The Doom Room: ILF Edition

[sergiomunoz74]

Yeah I totally understand, I can't get down with people paying more than 500ish for them. I paid 550 for mine and it was only cause I was desperate for one locally I wanted a 50h and the case was ridiculously cool too (being the only wooden enclosure they made with a recessed handle). I got my mig 100h for 250 and I regret selling it honestly. I don't know why people pay 800 dollars or more for one, Im hoping the reissues cause them to drop back down to where they should be no more than 500 bucks. Hell I hope they drop back down to like 300 bucks all day because I wouldn't even give a shit about breaking one because Ill probably have 3 at anytime

[misterstomach]

DoS...i had a listen to that album...nice work man...it really spaced me out.

so...New Year, and new band! Crimson Ritual ended when my band mate suffered some sever mental health issues late last year. He's fine now (physically anyway), but he's moved back to his parents place outside the city and is just taking it easy. It's a real shame, because when he was stable, he was a really nice guy...and plus we just clicked musically.

So new band is another 2 piece, but its me on guitar and noise and band mate on drums, which is different for me, because i need to write riffs to a beat. Last week we had our first jam, which went awesome. I had a couple of parts worked out for it, and we jammed it out and we quickly got it to a point where we have the best part of a song done...just need to tighten it up and maybe add some colour to it. I'm also, for the first time going to try my hand at vocals - inaudible death metal growls - so that should be interesting.

so the question is, what effects do people use on vocal's? do you even need vocal effects? im thinking maybe some reverb??

by the way...new band name might be Jackals Peak.

Hell yes on new band. Dig the name too.

Conky is right that I use a Mic Mechanic. Or did. I couldn't fit it on my tiny board for the fly in shows, so I went without vocal effects and just had the FOH guy put delay/verb on mine. It sounded just as good and I didn't have to fuck with extra cables or anything. That said, the MM rules. Super intuitive, and the echo + verb settings rule. As others have said, don't use the tone function -- instant feedback. You could also go for the blue Voicelive Play box -- that's what Phil uses now, and it's got tons of cool things including delay, echo, harmonies, distortion/megaphone.


On an unrelated note, I scored an Orange Thunderverb 200 for under a grand. Initial thoughts are that it rules, but it's weird using amp gain again (the thing haaaaaaates my Quantum Mystic, sadly). The downside of using amp gain is that I have to cable up my time-based stuff in the loop, which isn't a huge deal but just means more cables to tote around. On the plus side, slamming it with the Black Forest with just a tiny bit of gain makes the dirt sound massive. Going to take all of my dirt pedals to the practice space today and really dig into it.

Now, while it sounds good, part of me doesn't want to rethink my whole pedalboard/tone deal. But touring weeks at a time with my V4 or V2, both of which are 40+ years old, seems like a bad idea even with a killer backup (have a ToneBlock 201 arriving today). So, I figured I'd ask this: is there a new(ish) amp that is loud, clean, and reliable other than going with something ungodly expensive like a Science Mother? I saw that EHX reissued the Mig50, and I'd like to try one out, but 50 watts means way less clean headroom and I haven't been able to find any reviews on the amp's reliability. But they go used for under 500 bucks, so maybe that's the ticket?

Also, I need to sell some of my stockpile of amps. Holy shit I have a wall in my office now.

Hi. I haven't posted much in forever. I still read the forum all the time though. Hope everyone is doing well enough. All things considered.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I thought i'd offer my two cents. I know nothing about the new sovteks, but if the old ones are any indication, I would agree with everyone else to avoid them if reliability is your primary concern. Having had the pleasure of seeing/hearing your band a couple of times, your guitar tone is fucking sick and is something I really value in this world. I'd hate to see it compromised. I've spent a lot of my life on tour with old amps. My band obviously is not playing shows on the level that you guys are doing right now. I guess we occasionally do some like that, but generally you know what I'm saying. But I did tech/roadie stuff for a good while with a band that was playing big ass shows every day for months at a time. In general, I've found that a well made old amp that is well maintained performs pretty much as well as well as a well made new amp that is well maintained. Including an old v4. The difference primarily being that the newer amps usually don't sound as good. The old amps tend to be more sensitive to being tragically dropped. But, if your touring hard you should have the heads in cases anyway. My opinion, which isn't really worth anything special, but this is the Internet, so I'll pretend it matters, is that a band that's regularly playing the the type of shows you guys are doing should use the amps that get you the best tone, assuming it's reasonably reliable. Then get a backup amp to bring on tour that will work for either guitar player. Or possibly even the bass player as well. There comes a time when you should have a backup amp regardless. So why not just maintain your amp well that gives you the best sound and make a compromise if you have to when that breaks? Which it probably won't. I mean, if you have a whole wall of extra amps sitting around, why not pick one that's really sweet that isn't your main amp and throw that in the van/trailer as the backup?

