Synergy 800 Pre-Amp

voojo · Post by **voojo** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 6:16 am

Has anybody tried out this module yet? I'm intrigued by it. I have and love the Metropolous Metro-Plex pre-amp and it can get plenty mean. That being said I'd love to have a master volume pre-amp.

Without trying them it's hard to determine the specific differences between all of the "Marshall" inspired pre-amps that Synergy has so far.

Friedman BE
Friedman HBE
Metropolous Metro-Plex
Synergy Plexi
Synergy 800

Thanks for any thoughts so far!

-Seth

godgrinder · Post by **godgrinder** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 8:44 pm

If you want more gain than the Metroplex you should probably go HBE.

Metroplex probably has more gain on tap than a typical 800 preamp section, it has 4 gain stages while an usual 800 only has 3 gain stages (Plexi has 2).

Rising Farce · Post by **Rising Farce** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:00 pm

godgrinder wrote:If you want more gain than the Metroplex you should probably go HBE.

Metroplex probably has more gain on tap than a typical 800 preamp section, it has 4 gain stages while an usual 800 only has 3 gain stages (Plexi has 2).

Ah, but there's this to consider:

"He [Friedman] then hot rodded the 800 module with a higher-gain channel that takes your tone into even thicker harmonic territory."

voojo · Post by **voojo** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 7:37 am

I guess I should mention I'm not necessarily looking for more gain, mostly just a different flavor of Marshall tone. Years ago I had a JCM 800 clone, and while it was entirely too loud for what I was doing (only a 50 watt!) I liked the rawness and immediacy. It wasn't a very compressed amp, and that's what I'm after.

I have tons of respect for Friedman, but I've heard that his amps have a bit more compression, so that's why I was looking at the 800 as something "truer" to the 800 sound.

withmittens · Post by **withmittens** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:30 am

voojo wrote: I liked the rawness and immediacy. It wasn't a very compressed amp, and that's what I'm after.

In MTS as a whole, possibly with the entire system I find that compression is an artifact of the sound of most, if not all of the modules. I have no idea Whether Synergy has the same sort of sound but it seems to be the case with most modern amplifiers and the Synergy demos I've heard

There are are million amps I have not played but my bet is that anything in this type of system has that Modern compressed feel to it. Seems to be what the kids want.

maybe I'm wrong.

voojo · Post by **voojo** » Wed Nov 08, 2017 12:17 pm

Thought I'd give an update, I ended up getting the Synergy 800 module and I'm very happy with it. I also have the Metro-Plex module and in person they each have their own unique sound, as expected. I could actually see using the 800 for crunchy rhythm sounds and the Metro-Plex for leads. You can dial them to sound similar, but the 800 definitely has that slightly grainy (in a good way) articulation that I like about MV amps.

Both great modules and I feel it's worth having both. I also really like the bright switch on the 800 module.