The Peters Chimera has landed

I

indespise

Active member
Well, actually it landed last week, but I just bought some batteries for my camera last night....
rigpic1.jpg


rigpic1-1.jpg


I still haven't had it loud due to my drummer being out of state (I'll get to crank it Saturday), but right now I'm getting some great tones from it. Very aggressive, very thick and articulate, lots of bite if you want it (and I don't mean "bite" as in a 5150ish bee assault), way more than enough gain for anything (and this is coming from a death metal guy- if you look at that picture you can see that the channel 2 gain knob is just past 1:00.... without the gain boost switch flipped, and the amp was being played at low volume). The depth and damping controls are quite effective- I'm eager to see how they react with different power tube types. The hiss seems incredibly quiet for an amp with this kind of gain, but as I said,I haven't had it really loud yet.
It took me a couple of days to get the feel for the EL34 power section (this is the first EL34 amp I've owned), and obviously I had to get a feel for the controls, but I'm quite thrilled with the sound I'm getting at the moment.
The clean channel (the Polaris) is excellent, as expected, but I didn't buy the amp for the clean channel, so I won't go on about that. I'm sure I'll mess with it more soon, but right now my focus has been getting a feel for tweaking the high gain channel.
Sound aside, The external biasing, easy tube access, and wide power tube compatibility are features I'm particularly exited about. Maintaining and experimenting with tubes will be extremely easy on the Chimera.
As I'm sure most of you know, James' build quality is top notch, no cheap-ass corner cutting here.
I'll give a further update after I've had it loud.
 
Looks great, thanks for the review. So it's a two-channel Clean on one side and heavy dirt on the other? Is the dirty side only good for metal or can it do straight up rock and hard rock type tones as well?
 
I agree, I like the shell ALOT better than the others.....


Looks AWESOME James....


How Much?

100 watt availabla? Price?
 
That is a bad ass lookin' amp.

How does it compare to the Fireball? Can it cover the territory the FB can't, i.e. Classic Rock/Mid Gain tones? Does it come with a footswitch and what is footswitchable?
 
One more question... Is this the amp with the blue LED that lights up the logo?

I've been doing some searches. :D
 
Wow! That looks awsome!!

I have been looking at James' amps for a while now, but to tell the truth, just couldn't see the old headshell as something I would want.

That new design looks SICK.

When you get a minute, please post a detailed review of the gain channel with comparisons to some well know high gainers. I am particularly interested in performance at low/home volumes, but I am sure there are a lot of folks here who have never played a Peters amp (me included) and are interested.

Thanks and congratulations!
Tony
 
Thanks for the kudos, guys. :) I figure I'll answer some questions to save Indespise a bit of time.

-The blue LED lit logo idea didn't pan out, unfortunately. My choices then were to make it cheesier looking for the sake of it being illuminated (in a few different ways...I considered a lot of different options), or make it match the look of the amp as much as possible. So I chose to make it match the overall texture of the amp (it's a textured plastic logo that's laser engraved). There's a power indicator on the front panel in a chrome bezel.

-The clean channel is based on the Halo (not the Polaris...just want to clear that up :)). Since the circuitry between the channels is shared, making the clean channel 100% identical to the Halo isn't feasible and it doesn't make sense anyway, since matching the sound from one channel to the next actually works better this way. Thus, the Halo will only be available as its own amp, and any other amp in the dual channel format will have a clean channel based on the Halo (it's very close in all aspects, but it's just not identical, that's all).

-The OD channel on this amp is the Chimera, which is the most modern sounding design I make. It's still capable of doing rock sounds but it's clear and punchy, aggressive. If rock is more your thing, or even "older" metal (80s, 90s), the Gryphon might be more your thing. If you're after "mid gain tones", the clean channel can provide that with its gain turned up and its boost on; of course then it's not set for cleans, but the idea is it's capable of providing great classic OD sounds. Keep in mind a person usually buys an amp with the idea of using a couple sounds for practical purposes: an OD sound (whichever is his preference) and a great clean sound. It's rare when someone sets up an amp to get clean, classic OD, and modern metal all at the same gig or for the same song etc. I don't know many people who go from playing 38 Special covers to Napalm Death covers. (If you're that sort of person, I'm sorry to say I don't have an amp that suits your needs; I had to pick my battles at this price point. :) But there are always pedals...)

-Prices for the 50W models are: single channel $1700, dual channel $1900. They're available as 100W but I'm downplaying the 100W format since it's generally not necessary or that much different sounding than my 50W format, which has a lot of headroom/bass/power. Unless a person were to use two 4x12 cabs at the same time (a case in which I can hear more of a difference between the two formats), it's generally not a big difference whether a person uses a 50W or 100W model. And since 6550s can still be used in the 50W format for more headroom and "thunk", it's hard to imagine someone really needing a 100W version. That being said, take the prices for the 50W versions and add $200 to each, and that's the price for the 100W versions.

-It comes with a footswitch. The channels are footswitchable, but that's it. this is a hand-wired amp, "PTP", so having lots of features footswitchable wasn't feasible unless the amp were significantly larger and more expensive. That being said there isn't much else that warrants being footswitchable anyway; gain boosts and whatnot (different "modes" etc.) don't really change the sound enough for a person to be foot switching them at a gig. All a person has to do is take a look at the latest demo video of an amp (which will remain nameless) that has 4 channels and 8 modes on a footswitch to realize that most of them didn't really change the sound worth noticing or mentioning. :) The important changes in a person's sound usually come from channel changes, pickup changes, volume control (on the guitar) changes, and the OD pedals a person chooses to use.

