Thanks guys. Yeah, this amp just kills. It's so powerful and right in your face. It can be a bit abrasive out of the gate, but it responds real well to preamp swaps and guitar pickup choices. I removed the uber high gain chinese TAD from V1 and put in a JJ which calmed the gain and brightness down a bit. Being a JSX owner for many years, I've got really good at taming bright, mid heavy amps so I'm bonding with this amp really well.
This thing is also very articulate and clear. Great for leads with lots of gain, and fast alternate picking comes through strong and clear. The lowend is well balanced and very tight. So far the amps sound best through my V30 loaded Randall 2x12. The cab a bit dark, and sounds huge for a 2x12, so they go nicely together. Lots of low end thump and midrange snarl. The mids on this amp are very pleasing. Not fatiguing at all. I have them at about 75% and the tone is very full and aggressive sounding. It has that classic british spank, but the gain is very modern sounding. It's kind of like if an Orange had sex with an Engl.
I usually really crank my amps, but I'm having a hard time getting this one above 4 on the master. It's loud as shit!
Another thing I like that the effects loop is switchable between series, parallel and bypassed. I prefer series loops, but I have bypassed it since I'm not using any effects with it. So the loop is apparently out of the signal path. Pretty cool feature.
The EL34's are sounding great, so I'll stick with them. But will eventually try some KT77's and 6L6's down the road.
Oh yeah, I got it used for $400. I believe it's 5 years old. Not bad since there's a new one at a local store selling for $1000 Cdn.
