ampjunkie":1kcotk9b said:
Gain is good!
So explain a little about the Revo.....
The word is that it has elements of a Jub Marshall, but I've also heard references to a Wreck and also an SLO.....
Hi,
The concept of the Revo 1 was to produce an amp that had some of the tonal qualities and feel that I like in the TW Express, but with a decent eq section, an efx loop aand a master that actually bloody works.
I've worked on quite a few of Kennys (RIP) amps and I've even built giggable tonal models for a 4 actual TW owners. I love how that amps responds to the guitar volume control and cleans up so well, it's very nice balance of preamp vs power power amp overdrive. That amp when it was released was incredible (and in many ways always will be), but today in most gigging stituations it's difficult to play an amp like that at the volume where it does it's thing well. Even at 35W, these amps are too loud for many situations. I know tons of guys on here use walls of 4x12's....hell I have 8 of them myself....but the reality is there are very few places a working band plays these days that allows you to run a huge setup at its best. Nothing is more irritating than a club owner or sound guy on your arse to turn down.
So what I wanted was a modern day equivalent that had a master volume that actually worked really well and kept the full frrequency response intact throught it's range as much as possible.
The Jubilee is quite a fascinating amp and if you start tearing back its inherent fizziness and inability to clean up well actually holds some very cool design concepts. The eq section for a start is one of the best I've come across. Also....lol.....the diode clipping section is actually quite brilliant. I know that will cause disruption with the 'it can only be tubes' brigade....but thats usually due to technical naivety. Ironically some of the same people who argue diode clipping sucks spend $400 on a boutique OD with.....diode clipping....go figure ....! Anyway the jub has it's clipping section located after the first preamp section and the results are very different to having a clipping circuit between the guitar and the amp. The other thing that works well is the serial efx loop, because of it's location in the gain staging, it doesn't require serious attenuation and re-amplification...so the noise floor is kept low and the dynamic range preserved.
So the Revo is connected to both these amps but sounds exactly like neither in particular. It has a similar available gain level to the Jubilee, but zero fizziness, it's not directional, so its not a barage of high end if you stand in front of the cab. It has superb dynamic range and a very low noise floor and a balanced harmonic spread like you find with the TW Express.
Like everything I build, it doesn't hide anything. If you are playing well, it's yoiur best friend, if you suck it sticks a finger in your face. It only strokes your ego if you can play well.....lol...
Not sure where the SLO comparison comes in....it's smoother and less brash and rude than an SLO and doesn't have quite that amount of preamp gain.,,,maybe because I've mentioned some of my inspired tones for the amp came from Gary Moores work in the late 80's / early 90's and part of that timeframe he was using an SLO....he also used a JTM-45 too...so who knows.,..
Anyway, a very fun amp to play and very easy to lose track of time with.
I'm gigging one tonight and we play everything from Country Rock to Rage.
Hope that helps.
Quick Edit: The Revo is available as 50W or 100W, both are very loud if you want them to be and feature oversized transformers and a high definition power supply circuit that tracks even the fastest pasages really well.
