THE MOTHERSHIP HAS LANDED.....

[mikepick]

Every review I have read about this amp praises it to no end. I guess you won't be needing any of the cool dirt pedals any more

[melodichaotic]

Every review I have read about this amp praises it to no end. I guess you won't be needing any of the cool dirt pedals any more

Ha ..yeah, I'll just toss those things out

Hey, thanks guys for all the congrats...yeah, it started back in late spring where after getting all these great peds, and hearing then about the amps, and as soon as I started reading the threads here and on TGP, and listening to all the youtube demos(which don't fully do the amp justice at all IMO), and going back and forth, the GAS started heating up.
The main thing that got my was aside from the tons of praise from many, was Bjorn's ideology
about the layout, functions, and interaction, AND designing it from full power as a starting point.

See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSZ15s2F ... 1&index=19

Of course, the bottom line was to be able to try it out...well, after going back and forth on turning the idea into a reality, I went to the MP site, and saw that a vintage shop Lark Street Music was a dealer...this place is 10 MINUTES away...I got there in 5, when I unbelievably saw this listed on their site on consignment...and I hadn't been in there in over 4 years!

Well, and no offense to Strat players, but that was the first guitar I grabbed in there( a'63 slab board), figuring, OK, if this amp can make a Strat sound good...playing through a Bogner 4x12, it grabbed me immediately...just on the clean channel...everything I wanted to hear in a Strat tone I could dial in(and everything I didn't I could dial out)...stunningly lush, natural but pumped and full sounding warm crystal bliss in all 5 positions.
Then the real test...how's it going to dirty this Strat up?? In the most killing ways!

Funny, as I was telling Bjorn about it(he refers to it as "The Golden One"), that just a few days BEFORE I tried the amp out(or even "discovered" it at the shop) I hadn't heard Billy Squier's "Don't Say No" record in a long while, so perused the youtube vids to find out how well all those tones hold up, and the KILLER Tele lead tones he got on that album...gainy and gutsy, but still sounds like a Tele...fast forward, I was getting those tones WITH EASE!!
Just didn't want to stop playing...didn't even have to plug a LP in, but I did...

I had "heard" the light...put down a deposit, and had NO problem offing my Orange and Marshall heads, plus a few choice uber rare fuzz pedals to grab this block 'o gold...

First off, some may take the approach maybe expecting that this amp can do everything under the sun...that's just unrealistic...2nd, as what you can do with it, like the Tweed tones, then you are talking specific cabs...like more than HALF the tweed tone is in the pine cab open back with a single or pair of Alnico Jensens...I had a '56 Tweed twin, I should know.

Having said that, there are RADICAL tone shaping abilities as many members here(Horsehead75 for one)can attest...the interactiveness between the controls is awesome and daunting at times as it challenges what your hearing and how your hearing it and at what levels.
I love it for the clean tones alone...the overdrive and distortion textures are many, varied and super dynamic(big surprise)...there is a TON of gain available, and with 'buckers, metal tones are easily had if desired.
I got it for both recording and live, and I already ordered a custom 4x12 matching cab, and asked Harri about using some tasteful(not gaudy) grill-cloth that had woven strands of gold in it...funny thing again, when I heard back from him, he said he had some extra grill cloth leftover from a custom project that would just fit the bill...just too much in alignment for this NOT to happen, so I feel VERY lucky indeed.
I will eventually get some clips together and post...suffice it to say it's like an all tube, point to point, "modeling" amp, but aside from, and in addition to being able to cop sounds of many classic amps, it helps to model the sounds you're hearing in your head, and be able to do it on the fly.

More to come....

[bsic]

Oh MAN I need to stop reading this heheh- that amp sounds amazing.

Can you describe the low volume behavior of this amp? How's the taper on the master, the power soak feature, etc?

[SteveA]

How's it sounding !!!!

[hawaii121]

Let me set down this golden fiddle... Marty wins! Cool toys!

