Amp models that surprised you

Saarang Narayan said:
I am curious if y'all have had similar experiences where you pulled up an amp model and it did something that you would have never expected it to do.

Here's mine: I recently pulled up the Nitro 1 (based on channel 1 of the Splawn Nitrous) model very randomly and dialled it up for a modern high gain chugga chugga tone with a TS in front and my go to V30+Greenback IR, and I was pleasantly surprised by how Diezel Herbert or Dual Rectifier-like that amp could get at the right settings! I was expecting it to behave more like a CCV or Freidman HBE, but it had its own thing going which I really enjoyed! It's not as compressed as a Dual Rec, which is what makes it more fun to me, but the low end is HUGE in the best way.
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Gave it a spin, good find indeed, thanks for the tip!

Fun facts:
1. I wanted to go on the Splawn website just to check out their models and what they have to say about them. Hit "enter" too quickly and just searched for "splawn". First hit urban dictionary. Wasn't aware about the sexual connotation of "splawn". Had to chuckle.
2. Went on to the Splawn website to find out in their mission statement Mr. Splawn is a devout Christian (I am not judging at all).

So, to summarize, there are numerous (metal) guitar players out there playing music that is worshipping Lucifer himself, cranking their Splawn amps which are built by a devout Christian who's name is also a connotation for a sexual act between two women and a strap-on device.
The world is a weird place.
 
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Overcaster said:
Splawn Q-Rod, basically the JCM800 you always wanted
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Yup!! I have a Splawn Competition, a 50 watt version of the Q-Rod lead channel. It is the quintessential JCM800 tone IMO. Traded a JCM 2000 TSL 100 half stack for the head. Played one chord and knew I found the tone I was searching for.
 
With all the chatter recently about the Satriani models, I made a preset with the JS410 Crunch Orange. I tried it before and never really got along with it but now it's my main rock tone and I LOVE it. Used it the other night live for the first time and was blown away at how much I liked it. There were actually several times where I checked the amp block like "really? I'm on the JS410? really?" haha.
 
Brian Coonan said:
With all the chatter recently about the Satriani models, I made a preset with the JS410 Crunch Orange. I tried it before and never really got along with it but now it's my main rock tone and I LOVE it. Used it the other night live for the first time and was blown away at how much I liked it. There were actually several times where I checked the amp block like "really? I'm on the JS410? really?" haha.
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Yeah I’m loving the JVM renaissance that’s been happening recently!
 
kit dunborg said:
Gave it a spin, good find indeed, thanks for the tip!

Fun facts:
1. I wanted to go on the Splawn website just to check out their models and what they have to say about them. Hit "enter" to quickly and just searched for "splawn". First hit urban dictionary. Wasn't aware about the sexual connotation of "splawn". Had to chuckle.
2. Went on to the Splawn website to find out in their mission statement Mr. Splawn is a devout Christian (I am not judging at all).

So, to summarize, there are numerous (metal) guitar players out there playing music that is worshipping Lucifer himself, cranking their Splawn amps which are built by a devout Christian who's name is also a connotation for a sexual act between two women and a strap-on device.
The world is a weird place.
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Meanwhile in a church somewhere, one of the members of the worship music band is playing through a Fortin Satan.
And his guitar, built by a local Lu[ci]thier[ian], has serial #666 on the back of the headstock.
Rock n' roll!
 
Goonie said:
Splawn and Cameron models are on point. However, I find the Splawn's very bass heavy. I think the real amps are as well. May want to roll that back quite a bit. YMMV
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That’s true. I think it might have to do with the KT88 power section that keeps those bass frequencies INTACT. Feels like a thunderous wave chug on. I usually roll the Depth almost all the way down to keep things articulate yet huge-sounding.
 
Reet said:
I've dialed a pretty cool modern high gain tone with the Hot Kitty model. Not sure if thats a suprise to anyone else but i usually use 5150's so it was to me.
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The Hot Kitty has a unique growl to it. IIRC, it was originally a modeling error that was just too good to get rid of.
 
kit dunborg said:
Fun facts:
1. I wanted to go on the Splawn website just to check out their models and what they have to say about them. Hit "enter" to quickly and just searched for "splawn". First hit urban dictionary. Wasn't aware about the sexual connotation of "splawn". Had to chuckle.
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Be selective in what you read from Urban Dictionary. There’s an awful lot of obscure “slang” that you never heard of, whose definition is only “known” by one dude with way too much time on his hands.
 
Goonie said:
Splawn and Cameron models are on point. However, I find the Splawn's very bass heavy. I think the real amps are as well. May want to roll that back quite a bit. YMMV
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They are, I usually had the bass rolled off to 8-9:00 on the amp.

Trying the Spawn Q-Rod models was what really pushed me to go all in with Fractal's modeling. At the time, I was using a WGS Retro 30 speaker in a custom cab and discovered the WGS Retro 30 Mix IR on the forum. It was a great opportunity to see how close the Axe III could get with something I was very familiar with. Any of the tones I dialed in to compare with the amp were dead on.
 
The 1959 5F8 Tweed Twin. I would never be able to play a real one and since getting a Fractal unit it's become a staple for me. The model is quite noisy though.

AC30s were always my go-to but the AC20 is so smooth, has better low end, and is just so easy to work with that I use it more often than the AC30s now.
 
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