ejendres « Cool little amp »
Published on 10/27/11 at 14:38This a 15watt all tube head. One channel with standard EQ, gain, and volume. There is built in digital reverb, as well as 16 built in effects. An included footswitch can turn the effects on or off.
It runs on 2 EL84 power tubes with a fixed bias.
UTILIZATION
Its a one channel amp, very straight forward to use.
SOUNDS
This is a one channel amp with a decent crunch if you push the gain high enough. When you run the amp clean it has this great warm tone, very old school sounding. This can translate to muddy tone when you turn up the gain if you don't roll off the bass.
This amp has a really unique tone, its very cool. It takes pedals very well too.
The built in reverb is pretty nice, but all the other effects besides the delay are pretty useless. I left the DSP bypasses most of the time. Sadly its not a true bypass, which means some of the effect circuit is still active even when all the effects are off. There are some simple modes that can take the effects completely out of the circuit and it suppose to make the amp sound even better.
The stock speaker leaves a little to be desired, it sounds much better with an upgraded speaker.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall this is a great first tube amp. It has a very classic sound, some built in effects, and takes pedals like a champ. The fixed bias also makes it really easy to maintain.
With a couple upgrades the amp can sound great. It definitely tends to be muddy but if you take some time with it you can find some very unique and usable tones.
There are definitely better sounding amps out there with similar features, like the JCA20, but this isn't a bad amp. Especially if you're looking for a warm clean tone with a touch of breakup, thats were this amp shines.
It runs on 2 EL84 power tubes with a fixed bias.
UTILIZATION
Its a one channel amp, very straight forward to use.
SOUNDS
This is a one channel amp with a decent crunch if you push the gain high enough. When you run the amp clean it has this great warm tone, very old school sounding. This can translate to muddy tone when you turn up the gain if you don't roll off the bass.
This amp has a really unique tone, its very cool. It takes pedals very well too.
The built in reverb is pretty nice, but all the other effects besides the delay are pretty useless. I left the DSP bypasses most of the time. Sadly its not a true bypass, which means some of the effect circuit is still active even when all the effects are off. There are some simple modes that can take the effects completely out of the circuit and it suppose to make the amp sound even better.
The stock speaker leaves a little to be desired, it sounds much better with an upgraded speaker.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall this is a great first tube amp. It has a very classic sound, some built in effects, and takes pedals like a champ. The fixed bias also makes it really easy to maintain.
With a couple upgrades the amp can sound great. It definitely tends to be muddy but if you take some time with it you can find some very unique and usable tones.
There are definitely better sounding amps out there with similar features, like the JCA20, but this isn't a bad amp. Especially if you're looking for a warm clean tone with a touch of breakup, thats were this amp shines.