All that being said, mesa f series are pretty sweet. A very overlooked part of the mesa line that seems to be stupid cheap on the used market.

[Iommic Pope]

The thing about the Sovteks is that the QC is totally hit or miss -- Pope's posted a bunch of horror stories about trying to get his up and running, mine played a lot nicer than his but would go through occasional spurts of eating fuses like Tic Tacs -- but most that I've seen/played have had their share of loveable quirks... and while that's defensible/part and parcel when you're buying a $350-400 tube head, but the value is totally lost (IMO) for the prices they go for now.

Yeah, they're either golden or total Soviet nuclear waste - to be buried in the back of the 'Stahns somewhere.
If yours is treating you right it may mean someone else has done all the tough jobs for you.
They're definitely great sounding amps.
I was totally in love with my 50 when it was functional.

Also, yay DoS and Sam!

[emptyparadigm]

DoS...i had a listen to that album...nice work man...it really spaced me out.

so...New Year, and new band! Crimson Ritual ended when my band mate suffered some sever mental health issues late last year. He's fine now (physically anyway), but he's moved back to his parents place outside the city and is just taking it easy. It's a real shame, because when he was stable, he was a really nice guy...and plus we just clicked musically.

So new band is another 2 piece, but its me on guitar and noise and band mate on drums, which is different for me, because i need to write riffs to a beat. Last week we had our first jam, which went awesome. I had a couple of parts worked out for it, and we jammed it out and we quickly got it to a point where we have the best part of a song done...just need to tighten it up and maybe add some colour to it. I'm also, for the first time going to try my hand at vocals - inaudible death metal growls - so that should be interesting.

so the question is, what effects do people use on vocal's? do you even need vocal effects? im thinking maybe some reverb??

by the way...new band name might be Jackals Peak.

Hell yes on new band. Dig the name too.

Conky is right that I use a Mic Mechanic. Or did. I couldn't fit it on my tiny board for the fly in shows, so I went without vocal effects and just had the FOH guy put delay/verb on mine. It sounded just as good and I didn't have to fuck with extra cables or anything. That said, the MM rules. Super intuitive, and the echo + verb settings rule. As others have said, don't use the tone function -- instant feedback. You could also go for the blue Voicelive Play box -- that's what Phil uses now, and it's got tons of cool things including delay, echo, harmonies, distortion/megaphone.


On an unrelated note, I scored an Orange Thunderverb 200 for under a grand. Initial thoughts are that it rules, but it's weird using amp gain again (the thing haaaaaaates my Quantum Mystic, sadly). The downside of using amp gain is that I have to cable up my time-based stuff in the loop, which isn't a huge deal but just means more cables to tote around. On the plus side, slamming it with the Black Forest with just a tiny bit of gain makes the dirt sound massive. Going to take all of my dirt pedals to the practice space today and really dig into it.

Now, while it sounds good, part of me doesn't want to rethink my whole pedalboard/tone deal. But touring weeks at a time with my V4 or V2, both of which are 40+ years old, seems like a bad idea even with a killer backup (have a ToneBlock 201 arriving today). So, I figured I'd ask this: is there a new(ish) amp that is loud, clean, and reliable other than going with something ungodly expensive like a Science Mother? I saw that EHX reissued the Mig50, and I'd like to try one out, but 50 watts means way less clean headroom and I haven't been able to find any reviews on the amp's reliability. But they go used for under 500 bucks, so maybe that's the ticket?

