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LordRiffenstein « Killer amp, for pretty much every style »
Published on 03/31/11 at 01:57The Savage 120 is an all-tube amp, running 6550s (or KT88s) in the power section and ECC83s in the preamp. The "120" in the name is misleading, this is not a 120w amp. 2 6550s will get you about 90w depending on bias and tube brand but that doesn't mean this is not a loud amp.
The Savage 120 has 4 channels, one could say it are 2 channels with 2 gain settings each and shared eq. There's a master section with dual presence controls and dual master volumes. The high gain channels have a rough/smooth switch and the clean channel has a bright switch. At the back, there are switching options, a great loop and power amp outputs.
For sure it's a feature-packed amp and all the features are useful and most are switchable with the footswitch or midi. Saddly, the footswitch is an extra but worth the price. Unless you want to control the amp with midi, the you should get the Z11 switcher.
UTILIZATION
I always, and still do, loved this amp. It was my first "boutique" amp and it served me well for the 8-9 years that I owned it. Somewhere out there, somebody is still digging it!
I was playing rock-originals and in a coverband when I got this amp and I was able to get whatever tone I needed for my gigs and rehearsals. I was running the Savage 120 with an Engl standard 4x12 and the combination sounded killer.
The layout of the amp is very easy and it's not hard to get the great tones from this amp. The manual is straightforward and clear.
SOUNDS
I was running a number of guitars with this amp, teles, strats, PRS and always found my sound with it. I switched to using Vintage30 speakers after a while and the tones were killer.
One of my fav tones was the 2nd channel (hit it with a nice OD/boost for amazement) or the 3rd channel in smooth setting. These were my basic rhythm tones, lotsa punch, tight low end and smooth mid. Bot channels responded very well to dynamics and boost. The clean channel was very tight and direct sounding, a bit similar to Hiwatt-clean tones. The 4th channel was a killer lead channel. Although I also played lead hitting ch3 with a boost, the 4th channel sounded amazing. The rough/smooth switch worked great for this as you could get a great crunch tone in "rough" and turn it into a liquid lead tone when switching to smooth.
At 1st I ran the amp with a pedalboard but later on started using rack gear thru the loop. I must say that the loop sounds very good and I never had problems with this.
OVERALL OPINION
I owned the amp for about 9 years and had a lot of good times with it. Eventually I sold it because I bought some others and simply had to many. BUT, it's the one amp that I definitely would love to get back. The tones were stunning and it just worked for me. I had the amp in a flightcase and never had a major issue with it. couple of blown power tubes but never an issue with the amp.
The Savage 120 has 4 channels, one could say it are 2 channels with 2 gain settings each and shared eq. There's a master section with dual presence controls and dual master volumes. The high gain channels have a rough/smooth switch and the clean channel has a bright switch. At the back, there are switching options, a great loop and power amp outputs.
For sure it's a feature-packed amp and all the features are useful and most are switchable with the footswitch or midi. Saddly, the footswitch is an extra but worth the price. Unless you want to control the amp with midi, the you should get the Z11 switcher.
UTILIZATION
I always, and still do, loved this amp. It was my first "boutique" amp and it served me well for the 8-9 years that I owned it. Somewhere out there, somebody is still digging it!
I was playing rock-originals and in a coverband when I got this amp and I was able to get whatever tone I needed for my gigs and rehearsals. I was running the Savage 120 with an Engl standard 4x12 and the combination sounded killer.
The layout of the amp is very easy and it's not hard to get the great tones from this amp. The manual is straightforward and clear.
SOUNDS
I was running a number of guitars with this amp, teles, strats, PRS and always found my sound with it. I switched to using Vintage30 speakers after a while and the tones were killer.
One of my fav tones was the 2nd channel (hit it with a nice OD/boost for amazement) or the 3rd channel in smooth setting. These were my basic rhythm tones, lotsa punch, tight low end and smooth mid. Bot channels responded very well to dynamics and boost. The clean channel was very tight and direct sounding, a bit similar to Hiwatt-clean tones. The 4th channel was a killer lead channel. Although I also played lead hitting ch3 with a boost, the 4th channel sounded amazing. The rough/smooth switch worked great for this as you could get a great crunch tone in "rough" and turn it into a liquid lead tone when switching to smooth.
At 1st I ran the amp with a pedalboard but later on started using rack gear thru the loop. I must say that the loop sounds very good and I never had problems with this.
OVERALL OPINION
I owned the amp for about 9 years and had a lot of good times with it. Eventually I sold it because I bought some others and simply had to many. BUT, it's the one amp that I definitely would love to get back. The tones were stunning and it just worked for me. I had the amp in a flightcase and never had a major issue with it. couple of blown power tubes but never an issue with the amp.