In today’s video, we’re going to be getting those death metal tones with the flesh rot from this heavy [Music] earth. Heat up here. [Music] What’s going on everyone? My name is Zach and if this is the first time on the channel, what I like to do is just test out all different types of gear. So, if you like higher gain amps, gnarly sounding fuzz or distortion pedals, definitely think about hitting that subscribe button because that’s mainly what I do on here. So, today we’re going to be checking out the Flesh Rot from This Heavy Earth. And I’m very excited about doing this video because I’ve been very interested in this amp, and I know a lot of you watching have been interested in this amp. So, I’m glad to put this out for everyone. [Music] The Flesh rot is a class D 200 solid state head. This is definitely going to get you those 90 death metal guitar tones that we all know and love. This is loosely based off the VH140C. Now, I do hear a lot of similarities that both amps share, but I feel the Flesh rot is going to be a lot more versatile, and it’s not going to be labeled as a onetrick [Music] pony. Now, this has one really cool feature that I really like a lot. So, on the front of the amp, you have a switch that says preamp. If you switch that down, what that’s going to do, it’s going to eliminate the preamp section of this amp, only giving you the power section, which is going to be a very clean platform. So, for somebody like me who’s demoing a lot of preamp pedals, just pedals in general, that’s great because that’s going to give me the cleanest platform to get the truest tone out of those pedals. So, I thought that was a very, very cool feature that Sheay built into this. Now, a few more things I want to mention about this amp that I really like. One, it’s great for the traveling musician. This is small, compact, and very, very lightweight. It’s 200 watts, so it’s loud enough to keep up with any style of band. And I love the snakes skin tollex on it. That just to me screams 90 death metal. I have a GX130C that I’m looking at right now that has some alligator tollex. So, I’m thinking maybe we’ll do a uh GX130C verse flesh rot shootout pretty soon and uh see if the alligator or snake wins that one. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Now, we’re going to take a quick break and I’m gonna pass it over to Shay. Shay was nice enough to film a little video section just explaining a little bit more about the Flesh rot, what inspired him to build this amp and everything like that. So, let’s pass it over to Shay now. Hi, Zach. Thanks for having me on the channel. Go over a little bit of the the history of how things got to where they are and a little bit overview of the product. Um, about five years ago, before starting this heavy earth, I was in my previous endeavor. I was going down the VH140C rabbit hole and it kind of coincided that the exact same time that I was rebranding to this heavy earth. I also came out with the original Plush Rock pedal um that so many people may know. Uh this was much more closer to a clone. It was my first attempt at fixing some of the things that I wasn’t 100% happy about in the channel A of the original VH140C and some of the other pedals at the time that were out really lacked for me. Uh, but I always knew this was just going to be a jump off point. And at that point in time, there actually was already plans and I was working on class D solid state amps for and had that plan to issue a VH140C amp. So flush rod amps been long time coming. Um, I think it was shortly after the release of this item, I started to dive into more of the mods that you’re familiar with today in the flesh rot format. And that’s when I really started to find myself happier with the circuit. And you get your first version of the amp. Um, that was I posted online. Um, I realized I must have gutted this one, but this was that chassis. Uh, you’ll see it had the preamp, the feet, standby, all the additional controls, and already the spot for the 9VT out in the back. Uh, and I did I used this for quite a while. a lot of friends in the area and stuff all played this and provided feedback and we beat the hell out of it band practices and other things. But um eventually I had to shelf this cuz I do this in my nights and weekends and really it’s no complaint at all. We had enough success with pedals that I just haven’t had time in the nights and weekends to build anything that took more effort. Um I was always filling orders and chasing things. Um, but if you fast forward to about two years ago, um, my wife started to help me out with things here at this heavy earth and helping started with shipping and different things. But um eventually led into her taking a full-time role two Decembers ago and I realized that was the first time I had an opportunity to build something else and expand the line. So the first thing I did was bring back the amp concept. And there was some lowhanging fruit at first where I thought maybe it would make sense to help create a little some funds for this project. So, I took the at that time Flush Rot 2 and my higher power power amp that I’ve been selling for several years and have had good success with and there’s been always an ask from people to bring these two together. Um, and that’s when we did the short run of the Flashot 60, which is, you know, next step up from that. You do get those two devices together. Um, and that is a 60 60 watt full amp. And then again, still maintaining that power that preamp defeat feature. So that way it’s, you know, a tool you can use with other preamps. So with as many preamps and I’m always building or designing for myself and testing, I’ve always needed that that function. So, fast forward a bit and I found myself asking myself, what would the new flesh rot look like now that I had the time and I wanted to get away from this sterile box scenario and give it some character. And that’s when I in popped into Fusion 360, started designing my own custom chassis and some face plates and found myself coming out What’s the idea for flash rot 200? So, uh I also have the snakes skin version. I think I can’t say it enough how much I love the snakes skin version, but um do have a whole bunch of different finishes here. Run one with people chosen uh just stained brown, stained black. We’ve got some purple, bright green. Um, but you know, aesthetics aside, um, give you a run over on the features here that you’ll find on the amp. So, we do have the gain stage from channel one of the VH140C. Um, I left it a anti-log taper. Uh, that’s how the original was and I think a lot of people like to find dialing in there in the top end of that gain. um is their preference, but for me, I find myself down in the lower half usually because I’m stacking other things. Um sometimes as obnoxiously as VHM2, which is my crust of fiction style HM2, but instead of an HM2 gain stage, it’s the VH14C gain stage. These things to together, it’s just stupid. So, I usually run this in a pretty low gain setting. Uh, we still have our standby and our preamp defeat, so you can feel free to use that with other preamps and options. We’ve got our master volume that you would expect after the preamp section. And you’ll find the original controls here on the top. We’ve got our low, mids, and and treble. And that ultramid’s an interesting one because uh when it’s at full it’s actually flatish uh and then as you