The first official Tode demo video

[Doc B.]

Here's part one of the demos we have been recording of the Tode. Thanks beaucoup to Mike Herrera and Jack Parker. Jack's part will be posted soon...

[dbishopbliss]

I'm looking forward to building this kit.  I just received a Tweed Champ Clone that uses a 6x9" Cleveland Alnico Speaker.  Great little amp.  One knob so it really only does one thing.  Not really any clean headroom on it at all.  Should be fun to compare the 'Tode and the Tweed.

[Doc B.]

We're moving right along and should be shipping in a week or two. Yesterday was the first day of the assembly manual shoot and the guys made great progress. I think they will have the photography done by middle of next week and we just need a few more parts to show up so we can start to kit them up. I'll try to have part two of the first video finished up today, and we have another artist tentatively lined up for a video shoot late next week. I'm hoping he may bring an acoustic electric to demo. And we are also planning to talk to a very good local player who can really shred on a 7 string Ibanez. So we could end up with a pretty decent cross section of instruments and styles for people to listen to.

[Pfenning]

That doesn't sound like an 8" speaker! Really nice demo of the range of tones. I need one of these for sure!

Pfenning

[Doc B.]

One of the comments from Mike Herrera was how nicely the tone developed in the room. I was very gratified to hear that, because Mike is known for helping guitar players get a very good recorded tone on their albums. If you close mic just right you can get a really nice bass balance from a small speaker, and of course we experimented with mic placement for this video as best we could. IMO this demo shows that Tode would make a really useful studio amp as well as a practice amp, and we will be dropping one by Mike's Monkey Trench Studios as soon as we have a demo unit to spare. Part of the reason I added the room sound from a second mic was to give a little better feel for what the amp sounds like out in the room away from the grill. We ran it with an external 12" cabinet too, but we felt that even though there was a bit more bass that way the 12" driver we used sounded kind of bland by comparison, so I left that stuff out of the videos.

Here's a nice article about Mike's studio:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jul/20/business-spotlight-new-studio-expands-recording/

[Doc B.]

Part Two has been posted to youtube:

[ttucker329]

Great videos.  I'm definitely placing this on my wish list to go with my new Gibson SG.  The clean tones the Tode puts out will work great with this guitar. And I can brag that I built it myself!  Have you tried any effects pedals yet?  I'm curious what a vintage Ibanez tube screamer would sound like with this amp.

[Doc B.]

Haven't tried any effects yet except for an experimental overdrive I built that is similar to a Bad Cat. The Mad Ape is just down the road from us, and I hope to get together with Matt there as soon as we have a few more demo units built-

http://www.themadape.com/

And of course I have a few other ideas for pedals myself.

[ttucker329]

Nice site.  The Mad Ape definitely carries some interesting effects pedals.  Very refreshing after looking through the same ole stuff on Guitarcenter's website.  I even got me that T-Rex Hobo Overdrive pedal.  It should go great with my orange dual terror.

[Doc B.]

We recorded part three of the video demos this morning - acoustical electric. In this segment we set the Tode up for clean play and Mino Christante is playing his Taylor 912C Grand Concert with a Highlander pickup, through a Shunyata Pro guitar cable. Here's a link to Mino's site:

http://www.minochristante.com/

It's a nice counterpoint to the other demos that shows the versatility of Tode. I hope to have it edited and up on youtube later today.

[Doc B.]

The third demo is live -