Fryette Amplification

VHT 50/12.. 50 Class A/AB watt tube combo, Graphic e.q. (bypassable),3 band e.q., Series/parallel effects loop,4 button footswitch.. ready for the stage. 2 channels.. clean and lead. Lots of gain available here. EL34 tubes, 3 12ax7's.. Boost,Edge and Bright switches (for BOTH channels)... literally a TON of tone shaping options and interface. This is a very professional,versatile piece of gear. 2 Eminence P-50 speakers. Tube reverb. As far as bells and whistles go... I really do not know of anything more someone could ask of an analog tube combo... There are all these modeling combos that do loads of things... but this is the real deal. These are the tones they try to emulate. UTILIZATION Simple. Hmmm.. yes, and no. This is a combo amp... but you really do have a lot of different knobs you will need to turn to get where you want. The controls are extremely interactive.. to the point where you need to be careful in your adjustments, as you might be closer than you think, and over-adjust.. so...be careful! Manual. Huh. I think it was a sheet of paper. It mentioned a presence control.. which this amp actually does NOT have. Yeah, the manual does not really help. I give this a "7".. It is pretty complicated for a tube amp. Like I said.. lots of bells and whistles. SOUNDS Sadly, I don't own this amp anymore.. But it DID suit my style... thinking about getting another one. Yes, I am a doofus regarding equipment. Should have kept it, but got rid of it on a whim. Lots of gain. Nice, barking modded Hiwatt tone.. somewhere between that and a Marshall. Used to run my Keeley TS9 in front of it. Nice searing harmonic ripping, screaming gain. Wow.It does have a real flamethrowing type characteristic when you run a Tubescreamer in front of it. And scoop out the mids on the graphic e.q. NOT a mesa tone.. or what you hear from every band out there on Clear channel radio stations. It is definitely it's own animal. Telling this story is starting to hurt. The clean tone reminds me of Vox AC30 clean fatness.. not really a "Twin" type tone.. but it may have been the speakers as well... The P50's seemed to really have a mid heavy character to them. Still a very good tone.. very alive and breathy. Class A mode.. does not get squishy. It just seemed to get grainy.. Maybe I should have cranked it louder.. Used this with Les Pauls, Strats.. different guitars. It definitely notes the differences between every guitar. OVERALL OPINION Had it a bit over a year.. struggled with the mids with this amp.. I loved the aliveness.. The searing, scalpel-precision quality for leadwork.. without brittle harshness.. a very cool amp. I regret getting rid of it, and one day may go ahead and scoop another one up. I think perhaps that the biggest problem I had with this amp was that it was great for lead.. but not so tight for rhythm.. Maybe it was the EL34 "chugga-chugga".. but I was used to 6L6/5881 tightness. This amp was very dark and a bit loose compared to my other rigs.. so, sadly I made the mistake of getting rid of it.. Instead of keeping it in my arsenal. Have tried many amps. You would think by now I would just keep them without selling them unless I truly don't like them. Sigh. Someday I'll learn. I got this amp for 1550.00.. with the graphic e.q. option. It was a tremendous value. For that price and the features, I would absolutely buy it again... and pair it with a Single or Dual rec for rhythm... and maybe a Twin for the cleans.. and a Soldano for sick lead.. yeah...!!

100 watt all tube head running a pair of KT-88. You can set any of the channels to run 40 or 100 watts. On the front we have Input, Channel Switch, for the Lead channel...Voice Switch, Gain 1, Gain 2, Boost, More/Less Gain Switch, Power Shift (100/40) Switch, Master Volume, Scoop Switch, Treble, Middle, Bass, Lead/Rhythm Presence Rhythm Channel: ...Voice Switch, Gain 1, Gain 2, Boost, More/Less Gain Switch, Power Shift (100/40) Switch, Master Volume, Scoop Switch, Treble, Middle, Bass, Lead/Rhythm Depth Clean Channel:...Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Voice Switch, Boost Switch, Power Shift (100/40) Switch, Fat Switch, Presence, Depth Standby Power On the back... Ground Switch AC Input Mains Fuse DC Fuse 16 ohm Speaker Jack Impedance Selector 4/8 ohm Speaker Output Jacks Line out Loop Level Control Loop Return Jack Loop Send Jack Loop Level Switch Series/Parallel Switch Loop Bypass Switch Footswitch Jack UTILIZATION It'll take a minute to figure out all the switching options. The loop is probably the best sounding loop I've come across it. I used this with a TC Electronic G-system with the "four cable method". What a great versatile set-up with a minimum of gear to carry. SOUNDS Ah yes, this is like a channel switching Deliverance. Or so I thought. Not quite, but such a nice sounding crunch and lead channel. And the clean channel sounds and feels like an old amp. A wonderful ride. OVERALL OPINION The Fryette Sig-X is super dynamic and articulate, but not as tight as say a Pitbull Ultra Lead. It whispers, growls, screams and sings. On any channel. And very good investment for any one trying to let their own sonic signature come out. And fun to play. I'd go so far to say that this amp will even appeal to guys that spent their life on vintage amps and wouldn't be caught dead playing a channel switcher as well as modern players.

