I
itsgoodnow
Well-known member
Hey All,
I haven't done one of these in a bit and thought I would chime in on the Hermansson 5 stage Marshall. Henric sourced a donor 1959x--it is a single channel amp with a loop. I'll give the short answer here--it is absolutely fantastic and lives up to the hype. I'm sure this is not a shock as this is my third Hermansson so I am clearly a biased nut rider, but, now a bit more in depth. The sound is unique, it is a "Marshall" in name only. Henric guts the amp and does a new preamp. It sounds a bit more neutral than a Marshall. It has a lot more low end but does not have the same kerrang. It still is very capable of getting the Marshall high mids/sizzle, but the way those frequencies are expressed are less raw and in your face. So the excitement can be dialed in but it just does not have the signature Marshall flavor to them. Generally, when I dial in amps for fast string skipping riffs I have to dial back my bass in order to get the detail necessary for things to come across as clean. That is not necessary here. Those riffs are clear as day but when I palm mute I am hit with a low end thump. It can, of course, be dialed to get the thinner bass response (a la Fortin), but you do not have to make the compromise unless you want to dial it in like that. Also very cool is it can come across as a darker amp or a hyper bright one, it really is about taste more than limitations of the amp.
After experimenting I think the best way to explain the amp is that it is capable of producing a ton of information at a lot of different frequencies. There are 6 toggle switches and a "tightness" knob. These controls are to basically trim (or accentuate) information coming out of the amp. An example--if I juice the gain completely and lower the tightness all the way it can sound a bit doomy and indistinct. Dial up tightness control proportionate to the gain and all of a sudden it is one of the most clear and articulate amps I have played. First, the tightness range essentially selects which frequency range you want to tighten up. Lows, low mids, high mids. Second, there is a 3 way switch to select which frequencies you want to shine through (or boost), high mids, neutral, low mids. There is a row of 3 way mini toggles to give you off in the middle position or allowing alternative tunings in the up or down position. The first mini-toggle allows you to allow "full mids" through unfiltered. It allows a ton more frequencies in, as advertised. The deep switch seems to emphasize those low-mids in a nice way. The shimmering/full range switch allows either a really gorgeous exciting top end to exist while trimming some of the low end data, or, alternatively, allow the low end frequencies in full on. There is a hair switch to allow more or less hair. There is also an additional mids switch or a dark switch (again changing frequencies). Although I generally like bright amps, I keep it on dark because there are more than enough switches to get mids and high end information in and this seems to balance the amp. That really is the theme of the amp--tweakability. There are multiple ways to set the amp up and get the tone you want. Some of them are overlapping, but a lot of it allows very intense fine tuning of what you want in, out, or more of. A shoutout to @RedPlated as his amps have even more options than this and this is the only other amp I have really used that has a similar tweaking philosophy built in.
The touch sensitivity of this amp is absolutely amazing. Despite it being a 5 gain stage it is incredibly articulate, does not come across as a compressed monster and it feels like a "controlled" type of raw. It can be set up for doom, thrash, death, (any adjective metal) while retaining the insane articulation associated with a touch sensitive amp. It also has more versatility than advertised. Most of the videos show insane metal chugs (which this can do), but it also can easily be used for classic rock and hard rock. The feel is similar in a lot of ways to a Wizard, but the feel can really be dialed in to have a more looseness or tightness--but it gets that same grin I have every time I play a Wizard model. The wait list for these is long--I think 2 years? (and I believe Henric is no longer accepting Marshall mods for his waitlist because he wants to ensure he can fulfill all orders). Henric asked questions about my playing to help tune the amp and send photos while building it to keep me in the loop. Thanks all.
Last edited:
