It's very cool. My buddy who is an all-vintage guy came over a few weeks ago to drop off some amps and we jammed on it for a bit using my Suhr Pete Thorn model. I couldn't believe it when, afterwards, he asked me how he could get one. He's such a vintage gearhead but he loved this amp's dynamics and the way it sounded with split humbuckers.
I agree with some above that, at times, it can sound "fuzzy" kind of like an Orange or a Butterslax. I think there's a couple of things there. First, it has Mercury Magnetics transformers, which can be a bit fuzzy sounding and a bit harsher than older Marshall ones. Second, it mostly happens when you have the guitar volume maxed and when you have the headroom control set too high. Third, the speakers. To me, it's so,
so important with this amp to get one of Brian's speaker cabinets that have the ceramic Weber "Blue Dog" and the Celestion Alnico Cream. They just make all the frequencies in this amp
right. If you can't get that, as a runner-up I'd recommend Celestion Creambacks. Also, FWIW, the fuzziness doesn't really bother me because I have learned how to get it out if I don't want it (hint: it's simple; roll down your volume control and/or mess with the headroom control or bright switch).
This amp is really a chameleon, though. It sounds like several different amps in the same box, all accessible with your volume control.
- Guitar Voume 1-3: Fender-ish cleans. Amp is very bright and bouncy. Sounds great with hall reverb.
- Guitar Volume 3-5: The amp thickens, gets less chimey and more meaty in the high mids. Old school Plexi influenced sounds live here.
- Guitar Volume 5-7: Here's the modded Marshall tones. Keeping the volume here keeps the low end under control, fills out the mids, and gives a bright treble snarl. Think Silver Jubilee.
- Guitar Volume 7-9: Much more modern. Thicker low mids and bigger bass. More present overall. Much drier gain style. Think somewhere between a BE-100 Deluxe and a Diezel VH4 Ch 3.
- Guitar Volume 10: Billy Corgan full-on fuzz machine. Think Orange, Butterslax, or VH4 Ch 4.
Like I said, this is the only amp I
don't and
won't use through a reactive load and studio monitors. Ironically, this amp is
so reactive, it's magic is somewhat lost in a reactive load like the OX or TAE into your interface. (The Fryette PS-100 works in the room, though.) This is a very three dimensional sounding amp you have to feel in the room, fingers on the strings, moving the air.
