power reserve is about function more than Toan. Owned the Mike Landau version SE based on his 68 plexy. Clean was glorious but the push clean mode which I really liked was not switchable on mine. Backing off the red channel did not have a good sweet spot .

Sounds great Mason! Do you use an OX or mic a cab?

Sounds the same as the reference amp I'm amazed. Listening with apple earpods(cable)

Nailed it!

Awesome comparison. I couldn't detected a difference between the CAA and Fender/Marshall...however I the Soldano sounded as if it had more lower mids. It was hard to tell because of the chords weren't the same when comparing the OD-100 and SLO-100. But, I'm not much of a SLO-100 fan so if indeed the OD-100 sounded more traditional i.e. more upper mids focused, I've issue. Are these amps PCB or PTP? Just curious if they lend themselves for modifications.

While I’n not in the room nor am I listening on a great playback system, I think the OD 100 comes really close to the sound of all of the three amps to which you compared it.

Mason - have you checked out 3rd Power amps? They have Vox, Fender and Marshall with all kinds of flavors of each. Individual, 2 in 1 and 3 in 1. I have a Dual citizen that has a Vox AC channel (that can do a Matchless-esque sound too) and a Fender channel that can sound black face or tweed depending on where the mid control is set. You can stack the Vox and Fender channels which I do 90+% of the time.

Many amps out there with these caoeabilities with a boost oedal or a overdive pedal. Ive been playing with my crate stealth 100 for 5 months now and yet to plug a pedall into it amd keep finding more tones in it. I got lucky amd got it with a bedrock 412 for 400. New tubes but i put my nos 7025ss preamp tubes into it and wow. And the clean channel lee jackson nailed the blackface tone. And i didnt have to spend 2 grand.

a few years ago i was surfing the interwebs and come upon this amp from Custom Audio Amplifier and was blown away. Prob one of the best amps ive ever heard.

I may have missed it in the video, but I believe these had a switch in the back for "Standby" and "Standback"!! LOL

Can you do the comparison video between this amp and new Two Notes Revolt preamp pedal? Well, the concept and the goal are very similar, ya? 😅

I had an OD 50 Sdt+ back in the day. Such a great amp. Sold it because I wanted a combo, so I got a Bogner Shiva... Terrible mistake !

Great amps! I'm enjoying TONEX, does all of that, and a lot easier to carry and use with low volumes.

Sounds like a real life VST, only missing the 8% that makes each of those amplifiers magic. For a 2k price point on the used market this is a “go”! 🤘🏻🤘🏻

What kind of cab did you use? Did you use same cab for all the amps? Thanks for the comparison

Hey Mason! Great demo😊 what kind of tubes in the power section? 6l6 or el34?

This is a very nice amp spot on is the word.

That's what my SE100 is, a modded JMP with SE+ characteristics

realtalk I played at least 1000 different amps in my life but this OD100 clean tone is fr one of the best ever

As a Suhr user this is way ahead any Marshall ! Suhr guitars are incredible and Amps !!

Avi El-Kiss should buy the patents and make it into a Synergy module and a pedal as well at some point

Mason, you might recall I have an OD50, and a Suhr modded Marshall JMP50. When I need multiple amp tones, it’s hands down the CAA OD50. You nailed it. I used the 3+SE for about 20 years, so it’s totally in my wheelhouse. Nice video!

Really cool video. Just one note regarding Soldano. You need to compare them at really high gain because that speaks much more about how they compress, and how dynamics are reflected on both amps. Just saying. Overall great vid.

Great tones all around, though I think it comes closest to the SLO sound. The Fender sounded more "delicate" vs the OD100 sounded "bolder". The Marshall sounded more "spongier" while the OD100 sounded "drier". Very very close to the SLO sound. Sounded great in all cases, but there were noticeable differences vs the Fender and the Marshall. Though probably only in the context of a A/B comparison like this.

They're awesome amps and highly underrated. Another very underrated item that most people don't talk about is the Egnater IE4 that was made by Bruce Egnater and Dave Friedman. It does everything from that Fender sound to that high gain modded Marshall sound. Kinda similar to the 3+SE and kinda different. I think the TOL100 was close if you're looking for a head? Or maybe the Tourmaster? But you can email him and ask. He's also designing a new amp (full disclosure: I helped him with designing it a bit but I get no royalties and am not associated with E3 Audio in any way) that has Fender, Marshall, and Vox tone stacks to more accurately emulate those amplifiers. The Vox section also has a dedicated cathode-biased EL84 power section to really nail that Vox tone. Will have a reactive load built into it and an emulated analog speaker out like the one he designed for Friedman (Mic no mo). Another cool 3 amp device, IMO. Should be available around May-ish? His new stuff is called E3 Audio if you're interested.

I definitely heard a difference the fender maybe still little more high end snap and Marshall a little thick fatness but dang it was close what a deal makes me want to get one .

Andy Summers used the OD100 on the reunion tour heard on The Police Certifiable.

it's so close!!

I would probably put the VHT GP3 in this category.

If i hear the name paul jackson jr one more time………great video btw, thanks Mason

'Standby' --- 'Standback' Love it.

That’s a tough video to make. The last amp I bought, i watched every video I could. There were a lot. I knew what I liked & didn’t like about the amp, before I even bought it. But, when I got it home & played it in my space, I realized that the small details I had fretted over, weren’t the ones filling the room. They weren’t things I could demo in a shop & get a real gauge on. Yes, I can hear the difference between the amps you are comparing to. The Fender has a little bit more of that “Fender” thing. As do the Marshall & the Soldano. & when you play those amps they will inspire you to play a certain way. But, maybe the Custom Audio does, as well. I know that I interact with my new amp in a way that is unique to it. In a way that is better than the actual amp it was cloned after. If the Custom Audio replaces all three of this amps, for you, I get it. It does those things you really like, in a way that suits you. I think comparisons are awesome. But, I also think we(I did with my amp) forget that we are interacting with a completely different beast & it may turn on some lights that no other amp will. & that’s what is the most difficult to get across in a video review. Thanks for making this cool video!

Marshall always has more 250 hz down to 190 spike. The anvil sound with transformer grind. But that’s a color when removed is way more versatile. Referencing channel 2 Free

Awesome

There is a OD-50 version, which may be more suitable for modern needs. I personally use Friedman modified Egnater TOL100. Basically the same thing but 4 channels for getting into more tweedish territory. Not that cool looking as CAA (its like 100500 different fonts all over the amp))

Were all the amps going through the same cab/speakers? Or the same for each sound anyway.

They are on reverb and the shur has different tubes both of them are about three grand good video