Ceriatone models

  • Thread starter Thread starter mchn13
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mchn13
mchn13
Well-known member
I see the molecular, yeti, chupa, and gargoyle.
Are they all variations of a jose modded marshall? @bubbastain, your clips have been sick; whats your preference for metal?
Im just trying to determine which one to order. I dont need bells and whistles. Just grunt, and responds to the volume knob.
Let me know what would be the most applicable, especially if youve had them.
Seven string, drop-a broots. mostly leaning towards the gargoyle or molecular 50 watters.

Just for reference of what i go for. This is my tremoverb-808x :
 
Get the Molecular. You can make some adjustments if you so choose. But the Yeti, Chupa, Molecular are relatively similar. I've never tried the Gargoyle but I passed on it after trying the Nameless.


The JCM51 and JCM52 look really appealing in my opinion. Also, Bubbastain just sounds good. He can play a cheap guitar into a preamp pedal into an old ass Peavey Power Amp and Sheffield speakers and sound killer. I have a friend who was loaning me his KSR Gemini and he was like "there is this guy on YouTube that always gets killer demos that sound like what you would expect in the room". I said "you mean Bubbastain?" LOL.
 
Haha! Kind words for my crappy videos. :LOL: I only have experience with the Yeti and Molecular. Both 50 watters and I had them both at the same time. They are similar. If I were to get a Ceriatone again I would most likely get another 50 watt Molecular. I like the single gain knob. You can actually put the gain on max (no diodes engaged) and it doesn't get muddy. It doesn't have a ton of gain on its own and without the diodes, but plenty for me. I will turn on a boost pedal here and there, but most of the time it's off. I rarely turn on the diodes. It's super fun and sounds killer though. Yeah, the Molecular would be my choice.
 
bubbastain said:
Haha! Kind words for my crappy videos. :LOL: I only have experience with the Yeti and Molecular. Both 50 watters and I had them both at the same time. They are similar. If I were to get a Ceriatone again I would most likely get another 50 watt Molecular. I like the single gain knob. You can actually put the gain on max (no diodes engaged) and it doesn't get muddy. It doesn't have a ton of gain on its own and without the diodes, but plenty for me. I will turn on a boost pedal here and there, but most of the time it's off. I rarely turn on the diodes. It's super fun and sounds killer though. Yeah, the Molecular would be my choice.
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Thanks man! I will definitely be boosting as i love single channel amps and goin to different stages with the volume and a pedal.
 
bubbastain said:
Haha! Kind words for my crappy videos. :LOL: I only have experience with the Yeti and Molecular. Both 50 watters and I had them both at the same time. They are similar. If I were to get a Ceriatone again I would most likely get another 50 watt Molecular. I like the single gain knob. You can actually put the gain on max (no diodes engaged) and it doesn't get muddy. It doesn't have a ton of gain on its own and without the diodes, but plenty for me. I will turn on a boost pedal here and there, but most of the time it's off. I rarely turn on the diodes. It's super fun and sounds killer though. Yeah, the Molecular would be my choice.
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How is the molecular compared to the Yeti? Never played it, sorta middle ground between the yeti and the chupa, or closer to the Yeti?
 
bubbastain said:
Haha! Kind words for my crappy videos. :LOL: I only have experience with the Yeti and Molecular. Both 50 watters and I had them both at the same time. They are similar. If I were to get a Ceriatone again I would most likely get another 50 watt Molecular. I like the single gain knob. You can actually put the gain on max (no diodes engaged) and it doesn't get muddy. It doesn't have a ton of gain on its own and without the diodes, but plenty for me. I will turn on a boost pedal here and there, but most of the time it's off. I rarely turn on the diodes. It's super fun and sounds killer though. Yeah, the Molecular would be my choice.
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so is the edge switch diodes too? it lost a ton of volume when you engaged the eras clipping. was there still enough on tap for band volume? i dont play super loud, but....drummers...
 
mchn13 said:
so is the edge switch diodes too? it lost a ton of volume when you engaged the eras clipping. was there still enough on tap for band volume? i dont play super loud, but....drummers...
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It's loud enough for drummers at 50 watts no matter where the diodes are set. You could also add another volume pot to compensate for the volume drop due to clippers. Hell Nik would probably do this for an extra 50
 
Before I got my Marshall Silver Jubillee Studio (which I love), I was going to order a Ceriatone. I even contacted them but want the right time. I was going to get either a Yeti or Chupacabra but then thought about the Molecular.

