Just placed my order...

[killerburst]

...for the new THD Flexi 50 w/ matching 2x12 cab. ETA 2 weeks (1 week to ship, 1 week transit). I'll keep you all posted. Should go nicely with my Allen Accomplice, which is stuffed into this very cabinet:
http://www.sultone.com/imp4.html



I'm thinking I should call back and add a Hotplate to my order. The amp is supposed to be a burly 50 watts.

[Stan Malinowski]

I owned a Univalve for about a year. What a great design and amp. Unfortunately the UV and an external ccabinet just was taking up too much space.

The boys at THD are top people also. I have told Ed DeGenearo that his personality is a "German Version of Roy"! He is a knowledgeable and fun person to converse with.

For the techie weenies the UV printed circuit boards are a riot. If you open up the amp silk screened on the pc board are comments like: "shut up and play your guitar!".

[pluto]

Congratulations! I'm been a proud owner of the new flexi for the last two weeks. It's a great amp-old school Marshall tones supreme! Turn it up, and it roars. It's a little loud for me but I'm scheming of ways to tame it. Let us know how it mates with the 2x12 THD cab-I'm thinking of picking one up too and ditching my oversized Bogner 2x12 which I haven't liked since day one. And as Stan said, how could you not like a company who has Ed as an employee?

[John Price]

That's great!
Let us know how it sounds when you get it!

[killerburst]

pluto-

Give me the low-down while I wait for mine. I had a UV for a while and really loved it, but I traded it for something with a better clean sound and used a pedal for gain ('65 Vibrloux Reverb). I have the Allen now for the blackface clean/ bluesy drive tones and I'm looking to the Flexi for my plexi needs. Uli Roth, Angus Young, Eric Johnson, etc. are some of my favorite Marshall tones. Are you finding those tones in the Flexi?

[pluto]

Originally posted by killerburst
pluto-

Give me the low-down while I wait for mine. I had a UV for a while and really loved it, but I traded it for something with a better clean sound and used a pedal for gain ('65 Vibrloux Reverb). I have the Allen now for the blackface clean/ bluesy drive tones and I'm looking to the Flexi for my plexi needs. Uli Roth, Angus Young, Eric Johnson, etc. are some of my favorite Marshall tones. Are you finding those tones in the Flexi?

It's a Marshall in THD clothing! I used to own a Univalve too-I had it for a year and probably spent more money on tubes than the Univavle itself. Great little amp, but I sold it and ended up with a Maz 18 jr. As for tones, I'm a huge Mikey Schenker fan-and this amp really nails the UFO BBC Sessions tone to the T. Can it do Uli's Supertrem? Hmmmm., that I'm not too sure-I'm sure Ed D. from THD can give you helpful settings on that, but my ears aren't hearing Uli (at least not right now). Angus? Yes. E.J.? Don't know-E.J.'s touch factors in so much in the equation and I don't have his touch. A couple of other points-it's a bright amp like the univalve, but the cut switch can dial some of it out to get it smoother and darker sounding. It also has a very fast response too. Not a VHT response, but a quick response. It's also very loud too. Be prepared to unleash the fury (in Yngwie's words!). I recently bought the Ultimate Attenuator to help tame it. My Z brake was compressing too much so I sold it and ordered the Ultimate Attenuator. I should be getting it today or tomorrow so I'm looking forward to hearing the Flexi dimed in less than ear shattering volumes. I borrowed a hotplate and I thought it did a decent job in taming the Flexi a bit without over compressing. Also, the clean on this amp is really nice. Very underrated part of this amp for sure. Lastly, I've had others play it and the consensus was that it sounded like a Marshall but did not sound like a Marshall Plexi. I've never played a real Plexi and have only played two Plexi (1959 SLP) reissues (and at music store volumes, i.e., not very loud, but loud enough), so I can't tell you what they meant. I hope I didn't bore you with too many details and I hope this helped, Mark

[killerburst]

Thanks, Mark. That's what I was looking for. Angus is a great start. His lead tone on Highway to Hell is smoldering! For EJ tones, I've been listening to Venus Isle, and dreaming about the outro solo tone on track 3 (All About You?). EJ and Uli aren't straight-into-the-amp players, anyway. I'm sure I'll have to fool with some pedals to get those "violin" sounds happening. As a condo dweller, I'm planning on pushing the envelope for as long as possible before I get an attenuator. Ed D. told me right off the bat to get a Hotplate, as well, but I'd like to try some other models first. Who makes the Ultimate Attenuator?

[pluto]

Killerburst, since you're a living in a condo, I'd highly recommend some kind of attenuator to keep the volume down. Even on the 20 watt setting, this amp will be too loud if you're going to goose it, even with the master volume on. The Ultimate Attenuator is made by Mark Gregg. I know two guys who played the prototype and they thought it was unbelievable. I'm supposed to be getting mine sometime this week depending on the holiday mailing schedule. There is a website: www.ultimateattenuator.com -it doesn't tell you much though. I would read the Legendary Tones review for a better insight into it. I called Mark Gregg and talked to him about it-he seems to be a really nice guy. He at no point bad mouthed any of the competitors (THD, Z, Weber) and said they all made a great product. As I said previously, I did borrow a hotplate and it did sound good with the Flexi. It sounded a lot better than the Z brake with the Flexi. Anyway, I'll let you know how the U.A. sounds when I get it. Going back to tone-this amp is really flexible, hence the name. To give you an idea, my dealer was playing Ozzy and old Black Sabbath stuff on it and my friend was playing Stevie Ray Vaughn on it (I have no idea why!)-so you can get a variety of tone with all those switches. I'm not a pedal guy anymore, but it supposedly takes pedals well too. Anyway, good luck!

