sepherus
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- Mar 7, 2010
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I was going to post in one of the other topics, but figured it would get overlooked by some. So here it is. I just got my JF Rverb today, err yesterday as it is after midnight everywhere but Hawaii by now. I plugged her in and messed with it all afternoon into the night until my gf decided she had to go to bed. It's not like she needed to get sleep cuz she has to be up at 5:30. Ohh wait...
But back on task! I plugged it into my RM20. I got a gain switch on mine so it does some cleanish sounds which can get surprisingly sparkly. Kinda odd compared to the gained out sound which has that sweet treble roll of that I love. I played it through the speaker for quite a while, and messed with all the knobs and the gain and bright switch. It was really hard to find a bad sound. Just about everything was usable with the exception of extreme mid scoopage. However I've never been a fan of mid scooping on distorted sounds, and I'm an extreme metal guy to boot.
I tired a few different boosts and one of my guitars with the original SD Livewire Metal and it doesn't quite act like an amp usually does. It still tightens up the sound a bit, but the top end gets a bit fuzzy, but still defined. I've never been able to plug a boost into the real deal, mostly beause I've never thought they needed one so I never bothered. Don't get me wrong this doesn't either, but it does add that cool texture. It fuzzes a bit more if you crank the tone on the OD up a bit more so it acts more like a treble booster/low cut than a mid bump.
It also sounded good with all of my guitars which I find kind of odd. The rest of my high gain modules have a favorite. My SL+ likes my RG7420 with BKP Ceramic Warpigs, My UXL likes my Jackson COW with an EMG 707, and the Erect likes my Jackson Dinky Reverse with the Livewires best. I guess I may not have found it yet either. It has only been a day with it.
So anyway, I figured I should test it in a mix too. I put it on silent mode and fired up iTunes, my monitors and mixer. I put on some Queens of the Stone Age songs from Restricted, The Sword "Freya" (only sword song I know on guitar), Sleep, and some Iron Maiden. All it took to fit in with any of those was a few twists of the knobs and maybe flipping the gain switch. I could easily play other things not so influenced by chemically induced sates of mind with it as well. I was jamming out to some Gates of Ishtar (melodic death metal), Death, In Flames, and a few random thrash bands as well. I needed to turn the presence up a little for a few of them, but generally it sat in the mix well without taking up too much space from the rest of the instruments. I do kind of wish Randall didn't do quite as much high and low pass filtering for my own recording purposes on the emulated out, but it does work quite nicely for jamming along like this. I guess that is why I prefer the old school mic and speaker way over any of the direct ways. Some things cannot be mimicked. :?
Needless to say I am quite happy with my upgrade. It can't do quite everything (ei: sharp black metal sounds) but I have other mods that can. That is the joy of the MTS system. I did sacrifice my beloved tweed module, but I already have another on the way so it's ok. I think it rounds out my collection quite nicely for the time being. That is until I can fund getting My UXL turned into a more proper 5150 sound :twisted:
In a week or 2 I'll try and come back with a less "OMG! New Module!" review. I tend to be pretty objective with things, but everyone can be susceptible to it when they spend money on something. One thing I did forget to mention though: it seems to be noticeable louder than the rest of my modules. Even with the gain set really low I still have it turned down lower than I would expect. I was playing on my VX before it got in though, which is quieter on the gain and EQ settings I use so I may just not have a good base for judgement. I'll throw it in the RM4 tomorrow and see how it handles it.
But back on task! I plugged it into my RM20. I got a gain switch on mine so it does some cleanish sounds which can get surprisingly sparkly. Kinda odd compared to the gained out sound which has that sweet treble roll of that I love. I played it through the speaker for quite a while, and messed with all the knobs and the gain and bright switch. It was really hard to find a bad sound. Just about everything was usable with the exception of extreme mid scoopage. However I've never been a fan of mid scooping on distorted sounds, and I'm an extreme metal guy to boot.
I tired a few different boosts and one of my guitars with the original SD Livewire Metal and it doesn't quite act like an amp usually does. It still tightens up the sound a bit, but the top end gets a bit fuzzy, but still defined. I've never been able to plug a boost into the real deal, mostly beause I've never thought they needed one so I never bothered. Don't get me wrong this doesn't either, but it does add that cool texture. It fuzzes a bit more if you crank the tone on the OD up a bit more so it acts more like a treble booster/low cut than a mid bump.
It also sounded good with all of my guitars which I find kind of odd. The rest of my high gain modules have a favorite. My SL+ likes my RG7420 with BKP Ceramic Warpigs, My UXL likes my Jackson COW with an EMG 707, and the Erect likes my Jackson Dinky Reverse with the Livewires best. I guess I may not have found it yet either. It has only been a day with it.
So anyway, I figured I should test it in a mix too. I put it on silent mode and fired up iTunes, my monitors and mixer. I put on some Queens of the Stone Age songs from Restricted, The Sword "Freya" (only sword song I know on guitar), Sleep, and some Iron Maiden. All it took to fit in with any of those was a few twists of the knobs and maybe flipping the gain switch. I could easily play other things not so influenced by chemically induced sates of mind with it as well. I was jamming out to some Gates of Ishtar (melodic death metal), Death, In Flames, and a few random thrash bands as well. I needed to turn the presence up a little for a few of them, but generally it sat in the mix well without taking up too much space from the rest of the instruments. I do kind of wish Randall didn't do quite as much high and low pass filtering for my own recording purposes on the emulated out, but it does work quite nicely for jamming along like this. I guess that is why I prefer the old school mic and speaker way over any of the direct ways. Some things cannot be mimicked. :?
Needless to say I am quite happy with my upgrade. It can't do quite everything (ei: sharp black metal sounds) but I have other mods that can. That is the joy of the MTS system. I did sacrifice my beloved tweed module, but I already have another on the way so it's ok. I think it rounds out my collection quite nicely for the time being. That is until I can fund getting My UXL turned into a more proper 5150 sound :twisted:
In a week or 2 I'll try and come back with a less "OMG! New Module!" review. I tend to be pretty objective with things, but everyone can be susceptible to it when they spend money on something. One thing I did forget to mention though: it seems to be noticeable louder than the rest of my modules. Even with the gain set really low I still have it turned down lower than I would expect. I was playing on my VX before it got in though, which is quieter on the gain and EQ settings I use so I may just not have a good base for judgement. I'll throw it in the RM4 tomorrow and see how it handles it.
