First full performance with the Therapy
Jul 9, 2014 0:46:24 GMT -7
Alan M (aka 'Milky'), Dan F"i"fe, and 5 more like this
Post by Pete aka shouldb on Jul 9, 2014 0:46:24 GMT -7
We did a full run through last night (we always hire a hall, and do a full stage set up and play list run through before a decent gig, which is happening this Sat)........ and I am still trying to get a handle on the moment............... !
EPIC....... that's the first word which came to mind. To say this thing rocks is a bit of an understatement to be honest, and an overused cliche. It just RIPS IT UP!
Okay, some facts might be useful, eh? This amp is like a Z28 on steroids, with a good dose of Remedy thrown in - and that is high praise indeed!!! It has plenty of gain, plenty, but much less distortion than the Remedy, so cuts through the mix like a knife! It sustains, it thumps, it clangs, it sings, it rips, it roars, it sparkles, it jangles - and all of that without a single pedal! Just do two things: work your GV and work your right hand, and all of this can be yours!
It has that right hand dynamic of the Z28 - you just think of the tone you want and the amp plays it for you! Lay off the right hand, and it calms down and cleans up; lay into the right hand, and it just attacks like a guard dog. I could pull between-vocal-line phrases out of the mix just by playing harder on the right hand, the way some people use a clean boost - not needed here. As for rocking out, well, Dave Grohl should try one of these!! It just blew the Foo Fighters tone out of the park. Yet, with the GV rolled back, I could blast through The Kinks, the Stones, the Faces with ease. (with the amp's V rolled back, and the MV raised, you could get gorgeous, rich, proper cleans as well, BTW, but that's not needed in this band)
I found myself playing 90% on the bridge P90 though, and only used the neck a couple of times, and the mid position once, which surprised me (I tend to move between them a lot), but I suspect that was more to do with the pure ENERGY the band had last night! (our bass player was playing his new Orange Terror Bass combo for the first time. Man, that thing rattled the floor, never mind the windows, and has a very rude sound - nothing genteel in THAT amp!)
As for pedals, it took those surprisingly well for being on such a high gain setting (I ended up with the Volume at 3 o'clock) - I used 2 gain pedals: SL and EP; the EP set at unity to give me a fat, almost fuzz tone for things like Queens of the Stone Age tones, and the SL with the gain barely on, and the volume above noon, for a solo boost when I needed it. I was pleasantly surprised how it managed to boost the volume as well, given the settings and the fact of the 12AX7 pre-am tubes. It was very like the lift the Remedy EQ Bypass gave me. The thing I noticed about pedals the most though, was the Therapy needed much LESS effect from each pedal, if that makes sense? I ended up turning every pedal down in my chain, not in volume, but in the blend or mix - it just didn't need so much, to be heard clearly. This clarity of tone reminded me very much of the Z28 - everything just sounded "more" of itself.
There seems to be something the Doc does with 6V6 / 6L6 tubes which just WORKS! (I now know what he said when he talked about the Z28 sounding more like 6L6 tubes) - there's a girth, a muscle if you will, in those tones which just punches well above its weight. The Therapy has a heck of a thump to it, so if you're heavy handed on the bass strings through 12" speakers, you might find yourself rolling off the Bass control - this was the most dramatic tone control IMHO - I found the T&M quite subtle in their effects, useable but subtle.
Okay, more hyperbole in conclusion We finished the evening with an 80s song we've never played before (request from the bride for Sat - bit of a society wedding, and they hire us?? HAHA!). She wants us to play Journey - Don't Stop Believing. So we rip through it, and when we've finished, the guys in the band are going nuts over the tones from the Therapy! (I like to think I did a good impression of Neil Schon, but no, it was the Therapy they were going nuts over ) And with good reason - that thing sounded EPIC! I haven't played an amp which made my spine tingle like that...... ever!
I'm not going to commit myself yet, as I need a few gigs under my belt yet to be sure, but the Therapy is in serious danger of becoming my new desert island amp .........
