Steavens "The Brick" preamp

[@PK-ze7et]

I bought my Brick in the 90's for 2800.- DM. Since then my sound is fixed with a Marshall 9200, Intellifex and a PRS Custom 24 10 Top. I switch the channels via Midi footswitch in a Brandstetter and Rebholz switch. Dirk Baldringer tuned my Brick with a switchable mastervolume so I can use 1 Sound with 2 different volumes. Iwill play this setup till I die!

[@FatCitySaint]

Best channel on the YT

[@LeftHandedRightHanded]

This channel is my favorite!! Love how you stray away from the modern and well-known classic amps. I love the layout of the videos and how clear sounding they are!

[@joewildbonsai]

Bernard Stephan a fantasic person, I've had a 4Ch Poundcake 100 and it was my idea that he built the 3Ch Poundcake 50!! I've also had an old Plexi tuned by him!! Great person and ampbuilder

[@81giorikas]

Supposed to be a bit of a mad scientist? Eccentric? I have a friend, he has the 4ch 100 poundcake it is a great amp. It shows a different face through different cabinets. I want to be objective and say that not all 4 channels (which are not indepedent) do the price tag justice but, when the fucker clicks it sounds phenomenal. Top something amp (depends on what you prefer).

[@lyradguitar]

Peavey Rockmaster preamp demo would be cool. Great channel..cheers!

[@seanoakes3688]

Hell yeah!

[@daievans2637]

I really love all these rack vids , its taken me back to a time when i wanted a 20 space rack..... infact im now working on at least a 10 or 12 ......and its all your fault Nielsen !!!! lol

[@KauffeyBean]

You said it! It's his fault!

[@aristocaster]

I wanted +20 space rack just for Preamps., then of course you would have needed another one fo everything else.

[@KauffeyBean]

@@aristocaster And the good preamps and/or power amps - the good ones you need multiples of them so that you can still play the other ones when one is down for repair 😁

[@donewithmodernlife]

Never heard of the company or the unit but it sounds great. I really like the crunchy lower gain sounds, really fat & full. Another great piece of content Micheal!

[@ThemFuzzyMonsters]

I’ve wanted one of those Steavens since I was a teen!! Never even got to play one.

[@seanoakes3688]

What a massive sound! Thanks for profiling this! I hope some of these amps make it to Overloud.

[@eddiejr540]

@ 6:00....where the river flows!!...HELL YEA....rock on my brother!!!

[@bernhardstephan3372]

Thanks for this great Demo Video. The Preamp was designed to deliver Sounds in the Studio (as well as live) that cut thru in the mix.... and YES always inspired by EVH and the 80s 👍👍😁

[@GSF441]

Sounds very cool. Just bounced over to Reverb and EBay......several thou for the radioactivator..... Didn't find the brick. :-( Thanks for doing these reviews! Love the rack preamps and you keep reviewing units I never even heard of before. Awesome!

[@garygrinkevich6971]

Yo dude that camera setup is fire, 3x the angles. very cool mix thanks for sharing.

[@kesamek8537]

These demos are excellent.

[@larslevinberget9558]

Reminds me of the Peavey Triumph PAG 60 teal stripe amp ... without the gain boosts engaged

[@deanbibb3680]

There's a good amount of clarity and note definition in the high gain channel, even when squishy sounding. Not too bad sounding. Good job.

[@themotocrossmodchannelWulfMX]

You are the man Mike, thanks for being you. J

[@altemu]

I really love to see one of your video about the brunetti mille! An amazing italian preamp

[@desmondtutu7916]

Another excellent demo. I quite like the "rough" gain tones. I hope you find some time to demo the Groove Tubes Trio some day.

[@speed2dirt]

Fingers crossed Mr. Torin comes through on a Kasha Rockmod preamp. Not a ton of info, and even less videos, available. By the way, would love to see you use the Rivera as a power amp only. The TBR used as power amp only should be the same as the Rivera Hammer power amps. Curious if the bloat & sag you don't inherently like is the preamp or power amp.

[@pcbullets8726]

Def some interesting tones out of the "brick". I would own it!

[@larslevinberget9558]

Marius Müller (RIP) had one Steavens preamp in red oxblood, 2 or 3 channels in his rack around 1991, his roadie told it was basically the Marshall 9000-series done right

[@SlinkyT82]

To where the river flooooowwwsss!

[@ericcarpenter3263]

Pretty cool sounds in that thing, I had never heard of it. The EQ doesn’t seem to do a lot on the crunchy stuff, but the guitar type showed through a lot. I could tell when you switched guitars, the T Type sounded vastly different that the Les Paul. That’s the part I actually liked a lot, instead of EQ’ing your Tele to sound bigger, plug a LP in. Really was quite cool, a lot of the racks have more the character of the unit and this seems to react to what you plug into it and let that shine through. Great video.