I've owned one of these for about 4 years now. Originally when I bought it, I was in a heavy metal band. Or progressive heavy metal more specifically. There were 3 guitarists in the band and we were all really serious about our tone. We wanted a cab that had a balanced sound, with a strong tight bass that would never get muddy. Some of us were using 7 strings and we had isssues with cabs sounding boomy or undefined through our amps. I was playing an Uberschall. The other two guys had ENGL amps. We originally tried Orange (too boomy and loose in the bass), Bogner (too woody and organic for us), Ear Candy (overrated all around), Mesa (just muddy)... But I digress. We experimented with a lot of different speakers. Typically we found Vintage 30's were the best but the cabs we were using never gave us the response we wanted. I went looking for alternatives and found VHT (now Fryette). I had heard they had an extremely tight response. Was skeptical. They were fairly expensive then and I believe they still are. But at this time VHT wasn't a super well known company. I finally picked up a used one and tried it. The tone was amazing. Very tight, balanced tone. My rhythm chugging never felt loose at all. Instead the palm mutes were tight and defined. Solos were focused. Everything was as needed. By the way, the stock Fryette speakers in these are great. I don't know what they're based on but coupled with this cabinet they're wonderful. I know some people put in V30's but I've never had a desire to. Structurally it's an interesting design and I think it explains the tight response well. Speakers are front loaded and the cab is much deeper than most. The wood is thick like it should be. At this price point you are getting a very well made cab, not MDF garbage. Yes it's expensive, but if you require the tight defined tone that they give, it's worth it. As far as I know these are really only used in the metal genre and that makes sense to me. Personally I think they are great for metal unless you want loose response then look elsewhere.

Very simple layout for this amp. 2 KT88 tubes. Front panel is no surprises. 2 gain knobs. Bass, middle, treble, depth, presence...etc. It has the two gain stages obviously. This amp is really the antithesis of the Sig: X. It's a tribute in function to classic amps of the 60's and 70's. A no frills tone monster. It's meant to let you forget about the amp and focus on your playing really. Stripped down tone. UTILIZATION I got the deliverance because I was in a hard rock band for a while and I didn't need any cleans from my amp. I just wanted a good gainy head I could clean up with the guitar knob if I have to. The deliverance fit the bill. It's a really simple amp to use. Pick either less/more mode and go to it. You can use pedals with it but that's not really what the amp is about. SOUNDS In my setup I used a Les Paul Standard and a Bogner 4x12. The only effects I used with it was a delay and a boost pedal. The deliverance may be a one channel amp but in reality it's more like a two. The less side is something very unexpected. It has a low gain cleanish tone to it that's somewhere between a voxy chime and a plexi grunt. It's not a "clean" clean in other words. By using the volume knob you can get from various states of really clean to semi clean to fairly dirty. The more mode is a whole other animal. Basically take a hotrodded JCM800 and a dual rectifier and smash them together. You get the D60 more mode. It's got the thickness of a mesa with the mids and presence of a marshall. Better yet, it cleans up great. The thing to do with this amp is use your guitar volume and that's all. OVERALL OPINION The simplicity is the draw with the D60. It's not for tweakers or players looking for a ton of tones. If you need one good core sound that you can clean up with the volume and maybe tack a couple of pedals on, this is the amp for you. I play in a lot of different projects and this head could not hang in all of them. If you're in a band that uses mostly high gain sounds and little clean, this might work for you. Although you can get semi-cleans with the volume knob. The value is good. I would buy one again if I needed it for the application it fits.

