NAILS IT!

[AdInfinitum]

I just picked up an RM100 with seven mods (Clean, Blackface, Plexi, SL+, Vox, Ultra and XTC) ($1000). I have too many amps to speak of, including an AXE FX, Superfly, Voodoo Modded JMP Head, Splawn QuickRod, Hiwatt DR-503, Ceriatone Trainwreck clone, Line6 stuff (Vetta, PodX3, Spider Valve, etc), several GK and Tech 21 SS amps Mesa Lonestar, Early Fender Silverface Twin and a few others amps, modelers and Rockman stuff lying around. I have always been looking for a three channel Marshall amp (Fender Clean - probably more Deluxe than Twin, Plexi Crunch and JCM800 High gain as the basic three channels). My favorite pure sound is the Voodoo JMP Modded head as a basic overdrive; however, no channel switching (It cleans up, but doesn't clean up to a Fender clean).

I A/B'd the JMP with the Randall SL+ trying to match tone. Now, even though the JMP is going through a Marshall 4 x 12 and Randall is going through a GK 4 x 12 - I was able to nail the tone of the JMP on Brutal, not Savage which adds another gain stage). In fact, the Randall sounded fuller, i.e. better! going through the lesser cabinet. The Plexi Mod has a perfect crunch sound (think Bastille Day or Hells Bells). I am totally floored by this amp. It really blows everything else away in terms of pure "tube" amp. The AXE-FX sounds really good as well and I can't wait to go through the Randall Power Amp with the Axe-FX, but as far as a perfect three channle head, my search is FINALLY OVER. Well, I do wish that the Randall mods were dual channel and the RM100 took four mods instead of three, but that is really being picky.

What a pleasant surprise.

 

[3 Mile Stone]

It's always cool to hear people discovering these Egnater designs. They are simply fabulous. Cool tip. If you want your Marshall based modules to simulate a dual channel, run an Xotic BB Booster in front of the amp. Roll off a tad of Treble, boost a tad of Bass, Gain at about 10 O'clock Volume at 9 - 11 O'clock. Wham! Instant dual channel on the Marshall sounds. Works good on Fender but I'd go with the RC or Ac Booster for the Fender and Vox based modules.

 

[AdInfinitum]

Thanks for the tip - I have a lot of boosters and overdrives that I've acquired through the years, including a Beano, Crispy Cream, OCD, Fulldrive, Rust Driver, LPB, Univox to name a few. It is amazing how different each of these sounds with different amps. For example, the Crispy Cream and Beano sound great driving a Marshall type amp, but awful into a Fender. The Fulldrive sound great through the Fender but not as good through the Marshall.

I am having loads of difficulty running a Line6 Verbzilla and Ibanez analog delay through the effects loops. They sounds bad through both the serial and parallel loops. Any suggestions?

 

[3 Mile Stone]

Try one of these.

Takes the line level signal down to pedal level and converts it back up to line level to be more compatible with the design of the effects loop.

 

[tung]

I use the AC Booster in front of the Deluxe module, nice SRV bluesy breakup, sharp mids but not honking at all. The Xotic effects are amazing.
Tommy, what do you use for a nice chorus? I have my rack effects, but I'm looking for a nice chorus pedal that's transparent, not overly wobbly and swirly. Those old Arion was it, Henderson and Landau uses them, but just can't find them anymore.
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread

 

[3 Mile Stone]

I am actually not happy with my chorus. I'm looking at the Visual Sound, Carl Martin Classic or the Arion as you mentioned because it is supposed to be the Sh!t. Something with a mix knob, I like to dial it back and mix in the direct tone a little. I've been using the chorus in the Vox Tone Lab but truthfully I am really not using a ton of chorus these days, mostly Rotory and Vibe type sounds.

 

[ned]

Ad-

If you have the Rockman Chorus or Delay try those with the RM100. They are some of the most bad *** fx boxes ever made.

If you have the Stereo Echo run the output of 1 side to the input of the other for a killer mono sound. Kick this in during solo's and you will sound HUGE.

 

[RD/Rich]

First off, WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!!

More and more I'm getting away from using chorus and just using a light detuning pitch shift. In Mono, Stereo, W/D, or W/D/W it always sounds great.

 

[okstrat]

Ned - the only thing I hate about the rockman stuff is that it's 1/2 rack. I've owned the chorus and the chorus/echo, both are awesome pieces.

Rich - I've done the same thing. Super thick tone without all the 'swoosh'. I hate it when a chorus starts to do the sweep/flange thing. I used a boss pitch shifter pedal set just a hair sharp and a hair flat blended in just enough to fatten up my tone without making it too sloppy.

Pete

 

[RD/Rich]

Not to tottaly derail this fine thread....

Pete that's exactly the problem I had. I just always set the depth high and rate low but it's still only meh. For pitchshift I use about +7/-14 cents and pan them hard left and right. Ohhhhhh goodness gracious I'm in heaven.

