nickname009
Published on 09/05/11 at 07:33
Hmmm this review will be from memory and notes that I dig up online as I faintly remember this amp being as good as it's raved to be.
2 channel all tube amp designed by mike soldano, produced by yamaha.
50 watt and 100 watt combos were produced as well some heads.
6l6 and 12ax7s
each channel has their own reverb, master, treble, middle, bass and preamp gain knobs with a shared presence control.
FX Loop with slave out
Pretty simplistic tube amp, simple design aesthetically. Just all black with black knobs and the one or two yamaha logos. Looked pretty sleek to me.
UTILIZATION
Simple to use. All the controls are simply laid out and legible. One channel is clean, one is for distortion of course.
Not too big a fan of the shared presence control however. But I guess that's better than a global reverb like I've seen on some other amps.
Preamp level is sort of where you decide how much pre-gain distortion there's going to be. You can crank it and get quite a bit of dirt on the clean channel, or go all out on the 2nd channel for high gain stuff.
SOUNDS
To be honest the sound was very bland as far as I remember. It wasn't a smooth marshally-vintage sound nor was it a modern scooped sound either. It was more like, just some bright sounding tube amp. It was a neutral sound, I'd have to say lifeless in terms of the distortion, it did nothing for me. It wasn't fizzy or anything like that, it was more thick and bright but still smooth. But it just seemed like there was something missing. I'm not sure what?
The cleans were quite good overall. Not too fender-ish but still plenty of headroom and very usable. Cranking the preamp knob on the clean channel gets you a good bluesy, yet slightly bright-ish overdrive sound.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, a mediocre amp. Yes it was designed by mike soldano but I really don't think it's even in the same ballpark as his stuff. It just seems to have been a one off idea that he may have had for an amp when Yamaha hired him to do something for him, that's what he came up with and Yamaha put their touch on it and let it fly. It didn't really take off, yet it still retains a decent used value probably due to Mike Soldano having something to do with it.
2 channel all tube amp designed by mike soldano, produced by yamaha.
50 watt and 100 watt combos were produced as well some heads.
6l6 and 12ax7s
each channel has their own reverb, master, treble, middle, bass and preamp gain knobs with a shared presence control.
FX Loop with slave out
Pretty simplistic tube amp, simple design aesthetically. Just all black with black knobs and the one or two yamaha logos. Looked pretty sleek to me.
UTILIZATION
Simple to use. All the controls are simply laid out and legible. One channel is clean, one is for distortion of course.
Not too big a fan of the shared presence control however. But I guess that's better than a global reverb like I've seen on some other amps.
Preamp level is sort of where you decide how much pre-gain distortion there's going to be. You can crank it and get quite a bit of dirt on the clean channel, or go all out on the 2nd channel for high gain stuff.
SOUNDS
To be honest the sound was very bland as far as I remember. It wasn't a smooth marshally-vintage sound nor was it a modern scooped sound either. It was more like, just some bright sounding tube amp. It was a neutral sound, I'd have to say lifeless in terms of the distortion, it did nothing for me. It wasn't fizzy or anything like that, it was more thick and bright but still smooth. But it just seemed like there was something missing. I'm not sure what?
The cleans were quite good overall. Not too fender-ish but still plenty of headroom and very usable. Cranking the preamp knob on the clean channel gets you a good bluesy, yet slightly bright-ish overdrive sound.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, a mediocre amp. Yes it was designed by mike soldano but I really don't think it's even in the same ballpark as his stuff. It just seems to have been a one off idea that he may have had for an amp when Yamaha hired him to do something for him, that's what he came up with and Yamaha put their touch on it and let it fly. It didn't really take off, yet it still retains a decent used value probably due to Mike Soldano having something to do with it.