Any Prosonic love here?

[sunburstrat]

The local guy got one of these in trade and I was fairly impressed. Now mind you, this was at store volumes which is not the best test.

I know they arent the most popular amps out there, any anecdotes would be great. BTW, it was the 2x10 combo.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[bluessyndicate]

I owned one for a year. It is a somewhat unique amp in it's ability to max the master and channel volumes for preamp and power tube distortion and then control the playing volume with the EQ's.....With the EQ's you could literally bring the amp down to zero volume.

It was the best example of clean breakup I had heard....

The cleans and reverb sound great. Very buttery warm fender cleans. Rubberband like sag. One of thethe highest gain tube amps Fender made, if not the highest gain. It was designed by Bruce Zinky.

I could not bond with the gain channel completely so I ended up selling it eventually...but while I had it I thoroughly enjoyed the clean break up, and rolling the volume off to get the butter (cleans).

Prosonic's are known for having a few characteristics, although mod's exist to correct them. For years the amp had a problem with a large "pop" when channel switching, and the amp runs on the hot side, but it was reliable. A great feature I had forgotten about, was the mode switch for Class A, AB and Solid State...the SS mode is great for during a gig if you happen to pop a power tube (which actually never happened to me). Switchign from A to AB and SS also gives you various power reduction.

The 10" speaker 2x10 format was great, and the amp was very manageable weight wise, a true pleasure actually.

I eventually sold the amp, along with my Mesa Boogie Triaxis/2:90 rack to pursue other amps...first off a Bogner Shiva...The Shiva also can get a nice clean breakup if you max the clean channel volume and set the master to at least noon...and the gain of hte Shiva definitely sounds better than the Prosonic's dual cascading gain channel. Plus the Shiva has dual independent reverb, and a gain channel boost. Of course the Prosonic was about $700 used and the Shiva was about $1600 used. At this point I would choose a 6L6 shiva head over a Prosonic combo.....but enough about the Shiva...Nothing touches the clean breakup I get on my Two Rock Custom Reverb...the clean channel with the EQ bypass activated is the smoothest clean breakup I have heard. Awesome for blues. These are of course unfair comparisons financially..the Prosonic is a great amp, and especially for the money. For 1/2 the price of a Prosonic consider the old Ampeg Gemini I's! But that doesn't beat the cleans of the Prosonic, not by a long shot.

The Prosonic is a great amp for it's warm buttery saggy cleans, reverb and clean breakup potential... Slam that with an RC Boost and I bet you won't even need the gain channel of the Prosonic, although I bet you could still find a use for it.

Store volumes will probably not let you hear the full brunt of the maxed master and clean channel volumes..but you do owe it to yourself to try it and see how the EQ's can completely control the amp volume....something not alot of amps can do.

 

[Rock Fella]

I loved my prosonic combo, clean channel from the gods, the gain channel i woulda put a pedal in front of just to tighten it up , no complaints about the prosonic from me. when you change channel, hold the strings with your fret hand.........no pop

 

[aeolian]

Kind of a schitzophrenic amp. Warm but clear Fender cleans from Mount Olympus, then channel switching into metal shred. I found the gain channel very playable but there was an attack to the notes that I couldn't get rid of no matter what I did. With some amps, you can bring this in and out depending on how you pick, but with the Prosonic, it was always there. Bruce Zinky is a rocker at heart, and it clearly shows in this amp.

 

[Sneaky]

I tried one with the "Zinky" mod that was outstanding. I'm always looking out for a good deal on one now.

-Pete

 

[MightyGuru]

Played one for years. Love, love, love the clean channel in class A especially.

The gain channel was pretty darn good, not great but good and very useable.

Bluessyndicate pretty much nailed it.

 

[sunburstrat]

This is great info guys, thanks so much! I'm going to go and see if he will let me take it home for the weekend so I can put it through its paces.

Thanks again!

Chris

 

[dogg]

Originally posted by Sneaky
I tried one with the "Zinky" mod that was outstanding. I'm always looking out for a good deal on one now.

-Pete

hi Pete,

what is "Zinky mod"?

 

[Sneaky]

Originally posted by dogg
hi Pete,

what is "Zinky mod"?

