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tonmazz
Published on 08/17/12 at 22:01
I had high hopes for this when I bought it new. THis amp is a tube powerhouse sporting three channels from clean to high gain. It sports four 6L6 power tubes and eight 12AX7s. Comes with effects loop and footswitch for all three channels and effects loop. 100 watts of raw power and it looks great. I went for the black but had a friend choose the white and both look fantastic.
UTILIZATION
Very straight forward amp to play. Each channel has the basic tone controls that you would expect and it didn't take long to get the hang of the settings. The controls are very responsive, especially the presence control but all controls do their job and do it well. The loop is very transparent and switching effects in and out is pretty flawless.
SOUNDS
Here is the run down on the sound of this beast. When you first plug it in, you are immediately struck by the raw power this thing has. It just projects out with tons of harmonic content and bass. Channel two is surprisingly Marshall and channel three is just over the top gain with a bit less bottom end. I could see this amp doing anything from classic rock to hard rock and even to metal. Just a very versatile amp with lots of options for sound. The clean channel is ok, not the best I have heard and certainly not the worst. With effects, it can be made to be excellent.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, channel 2 is the star of the show. Just has that natural VH type Marshall grind to it with a bit more on the bottom end. Channel three is over the top and I do like it for playing the crazy metal stuff. THis channel is a beast. A few problems with this amp though in my opinion. First issue is that I went through two brand new ones and both ended up breaking within a week. Both had to be sent back and I got a new one. THe third finally stayed and seemed to be working fine. I was never comfortable from that point forward in trusting this amp completely. I have heard the quality of the newer ones is much better but this initial run I had was pretty notorius for issues. The main thing with this amp is something that is hard to put my finger on. The first ten minutes are heaven playing this, then the sound starts to grate on you. There is something abrasive in the core tone of this amp that just becomes unpleasing to the ear after a while. I can't quite put my finger on it because it is great at first. When I switch to a Marshall it seems a bit warmer to me, not sure. I did end up selling this for the reliability issue and the tone I couldn't jive with. For $1,200 it is a good amp if you aren't super picky. For what I paid brand new, there are better choices.
UTILIZATION
Very straight forward amp to play. Each channel has the basic tone controls that you would expect and it didn't take long to get the hang of the settings. The controls are very responsive, especially the presence control but all controls do their job and do it well. The loop is very transparent and switching effects in and out is pretty flawless.
SOUNDS
Here is the run down on the sound of this beast. When you first plug it in, you are immediately struck by the raw power this thing has. It just projects out with tons of harmonic content and bass. Channel two is surprisingly Marshall and channel three is just over the top gain with a bit less bottom end. I could see this amp doing anything from classic rock to hard rock and even to metal. Just a very versatile amp with lots of options for sound. The clean channel is ok, not the best I have heard and certainly not the worst. With effects, it can be made to be excellent.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, channel 2 is the star of the show. Just has that natural VH type Marshall grind to it with a bit more on the bottom end. Channel three is over the top and I do like it for playing the crazy metal stuff. THis channel is a beast. A few problems with this amp though in my opinion. First issue is that I went through two brand new ones and both ended up breaking within a week. Both had to be sent back and I got a new one. THe third finally stayed and seemed to be working fine. I was never comfortable from that point forward in trusting this amp completely. I have heard the quality of the newer ones is much better but this initial run I had was pretty notorius for issues. The main thing with this amp is something that is hard to put my finger on. The first ten minutes are heaven playing this, then the sound starts to grate on you. There is something abrasive in the core tone of this amp that just becomes unpleasing to the ear after a while. I can't quite put my finger on it because it is great at first. When I switch to a Marshall it seems a bit warmer to me, not sure. I did end up selling this for the reliability issue and the tone I couldn't jive with. For $1,200 it is a good amp if you aren't super picky. For what I paid brand new, there are better choices.