Got my Driftwood yesterday and I've got to say that it's waaaaay more versatile than I initially thought. The clean channel is outstanding. Really jangly, lively cleans. The drive channel in low gain is amazing. In high gain mode, the drive channel is just shy of the level of gain you need for saturated metal without very hot pickups. The internal tubescreamer is necessary to get just enough boost for brootz, but it has enough range to oversaturate distortion IF you want that.
The built in tube screamer has a real nice tone too. I thought it would sound kind of generic or something, but man it has a real nice warm color to it. It's not a sterile boost. Mine is the full-size head with 2 x KT88 and 2 x 6L6. You can really hear the qualities of both tube types come together. The KT88's give the sound a more space, a bit more refinement and extra dimension. So far it seems like a quad of 6L6's would be better for saturated metal, but I haven't cranked the amp up yet to tell you how the tubes react loudly. I'd imagine it wouldn't be a departure from what I've described. Personally, I like the openness and clarity of the KT88's in this amp.
Here's the thing. Two of the greatest aspects of the Purple Nightmare are it's feel and quality. It has the most amazing response to your pick attack and your fingers. Few amps feel this great to play. When I say quality, I'm not talking about the build because that's obviously elite level. What I'm talking about is what you hear in an amp and feel under your fingers that you know the amp is putting out immaculate quality. It's dimensional and responsive. There are obvious differences when you compare other amps. It's hard to articulate, but only the best amps ooze this kind of quality. It really does. The harmonics are colorful. It sustains beautifully. It's just really, really, really good quality in every sense.
My Strymon effects sound great through the input, but the FX loop is extremely good. I'm not a big FX guy and don't even know how some guys discern how good FX loops are among amps of this caliber. However, I can tell how well the effects blend into the tone and that it does well at low volumes too.
It has a night mode which basically makes it a preamp with some kind of solid state power amp or something that gives it a pretty loud 2 watts. It shuts down the power section and allows the preamp to function independently. The question is, how good does night mode sound? Well, it sounds damned amazing. It still responds very much the same and sounds identical, but it's kind of the difference in feel like a similar difference between switching from tube to solid states rectifier. You don't hear the power tube saturation, but the preamp is so good that it doesn't sound solid state or something.
I've only played it for a few hours so there is a lot left to explore, but this amp didn't let me down one bit. It was a peasant surprise to find that it really delivers the goods. Cliff at DAG says it's more of a rock/classic rock type amp, and I could agree with that for the most part even though it plays metal like any metal amp could do, but it's gain structure and all that very much resembles a really good rock amp. Van Halen, clean jazz, grunge, thrash, are all on the menu. The built in tube screamer is what kind of makes the difference if you want to get brootz, but there are sooo many tones using the amp in low gain mode. I used several of my overdrives with it and really loved what I heard.
I have only a couple of small criticisms. First, the manual sucks. It left me with a lot of questions which I had to email them to get answered. The other thing is that it's not a small or lightweight head. It's not as bad as a Peavey 6505 or H&K Triamp, but it definitely a full size head. That's pretty much all I can gripe about.
The built in tube screamer has a real nice tone too. I thought it would sound kind of generic or something, but man it has a real nice warm color to it. It's not a sterile boost. Mine is the full-size head with 2 x KT88 and 2 x 6L6. You can really hear the qualities of both tube types come together. The KT88's give the sound a more space, a bit more refinement and extra dimension. So far it seems like a quad of 6L6's would be better for saturated metal, but I haven't cranked the amp up yet to tell you how the tubes react loudly. I'd imagine it wouldn't be a departure from what I've described. Personally, I like the openness and clarity of the KT88's in this amp.
Here's the thing. Two of the greatest aspects of the Purple Nightmare are it's feel and quality. It has the most amazing response to your pick attack and your fingers. Few amps feel this great to play. When I say quality, I'm not talking about the build because that's obviously elite level. What I'm talking about is what you hear in an amp and feel under your fingers that you know the amp is putting out immaculate quality. It's dimensional and responsive. There are obvious differences when you compare other amps. It's hard to articulate, but only the best amps ooze this kind of quality. It really does. The harmonics are colorful. It sustains beautifully. It's just really, really, really good quality in every sense.
My Strymon effects sound great through the input, but the FX loop is extremely good. I'm not a big FX guy and don't even know how some guys discern how good FX loops are among amps of this caliber. However, I can tell how well the effects blend into the tone and that it does well at low volumes too.
It has a night mode which basically makes it a preamp with some kind of solid state power amp or something that gives it a pretty loud 2 watts. It shuts down the power section and allows the preamp to function independently. The question is, how good does night mode sound? Well, it sounds damned amazing. It still responds very much the same and sounds identical, but it's kind of the difference in feel like a similar difference between switching from tube to solid states rectifier. You don't hear the power tube saturation, but the preamp is so good that it doesn't sound solid state or something.
I've only played it for a few hours so there is a lot left to explore, but this amp didn't let me down one bit. It was a peasant surprise to find that it really delivers the goods. Cliff at DAG says it's more of a rock/classic rock type amp, and I could agree with that for the most part even though it plays metal like any metal amp could do, but it's gain structure and all that very much resembles a really good rock amp. Van Halen, clean jazz, grunge, thrash, are all on the menu. The built in tube screamer is what kind of makes the difference if you want to get brootz, but there are sooo many tones using the amp in low gain mode. I used several of my overdrives with it and really loved what I heard.
I have only a couple of small criticisms. First, the manual sucks. It left me with a lot of questions which I had to email them to get answered. The other thing is that it's not a small or lightweight head. It's not as bad as a Peavey 6505 or H&K Triamp, but it definitely a full size head. That's pretty much all I can gripe about.
