Voodoo Amps sear mod

[Stillgar]

I have a Grail I am considering having the Voodoo sear mod done, anybody have any experience with this one?

 

[BigBrewtus]

I had one for a short time. I was expecting a ton of gain with a name like Sear. It had good tone but IMO it was missing magic that a modded module should have. The Arrendondo I have has a much more over the top bite and push in the mids. The sear was pretty good for leads and stuff.

 

[KillTone]

The best thing you can do is just talk to Trace and tell him what you want. He can use one of his standard mods (Jose UG, Sear, Tsunami, etc.) and tweak it to your liking.

I had him make a completely custom lead module for me that is absolutely unbelievable. I don't remember what it cost but it was not bad compared to the other high end modders on here.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Tell me more about this unbelievable lead tone :!:

 

[KillTone]

I can tell you all about it, but I am not set up to record - I am a gigging kind of guy.

Trace and I have had MANY long conversations and e-mails about tone. I come from a classic rock/hair metal background (grew up in the 70's and 80's) so the Marshall tone really appeals to me (vintage Boogie too). I am also into Vai and Petrucci kind of tone.

What I told Trace is that I like a lead tone that cuts, but is not brittle or buzy/fizzy. Fat sounding notes, vocal/vowel like midrange and enough gain that sustained notes melt into feedback. I use a lot of pinch harmonics so that was important too.

I sent Trace a 1086 as a donor. He put in a mod that was a hybrid of his Tsunami and JMPMV circuits with some custom tweeks. It has his standard two internal gain trim pots, an added gain switch, plus the gain and voicing switches that come on the 1086. He tweaked those to work with the new voice of the module. Basically this gives me 5 gain adjustments plus the voicing switch.

It does everything I wanted it to do and it has a few great characteristics that I did not think about. It has a very soft feel to it - notes sing and it gives the guitar a really "easy to play" kind of feel. My band covers Comfortably Numb and playing the solo with this module is practically better than sex - glad my wife is not on this board.

By the way - those of you who have modded modules from several modders should try something...I would be interested in hearing your observations. I did a shootout with six modded modules. I don't want to knock anyone because they all do good work, but I had modules from 4 different modders. One thing I noticed that really seperated them was the size of the tone. Some sounded small some a little bigger - the ones that stood out far above the rest were the Voodoo modules. They absolutely filled the room where some others sounded like I was playing through an 8" speaker instead of a 2x12. You really don't notice the difference until you have them side by side in an amp and you switch between them.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

^great review!
Funny, I have a stock Plexi+ (basically a 1086) just laying around, waiting for me to get cash and make a modification decision

 

[alowerdeep]

I can tell you all about it, but I am not set up to record - I am a gigging kind of guy.

Trace and I have had MANY long conversations and e-mails about tone. I come from a classic rock/hair metal background (grew up in the 70's and 80's) so the Marshall tone really appeals to me (vintage Boogie too). I am also into Vai and Petrucci kind of tone.

What I told Trace is that I like a lead tone that cuts, but is not brittle or buzy/fizzy. Fat sounding notes, vocal/vowel like midrange and enough gain that sustained notes melt into feedback. I use a lot of pinch harmonics so that was important too.

I sent Trace a 1086 as a donor. He put in a mod that was a hybrid of his Tsunami and JMPMV circuits with some custom tweeks. It has his standard two internal gain trim pots, an added gain switch, plus the gain and voicing switches that come on the 1086. He tweaked those to work with the new voice of the module. Basically this gives me 5 gain adjustments plus the voicing switch.

It does everything I wanted it to do and it has a few great characteristics that I did not think about. It has a very soft feel to it - notes sing and it gives the guitar a really "easy to play" kind of feel. My band covers Comfortably Numb and playing the solo with this module is practically better than sex - glad my wife is not on this board.

By the way - those of you who have modded modules from several modders should try something...I would be interested in hearing your observations. I did a shootout with six modded modules. I don't want to knock anyone because they all do good work, but I had modules from 4 different modders. One thing I noticed that really seperated them was the size of the tone. Some sounded small some a little bigger - the ones that stood out far above the rest were the Voodoo modules. They absolutely filled the room where some others sounded like I was playing through an 8" speaker instead of a 2x12. You really don't notice the difference until you have them side by side in an amp and you switch between them.

I'd be curious to know which modules you tried..Ive had a few voodoo modules and they were cool...liked the Recto and the Jose HG ok but didnt keep them..though, iwi ould probably owne another one f teh Rectos if I found a good deal on one.........but,all of the Salvaion Modules I have owned or currently have sound huge and articulate...was just a matter of taste as to which ones I decided to keep.....

 

[Ampoholic]

I have a Sear. I love the tones it has. I find it has plenty of gain. The amount of gain is adjustable with 2 internal trim pots and I actually dialed mine back a bit. And the tone controls, especially the trebble really help give it different tones. That being said, I'm currently not using mine 'cause it clashes with the other guitarist's tone.

 

[KillTone]

Ray - Call Trace about fixing up the Plexi Plus. You won't regret it.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I has a Voodoo Jose a few years ago- excellent clarity, super cool lead tone with a shimmer on sweep arpeggios that was beautiful!

However, in comparison to my other modded mods, it lacked low end punch...makes sense since my mod was based off an 80s tone.

Since then, trace mentioned an improvement in his low end- any thoughts on this issue? if you could compare to other top modders that would be great

 

[eyeball987]

I has a Voodoo Jose a few years ago- excellent clarity, super cool lead tone with a shimmer on sweep arpeggios that was beautiful!