What have I missed?? (I know - audio /video - we have no means of recording anything as a band. Our singer tried her iPhone, but at the volumes we ere playing, it just flubbed out ).... oh yes. amp settings: MV - 10:30 (this is a 35 Watt Z amp, so no shortage of volume available on tap!) B - 11; M - noon; T- 1; V-3, and of course that magical PURPLE jewel light, just like a Z Wreck!
EPIC....... that's the first word which came to mind. To say this thing rocks is a bit of an understatement to be honest, and an overused cliche. It just RIPS IT UP!
Okay, some facts might be useful, eh? This amp is like a Z28 on steroids, with a good dose of Remedy thrown in - and that is high praise indeed!!! It has plenty of gain, plenty, but much less distortion than the Remedy, so cuts through the mix like a knife! It sustains, it thumps, it clangs, it sings, it rips, it roars, it sparkles, it jangles - and all of that without a single pedal! Just do two things: work your GV and work your right hand, and all of this can be yours!
It has that right hand dynamic of the Z28 - you just think of the tone you want and the amp plays it for you! Lay off the right hand, and it calms down and cleans up; lay into the right hand, and it just attacks like a guard dog. I could pull between-vocal-line phrases out of the mix just by playing harder on the right hand, the way some people use a clean boost - not needed here. As for rocking out, well, Dave Grohl should try one of these!! It just blew the Foo Fighters tone out of the park. Yet, with the GV rolled back, I could blast through The Kinks, the Stones, the Faces with ease. (with the amp's V rolled back, and the MV raised, you could get gorgeous, rich, proper cleans as well, BTW, but that's not needed in this band)
I found myself playing 90% on the bridge P90 though, and only used the neck a couple of times, and the mid position once, which surprised me (I tend to move between them a lot), but I suspect that was more to do with the pure ENERGY the band had last night! (our bass player was playing his new Orange Terror Bass combo for the first time. Man, that thing rattled the floor, never mind the windows, and has a very rude sound - nothing genteel in THAT amp!)
As for pedals, it took those surprisingly well for being on such a high gain setting (I ended up with the Volume at 3 o'clock) - I used 2 gain pedals: SL and EP; the EP set at unity to give me a fat, almost fuzz tone for things like Queens of the Stone Age tones, and the SL with the gain barely on, and the volume above noon, for a solo boost when I needed it. I was pleasantly surprised how it managed to boost the volume as well, given the settings and the fact of the 12AX7 pre-am tubes. It was very like the lift the Remedy EQ Bypass gave me. The thing I noticed about pedals the most though, was the Therapy needed much LESS effect from each pedal, if that makes sense? I ended up turning every pedal down in my chain, not in volume, but in the blend or mix - it just didn't need so much, to be heard clearly. This clarity of tone reminded me very much of the Z28 - everything just sounded "more" of itself.
There seems to be something the Doc does with 6V6 / 6L6 tubes which just WORKS! (I now know what he said when he talked about the Z28 sounding more like 6L6 tubes) - there's a girth, a muscle if you will, in those tones which just punches well above its weight. The Therapy has a heck of a thump to it, so if you're heavy handed on the bass strings through 12" speakers, you might find yourself rolling off the Bass control - this was the most dramatic tone control IMHO - I found the T&M quite subtle in their effects, useable but subtle.
Okay, more hyperbole in conclusion We finished the evening with an 80s song we've never played before (request from the bride for Sat - bit of a society wedding, and they hire us?? HAHA!). She wants us to play Journey - Don't Stop Believing. So we rip through it, and when we've finished, the guys in the band are going nuts over the tones from the Therapy! (I like to think I did a good impression of Neil Schon, but no, it was the Therapy they were going nuts over ) And with good reason - that thing sounded EPIC! I haven't played an amp which made my spine tingle like that...... ever!
I'm not going to commit myself yet, as I need a few gigs under my belt yet to be sure, but the Therapy is in serious danger of becoming my new desert island amp .........
What have I missed?? (I know - audio /video - we have no means of recording anything as a band. Our singer tried her iPhone, but at the volumes we ere playing, it just flubbed out ).... oh yes. amp settings: MV - 10:30 (this is a 35 Watt Z amp, so no shortage of volume available on tap!) B - 11; M - noon; T- 1; V-3, and of course that magical PURPLE jewel light, just like a Z Wreck!