Who's Running a Budda SuperDrive??

[LeftyCatton]

Might be able to get a deal on a Budda, it would be a brand new peavey built one, most likely the 45 head.

What do you think of em' guys for big thick ballsy tone? I'm thinking slightly Cantrell esque tone even up to ride the lightning stuff. Do you think you'd need to hit the front end with something?

Has anyway compared a pre-peavey one to a newer model? Better/Worse?

Cheers guys

Luke

 

[roodboy]

The sd45 with the rectifier toggle on the back is an absolute beast.
Its a great rock amp, would need a boost for RTL.
One of the best amps I have ever played.

 

[fek]

I just saw Baroness and they were using Budda's. A half stack and a combo stack. Their tone was really good. Great actually.

 

[Meathead]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

 

[LeftyCatton]

That sounds like the type I thing I'm looking for! I've really started to appreciate the need for less gain to sound great in a band situation. I want something that sounds huge live, even it sounds weaker in isolation.

Anyone played a newer one?

 

[LP Freak]

I gigged with an SD45 for a while. They're great sounding amps with a nice clean channel too.

 

[boost]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

I have a SD80 and agree with all of the above. I am a single coil guy and the amp works very well with them. I like the tones of the 45 and 80 more than the 18 or 30. Not that the 18 or 30 sound bad, I just prefer the bigger tubes.

 

[david simpson]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

I have SD30 #2 and this is pretty much spot on with mine.

 

[Meathead]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

I have a SD80 and agree with all of the above. I am a single coil guy and the amp works very well with them. I like the tones of the 45 and 80 more than the 18 or 30. Not that the 18 or 30 sound bad, I just prefer the bigger tubes.

Ya there's girth/depth to having the larger power. I've gotten used to EL84 amps over the years. I used to only use 100 watters (4xEL34 amps) back in the day.
I just can't get the volume up to where I like it using big tubes anymore. I like the power tubes to have a bit of a workout and start to compress. 18 watt amps are all I use now.
My Peters 18 watt amp is best with JJ EL84 tubes as they are darker, while my F30 and Budda SD18 like Sovteks. There's big differences tonally with EL84 tubes when you mess around with different types.

 

[boost]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

I have a SD80 and agree with all of the above. I am a single coil guy and the amp works very well with them. I like the tones of the 45 and 80 more than the 18 or 30. Not that the 18 or 30 sound bad, I just prefer the bigger tubes.

Ya there's girth/depth to having the larger power. I've gotten used to EL84 amps over the years. I used to only use 100 watters (4xEL34 amps) back in the day.
I just can't get the volume up to where I like it using big tubes anymore. I like the power tubes to have a bit of a workout and start to compress. 18 watt amps are all I use now.
My Peters 18 watt amp is best with JJ EL84 tubes as they are darker, while my F30 and Budda SD18 like Sovteks. There's big differences tonally with EL84 tubes when you mess around with different types.

EL84 amps are all I had for quite some time. I still really dig the complexity of them, but I did miss/want amps with bigger tubes. Now I have EL34, 6L6, and EL84 amps. I agree that the EL84 tubes seem to be very picky when it comes to amps. Especially in a simple 1974X circuit. Even my modded JCA20 liked certain tubes and that had a ton of gain. My Crate V32 is even picky about power tubes.

I have tried different power tubes in the SD80 and have noticed no difference in tone between the JJ's and the Ruby's. Haven't tried any Winged C's yet though. Fine with me as the Ruby's are cheap and sound good. I know I am in the minority, but I did not like the Sovtek 12AX7B recommendation's for the Budda pre's though. Found them dark and muddy.

 

[Meathead]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

I have a SD80 and agree with all of the above. I am a single coil guy and the amp works very well with them. I like the tones of the 45 and 80 more than the 18 or 30. Not that the 18 or 30 sound bad, I just prefer the bigger tubes.

Ya there's girth/depth to having the larger power. I've gotten used to EL84 amps over the years. I used to only use 100 watters (4xEL34 amps) back in the day.
I just can't get the volume up to where I like it using big tubes anymore. I like the power tubes to have a bit of a workout and start to compress. 18 watt amps are all I use now.
My Peters 18 watt amp is best with JJ EL84 tubes as they are darker, while my F30 and Budda SD18 like Sovteks. There's big differences tonally with EL84 tubes when you mess around with different types.

EL84 amps are all I had for quite some time. I still really dig the complexity of them, but I did miss/want amps with bigger tubes. Now I have EL34, 6L6, and EL84 amps. I agree that the EL84 tubes seem to be very picky when it comes to amps. Especially in a simple 1974X circuit. Even my modded JCA20 liked certain tubes and that had a ton of gain. My Crate V32 is even picky about power tubes.

I have tried different power tubes in the SD80 and have noticed no difference in tone between the JJ's and the Ruby's. Haven't tried any Winged C's yet though. Fine with me as the Ruby's are cheap and sound good. I know I am in the minority, but I did not like the Sovtek 12AX7B recommendation's for the Budda pre's though. Found them dark and muddy.

