The Doom Room: ILF Edition

[samzadgan]

GET THAT ORANGE!!

I saw one at the shop being tried out by someone else...they guy was playing blues/rock music on it, and it sounded like the sweetest thing i have ever heard. They were selling in for about $1500 i think with a 4x12 cab...

I have one final question on the cab...speakers...given its a Jet City amp, so relatively bright, and i will run it through a 1x12...whats a good speaker choice? I was thinking swamp thang, but not too sure if its too bassy, especially given the low volumes i'll be using at? Is the Wizard better option?

[D.o.S.]

Ew. Master Volume.

[crohny]

Does anyone know if PGS does online gift cards? I'm thinking of asking my brother to get me one for Christmas (cuz fuck Prymaxe) but I might also go with Tone Factor.

I also am asking because I kinda want a fun pedal. I'm thinking fuzz (on the whackier side) or modulation. Anyone have suggestions? Maybe an EQD something or other because I'm a fanboy.

Why fuck Prymaxe? I have had nothing but good encounters when purchasing from them.

[HeavyXIII]

GET THAT ORANGE!!

I saw one at the shop being tried out by someone else...they guy was playing blues/rock music on it, and it sounded like the sweetest thing i have ever heard. They were selling in for about $1500 i think with a 4x12 cab...

I have one final question on the cab...speakers...given its a Jet City amp, so relatively bright, and i will run it through a 1x12...whats a good speaker choice? I was thinking swamp thang, but not too sure if its too bassy, especially given the low volumes i'll be using at? Is the Wizard better option?

PERSONALLY, I would aim at brighter speakers. Maybe not super bright, but the last time I was using speakers that were "known for their warmth" I had to really jack up the brightness to hear what I was doing. I would aim at something middle of the road, and high wattage. Too bright? Turn down treble/presence. Too dark? Turn down bass/mids. I feel like a lot of tube amps lose a certain amount clarity at lower volumes, although I have next to no experience with the 50W Jet City amps.

OTOH, one of buddy's used to own a set of Swamp Thangs, and he said they were the roundest, most syrupy speakers he's ever played. Whatever you do, do it with lots of headroom (unless you love speaker distortion).

Good luck!

[skullservant]

Does anyone know if PGS does online gift cards? I'm thinking of asking my brother to get me one for Christmas (cuz fuck Prymaxe) but I might also go with Tone Factor.

I also am asking because I kinda want a fun pedal. I'm thinking fuzz (on the whackier side) or modulation. Anyone have suggestions? Maybe an EQD something or other because I'm a fanboy.

Why fuck Prymaxe? I have had nothing but good encounters when purchasing from them.

This thread is a good read: http://ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=27667

[ryan summit]

fuck prymaxe cause fuck prymaxe
fuzzhugger does gift cards
let'm see them art deco babes
pgs has to do gift certs
probly some kinda code or somethin

AA your shit reads like erotica

[AngryGoldfish]

the reason i ask about the blackstar is because a guy has one for sale and I'm considering it...the power scaling is quite good...just not sure if it can do the dooms...

wait...scrap that...the whole reason i sold my amp is to get something smaller...damn this GAS!

The Blackstar amps I've tried are not Doom-worthy on their own. I imagine Matt uses plenty of pedal colouration on either a clean setting or a slightly gritty setting, at which any loud amp on the planet could be a Doom amp. The 200 watt Series One has that big low-end and piano-like sustain of a Diezel Herbert or a Soldano Avenger, but that's it.

so my amp search continues…i've been offered two things:

a 50w Marshall plexi clone (ceriatone) with a 2x12 loaded with celestion hot100's for £600
a 50w jet city head with a Matamp 1x12 cab loaded with celestion century 80 for £380
a Orange TH30 head with Orange 1x12 loaded with V30 £650

i think the jet city i would spend another £100 getting a depth mod and maybe the clean mod done on it.

thoughts?

Don't buy an amp and modify it unless you're willing to lose money on it if and when you decide you want to move on and try something else. You will lose almost all your money. Jet City amps haven't held their value very well, and my modified 20H is well worth £500 when it comes to sound and quality per-sterling, but no one wants to pay that for a modified Jet City.