Bruce Zinky, designer of the Prosonic, has some suggestions to improve the amp.

from the Blueguitar site:

PROSONIC POP

Caused by a few things:
1) Lousy relays. I have prototype #2 (Proto #1 went to the factory).
It only pops if...
2) Bad preamp tubes. Sovtek preamp tubes have a tendency to get
heater to cathode hum. Makes for a signal level difference when you
switch, which can give you the annoying "Pop". A spiral filament type,
such as the Electro Harmonix 12AX7 is a good thing for the first two
preamp tubes.

MAJOR CAUSE:
What you are getting is induced back EMF from the relays leaking into
the audio. R19 (on the Footswitch jack) was designed to always have
some signal flowing through the relays. Problem is, sometimes the value
is too small and the relays hang, or sometimes it is too big and you get
pop. Experiment with this value. 6.8k was the initial one, later
changed to 9.1k (so the amps with abberent relays would still pass QC).
[I now use very tiny low current 5V relays from NEC [ED2-5NJ] (mouser sells 'em).]
...

ALSO:

R13 Is 1 Meg. Reduce this value. This cap keeps the voltage at the
input of this tube [V2a] down when the relay is switching, and the circuit is
otherwise open. A lower value will reduce the pop. Gain will be
reduced slightly as well.


IMPROVEMENTS- See all those little disc ceramic caps on the tube
sockets? cut them out with extreme prejudice. Not needed, and the
sustain and tone will improve. These do some funny business (Massive
local feedback) that does affect the audible signal. I don't know quite
what I was thinking here.

GAIN REDUCTION-
Some people like to remove some or all of the cathode caps in the preamp
section to reduce the gain. If you never need the high gain, it's
something to try.

...

Last Prosonic mod-

I would change the stock transformer to our Zinky unit, model
ZOT604816. This transformer will give much better bass response than
the original, AND the overdrive will not have any of the "Buzzy" or
"Fizzy" character you may hear with the stock one (Especially at low
volumes. Clean tones will be bright and airy, the big changes will be
on overdriven tones). Does not fit the standard bolt pattern (Slightly
larger), so you'll have to drill. $150 but well worth it. Has 4/8/16
Ohm taps. Will give you the liquid overdrive even at highest gain
settings, even with high treble settings. Get dynamics AND tone....

Bruce Zinky

 

[scottl]

Behold the Slayer....... Stock, as a Prosonic combo, this amp was pretty much worthless to me other than the nice cleans... Now, I will put it up against any Dclone in existance, bar none, price no object. Stock, the loop is worthless junk. It doesn't work at gig levels at all. That is what promted this conversion.

 

[Rock Fella]

scott

you got any clips in not fusion style but straight ahead rock/ blues to illustrates just how it sounds on both channels mate ?

jimmy

 

[aeolian]

Originally posted by Sneaky
Bruce Zinky, designer of the Prosonic, has some suggestions to improve the amp.
I have prototype #2 (Proto #1 went to the factory).
...
Bruce Zinky

Not anymore he doesn't. It got used as a chassis mule for developing the Superfly. Then he sold it to me. The relays in there don't make any sound at all. And a big plus 10 for that output transformer. Bruce sells what he calls his "Buzzkill" mod. The lead channel on the Prosonic can be a bit buzzy, but not this amp. Just as smooth as my Fuchs but voiced for rock. If you like everything else about the Prosonic, this might be a really worthwhile investment.
Scott, does that mod have the original OT in it? Contact Bruce and get a new one, I can only imagine what you'll end up with.

 

[scottl]

Originally posted by aeolian
Not anymore he doesn't. It got used as a chassis mule for developing the Superfly. Then he sold it to me. The relays in there don't make any sound at all. And a big plus 10 for that output transformer. Bruce sells what he calls his "Buzzkill" mod. The lead channel on the Prosonic can be a bit buzzy, but not this amp. Just as smooth as my Fuchs but voiced for rock. If you like everything else about the Prosonic, this might be a really worthwhile investment.
Scott, does that mod have the original OT in it? Contact Bruce and get a new one, I can only imagine what you'll end up with.

Original one, yeah. But, the mod is all my custom tweaking from A to Z. Nothing stock. Dave Henderson LOVED it and he had 2 sigs...

 

[aeolian]

Originally posted by scottl
Original one, yeah. But, the mod is all my custom tweaking from A to Z. Nothing stock. Dave Henderson LOVED it and he had 2 sigs...

Call Bruce and order the new OT. I can't wait to see what superlatives you come up with to describe the difference. Much more extended bottom end, more dynamics and no buzz, without having to voice the buzz out of the preamp. You'll go crazy.