# Ibanez Thermion. I bought one. review and clips inside



## kingpinMS3 (Mar 28, 2009)

last week i found a smoking deal on a TN120 on ebay. I purchased the amp for $540, and that's brand new, in the box. the one thing i noticed is noone really has made decent clips of the amp, so i decided to do it myself.

i've spend the last week tweaking it and recording it.
SoundClick artist: getglockd - page with MP3 music downloads

"blah" is a quick recording did of spineshank's new disease. kinda crappy. sorry.

"back to school" i re-recorded yesterday. the original was complete shit. i used my RG5ex1 with an EMG-81 in it.

"edgecrusher" was also recorded with my RG5.

"drive" was recorded with my fender strat with a ducan lil '59 in it.

unfortunately i sold my H-207 a few weeks ago. i almost regret it but the damn thing made my hand hurt after a few minutes of playing. I intend on getting an ibanez 7 soon.

as far as the amp is concerned... it has an interesting voicing. sort of if a marshall and mesa banged and had a odd bastard child. the thing has tons of gain and bottom end on tap. it sounds a little fizzy in my recordings but i'm going to attribute that to the fact that the cabinet is also brand new and the G12T-75s aren't broen in yet. The amp does a wonderful recreation of the old helmet tone, so i may get aorund to covering betty tonight if i feel motivated.

all drums are drumkit from hell. Reaper was the DAW i used. the interface is a line6 UX1 and the mic is a sennheiser e609

enjoy, critisize my crappy playing, and tear the amp a new one if you wish.

final thought:
Is the amp worth $1100 street? probably not. i'd likely feel a little ripped off at that pricepoint. however, for under $600 its a fantastic little amp. i could ahve bought a used 5150 for what i payed, but i prefer to have something a little different anyway, and it's certainly that. i intend to get some tung sol 6550s and JJ 12ax7sin it to see if that changes the voicings at all.


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## RiffRaff (Mar 28, 2009)

kingpinMS3 said:


> The amp does a wonderful recreation of the old helmet tone, so i may get aorund to covering betty tonight if i feel motivated.




Well fuck... I'm sold on it now . The guitar tone on Helmet's Betty is one of my all time favorites. If I can find a good deal I'll definitely have to check it out and play one.

Cool review and thanks for the clips dude


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## trippled (Mar 28, 2009)

It actually sounds not bad to my taste.


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## Thin_Ice_77 (Mar 29, 2009)

I think it sounds really good, I may well look into one. Thanks for the clips!


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## ugmung (Mar 29, 2009)

that drive cover was sexy. it kind of sounds like a recto to me to be honest. you need to invest in an OD and EQ. tighten that shit up.


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## EdgeCrusher (Mar 29, 2009)

Yeah, an overdrive up front really helps tighten things up as well as add some extra edge to this amp. My bandmate has one and his TS-9 Tubescreamer really makes the amp shine. The Thermion does kinda sound like a cross between a JCM2000 and Rectifier; it's a great amp for the money


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## Scar Symmetry (Mar 30, 2009)

ugmung said:


> that drive cover was sexy. it kind of sounds like a recto to me to be honest. you need to invest in an OD and EQ. tighten that shit up.



yeah it does, kinda.


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## sepherus (Mar 30, 2009)

nice tones. I actually really disliked the amp when i tried it, but now i think i know where to place the blame: the "matching" cab i tried it with. The cab was complete mud.


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## EdgeCrusher (Mar 30, 2009)

Here's a random little clip from a while back so you can hear what the Thermion sounds like boosted with a TS-9. I apologize in advance for the horrible screaming of my friend, I was just messing around with a riff and he decided to record it while screaming into the camera


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## ivegotahardy (Oct 5, 2015)

hey man hows the amp going if you've still got it? thinking about giving one a go, also who plays that song drive, i know it but haven't heard it in so long!! 
thanks


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## ElRay (Oct 5, 2015)

Misread. Was expecting an Ibanez branded:


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## Ordacleaphobia (Oct 5, 2015)

ElRay said:


> Misread. Was expecting an Ibanez branded:



I did too lol.


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## cGoEcYk (Oct 5, 2015)

Bit of a zombie? Just adding my $0.02 and a clip since I have some Thermion love. I think they are total sleepers for the $200-400 you can find them for. 

My guitarist used a Thermion. I thought it was a dope amp and owned one for a while and loaded it with 6550s. It has a very cool dark clean channel with a crusty breakup when you drive it. One of the cooler clean channels I've come across- way nicer than Recto IMO (I'd have to A/B against my Tremoverb but my Rectoverb which I owned simultaneously had nothing on it).

The Thermion has a unique snarl on the gain channel. It's a dash smooth but it snarls at ya. The secret is that the amp has to be run quite loud, even louder than amps that need to be run loud before it reveals itself. When it does, you realize it's a sick amp (especially with the muscle of 6550's or KT88). It just has to be at a loud metal show on-stage volume, close to arena volume level... it will punch u in the nuts.

Here is a clip of a riffin oriented song that my guitarist came up with. He's using a passive guitar, no boost, and a Marshall cab with 75's. I used mine with the more modern options (active, boost, gate, midrange cab) but I though things came out cool enough in this clip, could have been a little tigher/more modern though-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLGs7fOrvGA


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## ElRay (Oct 5, 2015)

Ordacleaphobia said:


> I did too lol.



Nice to know I'm not the only one!


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## CaptainD00M (Oct 5, 2015)

I third that to make you feel better ^^ 

Seriously I was like 'When did Ibanez make one of those!?'


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