# Madison Amps out of business



## DrakkarTyrannis (Jun 1, 2010)

New Page 2

Don't know if this was posted before, couldn't find it...to be honest I'm not sure anyone would care..which is exactly why they've gone belly up. I thought this note was an interesting read, however.


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## guitarguru777 (Jun 1, 2010)

Never liked em, unreliable pieces of trash honestly ... good riddance.


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## renzoip (Jun 1, 2010)

I also had a Divinity II with a matching cab. I sounded good but they were extremely unreliable. I can see why the company went out of business. 

I still wish them the best for the future.


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## Empryrean (Jun 1, 2010)




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## troyguitar (Jun 1, 2010)

I just opened for Primal Fear this past Thursday and they were both using green Divinity half stacks, looked and sounded great to me


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## JPhoenix19 (Jun 1, 2010)

I've always loved a good entrepreneur story, so this makes me sad.


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jun 1, 2010)

guitarguru777 said:


> Never liked em, unreliable pieces of trash honestly ... good riddance.



Is there anything you do like? 

I don't think I've ever seen you post anything positive.


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## WarriorOfMetal (Jun 1, 2010)

troyguitar said:


> I just opened for Primal Fear this past Thursday and they were both using green Divinity half stacks, looked and sounded great to me



Actually...those were Havok's amps. PF was using them just as power amps. Henny had a GT8 or GT10 (can't remember for sure which one), and Alex had a rather large pedalboard, but I couldn't see it very well from where I was standing.


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## budda (Jun 1, 2010)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> Is there anything you do like?
> 
> I don't think I've ever seen you post anything positive.



He's not a positive guy, if you remember my positivity thread from way back when


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## troyguitar (Jun 1, 2010)

WarriorOfMetal said:


> Actually...those were Havok's amps. PF was using them just as power amps. Henny had a GT8 or GT10 (can't remember for sure which one), and Alex had a rather large pedalboard, but I couldn't see it very well from where I was standing.



Ah, I didn't realize that. We were busy getting our shit packed back up during most of Havok's set. I thought that Havok only has one guitar player though?


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## Randy (Jun 1, 2010)

They had reliability issues from the get go, and they revised the Divinity the first time and still had problems, so then they made the II and it STILL had problems. When you're in this business, you can barely afford to make a mistake once but if you make the same mistake two or three times, you get what you have coming.

I considered buying one for myself but the first concern I had was reliability and the second was seriously being ashamed to go out and play with one and have people looking at the amp and saying "Oh, one of those... LOL NOOB". If that's the kinda stuff your customers or potentials have to be worried about a few years into the company's existence then you're doing something wrong.


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## WarriorOfMetal (Jun 1, 2010)

troyguitar said:


> Ah, I didn't realize that. We were busy getting our shit packed back up during most of Havok's set. I thought that Havok only has one guitar player though?



One guitarist playing through two amps. The other guitarist quit RIGHT before the tour.


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## guitarguru777 (Jun 1, 2010)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> Is there anything you do like?
> 
> I don't think I've ever seen you post anything positive.



yup 

800s
900s
5150s
5150II
5150III
Mesa
Rivera
Bogner
Baron
Matchless
Orange

You know anything that is a quality product that doesn't break down every 3 weeks or need a billion fine tuning knobs to sound good.

Plugin & play .... fuck that knob tweaking bullshit!

Real tone is in the fingers anyway 

If you have to go in and edit waveforms, set the delay taps manually, adjust "sag" and "mic position" its a waste of time. Nothing beats a Tube amp with a 4x12 cab and a 57!

(notice I said BEATS, the AxeFX replicated the above noted things but with 5 hours worth of work per patch. Its much easier to plug a guitar into an amp, amp into a cab, mic the cab, and go into your interface. 15 minutes worth of work and done!)


