FourT6and2
Well-known member
Got this thing on a whim. It was a good whim 
I like single-channel 50 watters. I think they sound more angry, yet have a sort of sweetness in the highs that isn't harsh.
The Ares has two switchable masters, with two independent gain controls (shared EQ). And each master has assignable switches to control low-end, mid, and high-end response. So really, it's kinda like a two-channel amp. Sorta. Both "channels" are the same except Master 1 has a "crunch mode" for its gain that drops it down to three gain stages instead of four. Master 1 also sounds a tiny tiny bit brighter and less saturated. But that could simply be from component value variance.
Amp can run whatever tubes you want but came with JJ 6L6GC. Plate voltage is around 460 and I biased to 42mA, assuming the 6L6GC was a 30 watt tube. But having talked to Kyle Rhodes, he says they're 25 watts and to bias the amp really cold at 25mA, which is like 46% of plate dissipation. Very cold, indeed. I tried it and yeah, the amp's response is tighter. But there's less character. So I will play around with it.
Anyway, this thang sounds pretty damn wicked. Modern. Tight. Thumpy. Punchy low end. Has a killer grind to the upper mids when you engage the Bright switch (boosts upper mids and highs). Not as pissed off and "uncaged" as my Chupacabra. But definitely more modern sounding—and tighter. The Chupa is Marshall all the way. The Ares is more in the Mesa camp I think. It's still pretty early, but so far the amp doesn't have any annoying frequency spikes. It's not super compressed like a Diezel, or dark and saggy like a Bogner, or grating and bright like a Soldano SLO. But it definitely shares some of the good traits from each of those amps. It has the massive low-end thump and gain of a Diezel, the thick mid-range of a Bogner, and the articulation of an SLO. The amp doesn't really have a character of its own, though. It sounds very balanced and leans toward the hi-fi side of things in that you can tweak it to sound any which way. What you put into it is what you get out of it.
I tried it with a Bogner cab with V30s, but surprisingly I didn't like it. It sounds godly with my other Bogner cab loaded with fairly new Chinese Celestion G12M-25 Greenbacks. As do all my other amps. Framus had the right idea putting Greenbacks into their Cobra cab. They are fantastic speakers for pretty much everything. Yes, even modern high-gain.
The FX Loop is footswitchable, and true-bypass. And it has both a send and receive level control. Finally! Why can't other amp companies do this? No worrying about pedals vs rack or anything. You have total control. The loop sounds good. It's up there as one of the best I've tried. But take that with a grain of salt because I only run a delay pedal. Diezel has amazing loops. As does Fortin. This one is, to my ears, better. Delay rings out crystal clear with no clipping and doesn't get lost behind the amp's tone stack or gain stages.
The masters have a very nice, even sweep that doesn't come on too early. The presence and depth controls are also very gradual and smooth in their sweep.
What would I change? It'd be nice to have two bias pots, one for each tube, instead of the one. That way you don't have to buy matched tubes. My Chupa and Yeti have that. And it's a GODSEND. Kyle Rhodes, if you're reading this... individual bias pots per tube. Do eeeeet.
I have a feeling the amp would sound good with a Mesa traditional 4x12. I don't have one. But I have a Mesa 2x12 to try it with at some point. But for now, Greenbacks FOR LIFE!
I like single-channel 50 watters. I think they sound more angry, yet have a sort of sweetness in the highs that isn't harsh.
The Ares has two switchable masters, with two independent gain controls (shared EQ). And each master has assignable switches to control low-end, mid, and high-end response. So really, it's kinda like a two-channel amp. Sorta. Both "channels" are the same except Master 1 has a "crunch mode" for its gain that drops it down to three gain stages instead of four. Master 1 also sounds a tiny tiny bit brighter and less saturated. But that could simply be from component value variance.
Amp can run whatever tubes you want but came with JJ 6L6GC. Plate voltage is around 460 and I biased to 42mA, assuming the 6L6GC was a 30 watt tube. But having talked to Kyle Rhodes, he says they're 25 watts and to bias the amp really cold at 25mA, which is like 46% of plate dissipation. Very cold, indeed. I tried it and yeah, the amp's response is tighter. But there's less character. So I will play around with it.
Anyway, this thang sounds pretty damn wicked. Modern. Tight. Thumpy. Punchy low end. Has a killer grind to the upper mids when you engage the Bright switch (boosts upper mids and highs). Not as pissed off and "uncaged" as my Chupacabra. But definitely more modern sounding—and tighter. The Chupa is Marshall all the way. The Ares is more in the Mesa camp I think. It's still pretty early, but so far the amp doesn't have any annoying frequency spikes. It's not super compressed like a Diezel, or dark and saggy like a Bogner, or grating and bright like a Soldano SLO. But it definitely shares some of the good traits from each of those amps. It has the massive low-end thump and gain of a Diezel, the thick mid-range of a Bogner, and the articulation of an SLO. The amp doesn't really have a character of its own, though. It sounds very balanced and leans toward the hi-fi side of things in that you can tweak it to sound any which way. What you put into it is what you get out of it.
I tried it with a Bogner cab with V30s, but surprisingly I didn't like it. It sounds godly with my other Bogner cab loaded with fairly new Chinese Celestion G12M-25 Greenbacks. As do all my other amps. Framus had the right idea putting Greenbacks into their Cobra cab. They are fantastic speakers for pretty much everything. Yes, even modern high-gain.
The FX Loop is footswitchable, and true-bypass. And it has both a send and receive level control. Finally! Why can't other amp companies do this? No worrying about pedals vs rack or anything. You have total control. The loop sounds good. It's up there as one of the best I've tried. But take that with a grain of salt because I only run a delay pedal. Diezel has amazing loops. As does Fortin. This one is, to my ears, better. Delay rings out crystal clear with no clipping and doesn't get lost behind the amp's tone stack or gain stages.
The masters have a very nice, even sweep that doesn't come on too early. The presence and depth controls are also very gradual and smooth in their sweep.
What would I change? It'd be nice to have two bias pots, one for each tube, instead of the one. That way you don't have to buy matched tubes. My Chupa and Yeti have that. And it's a GODSEND. Kyle Rhodes, if you're reading this... individual bias pots per tube. Do eeeeet.
I have a feeling the amp would sound good with a Mesa traditional 4x12. I don't have one. But I have a Mesa 2x12 to try it with at some point. But for now, Greenbacks FOR LIFE!
