B
braintheory
Well-known member
Got this amp a few days ago (same day actually as my yellow Charvel) and am very impressed. Wasn’t expecting to like it honestly. I got it really just for peace of mind since I like to try them all thinking it would be just another bland sounding modern amp. As some of you guys know about me already, I really don’t like non-vintage amps most of the time. They usually sound sterile/flat/inorganic/almost like hearing a recording of an amp and I must admit this amp is more in that direction still. It’s not an amp that ticks all the boxes perfectly for me, but has many other qualities about it that I think are exceptional. So let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first: yes it’s inorganic/recorded sounding, it’s a bit smoother/not as growly as I’d like, it doesn’t have the high end bite or sizzle of my other favorite amps (despite having the sizzle mod and all the up to date features), but once you hear it at volume (which is LOUD), it has a huge wow factor that can’t be ignored. This is without a doubt the thickest sounding amp I’ve heard to date with crazy bottom end (more and deeper than all my other amps) that’s also very tight. Up till now my Triple Rec Rev F/C mod was the fattest/thickest amp I’ve tried, but this Beta sounded to me considerably thicker/fatter when compared. The Triple F/C is of course more a lot raw, organic, warm and growly, but I think I might actually be enjoying the Beta more overall. The bottom end is beyond ridiculous. No other amp I’ve heard shakes the floor like this one with its sub lows. It almost hurts the way the palm mutes hit you at volume. Not exaggerating. No other amp I’ve got has that effect. My other amps all comparatively lack muscle
This is the most efficient/high headroom amp I’ve tried. More so than even my coliseum’s. I can actually hear my no stripe ++ coli was not putting out sound with the same ease as the Beta. I think it’s rated 160 watts as is with the KT88’s (maybe it’s also more conservatively rated like the British amps?), but can get even higher with other tubes. With higher powered amps like the coli’s I always felt that it’s not about sheer volume, but rather the incredible ease at which they put out sound that makes them special, while a lower wattage amp putting out the same exact volume will sound like it’s trying a lot harder/straining to do so. Kinda like if I benched the same weight as a bodybuilder. It will clearly be much easier for him than me. Well the Beta puts out sound with more ease/authority than anything else I’ve got or have tried yet
The Beta has very nice feel to me too, just as good for playing leads and single note stuff as it is for heavy rhythms. Doesn’t need a boost and imo sounds better without it. It also has one of the best and prettiest sounding cleans I’ve heard in any high gain amp yet except for just my Naylor and Purpleface Proto. The clean channel also has an awesome crunch when the gain is maxed and gets even better with my Klon boosting it. I wish the gain went a bit farther on that channel because it really has an excellent crunch. Not just “nice” rock tones, but I mean really good ones, but maybe with higher output pickups I can get there. When I go from my favorite older amps like the coli or ‘95 Naylor to the Beta, the Beta can seem a bit dark or distant sounding at first, but then I go back to my other amps and they seem a bit small, thin or lacking muscle in comparison. Cool to have to both I guess
If you’re looking for a real unapologetically modern high gain amp (nothing remotely vintage or raw about it) then this is to me the best one I’ve heard yet. I don’t know of anything else that I can see outdoing it. IMO it smokes the Herbert at what it was going for. Maybe the Herbert would be capable of more bite, but otherwise has nothing on this amp and also is twice the price. I’ve tried I think pretty much all the modern high gain amps out there except for a Larry and Rev 1 Uberschall and these are some amps I’ve been through that I say would all be obsolete/crushed from the Beta IMHO (and I know others who feel the same) : Driftwood, KSR, Fryette, all the Engl’s, the other Uberschall revisions, all Diezel’s except the Blueface (that’s still special), all the Diamond’s, DAR (had both an FBM and Forza), Fortin
This is the most efficient/high headroom amp I’ve tried. More so than even my coliseum’s. I can actually hear my no stripe ++ coli was not putting out sound with the same ease as the Beta. I think it’s rated 160 watts as is with the KT88’s (maybe it’s also more conservatively rated like the British amps?), but can get even higher with other tubes. With higher powered amps like the coli’s I always felt that it’s not about sheer volume, but rather the incredible ease at which they put out sound that makes them special, while a lower wattage amp putting out the same exact volume will sound like it’s trying a lot harder/straining to do so. Kinda like if I benched the same weight as a bodybuilder. It will clearly be much easier for him than me. Well the Beta puts out sound with more ease/authority than anything else I’ve got or have tried yet
The Beta has very nice feel to me too, just as good for playing leads and single note stuff as it is for heavy rhythms. Doesn’t need a boost and imo sounds better without it. It also has one of the best and prettiest sounding cleans I’ve heard in any high gain amp yet except for just my Naylor and Purpleface Proto. The clean channel also has an awesome crunch when the gain is maxed and gets even better with my Klon boosting it. I wish the gain went a bit farther on that channel because it really has an excellent crunch. Not just “nice” rock tones, but I mean really good ones, but maybe with higher output pickups I can get there. When I go from my favorite older amps like the coli or ‘95 Naylor to the Beta, the Beta can seem a bit dark or distant sounding at first, but then I go back to my other amps and they seem a bit small, thin or lacking muscle in comparison. Cool to have to both I guess
If you’re looking for a real unapologetically modern high gain amp (nothing remotely vintage or raw about it) then this is to me the best one I’ve heard yet. I don’t know of anything else that I can see outdoing it. IMO it smokes the Herbert at what it was going for. Maybe the Herbert would be capable of more bite, but otherwise has nothing on this amp and also is twice the price. I’ve tried I think pretty much all the modern high gain amps out there except for a Larry and Rev 1 Uberschall and these are some amps I’ve been through that I say would all be obsolete/crushed from the Beta IMHO (and I know others who feel the same) : Driftwood, KSR, Fryette, all the Engl’s, the other Uberschall revisions, all Diezel’s except the Blueface (that’s still special), all the Diamond’s, DAR (had both an FBM and Forza), Fortin
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