Budda Superdrive 18 Series II 1x12 Combo

The superdrive 18 is one my all time personal favorite amps. Partly because of how simple it is. And how perfect it can really be if you give it a chance.

The design is pretty vox esque. 18 watts. EQ section. Master, volume, drive. Not a complicated amp at all. El84 tubes of course.

UTILIZATION

I have had my superdrive combo for a long long time. I've tried a lot of speakers in it. Including a celestion blue. At the end of the day, the budda stock speaker is actually one of the best speakers you can put in there. It kind of depends what you are going for honestly. This amp can cover a ton of territory. It's not hard to set up. I like to play mine with a Gretsch duo jet most of the time. I play it primarily at church. No matter what other 18 watters I put it up against, it holds its own consistently. Takes pedals like a champ. All you really need is a good delay, a good overdrive, and some mod pedal of your choice to make this a real weapon.

SOUNDS

The Superdrive is fat but not muddy. It has a haze in the low end and a sweetness in the high end. It never sounds harsh...ever. The eq can go a long way toward getting the specific sound you need. As far as gain goes, the superdrive is probably best utilized for those mid gain sounds, or edge of breakup clean sounds. It really rides the area between vox and marshall magnificently. It has the verocity of a plexi with the heavenly jingle of a vox. I really really like the mid gain tones best though. It is just killer with my Gretsch.

OVERALL OPINION

I think these are a tremendous value. I have sat this thing next to a TopHat Supreme 16 and a matchless spitfire. It hangs with both of them no problem. Try one of these. It's shocking how under the radar budda is considering the value. These are well built reliable amps.

First off this amp is ugly as hell. Nothing about the amp cosmetically is appealing what so ever. From the stupid purple color to the hideous control knobs. It is as Budda set out to make a pure ugly amp and would stop at nothing to achieve that feat. A hand clap goes out to you guys on a job well done, mission accomplished. However, the amp sound amazing!!! Just hide it behind a Marshall on stage and see if anyone takes notice of how your tone sounds.

This amp is the same amp as the x12 combo that we are used o seeing more of but just in a 2x12 cabinet. You get the same great features and tone as the single speaker combo. However, the tone will slightly be a little more open due to more air being pushing with the extra speaker.



UTILIZATION


Budda Superdrive 18 1 x 12", 18-watt Combo Guitar Amplifier Features:

18-watt Class AB amp
2 EL84 tubes and a 5u4 rectifier tube
Treble, Mid, and Bass controls
Rhythm volume, Master Volume
Drive Control
2 Channels — Rhythm and Hi Gain
Effects Loop
Slave Out
Pull/Modern Mid function
12AX7 High Grade Preamp Tubes
Custom-wound Transformer With 4-8 OHM Switch
Push/Pull "modern" mid pot voicing
2 channels with footswitch
Custom-designed Budda Phat 12 speaker
Pull bright on rhythm volume

SOUNDS

The extra speaker does help the air and the openness of the tone. You still have the same watts but the projection you feel is much different. It is a better thing in my opinion. The tones on this amp are extremely fat sounding. They resonate very well with a humbucker style pickup guitar. Especially if you use a superstrat like Charvel or a Suhr guitar. Using a nice maple neck on top of alder body will get that fat tone to open up a lot more to get clean distorted note and string separation. Very great tone for rock and pop music.

OVERALL OPINION

At new these amps come in at around $1600 which may be a bit high for a lot of people, but the tone is extremely good. If you can get over how stupid these amps look. Other than that these are fantastic amps and get a solid usable tone for many music style.

I would recommend this amp to anyone needing a fat sounding distortion tone very similar to a Soldano SLO and don't want to fork out the money to buy one of those.

First off this amp is ugly as hell. Nothing about the amp cosmetically is appealing what so ever. From the stupid purple color to the hideous control knobs. It is as Budda set out to make a pure ugly amp and would stop at nothing to achieve that feat. A hand clap goes out to you guys on a job well done, mission accomplished. However, the amp sound amazing!!! Just hide it behind a Marshall on stage and see if anyone takes notice of how your tone sounds.


