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themaddog « Not a bad first live concert amp »
Published on 06/14/11 at 05:51This is a 120 watt solid-state amplifier, open-backed combo with built in effects. It has twin 12" speakers. It has two channels and a switchable reverb/effect pedal. Connections are made through standard 1/4" cables and has an extra speaker out to connect an additional speaker cabinet and a headphone out. It does not have a means to easily disconnect the speakers in the combo, meaning it would be difficult to connect a talkbox.
UTILIZATION
The sound is pretty loud, and not too bad. It is better at being loud than it is sounding good, although it's pretty easy to keep feedback under control on this amp. When I owned one, I used a Line 6 POD for my tone and played through the clean channel.
I can't ever remember needing or even using the manual. It is a pretty simply to use amp, and the effects are easy to engage, disengage, or switch through.
SOUNDS
I used this with my Line 6 POD with FBV controller for all my effects and distortion needs. It is capable of playing a decent sound on its own, but with only two channels, there's not a whole lot of room for switching between crunch and heavy lead. It's more like clean and crunch, or clean and heavy lead.
The effects are kinda cool, but kind of useless in a live setting since the user would have to constantly set up different effects for different songs. I could be cool to have such an effect in a studio, but again, it's kind of useless because any decent studio would have better sounding effects rather than built-in amp effects.
The effects section is a little strange to have, because this amp is way too loud to be a practice amp, yet those kinds of effects would be suitable to have in a bedroom practice amp.
As for the tones, it's a low-end solid-state amplifier. If you're looking for real tone, you'd have to step it up to a tube amplifier, a higher-end solid-state manufacturer, or at least an amp with some amplifier modeling on it.
OVERALL OPINION
It was a good first live amp and I did keep it for a few years until I eventually sold it. It never went down on me and for the price was the best and loudest I could afford at the time.
I play a bit more seriously now. If I were in the market for a similar sized combo, I'd probably go after some kind of Mesa Boogie 2x12.
UTILIZATION
The sound is pretty loud, and not too bad. It is better at being loud than it is sounding good, although it's pretty easy to keep feedback under control on this amp. When I owned one, I used a Line 6 POD for my tone and played through the clean channel.
I can't ever remember needing or even using the manual. It is a pretty simply to use amp, and the effects are easy to engage, disengage, or switch through.
SOUNDS
I used this with my Line 6 POD with FBV controller for all my effects and distortion needs. It is capable of playing a decent sound on its own, but with only two channels, there's not a whole lot of room for switching between crunch and heavy lead. It's more like clean and crunch, or clean and heavy lead.
The effects are kinda cool, but kind of useless in a live setting since the user would have to constantly set up different effects for different songs. I could be cool to have such an effect in a studio, but again, it's kind of useless because any decent studio would have better sounding effects rather than built-in amp effects.
The effects section is a little strange to have, because this amp is way too loud to be a practice amp, yet those kinds of effects would be suitable to have in a bedroom practice amp.
As for the tones, it's a low-end solid-state amplifier. If you're looking for real tone, you'd have to step it up to a tube amplifier, a higher-end solid-state manufacturer, or at least an amp with some amplifier modeling on it.
OVERALL OPINION
It was a good first live amp and I did keep it for a few years until I eventually sold it. It never went down on me and for the price was the best and loudest I could afford at the time.
I play a bit more seriously now. If I were in the market for a similar sized combo, I'd probably go after some kind of Mesa Boogie 2x12.