I don’t know anyone else who has this amp and it also took me years to find this head (Finally popped up on Reverb in Dec 2022). About 12 years ago I was in a guitar store and they had the FUCHS Viper and I was blown away at how heavy it sounded but I had nowhere near the $3,000 it was listed for. I am going to keep my review short because I am going to post a link to an EP where you can hear the FUCHS Viper yourself (it sounds like this live as well). Feel free to ask questions.
Here is the link to the EP - All of the guitars on this recording were done with the FUCHS Viper 100w thru a VHT 4x12 w/ P50E’s - I am also using an ESP USA M-II with Duncan SNS Humbuckers:
https://samply.app/p/bNYpfrPa6KaLs8GSTCJG
High Gain Channel (A+
This is essentially another version of a high gain modded Marshall JCM 800 except it trims out the the ear piercing treble and replaces it with a more even balance between lows and highs. The high gain isn‘t going to get you to the level of a 5150 or a Diezel VH4/Herbert but it does crunch and get very heavy. It is a high gain tone where it won‘t cover up sloppy playing, however, if you are precise it rewards you with both a slamming tone and great clarity. It’s got wonderful bottom end. You can EQ the heavy sound to go from screechy/high end to complete low end. I think adding a boost pedal pushes the gain too far and you lose the benefit of the sound of the head. Overall this is a clear, low, precise & slamming heavy sound. I own a ton of gear and this is by far my favorite head (I also have a Marshall Jubilee, Splawn Pro Stock, Diezel Einstein, Revv Generator, 5150, Dual Recto, Syngery SYN-50 w/ all the high gain modules, Mesa Triple Crown & an Orange Thunderverb)
Clean Channel (B+)
The clean channel is average. It has the option to go from straight clean to dirty rock & roll tone. I would say the clean is on par with a Marshall JTM, Plexi, JCM 800. It is not as clear as say a Fender, Magnatone or Mesa clean sound. The highlight of the amp is the high gain channel but if you the need it for clean tone this amp will do the job just fine.
Features (A+
- 2 Channels (High Gain, Clean/Dirty)
- 4x 6550 Power Section (You can‘t even push the volume past “1“ without it being too loud for a household. This is by far the loudest head I’ve owned. I am now a huge fan of adding the 6550 power tubes. I am going to have my Marshall Jubilee modded for high gain as well as re-biased for the 6550 tubes)
- 4ohm, 8ohm, 16ohm
- FX Loop - (This works great when you want to bypass the pre-amp. I’ve run my Quad Cortex through it and it blows away the Duncan Power Stage I generally use with the Quad Cortex). It also has a FX mix knob and works great with whatever FX you want to run through it.
- The EQ reminds me of the Mesa MK series. All of the EQ knobs are interactive. If you change the “presence” it impacts the “thrust“ and “high“ knobs. So for every turn you make on the EQ you have to go back and change other knobs for it to fit. At first its annoying. Once you get the hang of it, it works great
Reliability (C-
When I received the head in the mail most of the tubes had fallen out of the slots. I had to open up the head and reconnect a lot of stuff. When moving the head around parts generally fall out. I am in the process of having my amp tech friend rebuild the inside of the head to get everything to hold in place strong. I would say it’s on par with a Marshall as far as reliability. However, whenever I’ve used it live or in the studio the head has come through top notch (Thats what counts).
I’ve also attached a pic. It is the amp head on the bottom rack. The amp was re-released as the Mantis but has been discontinued for quite some time.
Here is the link to the EP - All of the guitars on this recording were done with the FUCHS Viper 100w thru a VHT 4x12 w/ P50E’s - I am also using an ESP USA M-II with Duncan SNS Humbuckers:
https://samply.app/p/bNYpfrPa6KaLs8GSTCJG
High Gain Channel (A+
This is essentially another version of a high gain modded Marshall JCM 800 except it trims out the the ear piercing treble and replaces it with a more even balance between lows and highs. The high gain isn‘t going to get you to the level of a 5150 or a Diezel VH4/Herbert but it does crunch and get very heavy. It is a high gain tone where it won‘t cover up sloppy playing, however, if you are precise it rewards you with both a slamming tone and great clarity. It’s got wonderful bottom end. You can EQ the heavy sound to go from screechy/high end to complete low end. I think adding a boost pedal pushes the gain too far and you lose the benefit of the sound of the head. Overall this is a clear, low, precise & slamming heavy sound. I own a ton of gear and this is by far my favorite head (I also have a Marshall Jubilee, Splawn Pro Stock, Diezel Einstein, Revv Generator, 5150, Dual Recto, Syngery SYN-50 w/ all the high gain modules, Mesa Triple Crown & an Orange Thunderverb)
Clean Channel (B+)
The clean channel is average. It has the option to go from straight clean to dirty rock & roll tone. I would say the clean is on par with a Marshall JTM, Plexi, JCM 800. It is not as clear as say a Fender, Magnatone or Mesa clean sound. The highlight of the amp is the high gain channel but if you the need it for clean tone this amp will do the job just fine.
Features (A+
- 2 Channels (High Gain, Clean/Dirty)
- 4x 6550 Power Section (You can‘t even push the volume past “1“ without it being too loud for a household. This is by far the loudest head I’ve owned. I am now a huge fan of adding the 6550 power tubes. I am going to have my Marshall Jubilee modded for high gain as well as re-biased for the 6550 tubes)
- 4ohm, 8ohm, 16ohm
- FX Loop - (This works great when you want to bypass the pre-amp. I’ve run my Quad Cortex through it and it blows away the Duncan Power Stage I generally use with the Quad Cortex). It also has a FX mix knob and works great with whatever FX you want to run through it.
- The EQ reminds me of the Mesa MK series. All of the EQ knobs are interactive. If you change the “presence” it impacts the “thrust“ and “high“ knobs. So for every turn you make on the EQ you have to go back and change other knobs for it to fit. At first its annoying. Once you get the hang of it, it works great
Reliability (C-
When I received the head in the mail most of the tubes had fallen out of the slots. I had to open up the head and reconnect a lot of stuff. When moving the head around parts generally fall out. I am in the process of having my amp tech friend rebuild the inside of the head to get everything to hold in place strong. I would say it’s on par with a Marshall as far as reliability. However, whenever I’ve used it live or in the studio the head has come through top notch (Thats what counts).
I’ve also attached a pic. It is the amp head on the bottom rack. The amp was re-released as the Mantis but has been discontinued for quite some time.
Attachments
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