"Amp feels good under the fingers"... WTF?

  • Thread starter Thread starter napalmdeath
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CrazyNutz said:
If all you've ever played is super saturated metal tones, you wont notice any amp feel. It's all squished out.

You have to play with it not mega gained out to get enough dynamics to feel the thing.
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I have to disagree with this. Even gained out amps are gonna have a certain feel to the player.

I've owned a ton of high gain amps and they all feel and react differently. I mean "to me" a OG 5150 feels and reacts dynamically different than say a Dual Rect. In turn both of those are different than an SLO which both the 5150 and DR are based on, I've owned all three.
 
Al this said, other parts of the chain be applicable. Low efficiency speakers, and low q factor/higher output pickups apply as well
 
jabps said:
I have to disagree with this. Even gained out amps are gonna have a certain feel to the player.

I've owned a ton of high gain amps and they all feel and react differently. I mean "to me" a OG 5150 feels and reacts dynamically different than say a Dual Rect. In turn both of those are different than an SLO which both the 5150 and DR are based on, I've owned all three.
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By this, what I mean is gain on 10. Of course you can feel these amps you mentioned, with the gain on 2, or 4.

You get much over that, and it's all squished, the feel is all about the same.
 
Techdeth said:
The biggest sounding amps . I know we all set up amps different.I turned my wizard up half way and it made my friends titties bounce lol fr . My Hermansons are the only the amps I like more . But then I have friends who hate Hermansons so it’s all preference I know
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My hermansson is it’s own thing that I could understand not being everyone’s favorite, I see lots of guys saying theirs are bouncy but mine is the total opposite, It’s the most immediate and tight amp by far I’ve played, really probably too tight and open sounding for anything under 180bpm, but i told henric i wanted a tight metal monster and i got just that.
 
RaceU4her said:
My hermansson is it’s own thing that I could understand not being everyone’s favorite, I see lots of guys saying theirs are bouncy but mine is the total opposite, It’s the most immediate and tight amp by far I’ve played, really probably too tight and open sounding for anything under 180bpm, but i told henric i wanted a tight metal monster and i got just that.
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That’s why they feel so good to play for stuff that’s fast. They don’t fight you for it, while other amps like Splawn’s or most unboosted Recto’s do and also don’t track fast enough

A lot of guys just for whatever reason describe good feeling amps as bouncy, but I don’t think of my 4 Herm’s or C+ in that way. If anything an unboosted Recto or SLO feel bouncy or rubbery to me in a negative way for playing things that are fast, while a Herm or a C+ reacts faster, so I interpret it as the opposite of bouncy

I think the part that’s more polarizing with Hermansson’s is the hollowed out mids, lower mids, intense, sometimes clanky treble and lack of warmth. It’s just a part of the signature Herm sound IME and it doesn’t work for all styles, but for where it does work it’s unmatched imo
 
RaceU4her said:
My hermansson is it’s own thing that I could understand not being everyone’s favorite, I see lots of guys saying theirs are bouncy but mine is the total opposite, It’s the most immediate and tight amp by far I’ve played, really probably too tight and open sounding for anything under 180bpm, but i told henric i wanted a tight metal monster and i got just that.
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See I set up all amps super tight . But ya I totally agree about Hermansons . Except his Marshall . It can get way less tight if needed . But everyone would hate how I set all amps
 
Techdeth said:
See I set up all amps super tight . But ya I totally agree about Hermansons . Except his Marshall . It can get way less tight if needed . But everyone would hate how I set all amps
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I set up my Hermansson’s usually for max tightness also, but all of mine (even my Marshall 5GS) is still very tight no matter what I do. It just gets thicker when set to be looser, but compared to almost any other amp still very tight. I have no complaints about that part. It’s more the hollowness and lack of richness in tone I don’t like, but I’ve got a few, so I clearly like Herm’s haha
 
braintheory said:
I set up my Hermansson’s usually for max tightness also, but all of mine (even my Marshall 5GS) is still very tight no matter what I do. It just gets thicker when set to be looser, but compared to almost any other amp still very tight. I have no complaints about that part. It’s more the hollowness and lack of richness in tone I don’t like, but I’ve got a few, so I clearly like Herm’s haha
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My 5 gain Marshall is pretty rich still . My recto is razor sharp tight , but if I switch cabs I can change it some . So many great options ! But ya Hermanson is great
 
Techdeth said:
My 5 gain Marshall is pretty rich still . My recto is razor sharp tight , but if I switch cabs I can change it some . So many great options ! But ya Hermanson is great
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My 5GS Marshall as well as the 2 others I’ve tried both have ‘70’s Marshall’s as donors, so the vintage transformers and whatever is left over should in theory at least lend itself to a more rich and organic sound, but they are the least rich Hermansson’s I’ve got, but they are the tightest, fastest and most modern of the bunch

