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mooseherman « Pretty disappointing amp »
Published on 05/10/10 at 14:16I tried this amp a few years ago. It has tubes but is apparently a "digital-with-tube" amp. There is one input that is 1/4", as well as an optional external speaker out and a footswitch input, both of which are 1/4". There are 40 watts of power. There are 2 channels, clean and distorted. There are also knobs for effects such as reverb, chorus, flange, and delay. There are also gain controls as well as 3-band EQ for each channel. There are volume and master volume controls for each channel as well, which gets really confusing.
UTILIZATION
I don't think that one can easily get a good sound with this amp. This is mainly because of the sound, which I'll get to later. I think the biggest problem I had with this was the vast multitude of knobs and controls, it made it really difficult to dial in the tone I was looking for, assuming the tone was possible at all. The manual actually explains everything in detail, but it's still almost impenetrable because the amp is so detailed, and the manual is poorly worded.
SOUNDS
I have tried this with my Tele, my Strat, and my Les Paul, and I was convinced at that point that there was no hope with this amp. The clean tone is way too smooth for my liking, mainly because I didn't think there was much to it. There's no character at all for a supposed tube amp. The distortion channel is clearly aiming for the nu-metal crowd, as the only thing going on in the guitar tone is the low end. It's incredibly muddy and frustrating for anyone not looking to play metal on the really heavy side. I'd rather hear a Fender Twin cranked with no distortion than hear this. The EQ doesn't really help this at all. And let's not even talk much about the effects, let's just say that they really don't do anything justice, regardless of genre. There's not nearly enough control and the actual sounds of the effects are cheesy. The reverb might be the only saving grace this amp has.
OVERALL OPINION
I don't really like this amp at all, I think it's clear why. It's been discontinued, I just discovered, which is good, don't ever try and buy one if you can avoid it.
UTILIZATION
I don't think that one can easily get a good sound with this amp. This is mainly because of the sound, which I'll get to later. I think the biggest problem I had with this was the vast multitude of knobs and controls, it made it really difficult to dial in the tone I was looking for, assuming the tone was possible at all. The manual actually explains everything in detail, but it's still almost impenetrable because the amp is so detailed, and the manual is poorly worded.
SOUNDS
I have tried this with my Tele, my Strat, and my Les Paul, and I was convinced at that point that there was no hope with this amp. The clean tone is way too smooth for my liking, mainly because I didn't think there was much to it. There's no character at all for a supposed tube amp. The distortion channel is clearly aiming for the nu-metal crowd, as the only thing going on in the guitar tone is the low end. It's incredibly muddy and frustrating for anyone not looking to play metal on the really heavy side. I'd rather hear a Fender Twin cranked with no distortion than hear this. The EQ doesn't really help this at all. And let's not even talk much about the effects, let's just say that they really don't do anything justice, regardless of genre. There's not nearly enough control and the actual sounds of the effects are cheesy. The reverb might be the only saving grace this amp has.
OVERALL OPINION
I don't really like this amp at all, I think it's clear why. It's been discontinued, I just discovered, which is good, don't ever try and buy one if you can avoid it.