Dammit. Missed it by that much MORIN preamp

  • Thread starter Thread starter alund
  • Start date Start date
alund

alund

Well-known member

Attachments

  • 4E3DEF61-830E-4A3C-B549-D55799BC0247.jpeg
    4E3DEF61-830E-4A3C-B549-D55799BC0247.jpeg
    355.8 KB · Views: 111
  • 94229EDF-2EA4-43F3-8B64-A4A3E0B03FC6.jpeg
    94229EDF-2EA4-43F3-8B64-A4A3E0B03FC6.jpeg
    850.6 KB · Views: 111
Not me, and just literally the night before last I checked to see if that fender he modded was still up and other completed listings :mad:
 
God damnit…. Sounds like we are all in the same boat. I look daily on reverb for mikes stuff. Keep missing them! My morin was up for about 1 day when I snagged it, but this was 2 years ago.
 
I was just in the middle of working and thinking about that morin preamp. I wonder if Oleg could make that? Does anyone have the specs on it? I would be tempted to order another from Russia
 
That particular preamp (serial #14) has been for sale a couple times. The previous owner reached out to me for Mike's settings sheet in 2018. He wasn't happy with the sound (too thin, he said) and the guy he bought it from (original owner) sold it because he liked his Morin Marshalls better. He resold it the same year. Take that for what it's worth.

Not all Morin preamps are equally killer, and Mike would be the first to tell you if he was servicing one of which he wasn't fond. I used to have two—sold the mushier and overly compressed in 2012 and kept the tighter/meaner one. You can hear a bit of this variance in the Michael Nielsen video where he compares Michael Toren's preamp (red light, more compressed sounding) with his own (orange light, tighter).
 
Last edited:
Snave said:
That particular preamp (serial #10) has been for sale a couple times. I spoke with the previous owner in 2018 and gave him a settings sheet from Mike. He wasn't happy with the sound (too thin, he said) and the guy he bought it from (original owner) sold it because he liked his Morin Marshalls better. He resold it the same year. Take that for what it's worth.

Not all Morin preamps are equally killer, and Mike would be the first to tell you if he was servicing one of which he wasn't fond. I used to have two—sold the mushier and overly compressed in 2012 and kept the tighter/meaner one. You can hear a bit of this variance in the Michael Nielsen video where he compares Michael Toren's preamp (red light, more compressed sounding) with his own (orange light, tighter).
Click to expand...
You ever look inside each and get a feel of why the difference?
 
alund said:
You ever look inside each and get a feel of why the difference?
Click to expand...
There are some visible differences, but the values are gooped and I'm no amp tech so I couldn't say. I've seen gutshots of about 10 different preamps (ranging from 1990 to 1999) and they're all fairly similar. I believe the power supply filtering changed at one point. Some have different push-pull controls. One that was "lost" by FedEx even had a clean channel.
 
I am 99% confident this was for sale locally by me up to a year ago in AZ and went back and forth with the original seller. I would still love a Morin amp head.
 
Snave said:
I think there's a guy in Prescott who still has one for sale.
Click to expand...
Ah good call. Maybe I will reach out. I'm in Prescott. It's funny all the weird stuff in this small town. Even Scumback and Gjika are local. A lot of cool stuff in this spot.
 
itsgoodnow said:
Ah good call. Maybe I will reach out. I'm in Prescott. It's funny all the weird stuff in this small town. Even Scumback and Gjika are local. A lot of cool stuff in this spot.
Click to expand...
I've got a Gjika 10N myself. Worth trying if you're close to him and able to. Not a metal/hard rock amp, but one of the very few non-vintage amps ime to actually be something worthwhile and unique
 
braintheory said:
I've got a Gjika 10N myself. Worth trying if you're close to him and able to. Not a metal/hard rock amp, but one of the very few non-vintage amps ime to actually be something worthwhile and unique
Click to expand...
I've definitely been toying with giving him a call since it is down the road. I appreciate the nudge. It definitely seems to have a thing that is all to itself based on the tones I have heard.
 
Snave said:
I think there's a guy in Prescott who still has a preamp for sale. It was a regular 1U model.

Keep in mind there are two different models of Morin head.

Willie-Basse.jpg
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity any idea on the differences?
 
itsgoodnow said:
I've definitely been toying with giving him a call since it is down the road. I appreciate the nudge. It definitely seems to have a thing that is all to itself based on the tones I have heard.
Click to expand...
His vids give a good sense of the overall flavor of the amp I think despite being just iPhone clips. For things like classic rock, blues, fusion, (basically most stuff outside metal/hard rock or cleans) I consider it to be one of the best amps I've played. It is quite saggy, not tight at all, but that's also part of what makes it so good at what it does well
 
I was sold as soon as I read the below.

With both gain pots pulled, the preamp sounds like a stock vintage JCM 800 (but more refined). With the gain pot in and the preamp pot pulled, it sounds like a very tight but also incredible high gain modded Marshall. With both pots in, this preamp has more usable gain than anything on the market (Soldano SLO or high-gain Bogner tones).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top