[@KauffeyBean]

Thanks Michael! I happen to really like the Steavens from what I hear here :)

[@tomasoprodi9340]

after too many years I got me a Pouncake 100 mk3, it's a dream come true

[@garyowen5842]

I did even know this existed!!!!! Cool .

[@mika-hp5ch]

Got a Poundcake. One of the best amp I had

[@rangerdoc1029]

Big Hairy Preamps!

[@paulcates3805]

Another Gem!!!!💪

[@LeonTodd]

The end result of all these videos needs to be you getting Toren on the channel for an MTV cribs style vid.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

totally. post-covid fun!

[@SolarWarden88]

Gentlemen! I've wanted to ask you both this, first, love both your channels, the rack is coming back! You've covered all the major ones, but why no ADA MP-2?! I've noticed they're MUCH harder to come across for some reason than the MP-1? Would love both of you to review it! Rock on bros 🤘🤘 By the way I have one, reply back if you want to talk.

[@LeonTodd]

@@SolarWarden88 I have an ADA M-2 sitting on my desk as I type this. When it works it's pretty cool, but most of the time it makes an intolerable hum. hoping to fix it up and do some vids!

[@SolarWarden88]

@@LeonTodd Much respect for the reply man! Yeah, seems the "hum/niose" issues were more apparent on the MP-2 with some models. I had assumed, of course, there was no way you or Michael hadn't played them or even had one, being the preamp Dons you both are ;p I think I can safely say we'd LOVE to hear the demo/review once you've got it up and noise-free. Keep them coming man, LOVE the cannel and vids! Ragdoll is badass too!

[@splattergrind1]

"Where the river flows..."

[@EddyLenz]

Awesome video, mate! There's really not a lot on the web about Steavens Amps. I recently bought a Steavens modded Marshall 2204 from Mathias Dieth, who used it on U.D.O.'s Timebomb. I wanted to make a video for the past two weeks, but I've been too busy with modding and Cyberpunk lol...

[@seanoakes3688]

I love the "Timebomb" album. I have it on vinyl. I bought it at Dirkschneider show in South Dakota a few years ago.

[@EddyLenz]

@@seanoakes3688 That's awesome!

[@sameeruddin]

felt the rhe meat and crunch are more for soloing than 5th chugs. fantastic amp

[@ericharbauer]

Love these vids.

[@knowitall1694]

Nice, I like!

[@josephbutler148]

I had the 25th anniversary poundcake and it was instantly amazing crushed anything have ever owned including engl se, diezel herbert diezel vh4 multi watt recto, 5150, soldano, bogner xtc it was the only amp that was in the same league as the wizard mtl I owned. regret parting with thise 2 :(

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

Cool metal tone out of that one. I like the metal demo song.

[@ian1eh944]

Hey Micheal, there are so many great amp heads available these days.....How do you like the preamps that have acquired vs. some of your amp heads? Do you find that there is more "magic" with an amp vs. the pre/power amp scenario?

[@sandrosadhukhan]

Pushing the crunch with a SD1 would give some nasty chugga chugga!

[@MarshallGTV]

Hey Mikey! Great video as always. Is there any way you can do an interview with Mr Toren?

[@joycesanders4898]

Lollar Imperial...👍🎸💗🎶🖤😎🤘

[@kristianniemann8716]

The riff at 08:46...what is it? Sounds like a Morello riff but i cant remember which one. AAAARGHH!

[@BigHairyGuitars]

It's an Audioslave song

[@hong-junepark3701]

Please review S&K VHD Preamp

[@davemizrahi6381]

Dig your channel man, I still would love for you to review my Hughes & Kettner mark 3, there flagship amp 6 chanels. I use a pcm 80 with a line mixer stereo rig with a couple delays all through the series loop.

[@jroz8111]

Sounds great lol

[@stephenchow5161]

sounds fierce. dont hear too much about this company anymore

[@miltonalmonte7126]

Nice pre amp

[@lynyx77]

Great can you specify the 5 x 12AX7 used in this Pre-amp?

[@roro_fosho]

there's a "The Brick" preamp by Groove Tubes, mono tube preamp w/ an input transformer. Stumbled on this vid when looking for more info on that, scooped one today locally it's really cool but not a lot of info out there. Is Stevens related? Would this be copyright infringement? who knows lol

[@jcustom7874]

Avenged 🤟

[@roscoepcoltrane23]

Wasn’t Paul Rivera at Valley Arts also.

[@nevusofota]

Excellent demo once again . Love that orange partscaster and that Collective Soul riff. So, if you had to choose one preamp so far for your desert island extended stay which would it be?

