Hot Mod V2 review!

[Racerxrated]

Hey guys, just picked up one of these a week or so ago, been super busy at work(12 hr shifts) and haven't been able to really give it a go with my amps, until this morning...
With a 2203/4 it is golden. For you guys who hate boosting with a pedal, and own a single channel MV Marshall this is for you. It has 2 modes, low/high and you can easily find a home with either setting. My 2203 has GE 6550s and has a TON of low end, almost like a Recto...so when using the hot mod I have to drop the bass down to 5 or less(noon) or it is just overwhelming. You don't need anything to tighten it up, if you are ok using your mid knob and pushing it way up. If that's not for you then a little bump from an eq pedal will get you there. When the switch is in high/boost you have over the top gain, but by playing with your pre gain knob you can dial some useful settings out of it.
Not sure I'm keeping it yet as I enjoy the pedal boost tone equally...I don't care how I get there as long as I do lol. One thing to mention is it doesn't work that well with my 72 SuperTrem, as it acts like a volume boost when I use it. But these are designed for use with master volume amps specifically. If your old school 1959/1987 has an added mv it will work fine. These get plugged into V2, and are grounded with a screw that holds it to the preamp insert rim.
Nice product, and is more flexible than the Soldano with the low/high switch and the use of 12ax7s, which are abundant vs the tube Soldano used which are getting rare these days.

 

[SpiderWars]

So is high gain mode a bit too much? Did you try the lo input at high gain setting? That input always seemed useless to me, maybe not so much with the HMV2?

 

[Racerxrated]

High gain mode works fine with the pre gain knob reduced a bit, maybe to noon or so. But I haven't tried it in the lo input. I will do this later today. The biggest issue for my 2203 is getting the low end down enough; its just overwhelming with the Hot Mod installed. Those 6550s are the culprit.

 

[skoora]

High gain mode works fine with the pre gain knob reduced a bit, maybe to noon or so. But I haven't tried it in the lo input. I will do this later today. The biggest issue for my 2203 is getting the low end down enough; its just overwhelming with the Hot Mod installed. Those 6550s are the culprit.

I doubt it’s the 6550’s. They are just cleanly reproducing what the circuit is providing. Either through value drift or a tweak there might be something a little different from stock in your amp either in the preamp or in the power section. Now some do have more bass than others but I’ve never heard one with overbearing, recto like bass.
Who makes the hot mod v2?

 

[Racerxrated]

High gain mode works fine with the pre gain knob reduced a bit, maybe to noon or so. But I haven't tried it in the lo input. I will do this later today. The biggest issue for my 2203 is getting the low end down enough; its just overwhelming with the Hot Mod installed. Those 6550s are the culprit.

I doubt it’s the 6550’s. They are just cleanly reproducing what the circuit is providing. Either through value drift or a tweak there might be something a little different from stock in your amp either in the preamp or in the power section. Now some do have more bass than others but I’ve never heard one with overbearing, recto like bass.
Who makes the hot mod v2?

The circuit looks stock; but maybe value drift is the reason for the low end. But all 6550 Marshalls I've owned did have more low end than any EL34 Marshall. Legendary Tones makes the Hot Mod V2. It doesn't get true Recto low end but it is way more abundant than any other stock 2203 I've owned.

 

[psychodave]

High gain mode works fine with the pre gain knob reduced a bit, maybe to noon or so. But I haven't tried it in the lo input. I will do this later today. The biggest issue for my 2203 is getting the low end down enough; its just overwhelming with the Hot Mod installed. Those 6550s are the culprit.

It’s not the 6550’s. It’s what the hot mod is doing to the tone in the signal. Can you turn down the bass?

 

[lowmantotempole]

Just ordered a Lynch Mod version. Can’t wait to try it.

 

[Racerxrated]

High gain mode works fine with the pre gain knob reduced a bit, maybe to noon or so. But I haven't tried it in the lo input. I will do this later today. The biggest issue for my 2203 is getting the low end down enough; its just overwhelming with the Hot Mod installed. Those 6550s are the culprit.

It’s not the 6550’s. It’s what the hot mod is doing to the tone in the signal. Can you turn down the bass?

Yep, like I said before I have it at noon or a little below that. Sounds great at that spot..and still has enough low end for what I like. I haven't tried using an AT7 or similar, to knock the gain back a bit. Nice piece of gear that is perfect for the guys who hate boosting with a pedal, and want all tube gain without modding it.

 

[japetus]

There was once a man, named Josh "2Cool" Parsley aka Insurrection. He had a HotMod and ran it into a 2204. One of the best heavy tones I have ever heard. He inspired me to get a Hotmod for my 2203. Still probably the best tone I have ever had. Regret getting rid of that to this day. I wonder what happened to that nerd.

 

[RedPlated]

Some stock Marshalls just happen to have tons of bass. I attribute it to component value fluctuation throughout the amp. My 83' JCM 800 had so much bass it was overwhelming. And it couldn't be dialed out with the bass knob. The solution in some cases is changing out the first stage coupling caps. .0022 is common. I've even used .001. You have to try different values and see what works best. You can really tighten up a Marshall this way. Throw a 220k/.0047 (0r .0022/.0033) cap in series with nfb wire and you're set.

