parhelia_0000's Synergy Amps Amp Rig

Ever since 2019 I've been diving deep into a world of stereo effects, and naturally with stereo effects, the need for a stereo power amp comes along, 'cause trying to use two tube amps for stereo applications will run you the risk of having to deal with phasing issues.

Enter the Fryette 2902. 90 watts per side, KT88 tubes with 12AX7 and 12AU7's powering the phase inverter circuit, this tube amp has the balls of a giant. Not even halfway on the volume knob you will EASILY be able to make a crowd go deaf. When cranked up, this power amp is capable of bringing a house down. The power amp sounds very transparent, built like a tank and it is well-designed to not only be used in studio applications, but it's also designed to be taken along the road for live performances.

Because of the amount of tube power that this unit outputs, high-power cooling fans are installed to keep the power amp cool. It does sound quite noisy at first, but as soon as I start playing with the guitar, the noise becomes barely even noticeable.

There's a good reason why many pros such as Syu, Steve Lukather, Ken Susi, Steve Vai, Sakito and others all rely on Fryette amplifiers, and my experience with it validated such reasons. Hooked up onto the Two Notes Captor X's going direct, I've instantly been amazed by how powerful this power amp sounded. In the past I've struggled so much to get a usable power amp saturation with software VST's, but after giving the Fryette 2902 a try, I don't think I'll ever be looking back anymore. No digital modellers come ANYWHERE close to what this Fryette power amplifier is capable of.

If you're like me and diving deep into stereo setups, take a serious look at the Fryette 2902. It is quite expensive and hard to come by, but it's far and beyond well worth the price point. Great job, Mr. Steven Fryette!

Before I got this reverb, I was initially trying to make a faulty Eventide Eclipse work, mainly because the damn Eclipse came to me defective with the right input showing signs of signal coming through even when I didn't have anything plugged in there. Turns out the Eventide Eclipse was faulty, so I've went through so much trouble trying to get the refund back on a unit that was no longer functional.

Enter the Strymon BigSky, a rack-in-a-box pedal form of several kinds of reverb sounds you could do with this. For clean tones, in terms of achieving Ichika's signature ambient reverb tone, the Cloud mode was the most pleasing to listen to. The digital reverb had a very natural feel to the diffusion, and I was certainly pleased by how the results came with it. For the lead tones, I liked the good old traditional Hall setting.

I've barely even scratched 2% of what this unit can do, and I'm already impressed by it. This thing slaughters the Eventide Eclipse in many ways, mainly due to its incredible reliability and amazing rack-quality tones.

If you're looking for the ultimate reverb pedal but don't want to go through the hassle of hefty repair/maintenance costs of a rack unit, take a serious look at the Strymon BigSky reverb pedal. For CAD$646, this thing slaughters many vintage rack reverb units. I only wish I could've gotten it sooner instead of being forced to deal with the hassle of trying to get my money back on the Eclipse.

I haven't even looked back to any other rack reverb units since I got this pedal.

Before I got the TimeLine, I was struggling so much to get a perfect delay pedal that would suit all my needs. The delay pedals I've tried out in the past were either limited in functionality, not articulate enough, or were extremely unreliable to the point where they would break down easily. (Remember that time back in 2019 when a used Eventide Eclipse arrived to me with a defective right input?)

Enter the Strymon TimeLine, the king of delay pedals. The algorithms may look simple on the outside, but don't be fooled. There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes, especially with the pattern algorithms. There's a lot of types of delay sounds you can dial in, and one of the most unique features that set the TimeLine apart from other pedals is that it can do diffused delays that make it sound more like a glorified reverb, which is something that not even rack units are able to accomplish easily. You'd have to use up at least 50% of Fractal's CPU power just to get even close to the complex delay algorithms that the TimeLine is able to produce with ease.

This is a definite keeper. I've dealt with the Boss 500 series pedals in the past, and Strymon beats it out of the park by light years. When combined with the Strymon BigSky, the delay/reverb combinations far surpass what vintage racks and/or Fractal are able to produce. If you're looking to achieve the ultimate delay effects, don't waste your time with other units, get a TimeLine. I did, and ever since then, I never looked back at any of the vintage rack units.

While I normally tend to give vintage rack gear folks a bad rep for their elitism, there is one thing that they did have the right idea about - routing digital delay and reverb effects in parallel. This is where the line mixers come in.

Enter the Samson SM10. It's an 8-channel line mixer with two stereo aux sends to route your digital effects in parallel. This allows you to preserve the analog dry of your guitar tone while layering the stereo effects on top. I've been using this line mixer with the Strymon TimeLine and BigSky, and IMHO this is THE best way to achieve your stereo ambient sounds without risking ADA conversions.

This line mixer is also great for wet/dry/wet situations as well. Mute the dry signal coming in, but crank the MON and EFX knobs to send the dry signal to the stereo effects. Instant W/D/W right there.

If you want to make wet/dry/wet or stereo rigs work for your guitar tone, this is an absolute must-have.

Before I had the BE/BB module, I used to rely on the Morgan AC for my clean tone and mid-gain tones. However, the red channel of the Morgan AC began to overstress my rack noise gate as soon as I began using compressors with overdrive pedals up front for Tosin Abasi-style slap guitar tones.

Enter the Friedman BE/BB module. A combination of the mid-gain Brown Eye channel with the clean tone from the Buxom Beauty amp, it combines the best of a modernized take on a Fender-style clean tone with mid-gain tones that sound tight yet natural. Combine the BE channel with a compressor up front for tight Tosin Abasi-style slap guitar tones. it won't do high-gain, however, but for amazing mid-gain tones you really can't complain, and if you're like me and using a Synergy SYN-2, you're gonna be using another module for high-gain tones anyway.

The clean tone truly sounds beautiful, probably the best clean tone I've ever heard out of a preamp module.

If you want to achieve Fender-style clean tones and Friedman-style mid-gain tones in a single module, take a serious look at the Friedman BE/BB module from Synergy Amps.

If you want a modern-sounding tone that doesn't compromise the authentic tube feel, then Synergy has a big winner with the SYN-2 rackmount preamp. Modular system that's a successor to the Randall and Egnater modular systems, these units are built to last. There's a reason why players like Steve Vai and Syu tour with these units, and I'm certainly impressed with it as well.

Even the cab sim on the preamp is pretty damn good. I'm quite surprised to say that the cab sim actually defeated Trey Xavier's Lancaster Audio cab IR's.

If you want the ultimate modern tone with no compromises, take a serious look at the Synergy SYN-2. I did, and I haven't looked back since.

Before using this preamp module, I used to have the Jaded Faith JFM800 module. While it did the job, it was very difficult to work with as the low-end was extremely muddy and the midrange was not defined well enough. Extreme EQ settings were required to make the JFM800 really work for the time.

Enter the Synergy Friedman HBE module. Based on the Hairy Brown Eye channel of the famous Friedman BE-100 amplifier, this preamp really delivers the goods. The low-end sounds tight and articulate from the get-go, the midrange is well-defined and with the added bonus of separate gain and volume levels for two channels, you can actually distinguish your own rhythm and lead channels for the sounds you're going for.

This preamp has solved a lot of issues for me. Before I had this, I had to crank up the Mud Control on my Electric Eye Audio Mud Killer overdrive just to get a passable metal tone. With the Friedman HBE module, I don't have to do that anymore. It's so amazing in fact, that the HBE module has also allowed me to get rid of the 6-band EQ from my pedalboard as well.

If you want the Galneryus tone in a preamp module, check out the Synergy Friedman HBE. I did, and so far, I haven't even considered going back to the JFM800 ever since.