If I could offer a new viewpoint, get something that has a solid resale value. Fender are usually a safe bet. Try and find a Fender Bassman 50 head or something like that. I say this because it looks like you're unsure what you want yourself and are just testing the waters in different places in the ocean to see where it's warmest for your precious baby makers.

quick Cab question...

i'm getting a custom one with eminence swamp thang speaker...its a 1x12.

as far as impedance goes...i have a choice of 8ohm or 16ohm...whats the best to go for?

i thought if its 8, then i can always get another cab at 8 as well in the future...whereas a 16 would limit me right?

Go 8ohms. It's the easiest to match to any amp. Jeff at Matamp would say 16ohms because it sounds better, but the difference, if there is any at all, is so minor that you would not notice it. It's better, in my opinion, to have the benefit of a more applicable speaker impedance. There are few amps that don't output at 8 ohms.

saw this posted in the orange forums

http://hilbishdesign.bigcartel.com/
Orange/matamp chassis & faceplate kit, chrome style front handles & roller bars
also GT120 PCB for preorder

the records in the background make it DR related.

& i'm not affiliated to the seller in any way. anyone here know him?

I saw this and was disappointed he copied the vintage flaws but thats what happens when you direct clone something.

I guess most musicians would want want an exact clone because that's what their heroes used. They're not really interested in a perfect example of sound or engineering like you or the rest of us here, they're looking to recreate their memories.

[new05002]

I saw this and was disappointed he copied the vintage flaws

being?

Too small of a chassis with underspecced distance between tubes and iron. Results in mutual heating of those components. Too large of a plate voltage without compensating the screen voltage so it will end up eating El34s quickly to name the big 2.

its just totally stupid to clone an amp with understanding the original designs flaws and correcting for them.

[new05002]

I guess most musicians would want want an exact clone because that's what their heroes used. They're not really interested in a perfect example of sound or engineering like you or the rest of us here, they're looking to recreate their memories.

that happens all over the place when people do direct clones of vintage amps along with the vintage flaws. It always bugs the shit out of me

[Ancient Astronaught]

Locally there's a 90's reissue Orange OD120 (Or120 with a MV) for a half way decent price and in good shape

I'd hit that!

Yeah... that's the feeling I got....

GET THAT ORANGE!!

I saw one at the shop being tried out by someone else...they guy was playing blues/rock music on it, and it sounded like the sweetest thing i have ever heard. They were selling in for about $1500 i think with a 4x12 cab...

I can score this one for probably around 1000-1100 without a cab, but it was serviced semi-recently with low usage afterwards and has a stand-by switch added. I dunno if it'll be the sweetest thing I've ever heard as the Annunaki is pretty damn perfect for me, but it would be a sweet addition to my rig.

Ew. Master Volume.

Yeah, yeah, I know. But if I run it dirty in a stereo setup that MV would come in super handy.

[AngryGoldfish]

Bah, works been crazy lately and I haven't had much time to get on the forums. Cool to see it still going strong and that we might even have a new builder coming up so I've got a conundrum I've been contemplating lately....

So I've found myself using the "big board" (Skyhammer Pre and Timeline on a PT2) less and less and playing my "small board" (Boost > Meathead > Rat > RV-3 > Multiplex on a PTjr) more and more. I've also been really wanting a real Orange or Matamp type head to run in stereo with the Wizard so I could set up one to push the 4x12 and the other to push the 2x15. Locally there's a 90's reissue Orange OD120 (Or120 with a MV) for a half way decent price and in good shape. If I sold the Skyhammer, the Timeline, the PT2 with PS and case, plus a few erroneous pedals I have laying around I could afford the Orange. I would miss having the Pre for DI tracking, and the timeline mainly for the looper, but I've found myself using them less and less and focusing more on riffing and writing songs meant for a band I'm eventually putting together, at which point the Orange would be more useful to me. Plus the Skyhammer and Timeline are still being made while the orange is discontinued. What a do DR?!?!?! What a do?

So you'd be running the Annunaki, the Wizard, and the OR120 together at once? I personally think that's too much. I would rather the versatility of the pedals than another amp, especially since they all do something pretty similar. With that said, the Wizard is higher gain, the Annunaki is pure clean, and the OR120 is middle of the road. It would fill in the gaps nicely. But of course the Skyhammer preamp can do that too.