Written by Stephan Sawall from Rig-Talk.com This is one of the best distortion tools I have used. The sound is full without rolling off bass. The dynamics are much better than most pedals. The sounds are fatter and sweeter than solid state distortion pedals. It can do a over the top very aggressive distortion and is capable of softer sounds. It will do OD, distortion and fuzz. Clean enhancement, adding some grit, big distorted sounds and over the top out of control textures are all there. A variety of colors and textures that change the character of the amp. The harmonic sustain is beyond what you are accustom to experiencing. It reacts to the guitar volume to control the amount of distortion. The tone control and pick up selector are very useful with this pedal to shape the sound. Because of the nature of this pedal the guitars voice is enhanced by the pedal ... not washed out. Single coils and humbuckers both sounded great to me. I can hear some similarity's to several vintage and modern sounds. But it very much has it's own voice and vibe. This is a very different sound than the Fryette amps. UTILIZATION The volume control range is great for boosting / over-driving the front end of the amp. If I want to balance the volume with bypass it is small range to get the balance. It can be done, but not a lot of range on the rotation. I asked Fryette support about this and the reply ... "The value of the volume pot has a lot to do with the tone and behavior of the circuit. If we change to a lower value, the taper smooths out but the dynamic range goes down and it doesn't sound as big. We erred on the side of sound and performance." A small rubber grommet can be easily installed under the volume knob that will dampen the rotation enough to reduce the sensitivity of the pot. That also makes it easier to toe the knob setting on the fly. SOUND QUALITY Set the gain for the amount of distortion you want and adjust the bias to tune the tone balance and how erratic the distortion is. The entire range of the gain and bias are very usable and can be blended to control the amount of distortion and texture of the sound. No matter where the gain is set the whole range of the bias is usable. As you turn the bias knob the harmonic structure of the distortion changes. In the 10~1 o'clock range it has more bass and lower midrange giving a fuller sound / voice. With the bias set above 1 o'clock the bass becomes less and can be used to tighten up the sound. It can be used to control how tight the bass is in the sound. The voice of the distortion gets very aggressive early on with the gain control and can get very aggressive. There is a lot of gain available. Even with the gain set pretty high you can hear all of the notes and harmonics in a complex chord. OVERALL OPINION Setting the gain very low or off it adds shimmering harmonics. This effects the feel and sound. Because of the nature of this pedal it does add a very small amount of grit / color set clean. The small amount of grit I very much consider what I see as a clean sound. Kind of like if you turned up a small combo clean and it colors the sound a bit. This pedal setting can be added to a clean, medium or high gain sound on the amp. The gain set very low or off is the only amount of gain I would use with high gain on the amp. Adjusting the bias from here effects the tone shape and feel. For medium gain sounds on the amp adding the SAS can get some very big fat sounds. If the bass is not tight enough you can turn the bias above 1 o'clock to tighten up the sound. I do not see myself setting the gain above 1 o'clock ... and much lower depending on how much gain is on the amp. In most cases I would not set the gain above 10 o'clock with medium gain sounds. With the amp clean the dynamics and distortion flavors are most obvious. From a harmonic and feel enhancement to angry wall of harmonic with many colors between. I use the pedal mostly with clean and medium gain settings on the amp. Preamp, poweramp or blend. To much gain on the amp clouds up the detail from the SAS and takes away from it's best quality's. A EF86 has much more gain available than a 12AX7, it tends to not compress and saturate as easily as a 12AX7, full and detailed, but also capable of being raw and aggressive. This creates power amp distortion qualities not available from a triode tube type and creates real amp distortion sounds similar to what you would experience with a over-driven small and larger powered vintage tube amps. This is very useful for getting the sound of a poweramp running very aggressive .... but can be done at lower or medium volumes.