However, in comparison to my other modded mods, it lacked low end punch...makes sense since my mod was based off an 80s tone.

Since then, trace mentioned an improvement in his low end- any thoughts on this issue? if you could compare to other top modders that would be great

I had an early HG Jose and I had Trace update it. It came back with an extra internal gain trim pot and much improved low end. I don't use a ton of low end anyway but I went from 3:00 to 11:00 on the bass knob.

 

[KillTone]

I had an "original" Jose UG and had Trace upgrade it to his newest version. It was a huge improvement. The original was OK but, as you noted it lacked bass. The upgrade corrected that and added the trim pots. Unfortunately, I let it go during a financial crisis. The other guitar player in my band has one and he absolutely loves it.

As far as comparing it to other modders, that is kind of hard. Kind of reminds me of the GigMods SL+ but chunkier/punchier. Both modules are great examples of kick *** Marshall tone.

 

[Stillgar]

Thanks for the response. Thats a pretty strong review, Killtone, need to look into that one.

 

[Voodoo Amps]

Good morning guys!

I would like to address some of the topics that were pointed out. In no particular order;

Modules Mods Past & Present - When we started Modding the modules were not certain how much low end to build into the modules. In the beginning we were conservative and as always we welcome player feedback. As players gave us their feedback we updated the Mods to include a lot more low end that can easily be dialed in or out using the Bass EQ control. I think most that have had the modules updated can lend their opinions on the before-and-after effects.

Sear Mod - The Sear Mod was designed for Modern Metal players. We actually gave it more gain than a player should legally be allowed to use (lol). Seriously though, the Sear Mod is capable of some seriously heavy gain levels. I felt a bit guilty about adding that much gain, which is why we initially designed in two (2) Internal Gain Trim Pots.

Internal Gain Trim Pots - This puts the power of structuring the gain in the player's hands. You can greatly increase or decrease the gain and these Gain Trim Pots are indepdentant from the Preamp/Gain control on the front of the module. Some PCB's only allow for one (1) Trim Pot but a majority allow for two (2).

By comparison, the Sear Mod has more gain on tap than the HG-Jose (high gain) and the UG-Jose (ultra gain).

For reference purposes here is a video clip featuring Jason Hook of Five Finger Death Punch with their new single that just came out last week. Jason send a plexi reissue that we completely stripped/gutted and I installed the Sear Mod with some Add-On controls for studio use. The guitar solo is also Jason and uses the Sear Mod. The gain is by no means max'ed out and at best Jason is using approximately 50% of the gain on tap.

Here is the link and you can click on the 720HD setting. It's heavy, it's tuned down, hence what we designed the Sear Mod for. I'm not sure how to imbed the video but if some one knows please feel free to share or embed it so that it players here.

http://youtu.be/NWi7ZtAnIbY

Custom Mods - As Killtone said, we are more than happy to do Custom Mods and we literally do them all the time. If you can articulate what you want we can make it happen for you. We are not offended if you want to re-tweak things - the bottom line is that we want to make certain you are happy.



Thanks & feel free to post any questions;
Trace

 

[alowerdeep]

Sounds good....but strikes me as funny what is considered "metal" now....kind of sounds like Nickelback with a screaming vocalist during the verses.....cool riffs though....

 

[Voodoo Amps]

Sounds good....but strikes me as funny what is considered "metal" now....kind of sounds like Nickelback with a screaming vocalist during the verses.....cool riffs though....

The term ?Modern Metal? is a broad one and there are varying degrees of over all "heaviness" with Modern Metal bands but the over all theme is that most tune down or use 7-string guitars. As such I was pointing to this example to give players a better idea of what the Sear Mod sounds like using a drop tuning. The band may or may not be to your liking but again, I was referencing the guitar tone. Jason?s a great player and the solo demonstrates that the Sear Mod has a lot of articulation even though it is capable of a great deal of gain. Hope that comes across for every one.

Have a great weekend!
Trace

 

[drewiv]

If you have something specific in mind, give Trace a call. He will work with you to build exactly what you are looking for. He built me a great early Mark sounding module that isn't offered directly on his website. He is awesome to work with and I have worked with him frequently. If you haven't called him yet, do it. He is more than happy to talk to you about what you are looking for and he will build it.

 

[Rising Farce]

If you have something specific in mind, give Trace a call. He will work with you to build exactly what you are looking for. He built me a great early Mark sounding module that isn't offered directly on his website. He is awesome to work with and I have worked with him frequently. If you haven't called him yet, do it. He is more than happy to talk to you about what you are looking for and he will build it.

All true. Now tell us more about this Mark module of which you speak.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I love 5FDP! The guitar tone is fantastic Trace! Thick Hi Gain yet somehow tight and articulate- a tough balancing act

 

[drewiv]

Now tell us more about this Mark module of which you speak.

Trace and I had been speaking for some time. He had made a couple modules for me already and I had a V-Rock DL head on order (which is amazing). I rec'd an extra Blackface module in trade that I was going to put up for sale and Trace told me he had been looking to do a Mark mod on a module and a Blackface was a prime candidate. So, I sent it to him. I was looking for early Stones and Santana sound which is the Mark I, slightly hot-rodded. I asked him if that slightly hot-rodded tone could lean toward the Mark IV, which is the other Mark tone I favor. The module, in the end, definitely favors the Mark I sound - exactly what I was looking for. It has just a hint of the IV flavor. I'm not sure he's built any after mine, but if you're looking for that classic Stones and Santana tone I would surely recommend asking Trace if he wants to build another. :wink: