Synergy SYN 5050

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Gang!

   I'm just curious if anyone here has tried one of these yet? Any thoughts?

Harley 8)

[Zilthy]

I haven't tried the 50/50 but I do have the SYN-30 Head and it instantly became my main amp.  :)

Pretty high quality stuff, and the 50/50 is designed by Fryette.   The only 'bad' thing I have heard about it is it has a louder fan noise than some people would like.

[Harley Hexxe]

I haven't tried the 50/50 but I do have the SYN-30 Head and it instantly became my main amp.  :)

Pretty high quality stuff, and the 50/50 is designed by Fryette.   The only 'bad' thing I have heard about it is it has a louder fan noise than some people would like.

Hey Zilthy,

    Thanks for that heads up! The only place I could see where that might be an issue, would be in a studio.

Harley 8)

[Harley Hexxe]

I'm going to have to try to do some comparisons... Fryette, is who took over VHT, or Steven Fryette is who developed VHT, I'm not sure.

But I'm going to have to compare VHT to Soldano and try to determine how different they are.

I never tried a VHT power amp, but I was remembering the other day, one of the first times I tried the MP-1 Classic was through the poweramp section of a Soldano HR 50. It was one of the most killer tones I've ever heard.

I know VHT's aren't bad, but I wonder how close they come to that tone?

It would be an expensive gamble to buy one of these Synergy poweramps, only to find out it doesn't have the same mojo as it's 80's predecessor.

Just some open thoughts on finding the perfect power amp for the Classic. I do have a lot of research to do on the subject.

Harley 8)

[Zilthy]

On thegearpage.net in the rackspace forum, there is a long thread on synergy modular amps. There are also a lot of posts on that power amp in that thread. You could also probably get some direct opinions from the Egnater/synergy/Randall MTS group on Faceb**k. And finally Synergy also have forums.

I wish I could be more help, but I only have the head and have never tried that power Amp

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Zilthy,

    I'll go lurk in those places and see what's being said.
    I appreciate that

Harley 8)

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Zilthy,

   I went and looked at the gear page. Wow! Those are some really confused people 

    I'll take things with a grain of salt at Synergy's site, just like I would with Sweetwater or any other places like that. After all, they are in the business to SELL this stuff, not to be honest about it.

Harley 8)

[Zilthy]

Hey Zilthy,

   I went and looked at the gear page. Wow! Those are some really confused people 

    I'll take things with a grain of salt at Synergy's site, just like I would with Sweetwater or any other places like that. After all, they are in the business to SELL this stuff, not to be honest about it.

Yeah, there are opinions all over the place.  I was really hesitant to go Synergy myself, but I am glad I did.  Really, really loving the SYN-30.  But, that 50/50 is a different thing entirely, and it's hard to find a review or demo of that not attached to using some sort of Synergy pre-amp.

My experience so far with that is that they build really high quality stuff, but it comes from B.A.D. which does the Soldano, Friedman stuff.   Truth be told though, if I wanted to go rack mount with my Synergy setup, I'd probably go with the Fryette LXII over the SYN 50/50, but really would look for a 2/50/2 or older most likely.  *shrug*.  Take that with a grain of salt though, all based on what I read.

The 50/50 could kill.  Vai uses it, and so do a lot of other people.  For my needs, which is mainly playing at home and recording, the 30 is perfect and really happy with the sound.

There are a bunch of demos on YouTube, of course, but hard to tell what's good there, or get through EytschPi's two hour long videos.... :D

I always wonder about people though.... like there was one claiming the 50/50 didn't have enough headroom.  Seriously, how loud do people play?   I have played from small clubs to *huge* venues, and never, ever needed that much amp.  Not even come close.  I just like them. :D

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Zilthy,

   My main concerns about the Synergy amps revolve around changing the tubes. Since they are tube amps and tubes wear out after a while, they will need to be changed eventually, and that means biasing. Will I have to take it somewhere to have it biased for the new tubes, or is it self-biasing?

   The SYN 5050 is based off the LXII power amp, the only difference is the EQ it has, because the LXII was designed for amp modelers, as opposed to actual preamps.
I know what you mean about EytschPi's videos. He IS a bit long-winded  ::)
 
   I wouldn't mind going to a Synergy preamp/poweramp setup, as it does seem pretty streamlined and simplified, but I wonder how I would be able to switch between preamp selections if I wanted to use more than just two preamps in the same rack? I'm not sure if a MIDI controller would do that or if I need something else. They are kind of vague in that respect. I'll have to go back to the Synergy site and read the manuals for the SYN 2 rack modules and see if there is anything about that there. I got more answers from the manual for the 5050 than I did the forums. One of the things I wanted to know about the poweramp was, could I use 5881 tubes instead of 6L6's? This is because the poweramp section of a Soldano uses those, so this would give me more of a Soldano-esque type of sound with the SLO preamp module. The tubes it comes with are Sovtek 6L6/5881's, so I might be able to get away with that. Now to address the biasing...

   I'm not sure if my understanding of the term is the same as everyone else's. but when I hear the term "headroom," I think of how much volume I can get from my clean sound before the tube distortion begins to take over. Let's take my old Fender Twins for example. Normally on a stock Twin, when you turn your volume up to about four, (non master volume amps), you are running the amp at full power. As you turn up past that, it begins to get distorted. I use higher gain rated 6L6 tubes in mine so I can turn up to five or six before it becomes a noticeable distorted tone. What I get in that "sweet spot" area, is more audible harmonic overtones, and because of the increased volume, and rich EQ, some musical feedback at that level. Sovtek tubes always seem to begin breaking up early which is why I don't like them. I've played large halls and venues with two Twins before, and while it seems loud as hell, it actually blends in better with the rest of the band.

   That's just my two cents. I could be totally wrong about the meaning of "headroom."

Harley 8)

[Zilthy]

Fixed non-adjustable bias in the Synergy stuff.

I don't know about 5881's in it.  Personally, I think my tone is pretty Soldanoesque with my rig and 6L6s, at least close enough that I won't argue with it.  Oh, I know I will eventually try and get a real SLO someday, but that's some serious $$$$.  Is it exact?  No.  But I think most people would be hard pressed to accurately tell the difference in blind tests.  There are a lot of things that do the SLO really well out there.  For some odd reason, it is a fairly sought after and copied tone. :O

MIDI controller is fine for multiple Syn-2 units.

[Harley Hexxe]

Yeah I kind of thought it would be a fixed bias.

   You're right, SLO's are a lot of money, they always have been. If you've ever played a SLO 100, you'd never forget it. Just like if you ever played a Ken Fisher Trainwreck, you'd never forget that either. But when you play through something that claims to be just like either one of those two, You'll know if they are full of smoke or for real in seconds. Those amps are alive!
   They are really bold and good sounding amplifiers.

    Thanks for that, I had gone and read about that today

Harley 8)