Also, I need to sell some of my stockpile of amps. Holy shit I have a wall in my office now.

Hi. I haven't posted much in forever. I still read the forum all the time though. Hope everyone is doing well enough. All things considered.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I thought i'd offer my two cents. I know nothing about the new sovteks, but if the old ones are any indication, I would agree with everyone else to avoid them if reliability is your primary concern. Having had the pleasure of seeing/hearing your band a couple of times, your guitar tone is fucking sick and is something I really value in this world. I'd hate to see it compromised. I've spent a lot of my life on tour with old amps. My band obviously is not playing shows on the level that you guys are doing right now. I guess we occasionally do some like that, but generally you know what I'm saying. But I did tech/roadie stuff for a good while with a band that was playing big ass shows every day for months at a time. In general, I've found that a well made old amp that is well maintained performs pretty much as well as well as a well made new amp that is well maintained. Including an old v4. The difference primarily being that the newer amps usually don't sound as good. The old amps tend to be more sensitive to being tragically dropped. But, if your touring hard you should have the heads in cases anyway. My opinion, which isn't really worth anything special, but this is the Internet, so I'll pretend it matters, is that a band that's regularly playing the the type of shows you guys are doing should use the amps that get you the best tone, assuming it's reasonably reliable. Then get a backup amp to bring on tour that will work for either guitar player. Or possibly even the bass player as well. There comes a time when you should have a backup amp regardless. So why not just maintain your amp well that gives you the best sound and make a compromise if you have to when that breaks? Which it probably won't. I mean, if you have a whole wall of extra amps sitting around, why not pick one that's really sweet that isn't your main amp and throw that in the van/trailer as the backup?

All that being said, mesa f series are pretty sweet. A very overlooked part of the mesa line that seems to be stupid cheap on the used market.

You speak truth, my man. And thank you! I LOVE my V4 and what it can do. I have never played an amp that captures that sound. Once I move these excess amps, I'm gonna try an F100 just because. But unless that knocks my socks off, I may well just go with the V4. I do have a killer backup now -- to anyone thinking about snagging a Quilter Tone Block 201, DO IT. Holy SHIT. It sounded better than the Thunderverb 200. It doesn't have the same oomph as my V4 (or V2) but it slays hard. Takes pedals like a champ. It's loud as hell. And beyond that, it genuinely sounds really good. I'd say it got me to about 85% of "my tone," to the point where I would take two of these and tour forever with them. Can't say enough good stuff about it.

Also, who wants to buy a Thunderverb 200?

[Iommic Pope]

I would love to, but I am short on the necessary financial medium required to make dreams reality.

[samzadgan]

Sorry to hear you ain't digging the TV200. But I get it...it's a great amp, but you either love it or not. For me, I really like it, but it's still nothing compared to the Matamp.

So today I took my cheap sub $100 Peavey Special combo to rehearsals and hooked it up to a 4x12...I took my matamp as well just to compare it...and FUCK ME DEAD!!!

The peavey sounded so good. Set clean it loved all my pedals including dirt and it was so loud. It's supposedly 120w, made in '81, which I usually find to be a lot quieter than equivalent tube amp...not in this case... this thing was ridiculous, so much head room and tones for days. My band mate who's brought me Sunn beat lead and acoustic 470 in the past was stunned at how good it sounded. I would definitely say it's on or with those other solid state amps of the 70's/80's...loud, clean, and beautiful pedal platforms.

I'm seriously considering converting it into a head....and buying another one.

[odontophobia]

The Mesa F100 is fucking great. Can get close-ish to recto territory but the clean channel is better. Headphone out is a nice bonus.

I bought my combo for $525.

D.o.S. and I have been all over these and for good reason. Let the hype be real. These rule.

[sergiomunoz74]

I wish there were more amp heads sub 1000 dollars that are super reliable but sounded as good as vintage stuff. Honestly Even though I can afford a custom amp rig, I just feel like the need for it is so small sometimes. I've been going back and forth on it for the last three years, the last pricey head I had was an or120 that always ran really hot and blew tubes all the time.

