Atomica #1

[rsm]

I'll wait here, while y'all sort it out.







meanwhile, here's that guy and a Bugera;

for entertainment purposes only:

 

[Techdeth]

So is Tone Merchants finally getting their knock-off CCVs out? IIRC he's been talking about that for a couple years.

All I know is it’s coming for sure , tone talk has talked about it . Shea from monomyth confined it’s coming but he wouldn’t say who . It’s just not official and announced yet

 

[braintheory]

Although as you pointed out, that amp isn't close mic'd and dry but the way it sits in that clip has more to do with that particular amp. We can disagree that just about any amp will sound like this because they don't.

It was also pointed out that Mark may have done more to this amp than the rest of the production amps after it. You yourself made mention of one of yours being better than the others and there's always a reason for it. Some amps have it and some don't but when a good one has someone like Mark tune it that is the magic in the best amps made. Hopefully you still have the Cameron that was your favorite.

Yes, the way it sits I can agree (amps will certainly differ there), but it’s such a vague, washed out sound with all that delay and room that we can’t really make out much how good or not good the core quality of tone is. These kinds of clips don’t tell me the info I need for if an amp is legit or not

I sold or traded off all my Cameron’s a while ago. Had 5 Cam modded Marshall’s and a CCV. They were all great, but I just have other amps now that evicted them for me in one way or another

 

[RaceU4her]

a total joy to play through.

this looks fairly new:

This is flawless too. There’s just something with the good sounding Cameron’s like the two in this thread that keep that keep the lore going, they just sound the best

 

[Racerxrated]

When the new Camerons come out the first thing we will hear is the old ones are better . Even without comparing

This is the difference.....

With the Brad/Friedman era Camerons, they were a design that Mark wrote down and gave to Friedman. Friedman then made each amp based on that written down design. But, we all know amps are different...even those of the same design, transformers etc. They all sound a little different. On top of that, those production amps weren't tweaked, like Cameron does to EACH amp, until the sound he wants is achieved. Those production models are great amps I'm sure, but didn't go through that process that Mark would do to each of the amps on his bench, until they sounded like he wanted them to. That's why those production amps, save for MAYBE the first few Atomicas, Old Bitch, CCVs, none of those are truly 100% Camerons because he DID NOT tweak each amp's circuit until he was happy...which is what he did with any mod he ever performed.
I do remember reading that Mark did have a hand in the first couple of each design...and the rest were done/completed by others.
I don't know for sure if Mark only tweaked a few of the early ones, but it was suggested that long ago during the days before that whole project imploded. And, it was also rumored that Mark held a few things back when he handed over the designs.
But, who knows....I do know that I've never heard anyone disappointed in ANY of those 3 amps that Friedman made, with Cameron's designs. At least that I can remember.

 

[technomancer]

This is the difference.....

With the Brad/Friedman era Camerons, they were a design that Mark wrote down and gave to Friedman. Friedman then made each amp based on that written down design. But, we all know amps are different...even those of the same design, transformers etc. They all sound a little different. On top of that, those production amps weren't tweaked, like Cameron does to EACH amp, until the sound he wants is achieved. Those production models are great amps I'm sure, but didn't go through that process that Mark would do to each of the amps on his bench, until they sounded like he wanted them to. That's why those production amps, save for MAYBE the first few Atomicas, Old Bitch, CCVs, none of those are truly 100% Camerons because he DID NOT tweak each amp's circuit until he was happy...which is what he did with any mod he ever performed.
I do remember reading that Mark did have a hand in the first couple of each design...and the rest were done/completed by others.
I don't know for sure if Mark only tweaked a few of the early ones, but it was suggested that long ago during the days before that whole project imploded. And, it was also rumored that Mark held a few things back when he handed over the designs.
But, who knows....I do know that I've never heard anyone disappointed in ANY of those 3 amps that Friedman made, with Cameron's designs. At least that I can remember.

Again, the only amps Cameron had a hand in were the first 2 CCV prototypes for the company. That came straight from him. The Old Bitch is literally from the hand-drawn layout that is floating around online that Mark gave them and is why those amps don't have the "Cameron" NFB and he had nothing to do with the Atomica at all.

 

[Racerxrated]

Again, the only amps Cameron had a hand in were the first 2 CCV prototypes for the company. That came straight from him. The Old Bitch is literally from the hand-drawn layout that is floating around online that Mark gave them and is why those amps don't have the "Cameron" NFB and he had nothing to do with the Atomica at all.

Thanks...I couldn't remember how exactly it all went down, and when...but I do know most of the amps he didn't have a part in building.

 

[paulyc]

Again, the only amps Cameron had a hand in were the first 2 CCV prototypes for the company. That came straight from him. The Old Bitch is literally from the hand-drawn layout that is floating around online that Mark gave them and is why those amps don't have the "Cameron" NFB and he had nothing to do with the Atomica at all.

