Soultone Superplexi 45PS review and clips

[jackaroo]

http://www.tgpwebzine.com/?page_id=554

I'm happy to post a link to my 1st review on TGPs new webzine. In it you'll find information, a little opinion and a few soundclips showing what the amp is all about (my perspective anyway).

This is going to be a great additional resource for TGP. The reviews, articles, demos etc should provide a nice springboard for discussions here in the forum.

I'm already hard at work on the next two articles next up Sommatone and after that Komet amps, Morgan amplification and Wallace amps. If you've got any suggestions or comments on the article, clips or whatever- let 'er rip. If you're a guitar or amp manufacturer... frankly any type of gear and would like a review/article please contact my via PM and we'll see if it's appropriate.


Stay tuned and stay positive-


Jack

 

[felim]

Fabulous playing man. And the amp sounds great.

 

[amp boy]

right on.

 

[pickslide]

Wonderful clips and review. For each amp, I would like to hear a clip with the gain up full (or close to it). Always nice to hear how much overdrive an amp can get.

Looking forward to your future reviews. Awesome job!

 

[jackaroo]

Pickslide,

I'm glad you liked the clips and review.

However, I don't think I'll do that. I don't think that it'd be very educational or informative. "On ten" often doesn't sound that great-to me anyway. I intend to focus on showing the amp in its intended use, and hopefully showing a lot of it's features. I think the "Dirty" clip shows well enough the sound of the amp working hard in overdrive and then what it sounds like with the boost engaged...the "clean" clip shows the clean to mid-gain side of the amp and a humbucker. I figure with all the different strength pickups and each players vibe, approach and feel taken into account, a "on ten" demo wouldn't really show much as my strat on 10 sounds a lot different than so and so's PRS or BC Rich etc...

Similarly, I can't do 10 clips for every amp...it just takes too long.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Jack -

Kick ass tones, great playing as usual

 

[pickslide]

Fair enough. Maybe "on 10" was a bit much. I personally like to hear an amp cranked up (maybe 7 out of 10), but that is me. I think your clips are awesome and I am really looking forward to hearing more in the future.

 

[jackaroo]

From the article...

The first clip is played on a strat. I was shooting for a nice overdriven sound that could clean up via picking pressure and at the same time sounded good with the Fat boost engaged for solos. I used the Normal channel’s high gain input at 8 with and jumped the Bright channel, low gain at 4 on it’s volume. Settings: Presence at 5, Bass at 6, Mid at 9, Treble at 6. No power scaling.
I used my 1986 ‘57 AVRI strat with VV pickups from DiMarzio. The delay is courtesy of my TC 2290 and the reverb is a plugin added in post from my pro tools rig. I recorded the guitar in one take with a single AKG 414 into my chandler Mic preamp.
SOUNDCLIP #1
The second clip is focused on the cleaner side of the amp. Once again my strat handles the majority of the tune. The solo is my 335 with pat sticker pus- I’m using the neck pickup. This time it’s the lo gain input from the Normal channel alone. Volume is up at 4. Tone controls are the same as above…as is the signal chain and mics. The Solo is recorded using the bright channel, high gain input with the Normal channel jumped. Bright Volume is at 5 and the Normal channel is set around 6.

 

[straticus]

Wow, super nice playing and tones!

Looking forward to future reviews. I've been interested in those Morgan amps for a while now.

 

[jackaroo]

Thanks, for the kind words.


Morgan Amps and others: yep, I'm excited to hear all the amps from these builders.

 

[tantramar]

review, playing, amp...all superb. Thanks!

 

[Rod]

That's a great review Jack...thankx...I would also like to hear the amp on full gain, but with a Les Paul or other humbucker guitar as a reference...{I play only humbuckers}

 

[jackaroo]

Thanks...the amp is long gone home to AZ so no mo clips I'm afraid.

 

[The Last Rebel]

I really liked the review and clips. Does it sound very JTM-ish? From your clips, it sounded more like a Superlead than any JTM45 I've ever heard.

Still, awesome review and I can't wait to read more.

 

[jackaroo]

I don't think it sounds like my super lead at all. It's a little leaner in it's voicing than a straight JTM-45, but I like to mod that circuit anyway so...


I think it was pretty much built alongside MickeyCs vintage JTM45.


I may also not have captured everything that was going on...I did only use one microphone.


JD

 

[Frankenstrat2]

Hey Jack
Very nicely done review! Lots of good player insight. But- (please don't hate me for this)
So politically correct?


I can't tell- Did YOU like that amp, or not?
Is it an amp you would use as it is, or pass on it?
How much does it cost? (even the MSRP would be helpful), and how does that compare to what someone would have to spend on comparable products new or vintage? Will you discuss value, servicability, quality of the build?
Clips are great, and yours are superb, as expected. But you are the guy playing the amp and examining it.
I would like to think there will not be any conflict between what is now becoming a TGP editorial staff. It will not be easy to do the dance between your readers and the friends and supporters of TGP. The strength of TGP has been the ability to fire away in plain language as has been done here on the Forums forever. Keep in mind that failing a clear thumbs up or thumbs down, even the reviews in GP have begun to list concerns and criticisms. A short honest summary of the most positive and negative aspects of the item would be most helpful to the readers.
Just sayin.....
b.
P.S.- Would it not be better in the future to specify that the Ultimate Attenuator is a misnomer for what is actually a sophisticated re-amping device rather than what most would consider an attenuator? Otherwise readers may think they can get similar results with other brands of aftermarket attenuators.

