So I've had a little time over the past few days to try out the new modules, even had the chance to use a couple of 'em at band practice last night. Here's my initial thoughts:
T/D: I pretty much knew what to expect from the "T" side (big, bright clean tone) since I had a single-channel Twin module. The pleasant surprise for me has been the "D" side... it's big, gritty, & warm, great for single-note clean work. Extremely dynamic as well... when the gain's dialed about halfway up, you can pick through chords cleanly then pound out a few chords with an almost plexi-like crunch. I had the Randall Deluxe module for a while, and can't remember it being anything like this.
COD: This one covers a pretty broad gain spectrum... I started out with my G&L Legacy on channel A. Spent a few minutes jamming around on it... my wife comes downstairs and says "sounds like John Mayer's live album". I take that as a good sign (both about the tone and my playing). On channel B with a PRS, I'm right at home... definitely has some of the Mesa Mark-series vibe, which I appreciate since I played a Triaxis & Mark IV for many years. Definitely can do the Santana lead sound, but what I didn't expect was enough gain to pull off early Dream Theater rhythms & leads. It's not a perfect Mark-series replica, but it's close enough.
SL2: Of all the modules, this was probably the one that was closest to my expectations... channel A has the JCM800 late 70's/early 80's classic rock tone... Marshall crunch, but not quite as brittle. I switched over to channel B and cranked through "Crazy Train" and "Welcome to the Jungle"... it's that tone, out of the box, no overdrive pedal required.
MHG: Only Egnater could make something with this much gain that still is warm & smooth. If you think of the SL2 and E-RECT as being "raw" sounding and the EG3/4 as being "buttery", the MHG is right in between. Not as mid-heavy as the EG3/4, not as scooped as the E-RECT, not as much high-mids as the SL2... once again, right in between. Has plenty of gain on tap but you can still hear every note in a chord ring out. In many ways, reminds me of the Rocktron Vendetta's high gain channels (which is a good thing in my book). Channel A found me doing a bit of Vai's "Erotic Nightmares" and a few Alice in Chains tunes, even a couple more recent VH tunes; channel B was well suited for Megadeth, old Metallica, Pantera... "Cemetary Gates" never sounded so good. Granted, I don't play a ton of hard rock/metal these days, but this is still a "must have" module in the collection.
All in all, I'm more than pleased with this set of modules... they're all keepers in my book!
Now I'm trying to figure out which 4 moules will be part of my gigging rig... I know they'll all see studio use, and the T/D and COD are my top picks to throw into the RM50 for jazz gigs, but I'm not looking to expand my rack with a second M4 and switcher just so I can take all 8 modules out for gigs. (I've actually been on a "simplification quest" recently... I dropped all the effects from my M4 rig because it sounds so good on its own... I'm down to just a wah pedal, the M4, and the VHT.) The setup I used for practice last night was the T/D, SL, MHG, and EG3/4... the T/D and SL progress nicely from crystal clean to high gain crunch. The MHG picks up where the SL leaves off with more gain and a slightly more aggressive rhythm tone. Then the EG3/4 provides my main tones for lead work. Those 4 modules covered everything in the setlist and didn't make me feel like anything was missing.
More to come...
--B