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jun 1, 2010)

I agree with you to a certain extent. I have an Axe FX and use it just for effects, use a tube pre/power amp. I only do that because I'm not a tweaker, but if I have a 5150, I don't have a clean I want (not a fan of the cleans, not saying it's not a bad amp at what it does), it's not all neatly contained in my rack, I have cabling up front for my OD, then run back to the amp, back to me for my effects loop based effects (delays/reverbs/whatever) then to the cab. It's not a waste of time if it accomplishes what you want. You can specifically tailor a sound for a certain part in a song, or a certain song, etc. I personally don't need that much for my needs, but I can see why some people might.

Kind of off topic, but still


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## guitarguru777 (Jun 1, 2010)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> I agree with you to a certain extent. I have an Axe FX and use it just for effects, use a tube pre/power amp. I only do that because I'm not a tweaker, but if I have a 5150, I don't have a clean I want (not a fan of the cleans, not saying it's not a bad amp at what it does), it's not all neatly contained in my rack, I have cabling up front for my OD, then run back to the amp, back to me for my effects loop based effects (delays/reverbs/whatever) then to the cab. It's not a waste of time if it accomplishes what you want. You can specifically tailor a sound for a certain part in a song, or a certain song, etc. I personally don't need that much for my needs, but I can see why some people might.
> 
> Kind of off topic, but still



For me the Axe is a studio tool. Got that part that needs a shimmering clean and dont have a JC120 on hand ... BOOM Axe has it. Want that vintage marshall tube screamer tone for leads! BOOM its in there!

For live as far as my cleans go I run 2 amps. I have a 5150 for my rhythm and lead sounds and clean I run a valve king. before I had the valve king I just sent a direct to the board from a DI that was on an A/B switch with a chorus pedal and a delay.

My issue with madison was always the quality of the build, and the reliability on tour. Sure they sounded great for what they were, but everyone I know that had one broke down after weeks of being on the road and 3 months of being in their studio / house.

My 5150s are built like tanks and they NEVER break down.


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jun 1, 2010)

Lugging around 2 amps, cabling that setup where ever you needed to play and setup switching....and you're saying the all in one solution of the Axe is too much to configure?  You know what my setup time is with my rack (whether I'm using the Axe for modeling or not)? It's about 5 minutes, and that's generally me finding a place to plug in my power conditioner


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## asmegin_slayer (Jun 1, 2010)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> Lugging around 2 amps, cabling that setup where ever you needed to play and setup switching....and you're saying the all in one solution of the Axe is too much to configure?  You know what my setup time is with my rack (whether I'm using the Axe for modeling or not)? It's about 5 minutes, and that's generally me finding a place to plug in my power conditioner



As much as I hate dragging a heavy ass head and cabinet around (especially living in the 2nd floor). Having a single unit to do all of it is super nice.

But!

It's always fun to bring out the gear and show it off onstage and offstage. Not saying that the axe doesn't have anything special to show off. But the image of a musician with a nice amp/cab with all pro equipment is lusting imo.



*cough* anyhoo, too bad for madison.


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## Ketzer (Jun 1, 2010)

I liked my Divinity II, It sounded killer, both before and After I modded it. Knew the guys there pretty well, sad to see them go under.


Also,  @ Mesa being Plug-and-Play.


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## guitarguru777 (Jun 1, 2010)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> Lugging around 2 amps, cabling that setup where ever you needed to play and setup switching....and you're saying the all in one solution of the Axe is too much to configure?  You know what my setup time is with my rack (whether I'm using the Axe for modeling or not)? It's about 5 minutes, and that's generally me finding a place to plug in my power conditioner



ya but how many days did you spend at home thumbing through the manual in order to dial in the tone and effects. Took me about an hour when I first got the amp home to find something I was very happy with.

Added a TS took about 3 seconds to dial it in, Delay took about another 3 seconds to dial in and hook up the cable, same with my Chorus and Phaser.

All in all took me about 2 hours after getting the amp home to have that ultimate tone. 

Its the pre config before the gig that's the drawback for the Axe, thumbing through manuals, putting in shunt after shunt of non sence to route the signal and making sure the signal path is going where you want it to.