I think it would be cool for you to get the amp, but would you actually keep it or would you sell it six months from now? I think you go through gear not because you don't like it any more but because you don't feel as inspired any more. If you think of it that way, there is never anything wrong with selling old gear to buy new. What I will say is this: I don't think you'll sound any better or louder. You'd be digressing in my opinion, but you'd still be trying something new and I think that's what makes you happy. It's not that you sound 'better' with your small board, it's just that it's newer to you and more creative for you at this moment in time. You've changed directions so you feel like your gear should do the same. I totally get that and am very much the same, except that I can't always let go of something that's given me so much joy and satisfaction in the past. Most of the stuff I have today I've had for years and have no intention of selling. But then again, I don't have access to gear like many in the UK, Germany, or the US would have, for example. What I have I keep because I don't have anything to replace it with.

After diving into pedal building this past weekend with the modkits Piledriver kit, a friend took note of the demos and asked for one.

The area I live in is so weird...I have tried soooo many times to grandfather in dudes in the local scene showing them resources they can utilize to be more proactive about their tone...but hard as I try, they all want it delivered to them on a silver platter...so I guess that's what I will do. When I build and make a proper demo of a true bypass box(gonna show how much boss pedals SUCK without one, then show how much they do not with) I have a feeling the guitar dudes around here are gonna shit their pants...especially since they shit their pants when I only charge $10 to fix a broken jack...

After years of watching the musicians around here use and shortly thereafter sell their garbage on CL, im taking matters into my own hands as there is not one soul in a 300 mile radius that does this type of stuff.

Think I might use the moniker "Tonesmoker" for my builds and will be focusing primarily on tone tools like various boosts, switch boxes, true bypass and all that good stuff. Just planning on keeping things simple and advancing the range of circuits I offer with the experience I gain along the way. I figure, what better way to earn money for new gear since im also advancing my own understanding of it along the way?

Before this forum Mark from BAT and Ryan from Fuzzrocious were huge inspirations in my contemplation of pursuing this, after finding this forum, Craig(Dirge), Darren and Nick put the final nails in the coffin.

Quick demo of the boost I built:

Baritone Neck-thru Super Strat, Bridge BKP Warpig with tone knob at half, amp is a 15w Peavey transtube 1x8.

This is without boost:
http://instagram.com/p/hrSCnhMM9H/

With Boost:
http://instagram.com/p/hrSdMusM92/

Can finally get some satisfaction from that riff on my miniscule home rig!

All the best with it, mate. I really want to get involved with something myself. I have terrible motivation failings, though. I keep putting it off and off and off. I then beat myself up for not doing it and become depressed and do something that makes me happy like play video games or watch films to cheer me, which further fails to help me progress in my goal.

[Ancient Astronaught]

So you'd be running the Annunaki, the Wizard, and the OR120 together at once? I personally think that's too much. I would rather the versatility of the pedals than another amp, especially since they all do something pretty similar. With that said, the Wizard is higher gain, the Annunaki is pure clean, and the OR120 is middle of the road. It would fill in the gaps nicely. But of course the Skyhammer preamp can do that too.

I think it would be cool for you to get the amp, but would you actually keep it or would you sell it six months from now? I think you go through gear not because you don't like it any more but because you don't feel as inspired any more. If you think of it that way, there is never anything wrong with selling old gear to buy new. What I will say is this: I don't think you'll sound any better or louder. You'd be digressing in my opinion, but you'd still be trying something new and I think that's what makes you happy. It's not that you sound 'better' with your small board, it's just that it's newer to you and more creative for you at this moment in time. You've changed directions so you feel like your gear should do the same. I totally get that and am very much the same, except that I can't always let go of something that's given me so much joy and satisfaction in the past. Most of the stuff I have today I've had for years and have no intention of selling. But then again, I don't have access to gear like many in the UK, Germany, or the US would have, for example. What I have I keep because I don't have anything to replace it with.

