I heard the same things and had the same expectations prior to playing through a couple of them.No me neither.
Honestly from all the videos I've seen I think the Iconic sounds quite bad.
Smeared and fizzy, dry without the "depth" and some strange, weird midrange. I recognize some "recording tricks" but they just can't completely hide the character of the gain structure.
I usually like the EVH stuff a lot and of course I will try it out if I get a chance to.
But my expectations are very low.
I heard the same things and had the same expectations prior to playing through a couple of them.
+ all his Amptweaker pedals and Peavey 5150 ampsJames Brown also designed the MXR 5150 Overdrive iirc - that's a good pedal!
Yes, it was better than I thought it would be. Especially the 2nd time, with lower output pickups in a Les Paul.So you changed your mind then?
Nah. Vids have been bad but no different than some saying Marshall is fizzy which I've seen many.No me neither.
Honestly from all the videos I've seen I think the Iconic sounds quite bad.
Smeared and fizzy, dry without the "depth" and some strange, weird midrange. I recognize some "recording tricks" but they just can't completely hide the character of the gain structure.
I usually like the EVH stuff a lot and of course I will try it out if I get a chance to.
But my expectations are very low.
However i haven't had this much fun in a long time. It rips.
After the time I've had it? Fun stays.This alone makes it a winner!
@BloodrockGot an iconic this week and all iconic say is wow! I've owned at least 15 Marshalls over thr years, as well as several of the EVH branded amps. The jubilee an 800 have always been my favorite marshall circuits. I found the other EVH amps over gained,fizzy, too squishy, or a combination of things I just didn't like being a long time marshall fan. The iconic comes with a stock speaker that appears to be based on the v-type but was obviously voiced for the old school VH tones. Using this speaker I got some pretty good VH tones from the amp. Then I popped in my favorite V30... Holy shart! I will say that WITHOUT A DOUBT this Amp is based on a Marshall circuit! Not a Soldano, old 5150, current EVH. Or any of those things Ed used. This is a tweaked Marshall circuit and is easily one of the best ones I've ever played. It comes across as a near perfect hot rodded JCM800 on channel one with the boost on. Channel 2 adds bass and gain while shifting the mid frequency to a more modern metal EQ. Both channels stay tight AF no matter how much gain and all the EQ controls are very interactive. I have to honestly say to me this amp sounds almost exactly like my dream modded Marshall would. The JVM I had was not even close in terms of tone. And that's the marshall flagship. Its even better than the Ceriatones I've owned. Kudos to EVH, they've finally built one of the Marshalls we've all been wanting for years...
This is an interesting development. With solide state distortion (e.g. JB's MXR5150 or the AmpTweaker pedals) coming so close to the real thing, you only need tubes as the sauce on top, for the final 10% of the the sound *.So first gain stage is solid state as well as the phase inverter.
It has 2 12AX7.
The 6505MH has 3 12AX7 - and also a mosfet phase inverter.
So the EVH Iconic eems to be kind of a stripped down 6505MH if you like to look at it that way - but with a 6L6 power amp instead of EL84s.
And I'm curious if there's any further op amp drive involved since you get 2 gain stages out of one 12AX7 (which is missing).
It’s not uncommon to use a mosfet source follower for the tone stack.This is an interesting development. With solide state distortion (e.g. JB's MXR5150 or the AmpTweaker pedals) coming so close to the real thing, you only need tubes as the sauce on top, for the final 10% of the the sound *.
No need to use tubes for the 'easy work', only use them where it really matters for the sound and the feel.
*: Writing this, I had to think of the JMP1 preamp; I guess they thought the same 30 years ago, but the result was different.
How are the clean and crunch tones, like if you want to use it like a 2204?Got an iconic this week and all iconic say is wow! I've owned at least 15 Marshalls over thr years, as well as several of the EVH branded amps. The jubilee an 800 have always been my favorite marshall circuits. I found the other EVH amps over gained,fizzy, too squishy, or a combination of things I just didn't like being a long time marshall fan. The iconic comes with a stock speaker that appears to be based on the v-type but was obviously voiced for the old school VH tones. Using this speaker I got some pretty good VH tones from the amp. Then I popped in my favorite V30... Holy shart! I will say that WITHOUT A DOUBT this Amp is based on a Marshall circuit! Not a Soldano, old 5150, current EVH. Or any of those things Ed used. This is a tweaked Marshall circuit and is easily one of the best ones I've ever played. It comes across as a near perfect hot rodded JCM800 on channel one with the boost on. Channel 2 adds bass and gain while shifting the mid frequency to a more modern metal EQ. Both channels stay tight AF no matter how much gain and all the EQ controls are very interactive. I have to honestly say to me this amp sounds almost exactly like my dream modded Marshall would. The JVM I had was not even close in terms of tone. And that's the marshall flagship. Its even better than the Ceriatones I've owned. Kudos to EVH, they've finally built one of the Marshalls we've all been wanting for years...
Mmmmmmmm..... all the chugs....
That's how I use it. Green channel OD mode is right in that lane.How are the clean and crunch tones, like if you want to use it like a 2204?