And Carl, your teasing if anything helped me. I was too stubborn before to realize that people did want a more standard look. I'm glad to change if more people like the look. And honestly now that I have made one, I do prefer the new look. It was hard to admit that.
 
>|<>QBB<
thegame":386a0 said:
Why is the power and standby on the back? Seems a little inconvienient, no?
Click to expand...

No biggie...My OD100SE and OD50 both have them on the back. It only sucks if you have the head on top of a full stack.....like me... :LOL:
 
>|<>QBB<
orangekick":6aff1 said:
I guess I'm one of the only ones that liked the tall heads? Go figure. hahaha...
Click to expand...


Nope...
I dig the look of the Peters Dual Channel tall head. It's different :D
And I have one coming, so I'm a bit biased....
Steve
 
>|<>QBB<
thegame":236d8 said:
Why is the power and standby on the back? Seems a little inconvienient, no?
Click to expand...

The idea was to make the new amps as manageable in terms of size and weight as possible, go to a very accepted look, and have all the features I need for my amps in a dual channel format. These are 26"W heads that weigh 34lbs (the 50W model), and are PTP with two channels with more features than most PTP amps have, so that put the space on the front of the chassis at a premium.

Having the power and standby on the back right along the side makes it easy to reach behind to switch them on and off anyway, which is what I did. It takes a bit of getting used to if you've never had an amp that has switches on the back, but it's not a big deal. Also it reminds you to check that your amp is plugged into the cabinet properly with the right impedance selection, check your high/low power setting, etc. (which some people forget to do). :)
 
looks great! all the clips i've heard Peters amps have been great. nice work James. i like the new look. though, i like the uniqueness of the "skyscrapers" too. if i was using the amp pimarily live, i'd go with the new style. if i wanted it for home or studio, i'd go skyscraper just cause they're different :)
 
>|<>QBB<
JamesPeters":5d8b1 said:
Thanks for the kudos, guys. :) I figure I'll answer some questions to save Indespise a bit of time.

-The blue LED lit logo idea didn't pan out, unfortunately. My choices then were to make it cheesier looking for the sake of it being illuminated (in a few different ways...I considered a lot of different options), or make it match the look of the amp as much as possible. So I chose to make it match the overall texture of the amp (it's a textured plastic logo that's laser engraved). There's a power indicator on the front panel in a chrome bezel.

-The clean channel is based on the Halo (not the Polaris...just want to clear that up :)). Since the circuitry between the channels is shared, making the clean channel 100% identical to the Halo isn't feasible and it doesn't make sense anyway, since matching the sound from one channel to the next actually works better this way. Thus, the Halo will only be available as its own amp, and any other amp in the dual channel format will have a clean channel based on the Halo (it's very close in all aspects, but it's just not identical, that's all).

-The OD channel on this amp is the Chimera, which is the most modern sounding design I make. It's still capable of doing rock sounds but it's clear and punchy, aggressive. If rock is more your thing, or even "older" metal (80s, 90s), the Gryphon might be more your thing. If you're after "mid gain tones", the clean channel can provide that with its gain turned up and its boost on; of course then it's not set for cleans, but the idea is it's capable of providing great classic OD sounds. Keep in mind a person usually buys an amp with the idea of using a couple sounds for practical purposes: an OD sound (whichever is his preference) and a great clean sound. It's rare when someone sets up an amp to get clean, classic OD, and modern metal all at the same gig or for the same song etc. I don't know many people who go from playing 38 Special covers to Napalm Death covers. (If you're that sort of person, I'm sorry to say I don't have an amp that suits your needs; I had to pick my battles at this price point. :) But there are always pedals...)

-Prices for the 50W models are: single channel $1700, dual channel $1900. They're available as 100W but I'm downplaying the 100W format since it's generally not necessary or that much different sounding than my 50W format, which has a lot of headroom/bass/power. Unless a person were to use two 4x12 cabs at the same time (a case in which I can hear more of a difference between the two formats), it's generally not a big difference whether a person uses a 50W or 100W model. And since 6550s can still be used in the 50W format for more headroom and "thunk", it's hard to imagine someone really needing a 100W version. That being said, take the prices for the 50W versions and add $200 to each, and that's the price for the 100W versions.

-It comes with a footswitch. The channels are footswitchable, but that's it. this is a hand-wired amp, "PTP", so having lots of features footswitchable wasn't feasible unless the amp were significantly larger and more expensive. That being said there isn't much else that warrants being footswitchable anyway; gain boosts and whatnot (different "modes" etc.) don't really change the sound enough for a person to be foot switching them at a gig. All a person has to do is take a look at the latest demo video of an amp (which will remain nameless) that has 4 channels and 8 modes on a footswitch to realize that most of them didn't really change the sound worth noticing or mentioning. :) The important changes in a person's sound usually come from channel changes, pickup changes, volume control (on the guitar) changes, and the OD pedals a person chooses to use.

And Carl, your teasing if anything helped me. I was too stubborn before to realize that people did want a more standard look. I'm glad to change if more people like the look. And honestly now that I have made one, I do prefer the new look. It was hard to admit that.
Click to expand...

Wow, James. Thanks for the lengthy, detailed breakdown.

I like and agree everything you said about the 50W/100W issue. I can tell you put a great deal of thought into your amps. This is the first time in a while I've had GAS that wasn't an Engl. I can't wait to hear clips of this new 2 channel amp. Its sounds like it may fit me like a glove, and satisfy me in all the ways my Fireball can't.
 
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