FRyette is a company that has change their name in recent years. They used to be VHT but some legal battle has now changed their Name to Fryette. Say great amplifiers and cabinets but with just a simple name adjustment. No big deal at all. Hwt makes this different then the regular build Fryette Pittbull is that each solder joint and every inch of the amp is combed over with a fine tooth. Even Steven Fryette personally plays the amp to ensure satisfaction. This is $300 up charge and I feel is probably worth the extra money. I have never heard any complaints of customer service from the fellas over at Fryette and from testimonies from many people on the internet they are an amazing company. Features Three channels: LEAD, RHYTHM & CLEAN Gain Stacking Six-Band Graphic EQ Series/Parallel Effects Loop Power Amp Mute Half Power Mode Dual-Class Mode Variable Line Out Presence Depth Front panel Input HI/LO Edge Lead Channel: Lead Gain, Lead Switch, Hi Gain Switch, Lead Volume Rhythm Channel: Rhythm Boost, Rhythm Gain, Rhythm Switch, Hi Gain Switch, Rhythm Volume, Edge, Treble, Shift, Middle, Bass Clean Channel: Clean Volume, Boost, Treble, Bright, Middle, Shift, Bass EQ Master Volume Standby, Power Rear panel Ground Switch AC Input Mains Fuse DC Fuse Power Amp Mute Switch Dual-Class Switch Impedance Selector Speaker Output Jacks Line Out Level Line out Footswitch Jack EQ Switch Loop Switch Loop Return Jack Series Parallel Switch Loop Level Switch Loop Send Jack Loop Level/Mix Presence Depth UTILIZATION Power output 100 Watts RMS. Impedance 4, 8 or 16 ohms Two parallel output jacks Tube Complement 1-12AX7A Tung-Sol (Russia) 4-12AX7AC (China Selected) 4-Premium Matched Mullard EL34 Power Tubes Accessories FC-2 Footswitch (included) Recommended cabinet: FatBottom for maximum projection, exceptional low-end definition and focused sound Physical Actual Dimensions (W x H x D): 29.25" X 9.5" X 10.5" (74 X 24 X 27 mm) Actual Weight: 50 Lb. (23 kg) Shipping Dimensions (W x H x D): 34" X 15" X 18" (86 X 38 X 45 mm) Shipping Weight: 55 Lb. (25 kg) SOUNDS I have to say this is one of the baddest amp on the planet. this amp covers so much style ground and musical genres that is makes most amps look like toys. The appearance of this amp may be intimidating to some people thinking it is only a metal amp. This amp is just as every bit as versatile as a Bogner XTC or a Diezel VH4. Tye lows on this amp are amazing. They are very tight and unforgiving, but also extremely dynamic. The notes just respond so sensitively to your fingers touch. And the gain on this amp is out of this world huge. Not to mention their speaker cabinets are some of the best in the business. They are perfectly voiced to match the goliath sound from these amps. OVERALL OPINION AT new these amps come in at around $3799, which is a lot of money for most people including myself. However, this is a professionals amplifier. This is also for someone who has been playing boutique amps for a while and can't seem to lock down his or her tone. this could be your amp if you like a tight riffing amp for metal and basically every style of music.

The Fryette 2/90/2 sports all the features one would hope for in a quality power amp, including - Stereo all tube power amp pushing 90 watts per side - 2 KT-88 power tubes per side (6550 compatible as well) - Master, presence, and depth controls per side - Voicing and input level switches per side - A and B input and outputs, with 4, 8, and 16 ohm settings - Individual standby per side for easy mono operation - high and low fan speed modes UTILIZATION Plug in your favorite preamp, and go. The dials are very effective over their range, and make fine tuning your sound quite simple. I love how the master knobs react linearly over the range, allowing you to go from quiet to LOUD, and everything in between. Retubing and biasing is quite simple (assuming you know what you’re doing), though expensive with the KT-88s. SOUNDS Here is where the Fryette makes its mark. This is easily the biggest and meanest sounding power amp I have played. The KT-88 tubes make your common 6L6 or EL-34 sound weak. The sound is clean and aggressive, with headroom for days. The lows punch like you would not believe, and the highs cut and bite amazingly in a live mix. Those that down tune will love the clarity this power amp offers to your rig. The depth knob, which is not found on many other power amps, is GREAT at getting a more 3-D and big sound out of your preamp. Be careful though- the power amp has a more stiff response than others, and required a clean player, as it is definitely less forgiving. As a little side note, stereo effects are awesome ;) OVERALL OPINION As you will find many others saying, this is the power amp that all other competitors judge against as the standard. HUGE lows, cuttings highs, and clarity like none other. Though the price tag is high, there is a reason for it, and in my opinion, it is more than worth it. Clean up your playing style, and enjoy some ridiculously good tone!

