New Trainwreck Clip

[DustyBadlands]

If you slap a guy around hard enough he will give you some tone.
Thanks the the clip. Sounds great!

[redshark]

And he posted this other one too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHFHiucUq7I&feature=sub

[Cliff Schecht]

For better or for worse, that last clip sounded a lot like Steve Vai from Crossroads .

Also I've noticed with the Express that if your clean sounds dull, your overdrive/distortion sound too will be dull. Whomever is doing those soundclips needs to get their cleans in order before they start ripping peoples heads off with that bright distortion..

[dartanion]

For better or for worse, that last clip sounded a lot like Steve Vai from Crossroads .

Also I've noticed with the Express that if your clean sounds dull, your overdrive/distortion sound too will be dull. Whomever is doing those soundclips needs to get their cleans in order before they start ripping peoples heads off with that bright distortion..

It's Steffan doing the clips and he's been swapping around power tubes without re-biasing the amp. Going between EL34s and 6V6s. Certainly it does not sound it's best without biasing to the sweet spot for each set of tubes.

[selloutrr]

It's a better clips but a Soldano SLO's sounds better.
Hell of a costly clone for not being the best I've heard.
It's not a KF build that's for sure!
At least it breaks up.
If it is the tube swapping - make damn sure the bias is correct!

[Colossal]

Selloutr, I have to agree with you.

In all fairness, we rarely get a clip on Youtube that is professionally recorded where we can put on a set of headphones and really hear the amp, but we've also listened to enough clips under these conditions to get a decent idea of what amps sound good and those that don't sound so great. In the first (distortion) clip, it seems to me that the amp is quite noisy, the distortion seems rough, and the tone seems to have a bit of unpleasant hash (for lack of a better word) riding on the notes. I did not find it remarkable. The second clip sounds a lot better, but overall I would not say worth the price (even if my pockets were that deep). That's just my opinion, I mean no disrespect.

I'm trying to stay objective, not get involved with the "family" and all that nonsense, the legitimacy of an amp bearing the TW name not made by Ken Fischer, etc. I'm just listening to it just as I'd listen to a clip posted by any member here. I found myself cringing a lot during that first distortion clip. I wasn't thinking any bad thoughts, only that I did not find the tone pleasing to my ears. The benchmark Express tone I think remains Glen K's Orphan Annie clips. His amp is smooth, it sings wonderfully, and does not sound excessively trebly or lacking low end as many other clones tend to.

I will look forward to seeing if Glen weighs in on this, but respect it if he stays well away given the somewhat political nature of this discussion, this being the first JM built amp we've heard.

[funkmeblue]

in all fairness......Glen could make any amps sound good.

[fishy]

Also I've noticed with the Express that if your clean sounds dull, your overdrive/distortion sound too will be dull.

The distorted clip where you can see the amp has the bright switch off so if I would expect it to be a little dull.
I would be interested to hear it with the bright full on with a Les Paul to see what happens especially since this is more in line with how I play through it and from what I gather, most others.

[Cliff Schecht]

Good catch, I didn't see or think of that. I think most run their bright switch in the 500pF position, even with HB equipped Les Pauls. The distortion isn't affected as much as the clean by that bright switch from what I've noticed.

[mark norwine]

very "hissy" sounding when taken off standby. Not nice at all.

5 grand, huh?

[dartanion]

very "hissy" sounding when taken off standby. Not nice at all.

5 grand, huh?

$5500 + Svetlana EL34s and a Sovtek in V1.

[PlinytheWelder]

I'm willing to give Steffan the benefit of a doubt. he seems like a nice guy and has really stuck his neck out doing all he has in public.
I pointed out to him in the TGP thread about biasing his power tubes, but I think he's just giddy about playing the amp and throwing caution to the wind.

He said that he's gigging with the amp this weekend and there may be a recording done....That should be interesting....

[dartanion]

Yeah, I think he loves the amp regardless of ignoring common sense about tubing an amp. It would suck for him to possibly sound bad and burn up some power tubes in the process. Which, could lead to other not so good things to happen.

[JamesHealey]

If he's happy then it's all good! I'd love to see a gut shot to see how he's making them.

[aaronz28]

very "hissy" sounding when taken off standby. Not nice at all.

5 grand, huh?

i've yet to hear any of the TW circuits not sound like a "noise generator" with hiss when you take it out of the standby position....

these are live rock amps, not bedroom practice amps... when you get them up to volume, they scream... clone or no clone...

my vintage marshall, and recently acquired KF50 do exactly the same thing... the only difference is that the TW comes with fullgain on immediately... (at least crunch immediatly, and you get more gain as you sweep the volume pot)

with the Marshall and Komet or any other amp, the hiss gets louder as you crank the volume up...

FWIW, both my K60, and KF50 (especially in the fast mode) along with my vintage marhsalls... all had equivalent HISS when the volume was cranked.

its sounds great to me... although i'll want to hear my new TW in person to determine if the "Magic" is actually there.