I could run all three at once but I'm more aiming at gigging with the Wizard and OD120 and only breaking out the Naki for special gigs. That amp is such a monolith of importance to me that I want to risk its safety as few times as possible. Actually the wizard isn't that high gain unless I dime the volume, but at 11:00 its all ready at typical gig levels without being too dirty at all. So its more like Naki > Wizard > OD120 in terms of gain from clean to high gain.

That really is a good question. I've been doing alot of thinking lately and looking back at the stuff I wish I hadn't sold and of the stuff I have that ended up being redundant. If I can achieve the same tone or similar with two cheaper pedals than why should I keep the more expensive one that requires more maintanence. I can get very similar tones out of my meathead and rat combo, but with a thicker and billowier tone and no worries about tubes fading out or another 3 prong power chord. The timeline I would miss mainly because of the looper, but I haven't done any loop drones in months and that was when I had no real big plans to start another band and was going to mainly do solo stuff. Now that my daughter is born all I can think about is forming another real band and getting out there and playing, and looping won't be a part of it. The other thing is both my boards are essentially identical setups just with different pedals; boost > dirt > volume pedal > delay. And I found myself dialing them in almost identically, so I'm thinking am I keeping the skyhammer and Timeline because of their clout or because I genuinely prefer them. I fell though that the orange would add something I don't have right now, an amp designed for built in amp gain that takes pedals amazingly. Which could be really cool for recording, or for just slamming with a RAT and dooming out. I feel that I've been scatter brained about gear due to everything going on in life, its been my escape in a way from stress and confusion. And I feel that I need to buckle down and figure out what it is I want to do and focus on that instead of amassing toys to entertain my mind. As of lately if I take a pedal off the board I usually end up selling it, and sometimes not replacing it, just trying to strip down to the bones of what I need and perfecting that. I'm even contemplating selling my Tele's... I built them because I wanted to have 6 strings in case I found a band to join where I would need one, but I'm at the point where its fuck "joining" a band, if I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do it my way. And that way is 7 strings tuned to stupid, the least amount of pedals to achieve what I need, and more wattage and speakers than is necessary cranked to volumes that should be illegal in some states, played slow low and as pissed off as I really am on the inside.

Your right that I've changed directions many times, I've been doing alot of soul searching about what I want to do and how I want to do it. I feel as if I'm 18 again and going out and trying different things to find what gets me off, and now I've been there and tried that and I'm finally starting to settle and mature musically. When I grab a six string I feel as if something is missing and always want to tune lower, and whenever I mess around with the timeline and bounce between presets and do crazy looping I feel like I'm going off on a tagent. Maybe I'm just trying to justify it to myself, maybe I just love amps and cabs more than pedals...

[Barracuda]

After diving into pedal building this past weekend with the modkits Piledriver kit, a friend took note of the demos and asked for one.

The area I live in is so weird...I have tried soooo many times to grandfather in dudes in the local scene showing them resources they can utilize to be more proactive about their tone...but hard as I try, they all want it delivered to them on a silver platter...so I guess that's what I will do. When I build and make a proper demo of a true bypass box(gonna show how much boss pedals SUCK without one, then show how much they do not with) I have a feeling the guitar dudes around here are gonna shit their pants...especially since they shit their pants when I only charge $10 to fix a broken jack...

After years of watching the musicians around here use and shortly thereafter sell their garbage on CL, im taking matters into my own hands as there is not one soul in a 300 mile radius that does this type of stuff.

Think I might use the moniker "Tonesmoker" for my builds and will be focusing primarily on tone tools like various boosts, switch boxes, true bypass and all that good stuff. Just planning on keeping things simple and advancing the range of circuits I offer with the experience I gain along the way. I figure, what better way to earn money for new gear since im also advancing my own understanding of it along the way?

Before this forum Mark from BAT and Ryan from Fuzzrocious were huge inspirations in my contemplation of pursuing this, after finding this forum, Craig(Dirge), Darren and Nick put the final nails in the coffin.

Quick demo of the boost I built:

Baritone Neck-thru Super Strat, Bridge BKP Warpig with tone knob at half, amp is a 15w Peavey transtube 1x8.

This is without boost:
http://instagram.com/p/hrSCnhMM9H/

With Boost:
http://instagram.com/p/hrSdMusM92/

Can finally get some satisfaction from that riff on my miniscule home rig!

