Questions about a few amps

[MadAsAHatter]

I received a small inheritance form the sale of my late uncle's house. Not dead rich uncle money, but just enough to buy an amp on my list that's not already in progress.

Instead of doing separate threads I'll ask everything here.

First the list of amps I'm looking at in no particular order.
Driftwood Purple Nightmare
KSR Ares or Orthos
Omega Granophyre

I'll most likely eventually get all as I save and can afford them. So questions are more to help me decide which to get first.

Driftwood Purple Nightmare:
All the clips and many reviews are geared toward high gain metal. I've also read in a few places it being described as a great lower gain rock amp that happens to do metal reall well. Can any who have first hand experience elaborate on this?

KSR Ares or Orthos:
On the newest versions of these two, is the only difference between them the clean channel? Or is the Ares a little more raw/aggressive than the Orthos? I've heard that comparison, but talking about the Orthos mk1 before getting upgraded with the "feel" knob.

Omega Granophyre:
I like the clips I've heard, but im having a hard time putting my finger on where this amp falls. Mainly in comparison of the two listed above. Would it be different enough from the other two where its worth getting? Or would it just be redundant?

And lastly the general question: if it were your choice to pick one of those three which one would it be and why?

 

[DanTravis62]

IMO they're all very similar - dark, smooth, and modern. All good amps. All higher quality construction.

Out of the three, I probably like the purple nightmare best. It seems to have the best lower gain tones on tap, as well as a bit less fizz than the omega and KSR.

 

[Apex1Rg7X]

I own the Granophyre and have owned both KSR's you mentioned.

The Granophyre is an amazing amp that has a very intuitive EQ. It can get fairly bright or somewhat dark, depending on how you EQ it. The Mids are fantastic with an upper Mid emphasis.

Ares is super aggressive and tight. It seems to have a touch more aggression in the Mids than the Orthos I had. The Orthos was 100 watts as opposed to the 50 watts in Ares so it had a bigger bottom end but not a huge difference. The Ares definitely packs a punch for its size. If you need a clean channel then go Orthos.

The Purple Nightmare is at the very top of my list to try next.

 

[RedB4Black]

I've owned the Granophyre, a KSR Gemini (orthos 2 on order) and the Purple Nightmare.

While I can't speak to the Orthos 2 just yet, I did prefer the Gemini over the other 2. The Purple Nightmare is a cool amp, has a unique feel and is fairly saturated with a touch of compression. It is a little lacking on the low end though. The Granophyre is a much better sounding amp than the Driftwood, IMO. It's less compressed, tight, clear gain with a lot of upper mid grind - boarding on the level of nasally if you aren't too careful.

The Orthos is supposedly basically a Gemini without the MIDI. The Gemini was the most versatile and with all the different modes can get just about any tone you could want.