Prosonic Users: Custom Shop vs. Production Runs

[fridgit]

Other than where they were made & serial #s, what are the tonal differences between the two? Also, any reliability issues?

BTW, I have searched these threads & want a little more info than what is offered already.

Thanks!

[Madison]

I bought a production model last summer, and from what I could gather there was little or no difference. To be clear, I've never played the Custom Shop one though, so take it as you may. I CAN tell you this...the Prosonic is a superb amp on the clean channel. I was playing mine today with a Klon and LTD SR and it just rocks in a big way. A bargain amp for the price.

[fridgit]

I bought a production model last summer, and from what I could gather there was little or no difference. To be clear, I've never played the Custom Shop one though, so take it as you may. I CAN tell you this...the Prosonic is a superb amp on the clean channel. I was playing mine today with a Klon and LTD SR and it just rocks in a big way. A bargain amp for the price.

Good to know. What don't you like about the gain channel?

[Madison]

Good to know. What don't you like about the gain channel?

The gain channel is way over the top on practically any setting...not to mention a bit harsh to my ears. To qualify, I seem to prefer a good OD pedal over most quality gain channels however, including Two Rock, Brown Note, etc.

[Peteyforto]

The trick to the gain channel is not to use gain II too much. It just compresses the signal and makes it buzzy. I pin gain 1 on 10 and maybe have gain 2 on 3.

[fridgit]

Is the gain a ridiculous amount of gain like, say, channel 2 of a 5150/6505?

[Hard2Hear]

I had both and I believe they're identical. This was way back when I was using ALL Fender gear. The best sound I got out of those amps was turning the volume all the way up and the EQ all the way down and just giving a tiny tiny bit of EQ, starting with mids, then dialing in however much low or hi I wanted with it.

[johnnyqb]

the gain is great on the prosonic. I never play with a lot of gain, but found with this amp you can tweak the dials and get a perfect OD type setting, and it feels more organic coming from the amp than with a pedal.

[RockinB23]

According too the Q&A with Bruce Zinky on his web site he says the speaker you choose is really important to getting the right sound out of a Prosonic. As most know he designed the Prosonic at the Fender Custom shop. I was using two Weber Speakers with my Prosonic head. A Blue Bell and a Silver Bell and I got really good results.

[stratzrus]

The gain channel is way over the top on practically any setting...not to mention a bit harsh to my ears. To qualify, I seem to prefer a good OD pedal over most quality gain channels however, including Two Rock, Brown Note, etc.Not to me. I love the gain channel with Gain I set to 1.5 or just a little higher and Gain II set on 4. Great overdriven almost Dumblelike tones.

The trick to the gain channel is not to use gain II too much. It just compresses the signal and makes it buzzy. I pin gain 1 on 10 and maybe have gain 2 on 3.Agreed about less is more with Gain II, but Gain I on 10? Yowza!

Is the gain a ridiculous amount of gain like, say, channel 2 of a 5150/6505?With Gain I on 10? Yes.

the gain is great on the prosonic. I never play with a lot of gain, but found with this amp you can tweak the dials and get a perfect OD type setting, and it feels more organic coming from the amp than with a pedal.Agree 100%

I love the low gain tones the Prosonic has. Great for Blues, Classic Rock, R&B, and Fusion.

I have both a regular production model and a Custom Shop model and there is no discernible difference that couldn't be attributed to tubes. I've never had them tubed with the exact same set so I can't say for sure, but I'd get a production model to save money unless collectibility/resale is an issue or you can get a CS model cheap like I did. Its price was so reasonable that couldn't pass on it even though I already owned one. If you can get a production model for $600-650 jump on it. Figure an additional $400-600 for a clean CS model.

[Miles]

Incredible amps.

I had one of each - custom and production - sounded identical!

Opened them up, pretty much the same. A little PCB, but the tubes were chassis mounted and handwired, not PCB mounted. Not like it matters though. Good pcb amps can last a lifetime

Anyway, the Gain is effing insane on those, but you just have to moderate. For me, the gain channel was awesome for hard rock. Clean sound is just buttery and beautiful on those amps.

Mine were both built like tanks. Also, I felt V30s were THE speaker for these. They are basically hot rodded fenders and fenders are generally a bit scooped in the upper mids, so V30s fit this amp very well.

[VanR]

Sold my head on Sat. Just never could dial it in right. I got too many amps to fuss with that.

[elvezrulz]

Is the gain a ridiculous amount of gain like, say, channel 2 of a 5150/6505?


Not that much gain, but different. It's more of a cascading mesa Carlos Santana type of tone. I really hated to sell my Prosonic, best production amp in years from Fender sans the Vibroking. The clean channel, in class A mode, was sick as a lead channel when it was pushed up to 7 or 8 or so. Great blues amp.

[stratzrus]

Not that much gain, but different. It's more of a cascading mesa Carlos Santana type of tone. I've never heard Santana play with that much gain. That much compression/saturation (Gain II), yes , but gain (Gain I), no.
The clean channel, in class A mode, was sick as a lead channel when it was pushed up to 7 or 8 or so. Great blues amp.Agreed.

The clean channel breaks up beautifully when pushed and does so at less than earsplitting volumes.

I just finished playing through mine with a LP Classic ('57 Classic neck and '57 Classic + bridge) first the bridge pup with Gain I on 1.8 and Gain II on 4.5, and then the neck on the clean channel with the volume on on 1.8.

Great Steely Dan tones on the bridge and classic Jazz tones on the neck. A wonderful way to work out the stress of the work day after coming home. :)

[Madison]

Another cool feature of the Prosonic is that you can start with the 3 EQ knobs at 0 and there is no sound. As you dial them up, along comes the volume accordingly. Setting the volume moderately low and EQ high is a great setting with this amp if you want some attitude.

[johnnyqb]

I have heard at least one expert say to be wary of what Zinky says about these amps too, as you can pretty much find a lot of statements where he says the 2x10s are perfect, others where he says put in a 1x12 (which I believe he was selling!), etc. Suffice it to say that the 2x10 Celestions give the amp a lot of its character.

[donbarzini]

I had a brand new 1x12 repro cab made for my my 2x10 combo, I like it much better with a 1x12 V30, I do want to try a Celestion Gold as well.

[Ascension]

Love the amps. I have owned both CS and production versions and can tell no tonal difference.
I have custom 1/12 baffle in my Black combo and like it MUCH better than the 2/10! Zinky wanted the amp built with the 1/12 not the 2/10 but Fender wanted the 10's. It's MUCH MUCH easier to get a solid miced tone with the 1/12 and the stocks 10's are very directional and beamy.
here is my converted to a 1/12 combo unmiced in a 500 seat Church
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=261430&songID=6777974
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/rutledri/DSC00901.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/rutledri/DSC00902.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/rutledri/DSC00820.jpg
And the ULTIMATE Prosonic!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/rutledri/DSC00802.jpg