Well Mark SAID that, but that doesn’t make it true. He tried the derail the whole venture with that talk of holding stuff back and not giving the full design, so it would be in his best interest to say that anyway. It would effectively short circuit Brad Dave and Rob from selling more of those amps if he had gotten Cameron off the ground again after the implosion, and I’m sure he thought he’d right his wrongs and build more. Never happened on a large scale other than Sucker Free Gear.

 

[Longo]

I have the #12.
I don't think there are many here in Europe.

 

[Exo-metal]

Nonetheless, this Atomica had Mark in it and it was different bc of it. Knowing that, it is a total unicorn. It's has all the DNA the other ones don't. He only built the two CCV and metro George did the rest. When they all came back and Mark heard about it he was furious and said there were all kinds of mistakes. This all came from someone who knows it well.

Do some of the amps sound good, sure to them that have them a few like the amps but Mark never tuned or laid a hand on them in production.

I started this bc of what I hear in the OP and from what I was told is the Atomica is a HG José but not in the typical sense. It is a plexi circuit that's not ultra high gain but a lower gain plext style mod. Atomica #1 was tuned by Mark and that's what separated it from the other clips online. Wish we could keep the focus on the killer tones above everything else ?

 

[PurityS.L.G]

I tried a Cameron Atomica back in 2012 at Tone Merchants and wasn’t blown away like I was hoping to be at the time. I did though have a 2002 Marshall SLP RI that Dave did the Atomica mod to (reluctantly he did it) that to me sounded much better. I compared it to 3 different Cameron Jose modded Marshall’s I had and it sounded almost the same as them except for one of them, which was different than all. I think all that delay and fx can fool the ear into thinking the amp is better than it is. If it were a dry close mic’d demo I don’t think guys would be as wowed by it. It’s easy to make almost any amp sound good in the context of a roomy clip with lots of delay or reverb

???

That’s funny. I thought the same exact thing when I finally got to play one. I wonder if we played the same amp. I went with a friend who by appointment was to check out a Friedman HBE and we saw the Atomica and shit our pants because we finally had a chance to see what a Cameron amp is all about. We were beyond underwhelmed. Very much a letdown from all the hype that man’s work brings. HOWEVER….

After the fallout between him and Brad, it was supposed he designed/built the amps very basic and never included the secret sauce that everyone desires from him. I’m sorry, even though Brad is a phony ass piece of shit scum bag, a deal is a deal and Mark should’ve never pulled a stunt like that. That’s level 5 twat shit right there.

You still live in Cali, Sam?

 

[Bxlxaxkxe]

I don’t have any real facts here but…

There are two different Cameron “companies” being talked about here. Suckerfree’s video implies him and Mark are releasing some sort of production amp soon. These would obviously be made by Mark

Then there’s the talk of who bought the Cameron company name - they are supposedly releasing a production amp soon as well (CCV I think??).

I’d be happy if both of these worked out - more flavors of amps in the world is never a bad thing.

 

[PurityS.L.G]

Well Mark SAID that, but that doesn’t make it true. He tried the derail the whole venture with that talk of holding stuff back and not giving the full design, so it would be in his best interest to say that anyway. It would effectively short circuit Brad Dave and Rob from selling more of those amps if he had gotten Cameron off the ground again after the implosion, and I’m sure he thought he’d right his wrongs and build more. Never happened on a large scale other than Sucker Free Gear.

I don’t know dude, the Atomica didn’t sound special at all. It wasn’t bad by any means but there was nothing noteworthy about it. I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed if there was and if they are supposed to be that good.

 

[braintheory]

???

That’s funny. I thought the same exact thing when I finally got to play one. I wonder if we played the same amp. I went with a friend who by appointment was to check out a Friedman HBE and we saw the Atomica and shit our pants because we finally had a chance to see what a Cameron amp is all about. We were beyond underwhelmed. Very much a letdown from all the hype that man’s work brings. HOWEVER….

After the fallout between him and Brad, it was supposed he designed/built the amps very basic and never included the secret sauce that everyone desires from him. I’m sorry, even though Brad is a phony ass piece of shit scum bag, a deal is a deal and Mark should’ve never pulled a stunt like that. That’s level 5 twat shit right there.

You still live in Cali, Sam?

I never lived in Cali. I was just in LA visiting at the time. It was also my first time hearing Friedman’s, Mojave’s and a few other amps in the room and they all were letdowns for me. I hadn’t played as much stuff yet at the time (12 years ago lol), but I went right afterwards to visit Jerry at Luxxtone where he let me play his stock 1979 JMP2203 and was thinking “this is the sound”, why couldn’t those other amps be more like this lol rather than dark, smooth, polite and boring

I was though more impressed with the Mark made CCV’s I’ve played and much more so the Cameron modded Marshall’s, but I still ultimately didn’t keep any of the many Cameron’s I had due to other amps I have now

 

[technomancer]

Well Mark SAID that, but that doesn’t make it true. He tried the derail the whole venture with that talk of holding stuff back and not giving the full design, so it would be in his best interest to say that anyway. It would effectively short circuit Brad Dave and Rob from selling more of those amps if he had gotten Cameron off the ground again after the implosion, and I’m sure he thought he’d right his wrongs and build more. Never happened on a large scale other than Sucker Free Gear.