[pluto]

Originally posted by killerburst
Who makes the Ultimate Attenuator?

Killerburst, I got the Ultimate Attenuator last night-it does a great job at attenuating without too much coloration. Highly recommended. The Hotplate also does a good job too.

[killerburst]

Cool! Find those Uli tones yet?

[pluto]

Not yet. I gotta buy an old Roland Chorus-Echo first! Then, I have to work on my arpeggios, and mixolydian and phrygian modes. BTW-did you ask Ed for any Uli settings? If so, please share.

[killerburst]

Ed has a very different ear for tone than I do, so I don't know if his suggested settings would work for me. I'll just wait to get mine. Like you said in reference to EJ, it's a touch thing.

I've read Uli say he uses the Chorus-Echo as a preamp. I wonder if that has a significant effect on the gain structure of the amp, or if he was mis-using the term and it is just a time based effect.

[killerburst]

Speaking of Ed... I wonder if he knows about this forum yet.

[pluto]

I'm not sure about the chorusecho as a preamp-I've read an article where he states that, but then I've read articles where he says he uses the chorusecho only as modulation on his clean tones and delay. His Scorpions tone also has all that half-cocked wah going too. I don't know-the only thing I know is that Uli is the king (in my book). As far as Ed D., I thought he was a Suhr player?

[killerburst]

re: Ed D.-Yeah, but he's recently posted some clips in which he says he used a borrowed Anderson. Plus, we have an amp category; he should be here evangelizing!

[killerburst]

Yowsa! That was fast, Mark. Saw your classified on the other forum. What're you going to do with the Ultimate Attentuator?

[pluto]

Originally posted by killerburst
Yowsa! That was fast, Mark. Saw your classified on the other forum. What're you going to do with the Ultimate Attentuator?

Don't say I wasn't impulsive! Ha, ha! It was just a case of not being able to get it down to the levels I needed it to be. It's a good amp but I think I'm going to buy only master volume amps at this point. The Ultimate Attenuator came close to achieving the sound I wanted at low volumes, but there was still a hint of compression when attenuated down to bedroom volumes-not as bad as the Z or the hotplate, but enough to bug me. As far as the Ultimate Attenuator, I'm sending it back to Mark Gregg to get the power chord fixed. I'm sending it to him after X-mas though because I don't want to stand it line at the post office. I managed to screw up the chord (my fault, not his) somehow. When I get it back, I'll probably put it up for sale since my other amps have master volumes already.

[pluto]

btw-Killerburst, in case you were wondering, I pulled the ad because someone I know might buy it locally. He doesn't have the cash now, so I told him I would hold it for a couple of weeks. Who knows-maybe he won't come up with the cash, and I'll actually find a way to tame the flexi to my liking in the meantime.

[pluto]

Killerburst, I forgot to ask, since you probably got the Flexi already, what do you think of it? My local buyer couldn't come up with the cash, so I've been playing it more and more and actually liking it more and more too. It doesn't mean I'm not going to sell it eventually, but it is growing on me. I've been a/b'ing it a lot with my Shiva, and as much as I hate to admit it since I'm a huge Bogner fan, the Flexi seems to be a better overall amp because it can do tons of in-between sounds as well as the cleans and the all out drive. I just wish I could tame it a bit more and find a cab that works well with it.

[oscar100]

pluto

if u r interested to sell teh UA let me know - i need something that will will work across 2 8 and 16 ohms

:D

[pluto]

Thanks Oscar. It's actually with Mark Gregg (the builder) right now for a little fixing up. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet because I may keep the Flexi. Also, I don't think the UA works with a 2 ohm load.

[oscar100]

it doe s a 2 ohm adaptor -

let me know if you decide

teh new price is too much but used -???

[pluto]

Originally posted by oscar100
it doe s a 2 ohm adaptor -

let me know if you decide

teh new price is too much but used -???

Okay, thanks.

[AnthonyL]

Eric Johnson runs his guitar through a BK Butler tube driver then into a 50W plexi for his main lead tone. He also will run a fuzz face in front of it as well. He's also playing a new amp made for him by fultonwebb. Check out their site (fultonwebb.com) and go to the bottom of the home page and they've got some clips of him playing his new amp.

[michaelomiya]

Originally posted by killerburst
re: Ed D.-Yeah, but he's recently posted some clips in which he says he used a borrowed Anderson. Plus, we have an amp category; he should be here evangelizing!

FYI, the "borrowed" Anderson was from John Ou (alder Classic w/ Floyd Rose).