Michael Romeo

"I used an ENGL on The Odyssey for the rhythm stuff and probably a lot of the solo stuff, but at that time I had been using Line 6 live. It was so easy – you had the head and the pedalboard all contained. So it was easy to bring around.

But I really liked the guitar sound on The Odyssey and then eventually I just brought out all the ENGL stuff live and that’s what I use now. So I have the Powerball as the main head, and I have a Fireball, and I’m using a TC G-System for chorus and delay and all that. It’s split in stereo, so that’s why the two heads. And that’s it – really simple." Michael Romeo

In the YouTube video "GEAR GODS RIGGED - Symphony X" by Trey Xavier, Michael Romeo is shown using two Engl Fireball 100-Watt Tube Guitar Amp Heads.

"After hearing the album (The Odyssey) and using the ENGL, the things that I don’t like about all those amps is that you have your clean settings and your distorted settings and for us there’s always a million changes. I need this kind of tone for this, and that kind of tone for that… and with the Line 6, I would have like 8 different sounds for the songs we were doing. Then I didn’t really know what to do… I didn’t want to bring 6 amps out with me, that’s just ridiculous. Then someone told me about the Line 6 Vetta Head. I went…. tried it out….and bought it on the spot. I was a little overwhelmed when I brought it home. It’s not just one amp, you can put two on top of each other… and it can get out of control. You can feel that pump… that air coming out of the speakers. And it has all the switching. For me, that’s just as important. We have to go from clean to ‘this sound’ to distorted to ‘that sound’. And it sounds pretty damn good." Michael Romeo

"I used 3 different amps for the Odyssey - ENGL fireball, Line 6 Vetta head, and Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. The rhythm tracks were mostly the ENGL and the Line 6 Vetta ( for different amp tones, clean, etc. ) and the Boogie and Vetta for the solos. The cabinets were Mesa/Boogie half backs ( 4x12 ). For mic choice and placement, I like to experiment a bit...but usually a Shure SM57 and a Sennheisser 421 - up close to the speaker ( the 57 a bit off axis OR off-center of the cone ) and sometimes an AKG 414 back a few feet for some ambience and space. Then into the Neve 9098s ( preamp & EQ ) and EQ a little to clean up the bottom end and get it sounding tight - I'll double track all the rhythms." Michael Romeo

"For the solo CD and first 2 SymX CDs - the only amps I had, at that time, were a Marshall JCM800, Fender M-80, a Mesa/Boogie recording pre-amp. By the third CD ( Divine Wings ), I had bought the Tri-Axis and for some of the solos, I used a Rockman Compressor/Sustainer as a preamp ( in front of the Marshall...if I remember correctly ) - but only on that CD - thus - the 'Rockman-esque' tone on some of those solos. I always like to experiment and try out new things - different pre-amps, cabs , mic placement, etc." - Michael Romeo

"For the solo CD and first 2 SymX CDs - the only amps I had, at that time, were a Marshall JCM800, Fender M-80, a Mesa/Boogie recording pre-amp. By the third CD ( Divine Wings ), I had bought the Tri-Axis and for some of the solos, I used a Rockman Compressor/Sustainer as a preamp ( in front of the Marshall...if I remember correctly ) - but only on that CD - thus - the 'Rockman-esque' tone on some of those solos. I always like to experiment and try out new things - different pre-amps, cabs , mic placement, etc."

"For the solo CD and first 2 SymX CDs - the only amps I had, at that time, were a Marshall JCM800, Fender M-80, a Mesa/Boogie recording pre-amp. By the third CD ( Divine Wings ), I had bought the Tri-Axis and for some of the solos, I used a Rockman Compressor/Sustainer as a preamp ( in front of the Marshall...if I remember correctly ) - but only on that CD - thus - the 'Rockman-esque' tone on some of those solos. I always like to experiment and try out new things - different pre-amps, cabs , mic placement, etc." - Michael Romeo

In the user-uploaded photo, Michael Romeo uses the Line 6 Vetta II HD 300 Watt Stereo Head during a performance of "Fireball."

You can see four E412VGB Pro cabinets on the picture of his rack.

You can see Marshall 1960B 4x12 Cabinets at 27:47.

You can see Marshall 9200 MonoBlock Power Amp at 0:32.

"At number 5 I would like to mention the Kemper Profiler . It's really super practical, both on stage and in the studio. I created a few profiles of my Engl sounds with the Kemper, and it's actually very hard to tell the difference between the profiling and the "real" amp. The Kemper proves to be a real workhorse in the studio, especially when searching for different sounds. With it, every tone, from vintage to modern, ends up right at my fingertips."

"I used 3 different amps for the Odyssey - ENGL fireball, Line 6 Vetta head, and Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. The rhythm tracks were mostly the ENGL and the Line 6 Vetta ( for different amp tones, clean, etc. ) and the Boogie and Vetta for the solos. The cabinets were Mesa/Boogie half backs ( 4x12 ). For mic choice and placement, I like to experiment a bit...but usually a Shure SM57 and a Sennheisser 421 - up close to the speaker ( the 57 a bit off axis OR off-center of the cone ) and sometimes an AKG 414 back a few feet for some ambience and space. Then into the Neve 9098s ( preamp & EQ ) and EQ a little to clean up the bottom end and get it sounding tight - I'll double track all the rhythms." Michael Romeo

In this video you can see Micheal Romeo playing the marshall jcm 900 live. He started using it from the start of the south america tour

You can see two 1960A cabinets on top of two 1960B.