Brad and co couldn't get the amps built. This is the reason the CCVs stopped rolling out and the extended excuses about an inability to design new PCBs for what is a pretty basic 2 channel amp that has nothing complicated or crazy about the design. Mark has a long list of issues but that particular debacle was squarely on the other people involved. It was funny that they flat out said he was only providing designs / had nothing to do with production etc etc etc then strangely when things went to hell it was somehow Mark's fault. All the posts are still hear, read through them.

 

[paulyc]

Brad and co couldn't get the amps built. This is the reason the CCVs stopped rolling out and the extended excuses about an inability to design new PCBs for what is a pretty basic 2 channel amp that has nothing complicated or crazy about the design. Mark has a long list of issues but that particular debacle was squarely on the other people involved. It was funny that they flat out said he was only providing designs / had nothing to do with production etc etc etc then strangely when things went to hell it was somehow Mark's fault. All the posts are still hear, read through them.

The PCB was upside down, not an easy thing to re- engineer. Lots of people think Dsve’s amps got MUCH better sounding after the Cameron collab. Coincidence ? Doubt it. The CCV would compete directly with his 2 channel amps. And, Cameron’s name was shit, and neither party would take care of the people that were screwed out of amps… pointing fingers back and forth.

 

[technomancer]

The PCB was upside down, not an easy thing to re- engineer. Lots of people think Dsve’s amps got MUCH better sounding after the Cameron collab. Coincidence ? Doubt it. The CCV would compete directly with his 2 channel amps.

You are hilarious. Do you actually know anything about electronics or PCB design? There is literally nothing complex about the CCV at all. It was a bullshit excuse because they made a poor choice of who to have build the amps and couldn't find another option. Jason at headfirst has at lest 3 boards he designed in a year that are equally complex.

Also if you know the circuits aside from obvious things derived from earlier Marshall / Jose circuits Friedmans and Camerons are really not alike so there goes another vague conspiracy theory. Both have certain component values they tend to use and they're not the same. It's part of the reason they both tend to have signature tonal chracteristics that are not similar.

 

[Racerxrated]

You are hilarious. Do you actually know anything about electronics or PCB design? There is literally nothing complex about the CCV at all. It was a bullshit excuse because they made a poor choice of who to have build the amps and couldn't find another option. Jason at headfirst has at lest 3 boards he designed in a year that are equally complex.

Also if you know the circuits aside from obvious things derived from earlier Marshall / Jose circuits Friedmans and Camerons are really not alike so there goes another vague conspiracy theory. Both have certain component values they tend to use and they're not the same. It's part of the reason they both tend to have signature tonal chracteristics that are not similar.

Well, I would say that the Friedman amp line, after working(sort of lol) with Cameron, all of a sudden his amps got a lot better sounding, more options etc etc.
Nothing against Dave, but that coincidence is mighty interesting.
But, ultimately all amp guys pull from other designs, so not surprising.

 

[LP Freak]

I don't understand how you guys can claim these amps sound different.
After all, the interwebz told me that "tone is in the fingers".
So an old Cameron, Brad-era Cameron, and new Cameron should all sound the same!
</thread>


j/k lol

Well, it’s funny you should mention that because Cameron’s always sound best when Mark is the one doing the demo. So I guess you’re right, tone is in the fingers

 

[paulyc]

You are hilarious. Do you actually know anything about electronics or PCB design? There is literally nothing complex about the CCV at all. It was a bullshit excuse because they made a poor choice of who to have build the amps and couldn't find another option. Jason at headfirst has at lest 3 boards he designed in a year that are equally complex.

Also if you know the circuits aside from obvious things derived from earlier Marshall / Jose circuits Friedmans and Camerons are really not alike so there goes another vague conspiracy theory. Both have certain component values they tend to use and they're not the same. It's part of the reason they both tend to have signature tonal chracteristics that are not similar.

Idk why you’re upset… for the record, no, I don’t know a lot about electronics and I know nothing of PCB design, but I remember reading all those threads and it was brought up that the PCB was upside down making service a PITA, I assumed it would complicate re-engineering them to be right side up. The biggest issue, IMO, was neither party taking care of the guys that got screwed. Brad and Co didn’t want to be on the hook for (what was it, 11,13,23 amps ? I forget now), and Mark claimed he would get those guys their amps. If Cameron amps continued with Brad and Co they’d be on the hook, so IMO they sidestepped the whole thing by letting it die.