I am unsure of what year the 100 CL I owned was; it was an older model - most likely late 90's-early 2000's. Four EL-34 tubes can push it to 100 watts. Features include: 2 channels, each with independent volume, pre-gain, high gain (gain stacking) switch, 3 band EQ, switchable mid boost/cut, switchable gain boost, and switchable "edge" (high frequency gain); master volume, presence, depth, and multi-band EQ controls; half power (50w) mode; effects loop with high/low level switch and series/parallel switch, mix/level control; switchable between class A and class A/B operation; 2x speaker outs with impedance selector; line out; power amp mute; foot-switchable channels, boost, effects loop and EQ (the latter is channel assignable, too). UTILIZATION The 100 CL has quite a few sound shaping features (see above) but they are mostly designed to produce varying degrees of overdrive and distortion, and is well designed in this regard. It is fairly easy to get a good "dry" rock and clean sound out of this amp with minimal tweaking. I bought the amp used and the manual was available for download at the Fryette user’s forum but it is very basic and just tells you about the features of the amp. Sample settings are not really needed with this amp -it is fairly straight forward. This amp may be hard for some players to play. It is a dry type of OD and will not hide mistakes and will make you play with cleaner and better technique, which isn't a bad thing. SOUNDS It should be noted that this amplifier actually has two differently voiced gain channels (green and red) and, while clean-ish tones can be coaxed from either of them, it is not designed to provide you with lush, sparkling cleans. I set up the amp to have the green channel as the clean and red as the OD/distortion channel. I thought it did a better than ok job with the cleans and worked well for me in that regard, better than some other amps I have owned. I found the OD/distortion from this amp lacking saturation and not very inspiring to play. The tone I was looking to achieve was Jerry Cantrell's AIC Facelift tone. I found the 100CL unable to get the same amount of saturation (and much wasn't needed to begin with). In fact, I think a Marshall JCM 800 is more saturated and "juicy" compared to this amp. A good example of this amps sound is on Danzig's self titled "1/2 skull" cod. Just a very dry/clean tone. If that is what I was looking for than the amp would be rated higher. I used quite a few guitars with this amp, including: ESP KH-II, Gibson Goth and regular V's, ESP M-II and a PRS standard. I didn't experiment too much with boost pedals. I wanted it to get the sound I was after without having to use an external boost. I also preferred the amp's extra 5 band EQ switched off. When it was engaged it seemed to take away from the sound. OVERALL OPINION I liked the footswitch and the amps features the most. The footswitch with this is great - has Channel, Boost, Fx Loop and EQ switches ( which you can assign to Red or Green - or both ). With the foot-switchable boost and EQ, you can access a wide range of tones from light overdrive through to a mid-boosted solo tone in the course of a song. Overall, I found the amp to be a disappointment and unable to achieve the sound I was looking for. I was unable to try it before I bought it and went on the reviews of others. For the money, there are much better options these days and knowing what I know now, I would not have purchased this amp, even though during resale, I broke about even. I think there have been revisions to this amp over the years and they may sound better now. Definitely try one before you buy!

The now discontinued (as far as I know), yet staple model for Steve Fryette formerly known as VHT amps. The pitbull ST is the predecessor to the CL series. specs: 50 watt all tube 2 channel head powered by EL34s. Clean - Vol, Bass, Mid Treble, Mid Shift, Bright, boost Drive - Gain, Vol, Bass, Mid Treble, Edge, boost no 6 band eq global reverb and presence I sort of wish the reverb and presence weren't global. UTILIZATION Very simple to use, especially since there's no graphic EQ on board. At first I thought I would be missing out, but after playing it for so long I came to realize I can cop amazing tones with the provided EQ sections. I didn't need the manual to figure out how to use any function of this head. The footswitch is also very clear. You can engage boosts on each channel. The layout is very very easy to use and starting with everything at noon will get you goin! SOUNDS Ok here we go! the best part of the review!! cleans: AWESOME. Doesn't break up if you don't want it to, depending on how you set it up with or without the boost, which can be used a a dirty boost or a clean volume boost. Very clean and very fender-esque but not completely. It won't get as bright as a true fender amp but it's a very very good clean anyhow! At the time I plugged in straight through with nothing but a decimator to control the noise on the dirty channel. dirty: This is what has made Fryette FAMOUS. The distortion is VERY clear, VERY tight and will not flop! This particular head I had was equipped with EL34s so it had a bit of that high gain hot rodded vintage vibe to it. Great for rock or heavier music! Very dyanmic and clear and focused is the best way I can put it. I owned this head for 2 years and was never disappointed with how it sounded. Until of course, i grew tired of it sounding so perfect. Yes, this happens to us guitar players it's unfortunate. I could get some great tones out of this amp, at times I felt that I didn't get enough gain so I clicked on the boost and was able to achieve JUST the right amount of gain. Although there were times where I purposely wanted to get some super maximum gain for crazy noises but wasn't able to achieve that with the pitbull. It's a very controlled distortion and the design doesn't allow you to go completely gain crazy which is GOOD, and bad. Good to know that it will always sound good and dynamic, bad if you purposely wanna go crazy for random noisiness. OVERALL OPINION Overall it's a great amp. One of, if not the few 2 channel USA handmade amps that have both great cleans AND great distortion channels. I did buy it used and I think the price was right for what it's worth. You're getting a GREAT amp for the price! It's a shame they're discontinued, they were amazing. I've tested the new CLs and yes they are still true to the ST character, but with more flexibility so it's slightly more complex in terms of acquiring tones on the quick. But the craftsmanship is great, the sound quality is great and very usable. If I had the money I would definitely get another one. My ONLY beef is both the global reverb and presence. I wish they weren't global as I use different verb settings for clean, none for dirty and presence on clean/dirty varies all the time for me.