Budda Superdrive 18 1 x 12", 18-watt Combo Guitar Amplifier Features:

18-watt Class AB amp
2 EL84 tubes and a 5u4 rectifier tube
Treble, Mid, and Bass controls
Rhythm volume, Master Volume
Drive Control
2 Channels — Rhythm and Hi Gain
Effects Loop
Slave Out
Pull/Modern Mid function
12AX7 High Grade Preamp Tubes
Custom-wound Transformer With 4-8 OHM Switch
Push/Pull "modern" mid pot voicing
2 channels with footswitch
Custom-designed Budda Phat 12 speaker
Pull bright on rhythm volume

UTILIZATION

Detail
Type Tube
Number of Channels 2
Power 18W
Speakers 1 x 12" Custom-designed Budda Phat
Effects No Effects
Reverb No Reverb
EQ Bass, Mid, Treble
Amp Modeling No Amp Modeling
Number of Models 0
Preamp Tubes 3 x 12AX7
Power Tubes 2 x EL84, 1 x 5u4
Inputs 1 x Instrument
Outputs 2 x Speaker, 1x Slave
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop Yes
Height 23"
Width 21.5"
Depth 10.5"
Weight 39.99 lbs.

SOUNDS

The tones on this amp are extremely fat sounding. They resonate very well with a humbucker style pickup guitar. Especially if you use a superstrat like Charvel or a Suhr guitar. Using a nice maple neck on top of alder body will get that fat tone to open up a lot more to get clean distorted note and string separation. Very great tone for rock and pop music.

OVERALL OPINION

At new these amps come in at around $1400 which may be a bit high for a lot of people, but the tone is extremely good. If you can get over how stupid these amps look.

I would recommend this amp to anyone needing a fat sounding distortion tone very similar to a Soldano SLO and don't want to fork out the money to buy one of those.

Amplification lamps.
2 channels, sharing a common qualisation.
1HP 12 inches, trs good diffusion.
18 Watts. Trs dynamic, even low volume. I did not pushed to save. This power enough for me in all situations.
Effects loop. Connect another HP (impdance choice).

UTILIZATION

Trs amp single handle. No need to book. This gives a good sound easily saturated. I RULES then the volume / gain from clean, with 'legalization of rglage dpend then saturated.

SOUNDS

I play rock, and both channels fit me well trs.

The sounds are smooth and warm plutt little aggressive, but nervous all the same. Trs especially dynamic.

I plug a Les Paul, a Lag Roxanne, a Telecaster. I have a new palette of sounds each guitar.

In his clear, I add a nano grail reverb, delay deluxe memory bo, an empress tremolo. I play in saturated essentially no effect. I boost my solos using a tube screamer (which was never done as well on this amp). The amp rpond all these wonderful effects.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 6 months.

I have a good knowledge of what is at the top 4 x12 (JCM 800, including single correct). I needed to find something smaller (transport, better use of lights, the loudspeaker). So I tried many combos of "low" power, weight and lightweight at Vox, Fender, Mesa, Orange, Rivera. This is the one I was most pleased.

What I like is its rich saturated grain, trsdfini. It pierces the mix, it lacks any frequencies. Superb dynamic also. I also love its light weight (19kg) and its dissemination trs good sound (I have the 4x12, and I had concerns on this aspect).

I love his sound less clear. Idalia, I have a fender ct. But I do not know much trs clear ringing sound it seems. We can also blame him for not being able to ring mtal (good saturation, but this is not correct any of the same).

All tests amps in this price range it taient infrieurs: less dynamic, less grain. In comparison, their sounds taient "closed", and lowercase letters. It is therefore the price. I did not test amp more than 2000 euros against (Bogner, Bad Cat ..).

With the exprience, I remake that choice. This does not however change m'empchera amp one of these four, and curiosities of his passion.