Ya, I noticed the difference with EL34 tubes is less pronounced than the difference with EL84 tubes.
Try the Sovtek 12ax7C, they sound really good to me. A slightly higher output over the 12ax7B's but they feel great. James Peters turned me on to them a while ago, I like them a lot for a cheap tube.

 

[boost]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

I have a SD80 and agree with all of the above. I am a single coil guy and the amp works very well with them. I like the tones of the 45 and 80 more than the 18 or 30. Not that the 18 or 30 sound bad, I just prefer the bigger tubes.

Ya there's girth/depth to having the larger power. I've gotten used to EL84 amps over the years. I used to only use 100 watters (4xEL34 amps) back in the day.
I just can't get the volume up to where I like it using big tubes anymore. I like the power tubes to have a bit of a workout and start to compress. 18 watt amps are all I use now.
My Peters 18 watt amp is best with JJ EL84 tubes as they are darker, while my F30 and Budda SD18 like Sovteks. There's big differences tonally with EL84 tubes when you mess around with different types.

EL84 amps are all I had for quite some time. I still really dig the complexity of them, but I did miss/want amps with bigger tubes. Now I have EL34, 6L6, and EL84 amps. I agree that the EL84 tubes seem to be very picky when it comes to amps. Especially in a simple 1974X circuit. Even my modded JCA20 liked certain tubes and that had a ton of gain. My Crate V32 is even picky about power tubes.

I have tried different power tubes in the SD80 and have noticed no difference in tone between the JJ's and the Ruby's. Haven't tried any Winged C's yet though. Fine with me as the Ruby's are cheap and sound good. I know I am in the minority, but I did not like the Sovtek 12AX7B recommendation's for the Budda pre's though. Found them dark and muddy.

Ya, I noticed the difference with EL34 tubes is less pronounced than the difference with EL84 tubes.
Try the Sovtek 12ax7C, they sound really good to me. A slightly higher output over the 12ax7B's but they feel great. James Peters turned me on to them a while ago, I like them a lot for a cheap tube.

I have GT 'premium' 12AX7's in there now and I like them best. Problem is, there are no markings on the tubes and I compared them to all the others I have and none of the guts seem to line up (different plates, etc.). I may have to check out the Sovtek 12AX7C. Could be what they are, who knows.

 

[Meathead]

They have a nice organic type old Marshall meets AC30 gain...and it has a great feel. Awesome amps.
It can have lots of mids and and sound thick, but if you pull out the mid knob it gets a little more gain and slightly scooped in the mids and brighter.
So it can have a darker type of tone or a brighter scooped type of tone.
It doesn't have a ton of gain (like say a 5150, not even close) but it has more then enough gain for rhythm playing and I find it's enough for soloing as well if you have good technique. If you rely on boat loads of gain for soloing, you'll need a pedal in front to get there.

They sound great playing alone, but really shine when with a band. They just fill out the band's sound nicely.

I have a SD80 and agree with all of the above. I am a single coil guy and the amp works very well with them. I like the tones of the 45 and 80 more than the 18 or 30. Not that the 18 or 30 sound bad, I just prefer the bigger tubes.

Ya there's girth/depth to having the larger power. I've gotten used to EL84 amps over the years. I used to only use 100 watters (4xEL34 amps) back in the day.
I just can't get the volume up to where I like it using big tubes anymore. I like the power tubes to have a bit of a workout and start to compress. 18 watt amps are all I use now.
My Peters 18 watt amp is best with JJ EL84 tubes as they are darker, while my F30 and Budda SD18 like Sovteks. There's big differences tonally with EL84 tubes when you mess around with different types.

EL84 amps are all I had for quite some time. I still really dig the complexity of them, but I did miss/want amps with bigger tubes. Now I have EL34, 6L6, and EL84 amps. I agree that the EL84 tubes seem to be very picky when it comes to amps. Especially in a simple 1974X circuit. Even my modded JCA20 liked certain tubes and that had a ton of gain. My Crate V32 is even picky about power tubes.

I have tried different power tubes in the SD80 and have noticed no difference in tone between the JJ's and the Ruby's. Haven't tried any Winged C's yet though. Fine with me as the Ruby's are cheap and sound good. I know I am in the minority, but I did not like the Sovtek 12AX7B recommendation's for the Budda pre's though. Found them dark and muddy.

Ya, I noticed the difference with EL34 tubes is less pronounced than the difference with EL84 tubes.
Try the Sovtek 12ax7C, they sound really good to me. A slightly higher output over the 12ax7B's but they feel great. James Peters turned me on to them a while ago, I like them a lot for a cheap tube.

I have GT 'premium' 12AX7's in there now and I like them best. Problem is, there are no markings on the tubes and I compared them to all the others I have and none of the guts seem to line up (different plates, etc.). I may have to check out the Sovtek 12AX7C. Could be what they are, who knows.

I remember James telling me he tried the Sovtek12ax7C (because he is a manufacturer of amps he gets a deal on tubes) and he liked them at the time (he probably likes something else now), But really, the magic comes from the player. We shouldn't focus too hard on gear.