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Post by Tbone81 on Jun 17, 2022 8:35:24 GMT -6
Thinking about changing up my guitar setup. I'm looking for a small head to power a small guitar cab (either 1x12, 1x10 or 2x10). Something for recording and small gigs. I'll also be using it for our Fender Rhodes. Frenzel seems to be pretty well regarded. Having a nice Fender Clean channel coupled with a nice Marshall channel sounds great. Ideally, I'd love something that sounds like a Princeton but with greater control over the breakup/distortion. Something that stays clean longer but that can still be pushed into that nice grit when you dig in.
What says the Hive Mind?
If I don't go with a Fenzel I might invest in a Synergy Amp and ditch my old Randall RM50. I've been deep down the Randall RMS rabbit hole in the past so I've thought about maybe sticking with that, but in a smaller package.
Thoughts?
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Post by indiehouse on Jun 21, 2022 12:15:12 GMT -6
I had one once. Nice amp. BluTone 50. There are a lot of cool builders out there for Princeton style amps. I hear good things about Allen Amplification, among others. Good luck! The hunt is fun!
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Post by jmoose on Jun 26, 2022 15:34:33 GMT -6
Only experience I have with Frenzel was a couple years ago... produced an EP for a band where the guitar player had a Frenzel "preamp" kinda box that he wouldn't play without. Band & gear all flew in, lots of studio & borrowed backline but he insisted on the Frenzel box. Seemed like it was really well made. Overkill build.
Fender & Marshall in the same chassis? Ever try Rivera or Bogner? They both do that... guitar player friend years ago said that Rivera is like the F/M setup voiced through the ears of a Fender guy and Bogner is that setup but voiced by a Marshall guy. Seems accurate.
Princeton-ish? For rhodes? I've never felt the Princeton had enough headroom for keys. Too much sag. 12 watts & a single 10" doesn't get it done for me. Rivera made combos (maybe still do?) called the Pubster & Chubster which are 25 & 40 watt single 12 boxes... like hopped up Fender/Marshalls. If that's too much maybe a deluxe reverb style? More power, bigger transformer etc.
Lots of great amp builders out there today... Allen Amps yes... Goodsell is also worth a look. Too many to mention really.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jun 28, 2022 11:43:25 GMT -6
Only experience I have with Frenzel was a couple years ago... produced an EP for a band where the guitar player had a Frenzel "preamp" kinda box that he wouldn't play without. Band & gear all flew in, lots of studio & borrowed backline but he insisted on the Frenzel box. Seemed like it was really well made. Overkill build. Fender & Marshall in the same chassis? Ever try Rivera or Bogner? They both do that... guitar player friend years ago said that Rivera is like the F/M setup voiced through the ears of a Fender guy and Bogner is that setup but voiced by a Marshall guy. Seems accurate. Princeton-ish? For rhodes? I've never felt the Princeton had enough headroom for keys. Too much sag. 12 watts & a single 10" doesn't get it done for me. Rivera made combos (maybe still do?) called the Pubster & Chubster which are 25 & 40 watt single 12 boxes... like hopped up Fender/Marshalls. If that's too much maybe a deluxe reverb style? More power, bigger transformer etc. Lots of great amp builders out there today... Allen Amps yes... Goodsell is also worth a look. Too many to mention really. So did it sound good? I've never tried Rivera but I've played a few Bogners, love them generally but not exactly what I'm going for. I totally agree that a princeton doesn't have enough clean headroom for keys, but I love the breakup. Maybe a deluxe is more my taste? IDK, my experience is mostly with Princetons and Twin Reverbs. Something that stays clean like a Twin, but with a hint of Princeton breakup would be awesome. |
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Post by jmoose on Jun 28, 2022 13:29:43 GMT -6
Don't really have any frame of reference on the Frenzel box because it was always in line. Might've been a couple overdubs where we plugged into something else but probably 90% of the time it was there like an in-line buffer.
Rivera's are cool. Often a super bargain on the used market since they fly under the radar... made in the USA tour grade build. Great tones. I have a Rake Reverb head that, while its not my personal favorite amp is a total studio workhorse. Would never mistake it for a Twin but those sounds are in there... and a tweed kinda sound and lots of Marshall-ish sounds.
That side is so good that it slowly ate a couple real Marshalls... 50 watt 800 head, JTM 45 etc. Because it could get those sounds without doing all the stupid things old Marshall's do like radical changes in upper mids/presence as the volume goes up & down. Plus it has an FX loop that actually works if your into that kinda thing.
Have you looked into the line of Fender "tonemaster" amps? Like the Tonemaster twin? I was pretty hot on getting one a couple years ago before all the lockdown stuff happened... The built in power scaling is pretty sweet. Works great.
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Post by robschnapf on Aug 13, 2022 17:41:36 GMT -6
Interesting I really never made friends with Rivera amps. Live They were loud and I couldn’t hear them. No definition.
In the studio, either the Marshall or the fender sounded better depending.
So that happened….,
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beyer160
Full Member
On Location
Posts: 43
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Post by beyer160 on Sept 24, 2022 10:05:26 GMT -6
I had a Frenzel "5e3" for a while. Once you got past the fact that it had noting to do with a 5e3 but was actually a 5f6, it was a fantastic amp (he now calls it a "Deluxe Plus 525", which is still a little screwy). Really well built, sounded great, had some very cool features (deep switch, negative feedback switch, 6L6/EL34 bias selector). I ended up selling it because it was redundant with my Traynor YBA-1 that I liked a smidge better, still not entirely sure if I sold the right one.
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Post by robschnapf on Oct 27, 2022 13:49:40 GMT -6
I modded my YBA1 into something a little more Marshall plexi.
Marshall phase inverter values
Split cathodes on the preamps with two different voices.
Different tone section values.
It’s like an old Marshall with bigger shoulders.
It gets nice and chewy
Anyways back to topic.
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Post by Ward on Nov 8, 2022 11:53:15 GMT -6
Interesting I really never made friends with Rivera amps. Live They were loud and I couldn’t hear them. No definition. In the studio, either the Marshall or the fender sounded better depending. So that happened…., I've heard better sounding distortion pedal DI'ed into the console recorded tracks than some of the Rivera tracks I've heard. |
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