Stereo 50 watt per side tube power amp. Runs with 2 pairs of EL34. And 2 sets of 12AX7 and 12AU7 for phase inverter and driver stage of each channel. Front panel has power switch as well as separate controls for each Channel's Volume, Presence and Depth controls, Input Level and Voicing switches, Class A/AB and Standby switches. Rear has inputs, 2 sets of speaker outs, impedance selectors for both channels. UTILIZATION Simple enough, it's a power amp. When you're feeding a mono signal you can run it as a mono,dual mono set up. The fan speed kicks in when in Class A mode since the amp will run hotter. I use this in my rack for either/and/or amplifying the Axe-Fx or loading my old Marshalls or my THD Flexi 50 down and then amplifying the line level signal. And of course when I use a wet/dry set up with my amps. I usually run it either with THD ported 2x12 cabs with Celestion heritage Golds or G12H-65 or 4x12 with Greenbacks on top and Vintage 30 on bottom, or THD 4x12s with a X-pattern Classic Lead 80/Vintage 30 speakers. SOUNDS The base sound of this power amp is amazingly enough very much like running a pre-amp through the power stage of my fave old Marshall. Driven hard enough there will be enough grit to make even the staunchest purist happy. Amazingly enough there are a few bells and whistles on this amp that make it a sonic gem. You have in addition to the depth control that lets you adjust the how loose or tight the speaker is and how much bottom you sent into it actually a voicing switch that will extent the lower mids and top frequencies. The presence control will add dirt on the higher settings in addition to more top end like it does on an old Marshall. The Class A/AB switch will also change the sound to a more harmonically rich sound, that feels different. OVERALL OPINION First of the power amp I had before was rated 90 watts with 6L6s and can't keep up with this. Actually the 50 watt per side is the Class A rating in A/B it's a 60 watter. I've been using this power amp in my rack for years and it's very much one of the corner stones of my tone.

