Guess what? Setbacks. Massive amplifier failure on the part of both guitar players, flat relocation resulting in the need for a new practice space, personal stresses from many members, the works.

We haven't put anything down to tape (I wish), however seeing as I'm the only one with functional equipment, I have basically taken charge and finished anything that was previously open-ended myself, so there is progress, but it's slowwwwwwwwww


Jams start next week. Speed and efficiency is paramount.

Stink buzz.

What up with amps? Blowing fuses?

No idea, really. Donnie's had heaps of gain but little volume (You could crank it to max and only then would it be at an acceptable volume) so maybe, power amp? Don't know. Ben's did something similar and would just lose mass amounts of bottom end for no reason.

Weird thing is, we took em to Weta, they cleaned em all out, and couldn't find anything wrong with them...

True...maybe needs some new power tubes in there.


Anomolous!


A dude bought an old JCM800 round the other day that he claimed had been told was modded to 100 watts but totally hadn't.
Apparently it's Jimmy Barnes old amp though...which I believed, so I guess I'm as 'bad' as he.


Words.

Yeah, my diagnosis also. We'll see I guess. I just see it as an excuse for them to get some not-quite-so-raucous amps, instead of their current high gain channel switching numbers (5150, JCM 2000).

There was talk of having Kenny Duncan re-bias them so they aren't quite some gainy in the output and have a nicer, cleaner sound. We don't play with raucous amounts of distortion anyway. Thoughts? I don't know if I told you, but Ben's sporting a rather nice SG now, coupled with the '81 Les Paul Donnie's playing, and the semi-hollow ASAT (just a Tribute, but on par/way rulier than any mexican fender) I'm about to acquire. Fuck seven strings.

Maximum Doom Output!

I don't think you'll notice much of a 'cleaner' or 'lower gain' sound by biasing the power tubes colder. Most of the character of your tone in high wattage amps comes from your preamp breakup...which is the issue you guys would want to be addressing.

The 5150 has 6 "preamp" tubes in...that a lot of gain stages (a JCM 800 has three). You could go crazy and mod the fuck out of it until it becomes something else, but then you would be destroying the savagery that is the 5150. Better of starting from scratch.

I know an amp builder here in Melbourne...

Right, it would appear I have been mislead about the biasing process then! I know how an amps works, I was just lead to believe the wrong thing about a bias.

My personal preference for heavy sound of late, has been getting sweet clean amps, and then getting the right kind of overdrive/distortion pedal. Not the same as tube overdrive obviously, which i prefer, but seems (to me) to get a nicer sound than most channel switching high gain numbers. The cleans not clean enough, and the gain's too raucous I find.

I just scored myself a new amp, but assuming this amp builder you're referring to is you (or some dummy corporation owned by Faisandier Industries) I would be very keen on having you build me something at some stage!

Don't get me wrong - you can get some sweet sweet breakup from power tubes...but not really from a 50 watter....unless your cranking the who is your daddy out of it.

What'd ye buy?

A Jansen Bassman. 75 Watt, two channel, NZ built number. One of the most misrepresented amps on earth eh. Something of a copy of a Fender Bassman I believe. They can get really scoopy if you don't know what you're doing with them, but one channel is more bass in and the other is more upper mids/treble so you can patch them together and blend beautiful sounds from em.

Considering the horrendous impracticality of carting around two amps, and seeing as I don't want to DI synth (I like amps. I like warm.) I will run my gat rig through one channel, and my electronic rig through the other. I have two arms, so muddiness will not be an issue.

Gunna be hooning it all through a 2x15 I'm going to build, so I still have that guitar sound, gut greater bottom end capability for synth. I'm gunna be playing in standard versus the other guy's Drop A, so there's not risk of bassy sludge.

Probably gunna get a Rat for distortion.

Chea.