There are a lot of other ways to tweak the low end and even low mids, but this will solve a lot of the issue.

 

[Racerxrated]

Some stock Marshalls just happen to have tons of bass. I attribute it to component value fluctuation throughout the amp. My 83' JCM 800 had so much bass it was overwhelming. And it couldn't be dialed out with the bass knob. The solution in some cases is changing out the first stage coupling caps. .0022 is common. I've even used .001. You have to try different values and see what works best. You can really tighten up a Marshall this way. Throw a 220k/.0047 (0r .0022/.0033) cap in series with nfb wire and you're set.

There are a lot of other ways to tweak the low end and even low mids, but this will solve a lot of the issue.

All of the Marshalls that acted this way in my experience all had 6550s. With a pedal or two in front it's perfect. The Hot Mod sends gain across the whole frequency spectrum, so the bass gets a bit much. With it down to noon or even earlier the low end is nice and tight. For super tight metal you'd need another boost pedal, but for every other genre you can just dial your mids way up and it's tight enough for most styles.

 

[ClintN667]

My friend Andrei has one with his JCM800. It sounds great. He has some really good riffs too which makes it that much better. Seems like they worked out some of the issues that was with the Soldabo version.


Congrats. there is Nothing better than a hot rodded Marshall imho

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I have an old Laney that I gutted and put a PTP in. I use it as my test bed for mods.. I'm with everyone else in saying that it isn't the 6550's that are creating that low end, it is the mod as psychodave said. I am not pro, I like to mess with mods but right now I am getting a lot of gain in the preamp but also more bass and woofiness. It is the nature of how the gain is probably structured in this mod. I am guessing that Cameron's hot mod probably has fine tuned this to cut more because of the way it interacts with the preamp.

End of the day though, very hard to argue with a pedal boosted tone. That's where I hang my hat too and double boost stack at times for the gooey leads.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Some stock Marshalls just happen to have tons of bass. I attribute it to component value fluctuation throughout the amp. My 83' JCM 800 had so much bass it was overwhelming. And it couldn't be dialed out with the bass knob. The solution in some cases is changing out the first stage coupling caps. .0022 is common. I've even used .001. You have to try different values and see what works best. You can really tighten up a Marshall this way. Throw a 220k/.0047 (0r .0022/.0033) cap in series with nfb wire and you're set.

There are a lot of other ways to tweak the low end and even low mids, but this will solve a lot of the issue.

All of the Marshalls that acted this way in my experience all had 6550s. With a pedal or two in front it's perfect. The Hot Mod sends gain across the whole frequency spectrum, so the bass gets a bit much. With it down to noon or even earlier the low end is nice and tight. For super tight metal you'd need another boost pedal, but for every other genre you can just dial your mids way up and it's tight enough for most styles.

That's a fair point too though. If yours is bass heavy already, this mod is only going to amplify that further. I have a jcm800 which sounds darker than my other two amps which are similar circuit. drifting components will def do that over time i'm guessing. Or maybe someone at the factory put in what they had because they ran out of the official value. That stuff happened too

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Just ordered a Lynch Mod version. Can’t wait to try it.

Lynch mod seems like George noticed the issue with two much gain and just made it possible to turn down how much of the signal is inserted into preamp? He's got a good ear , give him that. Tends to be a gear whore a bit and endorse a lot of stuff but what he endorses usually sounds good.

 

[braintheory]

Just ordered a Lynch Mod version. Can’t wait to try it.

Lynch mod seems like George noticed the issue with two much gain and just made it possible to turn down how much of the signal is inserted into preamp? He's got a good ear , give him that. Tends to be a gear whore a bit and endorse a lot of stuff but what he endorses usually sounds good.

I also ordered a Lynch Mod. Looking forward to it. He said it can also be used with my vintage Vox’s, which could be very interesting, but not with the Hiwatt unfortunately since it doesn’t have a cathode follower he said

 

[paulyc]

Marked

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I'm flipping between the sound clips of the v2 and psychodave's clips and having a hard time deciding which I would want to try out now. The cameron seems centered around diodes so will be tighter but I already have pedals as well as a diode clip option in one of my 2204's so not sure if it is redundant. Now that the V2 has been put on a POT vs set gain levels, it interests me way more. I think ultimately, you have to be able to control how much of the signal is getting into your preamp and I like that Lynch made that suggestion to them. He's got a good ear.

 

[GreatRedDragon]

I don't know my ass from a hole in the wall when it comes to amp stuff so I could be way off, but would this kind of mod get into that SIR #36/39 territory?

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I don't know my ass from a hole in the wall when it comes to amp stuff so I could be way off, but would this kind of mod get into that SIR #36/39 territory?

I would say no, not enough mids and treble peaking. The original 36 / 39 stuff is thinner and tighter. I nodded my 800 to 39 spec ( or a version of it) once and it was crispy. This seems like more gain across all the frequencies.