 

[dankayaker]

I agree Barry . . ..I could not tell wether Jack really like the amp or not . . . . . . .playing and clips sounded great, but I have a feeling anything Jack plays through will sound a cut above.

 

[TopDog]

Barry's right -

I hope that TGP reviews will be unbiased and honest, free of the hidden agendas that circle back to manufacturer/builder advertising revenue. But that is very hard to do in that sector of the publishing business that features reviews because there is tremendous dependency on ad revenue for financial support.

My beef with amp and guitar reviews is that they are mostly done in isolation not in a band setting. Jack's clips sounded great recorded in a controlled studio setting. In isolation that amp sounds great but what does it sound like in a live setting? It may not cut the mustard. Not that I always expect that type of depth in a review but I'm aware enough to know there's more to the story. My 2 cents...

And as always Jack you're a very musical player. Great job, I love your clips!

Hey Jack
Very nicely done review! Lots of good player insight. But- (please don't hate me for this)
So politically correct?


I can't tell- Did YOU like that amp, or not?
Is it an amp you would use as it is, or pass on it?
How much does it cost? (even the MSRP would be helpful), and how does that compare to what someone would have to spend on comparable products new or vintage? Will you discuss value, servicability, quality of the build?
Clips are great, and yours are superb, as expected. But you are the guy playing the amp and examining it.
I would like to think there will not be any conflict between what is now becoming a TGP editorial staff. It will not be easy to do the dance between your readers and the friends and supporters of TGP. The strength of TGP has been the ability to fire away in plain language as has been done here on the Forums forever. Keep in mind that failing a clear thumbs up or thumbs down, even the reviews in GP have begun to list concerns and criticisms. A short honest summary of the most positive and negative aspects of the item would be most helpful to the readers.
Just sayin.....
b.
P.S.- Would it not be better in the future to specify that the Ultimate Attenuator is a misnomer for what is actually a sophisticated re-amping device rather than what most would consider an attenuator? Otherwise readers may think they can get similar results with other brands of aftermarket attenuators.

 

[jackaroo]

Well I tried to be objective and informative, not politically correct. I figured I'd let folks determine for themselves what they thought of the information that's presented. If opinion is needed...I'll always offer it freely in the forum post that will be linked to every article. But everyone should know the articles will be written as more of an overview in nature with any opinion based discussions taking place here, on the forum side of things.

So I'll try to answer the ?s you guys have:

Did YOU like that amp, or not?

Sure I liked it. It's a very nice piece of gear.

Is it an amp you would use as it is, or pass on it?

I'd have no need for this right now given my Marshall/Ho rig. So I'd have to pass, but I'd certainly consider it if I was shopping for a Marshall style amp at that price point.

Cost?

I think the combo I reviewed is 2.5 K give or take depending on the speakers and the cab covering you choose. The speakers and cab are a big part of the price here. I think the heads alone in black tolex are in the 15-1800 dollar range. If anyone needs a specific price or is looking for a deal, I think Mickey offers some pretty great deals in the emporium for TGP members.

Build quality seemed very, very nice. Certainly Mickey knows his engineering inside and out. I prefer the head/cab setup to the combo personally. That amp is SUPER quiet and smokes my vintage Marshalls in that part of design.

My interactions with Mickey were great and he's really into customer support and satisfaction. His passion for design and customer support was very, very evident.

As for the UA/ho thing...I only mentioned that bit of gear so that folks know how I chose to deal with volume on my amps...which are vintage and I wont mod with a master or PS circuit. I hope folks are prepared to do research before they buy stuff, and see the differences in an 800 dollar, custome made, stereo reamping system with a loop and 2 levels and a 50 dollar rig that has a lightbulb plugged into it so as to absorb 3 db of volume or some other cheap attenuator. Either way, the focus of the article isn't my gear, but THAT amp.

As for the clips not being in a band setup? WHATEVER! How much work am I supposed to do for free? I think they're pretty representative of how I hear the amp. I fail to see how hearing it in a poorly recorded live context would be more informative? And solo clips have their own problems because there's nothing to compare it to.

As for any implications of advertising revenue circling back to TGP? That's ludicrous and 100% false. There was not one bit of compensation for the review. Completely done as a labour of love for this forum and the fledgling Webzine attached to it. I also love to get and experiment with new gear and I love to write, so it seemed like a good opportunity to help provide some content and info for this forum I use everyday.

Best,

Jack

 

[* velcro-fly *]

As for the clips not being in a band setup? WHATEVER! How much work am I supposed to do for free? I think they're pretty representative of how I hear the amp. I fail to see how hearing it in a poorly recorded live context would be more informative? And solo clips have their own problems because there's nothing to compare it to.

As for any implications of advertising revenue circling back to TGP? That's ludicrous and 100% false. There was not one bit of compensation for the review. Completely done as a labour of love for this forum and the fledgling Webzine attached to it. I also love to get and experiment with new gear and I love to write, so it seemed like a good opportunity to help provide some content and info for this forum I use everyday.

Best,

Jack

Jack -

Don't sweat the comments about band context or the inevitable forthcoming "but yeah, how does it sit in the mix ?" - your clips kicked ass as usual and the tones are out there for the masses. These shouldn't be treated as a hand holding pre purchase counseling session. People need to step up and either buy one or not, Mickey is obviously intent on working with people to get his stuff out there, seems like a no brainer.

Looking forward to the next review you do, keep up the good work :AOK

Steve E