MA Pete
Pattern Thin Convert!
Okay, some replies here...
More on tone - like any good BRW PRS, the sustain is terrific. What I find a little interesting in this one versus the DC is that this one requires less amp fine tuning relative to the DC.
That said, I have been playing mostly through my Metropoulos Superplex these days, and that amp in general needs less tweaking anyway than my EL34 Marshally Amps to sound great with a BRW Neck. The EL34 amps definitely need to be tweaked in settings to optimize for a BRW neck.
For those unfamiliar with it, it is a 100W Head from George Metropoulus, an amazing small amp builder in the Detroit Area (pretty much a one-man shop), better known over time for his "Metroplex" amp. The Superplex is modeled after a JTM45/100 with a second mode with an extra gain stage, a built-in boost, and an effects loop. It uses KT66 tubes, and has a vintage, open and organic tone. It is my favorite amp of all time. It sounds glorious with my many 594s, my 25" McCartys and the Silver Sky. The 5815 LTs are my favorite pickups ever, and they sound terrific through this amp, across a very broad range of tones.
It is really a well-kept secret IMO. I had one a few years back and foolishly sold it when I was downsizing my amp collection and just keeping lower wattage amps. He isn't in general building them right now, but he took mercy on me and built me one last month as part of a small run that he did. It is Superplex #68. Wow, how are there only 68 of these on the planet?!?
(It is finicky to dial in at first. Once you figure it out, it is mindblowingly awesome! Perhaps that initial finickiness held it back from being more widely popular. When I first got my first one, I didn't love it. I had to watch George's videos on it a few times, and then I figured it out - and it was amp Nirvana from there.)
(Since I am here on a PRS Forum - I should mention that my second favorite amp is the PRS HXDA 30W head. Wow, is that an awesome amp as well - and my favorite EL34 amp! I dig that amp so much that I have two of them, one at home and one in my CA Apartment.)
As focused as I am on the SC and DC 594s, it is great to have different varieties of them, the great SC and DC BRW necked ones, and an amazing DC 594 Semi-Hollow with Triple Soapbars.
I use the "David Grissom" approach to amps - as he so masterfully took us through yesterday on the livestream yesterday. I set the amp to a JTM45ish tone with a little breakup, and then from there I use my many options of the second gain stage and/or the boost in the amp, or a clean boost (currently Xotic Super Clean) and/or OD (currently Xotic BB) in front of the amp.
The BRW neck gives it some extra sizzle, so I make sure the gain doesn't get too high, and I reel in the highs. I like my tones on the dark side, and once tuned in, the BRW necked 594s make for some glorious dark vintage Humbucker into a Marshally Amp tones!! I almost always back the bridge pickup (where I spend the bulk of the time) down from 10 to 8 or 9 for the baseline tone, I find the difference from 9 to 10 is a lot of added brightness, which we discussed recently on the 2020 594 thread. If you tune the amp for the guitar at 10, then it is TOO dark when you roll off the volume, IMO. Tune it in at 8 or 9, then it sounds great when you roll of the volume to clean it up, and you can add some brightness and extra sizzle from going to 10 from 8/9 to 10. (I usually set the bridge tone to 7 give or take depending on the guitar, and just leave it there, sometimes use that to fine-tune when switching guitars to not have to go to the amp.)
The resulting tones of the BRW SC with the above setup and methods are to die for. Not really any better than the traditional wood formula 594s, just "different", which is great to mix things up and keep it fresh!
Thanks!
Actually I play many of them each and every day, especially now that I am not traveling for work! It is great fun to compare them and enjoy them. It also provides for a great excuse for not doing any "hard work" on the guitar, that learning and practicing stuff. Noodling and searching for tone is so much more fun.
Thanks!
I am working on it. Getting close.
Wow, that would be a lot of work! Maybe soon.
It involves a couple of things. (1) Hours each day looking for what new guitars show up on Reverb and dealer web sites, new and used. (2) Spending WAY too much money on guitars.
I have promised myself that I am going to chill out in that regard, I have (re-)assembled an amazing stable of PRS Guitars since my return from Hiatus in January. Well, after the two yet to be disclosed inbound guitars arrive. Oh yeah, I also need to get one of those PRS Experience ME-V Limited Guitars. And also a Silver Sky with a Maple Board.
Oh no - it is hopeless!!