bring it down it starts to scoop more and more and more. Um so that is really the character of that channel. But I think it was a conversation I was having with Jerome from AIB where I we were talking about some changes to the um mids control and I was showing him my my shift as we were talking about moving that control off of the chainsaw frequencies a little more to allow other pedals to really express themselves a little better through that without scooping all the chainsaws out there. Um, so the first thing I did was implement a shift on that, which allows you to move where that mid scoop sits. Um, this is a really cool feature for getting different tones, uh, especially when you’re stacking it with other items. But, um, this was one of the first big key features in the FleshR 2 preamp that I leaned into. And uh the other being there’s a pretty heavy um low pass filter in there that knocks a lot of the highs off. And I decided to make that variable. So that way we could definitely get a little bit of that less of that blanketed sound that a lot of people feel this amp had and bring out a little more of that top end sizzle. And then again, the low control itself is just monstrously heavy. But to find other uses for this ch this amp, I decided to bring in the tight control, which definitely leaves the character of that low end where it’s plenty heavy, but brings into the capability of tightening it up a little bit. So you can just remove that flub to more extreme settings where you could get some pretty good thrash sounds out of this. Um the whole thing here comes in at about 7 lbs, just under seven pounds. So real easy to tour and carry around. I actually just hand carried one to N where had really good uh reception from everybody there. But um just kind of you know further emphasize how much fun it is to carry this over that. Um but um additional connectivity kind of going over the back here. We are using a IEC style plug so universally sourced options there. Does take universal power. So no worries for you any of you over in the international areas. I added my uh above below titan controls for additional presence and resonance for those of you who are looking to get something even more on the top end and brighten things up with even heavier thump. I really use these in very minor amounts, but uh come into play definitely a lot more as I’m using the preamp defeat. I’m using other preamps and I want to blend those in. Like uh there’s a couple of preamps here where I love cranking those up a bit. Uh we got our speaker output. So 48 16 ohms is class D 200 watts. So you’ll get power scaling across the impedances there. Uh but nice thing is you know get to use that and not have to worry about setting your impedance or anything. Um also if you decide to use the effects loop and go direct to a interface or similar that’s fine. Uh you don’t need to have a load connected to run it. Um then lastly I did include um one of my favorite features which is a 9volt 100 milliamp uh output. Uh, real nice for if you just want to set and forget a gate or some other type of EQ or effects in this in the effects loop without having to run any additional power for that pedal. Um, yeah, that’s pretty much a brief overview. Um, would, you know, kind of going over a bit of that process. We do build this completely in house. I make them uh nights and weekends. Ellen has leaned into the pedal builds for us. So, she handles most of the day-to-day operations while I handle R&D and social media and then the amps. So, we have a small shop here that I’m able to and thanks to the run one people, I worked through a lot of this process, but I was able to get my CNC up and running to help get these boards cut a little cleaner, more precisely, less waste. That’s my I’m always trying to have less waste in how we do our operations. And then from there, we’re taking those across the router table, getting that round over bit on it, so that way we can have everything nice and smooth and ready to go sand. Um, of course this is all after glue and clamping, but once it’s off that router table, uh, that’s when I’m going to hit it with the the finishing sander and some hand sanding myself to get it to where it needs to be for whichever type of finish has been purchased. Um, and then the toollex or stain that has been selected is the next in the process. And that is again something I do here at home. So, it really is a multi-step process and very rarely incorporates any of these getting done in one day. I’ve been very thankful for the individuals in run one for being patient with me as I fine-tuned that process. So, I look forward to seeing the content you’ve created around this amp and look forward to working together more. Uh if anybody ever has any questions, I always open it up to anyone reaching out to me through Instagram to or other social medias. I just normally have Instagram on the phone, not the others to ask any questions. But run two is coming up quick. Uh I’m making really good progress on run one. By the time this video comes out, we should be a week or two away from run two coming. I’m working real real hard to finish up a large another half of the builds and get things shipped. So, anyone who’s purchased run one, keep an eye out for shipping. Anyone who’s excited for run two, uh there’s a notify me when available link on the website. And like I said, should be here towards the end of April. You should see that. So, thanks for having me on the channel. Thanks again for doing that, Shay. I really appreciate you taking the time to film that little section. I definitely got a lot more information about this amp that I didn’t know about and hopefully the people watching right now did as well. But let’s just cut to the chase. Let’s hear how this amp sounds. So for this section, I used a orange 2×12 that is loaded with a vintage 30 and a private jack. I mike that cabinet up with a shore SM57. The first clip is just going to be the flesh rod on its own and it’s going to sound awesome. But the second clip, I actually boosted this with a Franone Heapcat or Heepcat, however you want to say it. It’s an overdrive you really don’t see around much just because I think they stopped making these in the ‘9s. And it’s definitely not an overdrive that you traditionally see in metal. But I love the way that they work together and I think it sounded great. So, we’re going to be checking that out as well, but I’m just going to stop talking and let’s hear this [Music] thing. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat [Music] up here. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] [Laughter] So, that’s the video on the Flesh Rot. I hope all of you enjoyed the video as much as I did doing the video because I think it’s a great sounding amp and it definitely is filling my void of wanting a VH140C because now I really I don’t need one because this does everything and more that that amp could do. I want to give a big thanks to Sheay for sending this out to me. And I do want to note this amp will be staying with me. Me and Shay worked something out where I didn’t have to send this back. But I’m very excited about this because I definitely have a lot more plans with this amp in the future. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for future demos. But until the next one, my name is Zach and this is [Music]
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