Soldano Hot Rod 50+XL ⚡️ ZEN Amp Vault Ep02 ⚡️ SLO tones on a budget

Welcome to the amp vault at Zen Amplification in sunny Sydney, Australia. R&D for our very own tube amp is in full swing (more on this below) - but in the meantime we thought we'd have a little fun and invite you into the vault.

🎧 What to Expect:
Good friend and Aussie guitar legend Leon Todd will host what will become an entire series directly from Zen HQ. Leon and a bunch of other great players will showcase every amp in our collection with a minimum of fuss or distraction. No reviews, chatting or zaney clickbait antics here - just pure tube tone, from super clean through to metal.

We'll feature mostly raw samples, plus some full mixes and double-tracked clips for kicks.

Check out Leon's awesome channel if you haven't already:    / leontodd  

🗂 Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:37 - In a Nutshell
01:33 - Full Mix

REFERENCE CLIPS
03:01 - Ref A: Holt's Day
03:44 - Ref B: Double Barrels
04:33 - Ref C: Will It Shuck?

RAW CLIPS
05:26 - 1. Gainy Rock
06:13 - 2. Moore is Les
07:23 - 3. Home By Midnight
08:05 - 4. Cleans
08:55 - 5. Angus
09:31 - 6. Drop C# Metal
10:10 - 7. Sludge Fest
10:59 - 8. LT Noodling

11:10 - Recording Info
11:32 - Player Comments

🎼 About 'Reference' Clips
A reference clip is a consistent one that will be used across different videos via the magic of re-amping, i.e. nothing in the chain will change but the amp. This is a good way for those interested to compare amps until we get around to collating them all into a mega shootout.

Typically each video will feature 3 or 4 reference clips of appropriate styles highlighting the signature tones of the amp.

🎴Our Mantra:
In short - tubes still rule.

In an endless sea of digital promises, we firmly believe that traditional tube circuitry still offers so much that simulators just can't. Punch, depth, immediacy, interactivity and attack are some words that come to mind. Not to mention the simplicity and the tactile advantages of real amps.

For us, the feeling of playing through a great tube amp is inspiring, distraction-free and simply brings joy. When this tonal trinity occurs, great music is made and good times are had - and that's what it's all about.

🇦🇺 We built a wall - to keep bad tone out:
The vault houses modern classics from companies such as Wizard, Friedman, Diezel, Bogner, Soldano, 65 Amps, Landry, Splawn, Mesa, Orange, Rivera, Divided by 13, Tone King and Peavey. And of course there's a number of vintage stalwarts around the studio from Marshall, Fender, Vox, Hiwatt and more.

To top it off the vault also houses a similarly impressive selection of vintage and modern guitars from Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, Suhr and PRS.

🎤 Analogue Recording Gear:
• 4x12 cabs close mic'd with a Shure SM57 / Sennheiser E906
• Combos and open cabs close mic'd with a Shure SM57 / SE VR1 ribbon mix
• Pair of Neumann U67 room mics 4.5m back, mixed in just a touch
• Neve 1073 preamps for close mics
• API 3124 preamp for rooms
• Little Labs Redeye3D DI (some clips reamped)
• KHE amp switchers to manage the wall, Mogami cabling, Neutrik connectors

🖥 Digital:
• Recorded via an Apogee Symphony A/D converter
• Waves reverb added to some clips
• Minimal post-processing - just a LPF and HPF to better reflect how it sounds in the room

🎛 The Zen Amplifier:
We can't reveal too much right now but there is a very special amplifier design underway in the Zen workshop. It is an all-tube design that incorporates some next-generation innovations, enabling it to compete with the versatility of digital - whilst retaining the responsiveness and punch of traditional tube amps of course.

More details to come later, but sufficed to say we're very excited about this project and can't wait to share it with you.

Thanks for checking out our channel, and don't forget to subscribe to keep up-to-date with all things Zen.

Special thanks to all our amazing guitar playing friends that helped out - Leon Todd, Joel McDonald, Ryan Thomas, James Norbert Ivanyi, Dave Bleus, Cale Storer, Dave Longo, Voya Milutinovic, Ned Koncar, Odin Wolf, Jesse Turner, Daniel Willington, Alex Wichello, Tim Maxwell, Seb Bartels, Jimmy Lardner-Brown & Cameron Henderson.