I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
- Guitarbilly
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1307
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:08 am
I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
... it sounded great lol
I was really apprehensive about it because it's the first time I played live with a SS amp in decades.
To make matters "worse" the band we were playing with had monster rigs. A Fender Bassman head and a Marshall 1987 going through old Marshall 4x12s (they sounded killer btw) so I was like "oh no, my rig is not going to hold up well going before that"
But at the end of the day, this was just in my head, because my rig did hold up just fine . The Mosfet sounded great, no problem at all with volume, punch or anything. 2 songs in, I completely forgot I was playing a SS amp, it sounded just like my regular Marshalls.
I did notice a few differences though. Since the Mosfet power amp is super clean, the delay sounded much clearer and more present than when I'm using it with a tube amp, with the exact same settings. So I turned the delay level down a bit. I usually have it mixed low anyway (around 25%) but it had to go even lower with this amp (around 20%)
The wah is also a lot more pronounced in front of the SS preamp for some reason and it seemed to have a wider range. That was intteresting and actually cool.
And the amp sound is overall a bit more contained and controllable. My regular Marshalls, especially the Super Lead, always feel like they need to be tamed, they have this great harmonic content, feedback etc that feels like it can run away from you at any moment lol. While the Mosfet just puts out what you give to it. Nothing less, but nothing more either. It's definitely a more precise/clinical feel but not in a bad way. It sounded more "dialed in". I actually liked it a lot.
I think I'll start gigging this amp more often. Really enjoyed the experience.
I was really apprehensive about it because it's the first time I played live with a SS amp in decades.
To make matters "worse" the band we were playing with had monster rigs. A Fender Bassman head and a Marshall 1987 going through old Marshall 4x12s (they sounded killer btw) so I was like "oh no, my rig is not going to hold up well going before that"
But at the end of the day, this was just in my head, because my rig did hold up just fine . The Mosfet sounded great, no problem at all with volume, punch or anything. 2 songs in, I completely forgot I was playing a SS amp, it sounded just like my regular Marshalls.
I did notice a few differences though. Since the Mosfet power amp is super clean, the delay sounded much clearer and more present than when I'm using it with a tube amp, with the exact same settings. So I turned the delay level down a bit. I usually have it mixed low anyway (around 25%) but it had to go even lower with this amp (around 20%)
The wah is also a lot more pronounced in front of the SS preamp for some reason and it seemed to have a wider range. That was intteresting and actually cool.
And the amp sound is overall a bit more contained and controllable. My regular Marshalls, especially the Super Lead, always feel like they need to be tamed, they have this great harmonic content, feedback etc that feels like it can run away from you at any moment lol. While the Mosfet just puts out what you give to it. Nothing less, but nothing more either. It's definitely a more precise/clinical feel but not in a bad way. It sounded more "dialed in". I actually liked it a lot.
I think I'll start gigging this amp more often. Really enjoyed the experience.
- Guitarbilly
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1307
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:08 am
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
Some clips:
AC/DC (what's better to show Marshall tone? )
My little solo thing:
One of our songs:
AC/DC (what's better to show Marshall tone? )
My little solo thing:
One of our songs:
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
its the classic "les paul and marshall" sound. you guys sound great. i had one of these 25 years ago which i eventually traded for my vh140c, i wish i still had it. with my better SS amps like the ampeg or RG100es, it honestly never even crosses my mind im playing a SS amp, if anything im more relaxed knowing a tube or something isnt gonna blow up lol.
- Guitarbilly
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1307
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:08 am
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
Yeah I was just taking with Raf about the original Randall RGs last night. Those amps are the real deal!!!! Just killer. The VH140c is a monster also. It seems like the moment companies got SS right, they discontinued them
Any of these amps would be huge hits today if they were still made correctly.
Any of these amps would be huge hits today if they were still made correctly.
- screamingdaisy
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2024 10:49 pm
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
IMO...
When the guitar world thought they'd run out of tubes they were plowing money into solid state, but once they realized tubes weren't going to disappear they switched back. It took awhile, but once someone figured out the lunchbox head they even replaced the low end stuff with tubes.
On the bass side, a good MOSFET bass amp was about the same price, if not higher, than an equivalent tube amp. However, the bass world generally likes the sound/response of a solid state power section, so there was an economic reason to keep them in production... until class D came.
When the guitar world thought they'd run out of tubes they were plowing money into solid state, but once they realized tubes weren't going to disappear they switched back. It took awhile, but once someone figured out the lunchbox head they even replaced the low end stuff with tubes.
On the bass side, a good MOSFET bass amp was about the same price, if not higher, than an equivalent tube amp. However, the bass world generally likes the sound/response of a solid state power section, so there was an economic reason to keep them in production... until class D came.
- Guitarbilly
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1307
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:08 am
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
That's a solid point. I agree 100%screamingdaisy wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2024 6:07 pm IMO...
When the guitar world thought they'd run out of tubes they were plowing money into solid state, but once they realized tubes weren't going to disappear they switched back. It took awhile, but once someone figured out the lunchbox head they even replaced the low end stuff with tubes.
On the bass side, a good MOSFET bass amp was about the same price, if not higher, than an equivalent tube amp. However, the bass world generally likes the sound/response of a solid state power section, so there was an economic reason to keep them in production... until class D came.
- spawnofthesith
- Posts: 579
- Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2024 2:56 pm
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
Nice, sounds great!!
Guitars: PRS/Gibson
Amps: Mesa Mark V | '76 Fender Deluxe Reverb | EVH 5153 6L6 50w| Mesa Mark IV | Badlander 50
Band: https://linktr.ee/jawaofficialband
Amps: Mesa Mark V | '76 Fender Deluxe Reverb | EVH 5153 6L6 50w| Mesa Mark IV | Badlander 50
Band: https://linktr.ee/jawaofficialband
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
Hell yeah!
I like 5150s. The rest of you bullshit amps can get fucked.
-
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2024 6:18 pm
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
Sounded like a good Marshall to me.
- overdrivenel34s
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2024 5:21 am
Re: I used the Mosfet at last night's gig and....
Yeah, those clips sounds great! Very classic marshall sounding tones.