[melodichaotic]

:drooling Let me set down this golden fiddle... Marty wins! Cool toys!

Ha! Nice one...yeah, like I said, I just consider myself lucky and was glad just to be able to play through one...seems like certain things were in alignment timing-wise, as it was all too synchronous from when I first started "digging" at the idea of getting one.

Funny thing is I don't like gold at all...don't like it on guitars, except for the Mary Kay Strat, jewelery, etc...much prefer silver, but visually in person I will say it is drool inducing

Sound-wise, I am loving it...it has plenty of clean headroom in the normal channel(of course you can always mess with pre and power amp tubes still), plenty loud for sure, and run straight up high gain in the FET mode/abnormal channel it breathes fire, low or loud.

I will say, I completely disagree with Art Thompson's review regarding the boost function(don't know how early of a head he demo'ed), but the boost function is excellent, as it CAN be used slightly above unity gain as a sound thickener, but boost it will, well above unity gain for either clean or dirty, that will absolutely get you heard, and then some.

Yes Bill, the taper on the Master and Volume controls are really nice and work very well together. Very good range/sweep on both.

The Powersuck works great also, and it is yet ANOTHER tone control adding gradually more compression if desired, and at the lowest setting really turns it into a little low wattage beast.
I mean, at the bedroom setting, you're not going to get the same EXACT dynamics as the Arena, and understandably so because of the increased compression, but it does it's job quite admirably without question.

I will try to get some sound clips up in the next couple of weeks...just getting through a nasty sinus infection, but I'm enjoying it quite well(and I haven't even run any pedals into it yet), just want to have it be a plug in and play affair for now...

[Tonefishin]

Congrats on that Beauty!! GReat amps.

I had not seen that video either ... Do you have your earplugs.......On? Hah

EL34s I guess??

[melodichaotic]

Congrats on that Beauty!! GReat amps.

I had not seen that video either ... Do you have your earplugs.......On? Hah

EL34s I guess??

Thanks Tonefishin, and sorry for the slow response...yes, El 34's as that's what the circuit was designed around...if ever there was an amp where the ability to change output tubes(as well as pre's), all considering they can handle the plate voltage, completes the dial in YOUR tone ideology, this would certainly be it... am digging it plenty as is, and will wait for the 4x12 cab with Bjorn's recommendation of a pair each of Emminence Private Jacks and Red Fangs before I entertain that option...the tonal options are powerful as it is.

[horsehead75]

Hi,

Nice, 4x12 coming too! I´d recommend those Red Fangs (I have them in my MP 2x12 cab). They start to break nicely, a bit voxy way IMO. Privat Jacks in 4x12 will give nice flavour to it aswell!

Gold tolex?

Congrats on that Beauty!! GReat amps.

I had not seen that video either ... Do you have your earplugs.......On? Hah

EL34s I guess??

Thanks Tonefishin, and sorry for the slow response...yes, El 34's as that's what the circuit was designed around...if ever there was an amp where the ability to change output tubes(as well as pre's), all considering they can handle the plate voltage, completes the dial in YOUR tone ideology, this would certainly be it... am digging it plenty as is, and will wait for the 4x12 cab with Bjorn's recommendation of a pair each of Emminence Private Jacks and Red Fangs before I entertain that option...the tonal options are powerful as it is.

[melodichaotic]

Thanks HH75!
Yes, 4x12 cab in gold, with a special grill-cloth with strands of gold woven throughout(classy, not gaudy according to Harri, which should look real nice), truly PSYCHED about that, with a pair of Red Fangs, pair of Private Jacks as recommended personally by Bjorn, since he stated that both are complimentary, filling in each others "weaknesses" EQ-wise, and that combo would represent the CS-40 quite well... really looking forward to that.

Bjorn told me he wrote an extensive article for a Swedish magazine on speakers (available in Swedish only), that I'd really dig reading...have you read it?