My Rev G Recto Hermansson is the richest one. The single recto Herm is the more sharp and razor-y Herm I’ve got. but still not quite as tight or fast as the 3 Marshall ones I’ve tried. None of them are the amps I’d pick though if I wanted rich, complex tone as the priority
 
braintheory said:
My 5GS Marshall as well as the 2 others I’ve tried both have ‘70’s Marshall’s as donors, so the vintage transformers and whatever is left over should in theory at least lend itself to a more rich and organic sound, but they are the least rich Hermansson’s I’ve got, but they are the tightest, fastest and most modern of the bunch

My Rev G Recto Hermansson is the richest one. The single recto Herm is the more sharp and razor-y Herm I’ve got. but still not quite as tight or fast as the 3 Marshall ones I’ve tried. None of them are the amps I’d pick though if I wanted rich, complex tone as the priority
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Mines definitely opposite but I also has had Henric do lots more tweaking to mine . I had him go overboard on the tightness because I wanted a certain thing .
 
braintheory said:
Agreed, the MTL and MC are great amps no doubt, but far from what I’d consider to be the best in feel (not bad at all though) and I can’t imagine just 6L6’s with appropriate tranny’s for them will all of a sudden give it feel that can rival the very best amps in that particular department

For me the best feeling high gain amps I’ve tired were my Hermansson Rev G Dual Rec and the Dino I tried. I somehow become also a much better player on those amps I feel. 2nd place for me would be the mark iic+‘s and OG Uber and then maybe a Naylor or CCV. I don’t really interpret iic+‘s as bouncy, but I do think they have amazing feel however one wants to describe it

I’m just gonna be honest and say I think Splawn’s don’t sound or feel good at all IME, but there are worse feeling amps I’ve had, some of which were also a lot more expensive than Splawn’s. Suhr amps I’ve admittedly not tried, but the clips and reviews from others seem like I’d not like them either. The new Friedman JEL 20 I actually thought had pretty good feel, but I didn’t keep it

EDIT: actually in just feel alone I think the Non-GEQ Mark IIC+ DR I owned had maybe better feel than the HRG I kept all these years (it certainly at least responded faster), but I liked the sound so much more of my HRG (even compared with its GEQ disengages) that it wasn’t enough for me to keep the DR
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I owned an HR (which I had converted to an HRG) and a SR (which got converted to SRG). They seem to respond quicker without the EQ installed to me too.
 
itsgoodnow said:
I owned an HR (which I had converted to an HRG) and a SR (which got converted to SRG). They seem to respond quicker without the EQ installed to me too.
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Yeah I’m guessing a combination of no EQ and also I found the simul (D) version marks to in general be faster, but also more compressed and smooth/less growly, which I don’t like as much. I’m jealous of the SRG haha. I’ve tried an SR, but still gotta try one with a GEQ
 
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Techdeth said:
Mines definitely opposite but I also has had Henric do lots more tweaking to mine . I had him go overboard on the tightness because I wanted a certain thing .
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All 6 of the ones I’ve played so far vary a bit, but all have the signature Herm sound and feel, but I can’t say for other Herm’s that I haven’t tried. I guess really the only high gain amps I’ve got currently that would be more rich tonally (other than the scooped low mids Herm’s have) are my iic+ and Rev C (those are some of my benchmarks), but I also have amps that aren’t good for metal or hard rock, but are also better in that regard vs a IIC+ or Rev c, so I think it skews a little bit my perspective when I say some amps lack in tone. I wish there were high gain metal amps with as complex tone as say the Alessandro’s or a Jim Kelley, but I haven’t tried any yet. It just might not be doable with the trade offs to get the tightness and attack needed for metal, who knows
 
The problem I always find is, the bouncy fun amps to play, don’t record as well as one I felt I was struggling with.
 
RaceU4her said:
the feel is pretty much what separates amps for me, i can get most anything to sound decent but its gotta have the right bounce.
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itsgoodnow said:
I owned an HR (which I had converted to an HRG) and a SR (which got converted to SRG). They seem to respond quicker without the EQ installed to me too.
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Yep, the 2C S I had(which went to Mike and he used the pre board to make my 2B Coli into a C+) had a super fast response, very fun and super easy to play.
 
tallcoolone said:
The hardest amps to play usually are the ones that sound the best—absolutely.
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There are some exceptions...Naylors had a very 'sticky' feel and I found them pretty easy to play, along with Wizards. VHT on the other hand, I had to work a little harder. Marshalls seem easy to play as well.
 
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