Anvil mods: working towards 80's hotrodded sound

[iovinnikov]

Hi everyone!

I have purchased an Anvil preamp kit from Musikding a couple of years ago, which
I've successfully built, but I've never really been satisfied with its sound. The Rhythm
channel was too trebley and ice-picky for my taste, so I've been working on it to try
and get it into the hotrodded Marshall territory. This is what it sounds right now:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwq50fmx074l969/ZOOM0086.MP3

The setup is: Ibanez 2620M with Stock Dimarzio/IBZ pickup -> modded Anvil preamp -> Engl E930/60 power amp ->
Marshall 1960A cab with T75's and V30's in an X-pattern.
(it's recorded using a ZOOM H1 recorder, so I apologize for the sound quality,
but it should be good enough to show the tone character)

IMO it sounds a bit too thick. I wanna get it to sound more loose, somewhere along the lines
of a Splawn Quickrod or a Cameron Atomica (or any Jose modded Plexi for that matter).
I know that in the latter case, clipping diodes contribute a lot to the tone and I'm planning
to try it as a mod. But is there anything else I could do to achieve the desired effect?

[nickb]

It sounds like you have a very clear idea of what you want; the problem is it can be very hard to communicate. Having worked on a Splawn Quickrod recently and I think I have a idea of what you mean - high gain meets Marshall with extra guts is the best way I can describe it. Is that right?

You didn't say what the Anvil settings were to get the mp3 you made nor what mods you have done so can we start there?