[@headkickko609]

it BernHard Shtefaan (like in Shush, or at the end of slash).

[@jhellert1]

I have a Hafler T2 preamp that is taking up space in my life. Interested?

[@LordFingers1]

deeeeeewd, you should, ahh, like totalllly demo the peavey backstge plus bruhz!

[@jimbeaux4988]

This would pair well with your typical sizzly modded Marshall of that time.

[@ScarredPredator]

Are those kick ass riffs of your own? Cheers from Mexico!

[@BigHairyGuitars]

That opening is an Avenged Sevenfold tune.

[@blondiespinknoize4627]

Love Your vids Michael... awesome stuff. But what was going on with the background noise? You don't usually have that? And when will You do an episode with Michael Torren so we can get to know Yours, Robert Bakers and Lean Todds favourite pusher :-) And when all this Covid shit is gone, the three of You should make a "Rack Con". That would be cool.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

The background noise is the fan in the VHT 2150 power amp. I've asked Steve Fryette (the designer) if that's necessary, because I HATE the fan. He said that he had a client remove the fan, and the amp over-heated and failed. So, it's just a miserable necessity.

[@blondiespinknoize4627]

@@BigHairyGuitars ok Thanks. Just haven’t heard it in your videos before. Rock on 🤘🏻

[@BigHairyGuitars]

@@blondiespinknoize4627 The 2150 is the worst fan culprit, but the best sounding power amp. :(

[@blondiespinknoize4627]

@@BigHairyGuitars I still have to try one. But it’s definitely a dream piece of gear. But you should have it in another room. Btw have you tried the synergy power amp? I believe Steve Fryette designed that one also.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

@@blondiespinknoize4627 I haven't tried the Synergy power yet. I like the Power Station a lot though. If the VHT was in another room I couldn't tweak knobs.

[@MichaelBruceTLTAGuitar]

Will you be profiling for the Kemper?

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Yeah. They'll be up this week sometime.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

bighairyprofiles.com/item/bhp-the-brick

[@tzotsiak88]

nice demo man !!! u had to boost the rough channel though, for nearly perfect Vh tone.

[@miltonalmonte7126]

Please tell about your cell phone stand

[@jamesflack8624]

All right. That's it. This madness has to stop Michael. These rack videos are ornP for all of us frustrated shredders from the late 80's,early 90's... You're just being mean at this point! 😁😂😅🤣😂🤪 Love this shit! Cheers 🍻

[@stankywank6707]

Maybe he was a fan of the Even Stephvan sketch on the Daily Show?

[@alessandrociapica5180]

🤘😎

[@Yupppi]

Cool one. Not the most unique and interesting sounds to me, but very solid unit, very fine tones.

[@morbidalex666]

the opening riffs should be written by Metallica - great job Michael

[@markjohnson9306]

French Fried pertaters.

[@chriskey7426]

I had a poundcake for 3 years and sold it like an idiot

[@alexjh3456]

Had a Steavens Poundcake and a 39 several years ago 💪🤘👍

[@PedroEvil12]

The crunch sounds reminded me of Nickelback type of tone

[@maxmusicacademy8265]

in The First Album the Nickelback use the Steavens Poundcake 100 for the record

[@PedroEvil12]

@@maxmusicacademy8265 ow !! I thought it was Rectfiers !

[@SnappyJCM800]

You should try out a Rocktron Prophesy

[@BaronQ]

Good call, and the original mid 90s Voodu Valve. Oh, and the Piranha!

[@ts31966]

I like the soldano amp and preamps much better.

[@glukeable]

Radiator? Sacre Bleu.... The Steavens crew will hunt you down and attach your balls to the wall at next open NAMM....... What's next? Bogner Plextacy? Peavey 90210? Soldano BRO 100, RIVIERA Crackhead 100...... oh well. I kinda have a old red front Radioactivator and the knob layout is quite confusing on those too but not as bad ass the Brick..... Honestly they are only missing the star references compared to the X88 or the 3+, tone wise they are quite awesome and sits great in a band.

[@JulianMerghart]

studio guitar player here looking for gigs - know anyone?

[@jeffreytucker905]

Whoa! Third! ...what has COVID done to me...

[@irmasil3]

I am sorry to say that "The Brick" sounds like its NOT famous for a reason...Good sounding but sounds uninspiring.

[@sirlemonhead7715]

Farst!

[@TheNoiseFloorav]

Sarcond

[@sirlemonhead7715]

@@TheNoiseFloorav Farth!

[@gooberthoreau]

Dude, when it comes to your hair, follow Elsa's advice: Let it go.

[@saintjames7387]

no more reviews michael. use this time to create instead of indulge.