 

[khingpynn]

It's great to see another player who has some high end amps in his arsenal very happy with what the Randall MTS line is offering.
Sure it's an Egnater design but hey Randall got us the sig amps and mods plus at a great price.

RD/Rich... you mentioned getting away from a chorus. I used a chorus for years to fatten up my tone then i got away from it and now I'm at it again.
I set the rate and depth both to very low settings. No swwosh and I still get a braoder wider tone.
I've found that the Boss Super Chorus is not as good at this as the DOD Stereo Chorus which I use in a mono set up. Peavey used to make a great chorus for that type of use aswell.
What about the Boss Enhancer or the BBE Maximizer... tried those?
I have not tried the pitch shifter yet but I'm willing to bet it is pretty cool.
Is there anyome who would put together a short clip of a dry then wet tone using the pitch shift.
I would like to hear the effect in use this way.

much appreciated
Craig

 

[RD/Rich]

I have a Boss CH-Somthing or other that's nice, just not what I'm looking for. The Boss Enhancer is actually super awesome but I could get sick of it on all the time. I have a love hate relationship w/ BBE. Half the year I have somthing of theirs in my rack the other half I can live w/o it. the best chorus I have everheard is a Ibanez one that is light purple. My dad has it and won't sell it to me :x I don't think I could play w/ chorus on all the time anyway but a little bit of pitch shift mixed in is just beautiful.

I'm goin to do some more clips this weekend. I have the KH modules again :twisted:

 

[khingpynn]

Those KH modules are awsome... good write up in GW on the KH amp and mods.

 

[AdInfinitum]

In terms of good chorus (not overly vibrato), I tend to like the following:

Roland CE-1 - the original - nothing better in a pedal. Like a JC-120 chorus.
Roland CE-2 - can get a little too vibrato with the depth up past 10 o'clock
DOD - ICE BOX - really good
EH Small Clone
GK 250 ML - great chorus/echo sounds - my all-time favorite. I may one day ask my tech to take out the chorus echo from a 250 RL and put it in a pedal.
Rockman - OK, but I think it take over the sound too much.

Anything in a multieffects box - I HATE
Any digital emulation - I HATE

 

[tung]

+ 1 on the chorus at low settings, for not getting a mess of swoosh and swirl. A good chorus should just fatten up the tone and making the notes rounder and more defined.
The Arion supposed to be the one, all the tone chaser were going after one after guys like Henderson and Landau let it out that it's part of their tone secrets. But now finding one is next to impossible. I have the Arion Stage Tuner and the thing is simply amazing, it even has noiseless input for stage tuning, it served me well on countless gigs for over 12 years. The thing is I paid like $50 for it, best money ever spent .
I've heard good things about the BBE Mind Bender, anybody checked it out yet?

 

[3 Mile Stone]

I'm pretty sure the new BBE stuff is repackaged VooDoo Lab. Not that this is a bad thing, but I guess if you've heard their chorus it would be a lot like that one. It's supposed to be a good one. Very CE2.

 

[roodyrocker]

Lots of good topics in this thread. I have three main heads: RM100, Mesa Dual Rec, and Bogner Uberschall. The RM100 is the most versatile of the three but nothing comes close to the distortion tone of the Uberschall. For effects I had some pedals through the serial loop on my RM100 and others through the front but finally I put them all in a rack drawer with a GCX Switcher and now the only things on the floor in front of me are the Fulltone Wah, the RM100 foot switch, and a Ground Control Pro to switch the pedals in and out of my signal chain as I need them. That way when not in use, the pedal is not coloring my tone. I use the Guyatone MD-3 Delay, T-Rex Room Mate Reverb, Retro-Sonic Phaser, and for chorus/flange a Fulltone Choralflange. I too recently picked up an Axe-Fx Ultra and just started playing with that. The Axe-Fx is truly impressive! I don't really know how to use it properly yet, read the 80+ page manual once so far though. There isn't an effect in there that it doesn't do well and some stuff like the Quad Chorus is just incredible! I used to have some Rockman stuff up until a couple years ago when I E-Bayed it. I had the EQ and even though the Rockman stuff was a half rack space, Rockman made a rack mount that held two Rockman modules side by side. Anyway, even though the stuff sounded good it was too noisy. I still have my original Rockman IIB from 1981 or so however

 

[khingpynn]

OK I have a Boss Super Shifter PS-5 on loan.

Is anyone here familiar with setting this unit up for what we talked about above.

I just got it and will put it in my rig tomorrow.

Looks ike a pretty cool pedal feature wise.

Craig

 

[GtrGeorge!]

I find chorus units have their own sound. If you want to do that JC-120 sound...you want the original Boss Chorus Ensemble (the big one). If you want subtle, I think the Boss CE-5 does a good job..
And the very 1980s Ibanez Dual Chorus/Flange does a really great gurgling SRV tone. Very musical.
And Univibes..well thats a whole other story.
...I admit, I own to many pedals.

 

[khingpynn]

Too many pedals... NEVER!