More on tone - like any good BRW PRS, the sustain is terrific. What I find a little interesting in this one versus the DC is that this one requires less amp fine tuning relative to the DC.
That said, I have been playing mostly through my Metropoulos Superplex these days, and that amp in general needs less tweaking anyway than my EL34 Marshally Amps to sound great with a BRW Neck. The EL34 amps definitely need to be tweaked in settings to optimize for a BRW neck.
For those unfamiliar with it, it is a 100W Head from George Metropoulus, an amazing small amp builder in the Detroit Area (pretty much a one-man shop), better known over time for his "Metroplex" amp. The Superplex is modeled after a JTM45/100 with a second mode with an extra gain stage, a built-in boost, and an effects loop. It uses KT66 tubes, and has a vintage, open and organic tone. It is my favorite amp of all time. It sounds glorious with my many 594s, my 25" McCartys and the Silver Sky. The 5815 LTs are my favorite pickups ever, and they sound terrific through this amp, across a very broad range of tones.
It is really a well-kept secret IMO. I had one a few years back and foolishly sold it when I was downsizing my amp collection and just keeping lower wattage amps. He isn't in general building them right now, but he took mercy on me and built me one last month as part of a small run that he did. It is Superplex #68. Wow, how are there only 68 of these on the planet?!?
(It is finicky to dial in at first. Once you figure it out, it is mindblowingly awesome! Perhaps that initial finickiness held it back from being more widely popular. When I first got my first one, I didn't love it. I had to watch George's videos on it a few times, and then I figured it out - and it was amp Nirvana from there.)
(Since I am here on a PRS Forum - I should mention that my second favorite amp is the PRS HXDA 30W head. Wow, is that an awesome amp as well - and my favorite EL34 amp! I dig that amp so much that I have two of them, one at home and one in my CA Apartment.)
As focused as I am on the SC and DC 594s, it is great to have different varieties of them, the great SC and DC BRW necked ones, and an amazing DC 594 Semi-Hollow with Triple Soapbars.
I use the "David Grissom" approach to amps - as he so masterfully took us through yesterday on the livestream yesterday. I set the amp to a JTM45ish tone with a little breakup, and then from there I use my many options of the second gain stage and/or the boost in the amp, or a clean boost (currently Xotic Super Clean) and/or OD (currently Xotic BB) in front of the amp.
The BRW neck gives it some extra sizzle, so I make sure the gain doesn't get too high, and I reel in the highs. I like my tones on the dark side, and once tuned in, the BRW necked 594s make for some glorious dark vintage Humbucker into a Marshally Amp tones!! I almost always back the bridge pickup (where I spend the bulk of the time) down from 10 to 8 or 9 for the baseline tone, I find the difference from 9 to 10 is a lot of added brightness, which we discussed recently on the 2020 594 thread. If you tune the amp for the guitar at 10, then it is TOO dark when you roll off the volume, IMO. Tune it in at 8 or 9, then it sounds great when you roll of the volume to clean it up, and you can add some brightness and extra sizzle from going to 10 from 8/9 to 10. (I usually set the bridge tone to 7 give or take depending on the guitar, and just leave it there, sometimes use that to fine-tune when switching guitars to not have to go to the amp.)
The resulting tones of the BRW SC with the above setup and methods are to die for. Not really any better than the traditional wood formula 594s, just "different", which is great to mix things up and keep it fresh!
Thanks!
Actually I play many of them each and every day, especially now that I am not traveling for work! It is great fun to compare them and enjoy them. It also provides for a great excuse for not doing any "hard work" on the guitar, that learning and practicing stuff. Noodling and searching for tone is so much more fun.
Damn, Pete, you're on a roll. That one's fantastic!
Keep that up and you'll actually have a half decent collection one of these days.
Thanks!
I am working on it. Getting close.
Wow, that would be a lot of work! Maybe soon.
It involves a couple of things. (1) Hours each day looking for what new guitars show up on Reverb and dealer web sites, new and used. (2) Spending WAY too much money on guitars.
I have promised myself that I am going to chill out in that regard, I have (re-)assembled an amazing stable of PRS Guitars since my return from Hiatus in January. Well, after the two yet to be disclosed inbound guitars arrive. Oh yeah, I also need to get one of those PRS Experience ME-V Limited Guitars. And also a Silver Sky with a Maple Board.
Oh no - it is hopeless!!
