Just discovered the Electra Dyne. Wow!

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riggles

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I had only really explored the Mark series in the last number of years, making up for lost time (Studio Pre, III, IV, V:25). Earlier this year, I had a JCM800 2204 circuit made for me by Ceriatone (17" chassis put in a Mesa rackmount frame!) and also had acquired a Bogner Goldfinger 45 to get some real Marshall flavor options.

The Bogner in 80s mode could be dialed in to do a dead-on JCM800 sound and had a fantastic clean channel. But as I'm moving to just studio racks, it was too big so it had to go. And the 2204 has, to me, a narrow-ish sweet spot with the Master Vol. Too low and it's a bit thin and quiet (I use a loadbox), and too high the sound flattens out and gets darker and saggy. A 2203 might fix that, but...

Last week I discovered the Electra Dyne. I had heard the name mentioned before, but never paid attention to it. It was always the Stiletto and Royal Atlantic that would come up regarding British style Mesa amps. Both were too big. I saw an ED rackmount listed not too far from me, so I did a little more research. Some people really liked it. For $800 in beautiful condition from an original owner, I thought it was worth a shot. Boy is it ever.

To my ears, when running through my Torpedo Live w/ a Celestion IR of a Greenback loaded 4x12, this is classic Marshall territory. I thought I'd have to swap in EL34s, but I don't see the need. I used an amp head switcher to go between the 2204 and the ED, and the ED was basically a better JCM800 than the JCM800. I think the Greenbacks have a lot to do with it, as well as having the headroom of a 90W amp.

But in short, this has given me back everything I liked about the Goldfinger and gives me everything I want from a 2204. I really am quite pleasantly surprised.
 
It's great when you find a new (old) amp that really rattles your cage isn't it lol. Great to hear you've found this gem of an amp. And it's WAY more versatile than some people realize too. You can do SO much with this amp. It appears that you're an EL34 guy, but give 6L6's a try. Oh and crank it and let it breathe!
 
Daxman73 said:
It's great when you find a new (old) amp that really rattles your cage isn't it lol. Great to hear you've found this gem of an amp. And it's WAY more versatile than some people realize too. You can do SO much with this amp. It appears that you're an EL34 guy, but give 6L6's a try. Oh and crank it and let it breathe!
It came with 6L6s in it, and I'm not changing them out, haha. Sounds great as-is. I've got the master up between 10:30 and 11:00, Volume varies between 1:00 and 3:00. If I set Volume at 1:00, the clean is nice and clean with most of my pickups, Red mode has a great crunch, and I goose the Blue mode with boost pedal for a nice lead tone, since I find that mode a touch thicker anyway.

Surprisingly versatile with one pedal, 3 modes, and one adjustable tone stack.
 
I sold My ED about 6 years ago and went on a handwired amp buying frenzy. I owned and played a lot of heavy hitters Including Friedman, Bray, Landry, Suhr etc. Many thousands of dollars later I just picked up a used Electra Dyne Head and it really is a sweet sounding amp. I wish I would have left well enough alone. But I did learn that I have a sound in my head with my guitars and pedals It always sounds like me. Im glad to be back in the boogie camp. The Ed is one of the best bang for your buck out there, especially at used prices. The grass is not greener on the other side its just a different shade of green.
 
Have you DL'd and installed the firmware update for the torpedo live?
I like the Britgreen IR and the Greentri IR for greenback tones. I have the Celestion Greenback IR as well but I haven't gotten the same results with it. My other IRs are a couple of REVV IRs, a Celestion with Alnico Blue speakers, and a Mesa OS 4 x 12 World Tour Edition. I really like the SM57 for my rhythm tones.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1j0tn35j8s5k0j/A%20Bomb%20Punk%20Rock%20Demo.mp3?dl=0
 
YellowJacket said:
Have you DL'd and installed the firmware update for the torpedo live?
I like the Britgreen IR and the Greentri IR for greenback tones. I have the Celestion Greenback IR as well but I haven't gotten the same results with it. My other IRs are a couple of REVV IRs, a Celestion with Alnico Blue speakers, and a Mesa OS 4 x 12 World Tour Edition. I really like the SM57 for my rhythm tones.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1j0tn35j8s5k0j/A%20Bomb%20Punk%20Rock%20Demo.mp3?dl=0

Sounds great!

The last firmware I installed for the Live was when they enabled mixing two mics/IRs. Don’t recall which version # that was exactly. Although not all of the cabs seemed to support it. Depending on where my ears are at, I like some of the Suhr Greenback cabs, as well as some of the Celestion IRs. Usually a 57+121 mix. The Pete Thorn 2x12 IR can be bright, but it cuts pretty good. But if I’ve been playing my Mark III early, no way - sounds terrible.
 
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