Heard 5153, H&K Coreblade, ENGLs Live Last Night... Impressions

[hsnyder]

Hey all,

So I saw revocation, Eluveitie, and Children of Bodom last night at the sound academy in Toronto. I was paying heavy attention to the guitar gear.

So first, revocation. Their amps were hidden behind cloth with their logo on it, so i couldn't see them straight away. my ears told me 5150s or rectos, complete with the shitty clean channel. End of the set, the screens come away, and... 2 EVH 5150 III heads. Go figure.

Eluveitie were playing hughes and kettner coreblades, and they f*cking slay! Brutal dry rhythm sound, not harsh or anything. Rather enjoyed it.

When children were doing their soundcheck, the first guitar chugs made me go "whoa, thats evil", but i found by the end of the night I was finding their tone a bit harsh. Not sure what ENGL it was, but the cabs at least were engls. No heads visible, but to me the tone definately sounded engl.

Overall I'd say i was most impressed with the coreblades, the engls sounded good but I'd say the coreblades beat them out on everything except slowish chug palm mutes. The 5153s sounded like 6505s/5150s to me

 

[Shinozoku]

Bodom use ENGL cabs only. As far as I know, their amp setup is still the Lee Jackson GP-1000 through a VHT 2/90/2. The preamp is incredibly midrange heavy and bright, and it doesn't help that they peg the mids and treble on the EQ. Their reasoning being that they cut through well in a mix and help solos jump out without a boost.

Alas, without some studio editing, it can be quite harsh.

Thanks for the reviews, though!

EDIT: Just read Alexi's using the E530 preamp. This will be interesting to hear...

 

[hsnyder]

EDIT: Just read Alexi's using the E530 preamp. This will be interesting to hear...

Yeah it SOUNDED like an ENGL. Latvala's tone was pretty similar to Laiho's, my guess would be same rig. Nevertheless, the Coreblades were what impressed me at that gig. And Eluveitie just fucking rock in general

 

[JonWormwood]

E530s have been spotted in roopes rack for some time now.

 

[Danny Drama]

Been using a Coreblade since they were released. Best amp I own/have owned.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

Hell are using the CB live....
I think it's a cool amp, there's just this one high end fizzyness/spike that can't be dialed out...kills it for me

 

[Danny Drama]

Haven't really noticed that Lasse. Tho to be fair I'm mostly on the Ultra I channel and my band is a kinda Skid Row/Van Halen etc type deal.

I'm rehearsing tomorrow all day so I'ma try and see if I can hear it.

 

[Ironbird666]

Hell are using the CB live....
I think it's a cool amp, there's just this one high end fizzyness/spike that can't be dialed out...kills it for me

Lasse, I own a Coreblade as well and I changed the tubes out for JJ's, put a balanced Gold Pin in the V1 and two standards in the other slots, set of JJ EL34's in the power section. I find this warmed it up a bit, filled out the midrange and relieved the high end spike that the stock tubes were putting out. It was the best investment I've done so far to the amp. It's still putting out PLENTY of aggressive snarl and has no issues cutting through so it didn't neuter the tone or anything. I'm not sure if you tried a tube change or not, you may have . . . ?

 

[Lasse Lammert]

I did the JJ thing as well.
am endorsed by H&K, they offered me the CB for 50%....still refused.

but that's just me, it's a kickass amp for live use!

 

[Ironbird666]

Cool deal. I never put it under a mic so I guess I never had to deal with that issue, and after reading what you're saying I don't know if I will since we have access to two 5150's, a Triple Rec, and an Engl Savage. I absolutely love it for live use, it's so damn easy to use!

 

[Lasse Lammert]

yeah, it's perfect for live...I just couldn't justify spending that money just for a live amp...and I don't need it in the studio.

but it really is an awesome amp to travel with...or even to leave it at home and bring your presets on an USB stick....perfect for touring etc.

The clean sound is stellar on that thing

 

[nwright]

I'd blame the users tonal desires/objectives if you thought the 5150III cleans sucked.

For me, it has pretty much the best clean channel of any 3 channel high gainer I've ever played.

 

[Danny Drama]

I've never recorded the CB either as it goes. I was toying with changing out the tubes also but I really love my live sound so there's never been any need.

 

[hsnyder]

Indeed it may be that the guys just had no idea how to eq the clean channel, or maybe their guitars just sound like shit. I never actually USED the clean channel of the 5153