Cool man, I have a similar story in that I started thinking about doing DIY pedal building just for myself, and that very quickly got into designing circuits with my (very limited) knowledge of electronics. Nick and Mark (who I will add have the most fantastic sounding pedals ever) were the two dudes who really got me thinking about doing it as a part time vocation, but I would not be sad to be a full time pedal builder. I'll post a clip sometime of the one-knob fuzz I put together. It's like a high-gain fuzz face motif sandwiched between the input and output section of a big muff. In my little mini rig it's for droning on stacked power chords! The hardest part about designing for me is knowing when to call a build DONE and stop worrying about mods and making it "better."

All the best with it, mate. I really want to get involved with something myself. I have terrible motivation failings, though. I keep putting it off and off and off. I then beat myself up for not doing it and become depressed and do something that makes me happy like play video games or watch films to cheer me, which further fails to help me progress in my goal.

Right now I'm a full time chemistry grad student so the limited time I do have to devote to pedal building I usually end up just enjoying sitting the fuck down, lol. I'm currently trying to design a pcb for my first pedal I'd feel good about selling to someone else, and when the weekend hits the prospect of sitting down at the computer and trying to become proficient with yet another frustrating scientific development program isn't very enticing.

[new05002]

ohhh full time grad student. I feel your pain. Chris definitely feels your pain since he was a chem grad back in the day

[AxAxSxS]

quick Cab question...

i'm getting a custom one with eminence swamp thang speaker...its a 1x12.

as far as impedance goes...i have a choice of 8ohm or 16ohm...whats the best to go for?

i thought if its 8, then i can always get another cab at 8 as well in the future...whereas a 16 would limit me right?

Go 8. Also realize that wattage usage is inverse of the ohms, so the amp will work harder with lower Ohms rated cabs.... I think.

OR, (and I know you are trying to stay small) Get a 2x12 wired for 8 ohms with a parallel circuit. The reason I say to do this is because I just don't feel comfortable plugging one of my cherished amps into a single fallible load. I used to have a "test cab" with a single speaker that was from a line 6 amp that got donated to me broken. When the soundtronics first came back to life that was what was plugged into it. the speaker blew and I didn't immediately realize that was what had happened. the amp got REAL HOT real fast. actually had some smoke from it. I shut it down and started testing and figured out what happened. so its 2x12 minimum for me from now on.

Bah, works been crazy lately and I haven't had much time to get on the forums. Cool to see it still going strong and that we might even have a new builder coming up so I've got a conundrum I've been contemplating lately....

So I've found myself using the "big board" (Skyhammer Pre and Timeline on a PT2) less and less and playing my "small board" (Boost > Meathead > Rat > RV-3 > Multiplex on a PTjr) more and more. I've also been really wanting a real Orange or Matamp type head to run in stereo with the Wizard so I could set up one to push the 4x12 and the other to push the 2x15. Locally there's a 90's reissue Orange OD120 (Or120 with a MV) for a half way decent price and in good shape. If I sold the Skyhammer, the Timeline, the PT2 with PS and case, plus a few erroneous pedals I have laying around I could afford the Orange. I would miss having the Pre for DI tracking, and the timeline mainly for the looper, but I've found myself using them less and less and focusing more on riffing and writing songs meant for a band I'm eventually putting together, at which point the Orange would be more useful to me. Plus the Skyhammer and Timeline are still being made while the orange is discontinued. What a do DR?!?!?! What a do?

Just get a meatsmoke already. we all know that's where you are going to end up. Verellens having a sale right now too. Or a third EVEN MORE MASSIVE Dunwich?

PERSONALLY, I would aim at brighter speakers. Maybe not super bright, but the last time I was using speakers that were "known for their warmth" I had to really jack up the brightness to hear what I was doing. I would aim at something middle of the road, and high wattage. Too bright? Turn down treble/presence. Too dark? Turn down bass/mids. I feel

This is good advice. I had been going in the same direction sonically with everything for a while and for a bit there I had kind of overshot the mark. made some speaker changes and now I can adjust for more bright, or dial back if needed. For a bit there I had all the treble settings all the way up and it was still not enough because most of my gear choices were geared towards low end bigness.