I turn 5 knobs to get my tone and use 4 10' cables and 3 shorties. You have to push what 60 or 70 buttons?

Thats the difference to me.

i spent years with my Tri-Axis and Eventide trying to get it just right and it was still never prefect. Digitech 2101 same thing, ADA MP-1 a bit easier but the same thing. 

I am a knob turner. Its easy and configurable in seconds. I want less delay, I turn 1 knob not have to press 10 buttons. i want more gain, turn a knob. Venue is dull sounding, turn 1 knob.

As for setup, it doesn't take long, yes a rack is less work on day of gig, but its not as easy to make changes on the fly if something goes awry


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jun 1, 2010)

Took me about an hour per patch when I was dialing in a modeling patch  I had "usable tone" within 5-10 minutes, the rest was tweaking and sweetening it. I read very few things, just the power amp stuff in the wiki while I was configuring that. It's pretty easy, if you want more of something, add more  I would actually think it's easier to dial in a model on the Axe considering you can set a Mesa model to have an EQ where turning one knob doesn't affect every other knob


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## guitarguru777 (Jun 1, 2010)

LOL .... this argument could go on for days 

Like I said Ill have an Axe in the studio soon but Ill stick with my 5150 live 

I have played with the axe quite a bit and it sounds great, but I am just not comfortable with something like that live.


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## Rick (Jun 1, 2010)

That really sucks about Madison. Nice to see that he thanked Jason from Years of Fire, I was gonna mention him.


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## Despised_0515 (Jun 1, 2010)

The amps never really grabbed me but you've gotta give it to the guy.
He chased his dream in an honest way and he's going out in an honest way.

Sad to see it go.


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## Soubi7string (Jun 2, 2010)

guitarguru777 said:


> yup
> 
> 800s
> 900s
> ...



view on Peavey XXL then?

& I thought about getting one until I saw IWABO was endorsed by them so I knew it must be shit


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## budda (Jun 2, 2010)

Peavey XXL's are sweet 

and yes,  at mesa's being plug and play


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## musikizlife (Feb 3, 2011)

budda said:


> Peavey XXL's are sweet
> 
> and yes,  at mesa's being plug and play



Haha yeah, i used to use an XXL at my band practice space it was pretty ballsy for what it was, def a cool amp to say the least.

But i feel bad for Madison, they actually had a few nice endorsee's, Santiago Dobles from Aghora swore by them, it always sucks to see a company go belly up

Edit: Boy am i late on this one lol I wonder why it came up in recent?


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## barzakh (Aug 19, 2011)

its actually sad for people like me, who were kinda endorsed by them !


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## Moolaka (Aug 21, 2011)

I've got a D2 and it sounds amazing...when it works. Fucking. Amazing. When it works. Also what's that madison2010index link in the first post? I keep getting webpage not found, are they starting back up or something?


Edit: Haha at the tags...


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## signalgrey (Aug 21, 2011)

im not too upset, i had to use one live and it was unfortunate how many times we had issues with it during a 1.5 hour set.


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## Toshiro (Aug 21, 2011)

Moolaka said:


> I've got a D2 and it sounds amazing...when it works. Fucking. Amazing. When it works. Also what's that madison2010index link in the first post? I keep getting webpage not found, are they starting back up or something?
> 
> 
> Edit: Haha at the tags...



That link, and this thread, is over a year old. I doubt they kept their website after going under...


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## pv_seven (Aug 23, 2011)

My two good friends has madison d2 (endorse) for 4 years. This amps are built like a tank. It sounds more like 5150 MOD .


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 23, 2011)

pv_seven said:


> My two good friends has madison d2 (endorse) for 4 years. This amps are built like a tank. It sounds more like 5150 MOD .


 
Unfortunately, not all Madison amps were built like tanks. 

Seeing as this thread is waaaaaay old, I'm gonna go and lock it up.


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