B-52

Simple controls 100 watts clear sound UTILIZATION Great sounds for all styles of music, from twangy country, to straight up grindcore or death metal SOUNDS I use it with my Schecter sunset deluxe with a duncan invader in the bridge and a Dimarzio evolution in the neck with an electro harmonix metal muff distortion pedal. super clear and brutal heavy when eq is set right OVERALL OPINION I love everything about this amp, except for the fact that the speaker output jacks on the back of the head are very fragile, mine broke and made the amp unusable for a short time until i can find out if B-52 can send me another jack.

Bought this from Guitar Center in March '04 for $599.00 on a special 'green tag' sale. I looked long and hard at purchasing a Marshall, then to a Crate, and a couple others in between. Quite honestly I never had heard of B-52's - and was not going to sink that kind of buck on a product I knew nothing about. Fortunately the guys at guitar center set up a side by side comparison/taste test with MY guitar! As you can tell, I didn't chose the Marshall (or Crate even after years of being a Crate Man). This dog is LOUD. But it has an amazing clean channel, and just like some of the other reviews - the extremes of high and low are amazingly clear. It has 1 clean and 2 overdrive channels. The 2nd overdrive channel has a contour feature which is really nice. The effects loop also has a line level in and line level out for helping tame the foot pedal beasts. I haven't been able to put this through a lengthy trial yet, but needless to say I am extremely pleased with the package so far. It comes with a foot switch that controls channel/overdrive/ and reverb. There are two wires that come direct out of the foot switch (which are hard wired) - I think that a good product improvement would be to heat shrink the two into one larger 'snake'; the more wire, the more tape! - not good. Anything other dislikes I have with this are even more petty and not worthy of further discussion... This beast is built like a tank. It is HEAVY so be careful. It definitely ain't fun to be hauling up and down steps, so make sure you have a roadie or a good dolly on those gigs where you have to hump it on the steps. Fortunately it has casters though, so that too is a plus. For the money - its a great deal. I know alot of bands are going with smaller combo amps mic'ed through the PA's - but sometimes you need to just have a good ol' fashioned balls to the wall wailin amp! This one will get you there without killin your wallet. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The B-52 amplifiers are sort of the low end type of amplifier company that really tailors towards the budgeted musician who is looking for something pretty inexpensive and self explanatory across the control knobs and dials. These answer kind of busy sounding in my opinion and they don't really articulate dynamics very well. They don't have a very good sound in general but I find that the people that they market their products to our really looking for the total bliss that you would find in high-end amplifiers of some sort or even boutique amplifiers. These are the kind of amps that are going to give a beginner or learner something to feel comfortable with. So I have to keep in mind that these simple solid-state combos art for the professional music musician in mind but rather the person learning to develop their guitar skills as an entry level form. UTILIZATION LG-7512 features and specifications • Custom built, heavy-duty B-52 12” speakers • Overdrive Channel: Gain 1, Gain 2 with contour, • 3-band EQ and level control • Clean Channel: 3-band EQ and level control • Master volume and spring reverb • Effects send and return with level controls • Footswitch for channel select, • reverb on/off, gain select • Pushswitch for channel select, gain select • Dimensions: 25" x 19 " x 11" • Weight: 51lbs SOUNDS This guitar is basically a two channel amplifier that has a simple clean one and gain two with a contoured control knob. You often also have a basic tree band EQ as well. It comes with a spring reverb which doesn't sound that bad actually. You can switch the reverb on and off to your total needs. In addition there's a headphones line out so you can play relatively comfortable with silence playing or you can just unhook back and run a line out into a mixing console or your computer if you have an interface to do so. The cleans are probably better than the gain and a sense that they get sparkly and chimy type of clean tone. The solid-state is not can have a whole lot dynamics and you're really not to feel that to feel that you'd feel out of the tube amplifier. Overall it's a decent amplifier for the money and for someone who's looking for something inexpensive. OVERALL OPINION These products of been discontinued for a while so you can only find them in the used section of classifieds. Generally the B-52s amplifiers you can find in many guitar retailer such as the big outlet guitar retailers of Sam Ash or guitar centers. They usually carry this brand so if you're looking for something local I would start with that. You can always be found online to which is a more comfortable easier reach but again you won't build a plant. This is not a bad amplifier for the money if you're looking for something to learn how to play the guitar with.