The guy who I sold it to got it up and running and working perfectly but it took him replacing the transformers and other assorted parts. Which arguably changes everything. I wanted a Science Mother but I always psych myself out on it.

I think I might buy a solid state amp for a reliable back up, maybe a beta lead or peavey century or something. I seem to see those go for like 100 bucks at pawnshops sometimes.

[pelliott]

new Mastodon track, that doesn't suck. In fact, it's very good if you liked Crack the Skye



(for fans of mastodon)

And Pallbearer, too! It doesn't suck either!



(also for fans of mastodon)

[odontophobia]

I enjoyed both tracks upon initial listen.

I didn't hate the last Mastodo album. It was palatable to good.

[D.o.S.]

I dig the fact that there's an audience for bands like Pallbearer (even though I'm not a huge fan) but I am a little disappointed that the weirdness/outside the box thinking in the genre seems to have been vanishing from the lips of the tastemakers. I feel like there's a refinement in the genre away from 'interesting' into 'product', and obviously that's not new (in the slightest) but it does seem to have permeated the 'visible underground' to a degree that makes me a little sad.

Am I full of shit?

[pelliott]

what do you mean, DOS? that Pallbearer isn't treading bold new frontiers?

I enjoyed both tracks upon initial listen.

I didn't hate the last Mastodo album. It was palatable to good.

i thought the last mastodon album was ok but i could only listen to it a couple times before i got bored of it. definitely some good riffs and better songs than the hunter, however. i am seeing them in may in philly and this song got me excited about the band again.

[D.o.S.]

Nah that's not fair to Pallbearer -- that new track is a banger, for sure.

I kind of feel like over the last 5-10 years the bands that seem to be catching on seem to be a little less forward thinking, yeah. Not that every band has to do that (or should want to do that), and obviously I'm just one voice on the internet or in person, but I feel like everything is getting a little too codified for my taste -- there's less and less overlap on bills, splits, festivals, etc.

You just get this nice little FFFO bubble where if you like one band on the bill you're going to love every band on the bill because they're drawing from the same wellspring. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do feel that it's a little less engaging mentally (even if sometimes all you want to do is pound cheap pints and revel in a crowdwide love of Thin Lizzy or Motorhead or Priest or Sabbath or w/e).

Obvious reiteration: just one dude voicing an observation.

[sergiomunoz74]

Nah that's not fair to Pallbearer -- that new track is a banger, for sure.

I kind of feel like over the last 5-10 years the bands that seem to be catching on seem to be a little less forward thinking, yeah. Not that every band has to do that (or should want to do that), and obviously I'm just one voice on the internet or in person, but I feel like everything is getting a little too codified for my taste -- there's less and less overlap on bills, splits, festivals, etc.

You just get this nice little FFFO bubble where if you like one band on the bill you're going to love every band on the bill because they're drawing from the same wellspring. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do feel that it's a little less engaging mentally (even if sometimes all you want to do is pound cheap pints and revel in a crowdwide love of Thin Lizzy or Motorhead or Priest or Sabbath or w/e).

Obvious reiteration: just one dude voicing an observation.

Naw I get that, and I have my own dislikes of certain popular bands (Namely Torche). I sometimes go to shows and by the end of it feel crazy bored because I sometimes feel like I listened to the same band for 3-4 hours straight. That doesn't even just mean doom but a lot of genres in which I go and I leave early because I just get tired of 4-5 grindcore bands, emo bands, doom bands. I would like to see more diversity in the genres (with in reason of course) and people taking more ideas from other genres to make an interesting concept. Although I can't really comment because my music could also be seen as mad generic or whatever.

Although you are right sometimes I would like to just go to a show, half listen and drink the good drinks and have a good time not even really fully paying attention to the muzak. Although that is also my opinion

[pelliott]

I understand what you mean. Sometimes I want to just listen to three hours of doom metal or what have you, but I also really enjoy being surprised as hell by a supporting/opening band I haven't heard of doing something completely different from the headliner. In recent memory, Ecstatic Vision blew me the fuck away out of nowhere last year when I saw Magic Circle and a few other trad metal bands.