(Originally written by Pucelle_Dabidjan/translated from Audiofanzine FR) I recently tested this amp head and I must say I was a bit afraid before plugging my guitar into it. I hated it before I even started to play it!! IMHO, no other amp head symbolizes better the current "branding effect" and the "anti-rock" attitude. With its abusive price it has to sound extraordinary otherwise I'll give it the lowest mark. It has only 2.5 channels which is usually enough on a normal amp head but not on a head with this price tag. The VHT must offer much more to seduce me. However, it has interesting voicing options that work very good and really add something to the sound. The FX loop has enough settings to handle every kind of signal. The version I tested has a bypassable graphic EQ. I don't know if the head has MIDI implementation. To be honest, I didn't pay attention to the rear panel until after a while. But I quickly returned to the front panel. The finish is perfect although I find it a bit too sober. Diamond knobs on a gold panel might have justified the price... (8) It provides everything and everything is ok, but it lacks more channels and a much better finish. UTILIZATION That's the problem. As I already mentioned, it's possible to get lots of sounds but you only have 2.5 channels and an excessive number of voicing switches which only make everything more complicated. Moreover, the graphic EQ is so effective that it changes the sound radically, making settings even harder. Even if every setting sounds good right away, you'll get a headache if you want to control all options. A very positive point is its good response even at low output volumes. The sound remains well-balanced at very low and very high master level settings. A switch on the front panel allows you to reduce the output volume without sound quality loss. It's ideal for a rehearsal studio for example. (8) Nothing revolutionary even though you get a good tone almost immediately, but you'll still need quite some time to learn how to control it. SOUNDS Very heavy sound... The overall sound is faithful to the amp's reputation. The clean channel can sound very clean, very clinical. On the other hand, it can also sound too brilliant like an old Marshall. The secret weapon is the graphic EQ that can transform the head into a hot rod vintage amp or a big modern beast. I had lots of fun with rock and classic rock songs. The sound has a British touch to it but with more definition in the low-end and cutting highs. The signal has more rage, it's more vicious. But it's also possible to get moderate sounds. Change the EQ settings a bit and you'll get a much chubbier and warmer tone like with an old tube amp head. Twisting it once more you get a modern, compact, sharp and clean sound again. Very surprising. I didn't have a low-gain guitar at hand otherwise I would have tested the amp for Brit pop or ballads. But I'm pretty sure you could find a setting that works well with those styles. I cannot detail every voicing, my review would be too long. I just want to add that the boost really earns its name! And the bright switch adds some overall brilliance. With the normal/high gain setting you can switch between a classic and a not-so-politically-correct sound. And you can also select a rhythm or lead option for the second channel (this function can be controlled via footswitch). (10) Awesome, I don't usually like an amp so much. The sound versatility in clean and crunch modes is amazing. OVERALL OPINION I don't use it and probably never will (unless I find it secondhand). The European price is much too high. Even if its sound quality is undeniable. (3) If you're looking for sound perfection, this amp will help you come closer to your goal. But for normal people, I find this amp is way too expensive.

(Originally written by Seb1822002/translated from Audiofanzine FR) 2-channel all-tube amplifier head 4 x 12AX7 WB preamp tubes 2 x EL34 power amp tubes and 1 x 5U4GB rectifier tube 50 watts in Class AB and 33 watts in Class A mode Rear panel: Depth, presence, level mix, send, effect level (low: -10dB / hi: 0dB), serial/parallel loop selector, return, effect on/off, footswitch, line out, line level, 2 speaker outputs, impedance selector (4, 8 or 16 Ohms), power amp mode (enhance, normal or auto), Class ABÂ /Â A selector. Front panel: low / hi inputs, channel selectors, gain, hi / low gain switch, volume, boost, treble, edge, middle, shift, bass, two 6-band graphic EQs with +/-12dB, master volume, standby, power. Footswitch: channel selection, boost, FX loop, EQ assignment (red or green), EQ. UTILIZATION Well-conceived architecture providing 2 identical channels with all sounds from clean to heavy distortion for a wide range of applications. Comprehensive connections and although it doesn't have a lot of sound-shaping settings, the ones it has are pretty effective. You'll need 5 minutes to get a nice tone and then discover all the functions each switch and control has to offer to get a good idea of its versatility. The 2-sheet user's manual isn't necessary. SOUNDS I play metal, rock and blues and the amp is conceived for a big sound. The equalization is responsive and effective. It's the right tool for a fat tone. I'm using the amp with an Engl 2x12" Horizontal V3 and a Schecter C-1 Blackjack guitar. Clean sounds aren't the amp's nor my guitar's specialty. I find the clean sound ok but maybe a jazz player has a different opinion (how strange would it be to play jazz with a VHT?) The crunch sounds are good, warm and punchy. The distortion sounds are wonderful with a huge gain and a super-accurate EQ. You get exactly the tone you're looking for it doesn't matter if it's a big fat tone or a Pantera-like cutting tone. This amp has a very warm and big sound for rock and metal. I tested it with active pickups but I changed back to my Seymours and I won't change them for a while. They sound much better, with more character... but that's a matter of taste! The amp reacts pretty good to all nuances and to each attack with the pick. OVERALL OPINION I've been using it for 2 weeks and I'm still getting to know it but I already have a lot of fun playing this amp. The price is quite high but you get a really good and well-finished amp. So the value for money is very good. I owned previously an Engl Blackmore head which was also very good but had less settings and only one common EQ section. When I tried this head, I immediately fell under its spell. I would buy it again without even trying mid-range amps along the way.