From what I researched, it seemed like the Chupacabra was great for VH 1 type stuff with those mids, etc and The Chupacabra was similar but more "forgiving". It seemed like the Molecular was more modern sounding like a modded Marshall, etc. I'm sure they all sound great but based on what you played, I'd go Molecular.
 
romanianreaper said:
Before I got my Marshall Silver Jubillee Studio (which I love), I was going to order a Ceriatone. I even contacted them but want the right time. I was going to get either a Yeti or Chupacabra but then thought about the Molecular.

From what I researched, it seemed like the Chupacabra was great for VH 1 type stuff with those mids, etc and The Chupacabra was similar but more "forgiving". It seemed like the Molecular was more modern sounding like a modded Marshall, etc. I'm sure they all sound great but based on what you played, I'd go Molecular.
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The Molecular isn't super high gain like most hot rodded Marshall's. It's almost like a splawn on gear 2 or the BE on a Friedman. To me the Molecular was like an idealized JCM800
 
ClintN667 said:
The Molecular isn't super high gain like most hot rodded Marshall's. It's almost like a splawn on gear 2 or the BE on a Friedman. To me the Molecular was like an idealized JCM800
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I never use the clipping diodes on my Ceriatone AH-50

Plenty of gain on tap without them.
 
Arch Stanton said:
I never use the clipping diodes on my Ceriatone AH-50

Plenty of gain on tap without them.
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I agree. I would actually use a clean boost or a little bit of dirt from an SD1 or klon type pedal without the amps clippers
 
ClintN667 said:
I agree. I would actually use a clean boost or a little bit of dirt from an SD1 or klon type pedal without the amps clippers
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That design (Friedman BE-50 clone) is sort of odd, in that it sounds great in the room thru a cab, but it sounds like "a recorded amp".. if that makes any sense.

When you record with it, it just sounds too smooth. Not raw enough.
 
Arch Stanton said:
That design (Friedman BE-50 clone) is sort of odd, in that it sounds great in the room thru a cab, but it sounds like "a recorded amp".. if that makes any sense.

When you record with it, it just sounds too smooth. Not raw enough.
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Basically all friedmans i've played except for the Dirty Shirley does this "already recorded" tone
 
Arch Stanton said:
That design (Friedman BE-50 clone) is sort of odd, in that it sounds great in the room thru a cab, but it sounds like "a recorded amp".. if that makes any sense.

When you record with it, it just sounds too smooth. Not raw enough.
Click to expand...
Friedman's amps in a nutshell

I love the build quality and looks on mine (and the size and weight) , so I'm gonna mod my SB50 to be a bit more aggressive, bit by bit until I'm perfectly happy. Rn I'm about to change the bright switch to a 6-legged one so the BE channel gets the bright caps too. I think the plexi channel sounds fine now, especially with some mid and upper mid boost.

Back to Ceriatone. Before I got my Friedman, I was in talks with Nik on purchasing a kit. We started out with modded Marshall types, namely a King Kong re-voiced to the Molecular

Then we ended up with "A PPIMV 50w Plexi with fewer bells and whistles than the standard All Access one" and was about to ask if he could add a switch that cascaded the channels (2204 style)

That would have been a cool project. He ships the kit up across the border to me, I'd commission a local vintage-amp-clone builder I know to get me some clones of Drake trannies and a Hammond choke.

I'd probably get him to assemble it too lol.
 
https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threads/ceriatone-breakdown.209768/post-2294566
Beyond Black said:
I contacted Nik with these questions. Here’s his responses. He responded almost immediately. :thumbsup:

“Thanks for the email.

As for the Leviathan, it's a slightly modified Friedman Butterslax, if you're familiar?

It's a 3 channel amp, with clean, and 2 types of OD channels.

As for the Gargoyle, it's similar to the Fortin Meshuggah amps, which stems from design similar to our Chupa/Yeti, so they're Jose Arredondo type of 80s high gain amps.

The Gargoyle is voiced differently, with a bit more gain, tighter, and a bit darker, compared to the Chupa/Yeti.

It's a single channel amp.”

And this...

“As for the Molecular, it's voiced differently.
>
It's a bit smoother, darker, not as snarly as the Yeti, more towards lower mids.
>
> But, if you want another one, I'd perhaps go with the AH or AH Deluxe. These are 3 channel amps, similar to the Friedman BE and BE 50 Deluxe.
>
> They would be more versatile amps, with the channel switching.”
>
> Thanks!
>
> Nik
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Arch Stanton said:
When I posted pictures of my AH-50 build, the guys over at TehAmpGarage said, "They'd rather borrow money from the Mafia, than build that kit."

:rolleyes:
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Well, said guy is rn fixing my H&K Triamp

Bet he would prefer building the kit lol
 
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