SoZo Amplification

SoZo Vintage Reviews

Valued Customers

A mini review, after playing this amp the last few days.

The new Sozo caps: by far the most musical sounding caps I've used. The midrange is so punchy on these things it's unreal. They smooth out all of the upper midrange raspiness that you can never seem to dial out.

This amp cleans up so sweet with just the volume knob on the guitar it isn't funny. It's the ONLY amp I've played where I can dial it in and it works for both the neck and bridge PU on my LP.

The Sozo's take away all of the nasty white noise that usually rides the notes. Everything is so defined. The clarity is astonishing.

Seriously, I plug in and hear the guitar, the cab, the tubes....

not the power supply or the filter caps. It's very organic and musical.

I'm sold. Period.

-George Metropoulos-

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John; Hi! I received the new caps a couple days ago. I just installed them into my `03 Vox AC-30HW combo. Originally, that amp was a good sounding amp, but it didn't come into the realm of my `64 AC-30 combo in tone/sound.

I had already replaced the output tranny and choke with one's from Mercury Magnetics, lowered the filtering as well as replaced all the tubes with NOS Telefunken's, Mullard and Polem EL-84's and replaced all the signal path resistors with Carbon Comps.

After those changes it sounded really good but still lacked depth and harmonic content. BTW, Korg had used caps marked "AV" in this run of amps. I had not gotten around to replacing any caps in the amp as I was going to see if I could find some NOS Wima Tropyfoil's to put in it.

After installing the new SoZo Vintage caps in this amp it woke up. It has amazing note detail, clarity and a wide range of harmonics now. I counted at least six harmonic overtones in one note! The amp sounds very close to my `64 now even though the Wima Tropyfoils in my `64 are styrene and the SoZo Vintage are polyester. Needless to say it's a pretty dramatic

The new caps improved the tone and I know it will sound better after they get some time/use on them.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what I found and to thank you. I know that they are going to be a big hit with all the kit builders and amp companies that use your products as well as guys like me who mod, restore and repair vintage and reissue amps.

I really appreciate all your efforts and the amazing products that you've given us to work with.

Regards, Don

www.toneman.com

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Got em installed and all I can say is WOW!!!

Organic as a New Age picnic. Nice balanced, "woody" tone. That "fiz" that I could never dial out is gone and there is better note definition when playing full chords.

When I switched to the JTM 45/100 OT, the only problem I had was that I had to keep the bass control between 0 and 1 because the low end was too muffled and "boomy" Now I can bump the bass up to around 2 - 2.5 and it is tight and transparent, it has more "bounce" to it ( for lack of a better term ). All of this is with the amp between 6-7 on the volume into channel 1. The notes just seem to swell.

When I switched to the neck pickup on the Les Paul and back the amps volume down to around 3, the cleans are so crisp yet not piercing at all, It reminded me of that J.H. clean tone. It was like hang gliding or something.

The 3-D thing was there for sure. The feel of the amp overall was much better. I didn't have to "wack" the strings to try to goose harmonics out of them ( as I'm in the habit of doing ) I could actually relax my picking hand and just play. Can't wait until I get more hours on these caps.

I think you have outdone yourself this time John.

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A must say I think they are very worthy of the hype!

A quick run down of my situation:

I recently imported a JMI Top Boost head in "good working order" out of Italy. Unfortunatly it showed up in poor working order. To make a long story short. I took it to my "tech" to have it fixed. Me not knowing a thing about electronics trusted it was in good hands and he got it sounding fine after two trips. I got it home and put it into a North Coast Combo cab with 30w Weber Blue Dogs. It really did sound better then any amp I've ever heard.

Fast forward to now. I cracked open my JMI to take a look at what had been done but didn't understand what I was looking at. So I REALLY started hitting up tube amp repair for myself over the last few months. I believe he replaced out 12 parts and ten were the wrong value and the two resisters that were right were metal film. In all I'm glad it happened because it forced me to get me off my butt to learn how to do it for myself. Other then those parts the amps is all original!

He replaced most of the caps in the Top Boost and Normal channels with a brand called IC. I really don't know one cap form the other but decided to try the Sozo's in their place. Six in all.

The difference I must say is stunning! It is a COMPLETELY different amp. At first I wasn't real sure but after about five minutes I really started hearing their effect. Before I couldn't even play on the normal channel and now I can't unplug from it. The distortion is just insane. My amp is punchier, livelier, and each note is more defined. My strat that I could never plug into this amp now sounds gooood with the amp. However I still prefer my SG with P-90's!

At any rate I was unable to compare them with the original caps so I can't judge their differences. I will say this if the originals had to be replace I think these would be a very safe bet.

Lester

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I thought you Mustard Cap lovers would like some information on the new Sozo caps. What would happen if you took the very best of the old Mustards and sprinkled magic dust of the best of them? Made them retain all those things we love, but just give MORE of it and EVERYWHERE in the frequency range? So often I've heard the complaints concerning absent harmonic content, bloom, depth, range. The list goes on and on. These caps are special. There's no other way to state it. The new Sozo caps are the absolute epitome of the long lost Mustard cap but with those added goodies. What a way to open up the tone of a Marshall.....ANY Marshall. What strikes me as someone who is steeped in Marshall tradition is how much harmonic content there is. Frankly, it's alarming. The sense of "space" between strings is amazing. Keep in mind, I'm speaking as a user of PAF (low output) pickups of various design, but virtually any pickup can profit from being given more amplifier space to breathe. Specifically, greater depth of tone is always a friend to any instrument, especially loud, classic Marshalls! Frankly I would never hesitate to overhaul that prized "original" Marshall Plexi with these. Frankly, I would do exactly that! Assuming of course that performance means more than fashion! After comparing a painfully long list of caps in amps, I can say, these have the "IT" factor as in "all of everything" you already know and love.......just more of it.

is the 'Marshall midrange' there?

Yes, the Marshall midrange is definitely there "in spades" as you you say, but it's the way it presents itself insofar as the harmonic detail that goes with it. It's VERY colorful for lack of a better word. One of my favorite bands is AC/DC and those records that were done by them speak more to what I am trying to say here than I can in words right now. You know it's all of that complexity that most of us are trying to get for our Marshall tone. The swirly harmonic quality when overdriven, yet very glassy, again in a super complex way. Ultra vintage with "magic dust" as I would call it. Also, the cost involved in doing an entire amp with these is just about nothing when you consider what you get back. Again, the AC/DC transient speed and attack is something I always thought was among the very best ever recorded and that's EXACTLY what I hear in these.

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