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Wow nothing. I had read the reviews on Harmony Central and the praise elsewhere. I had the opportunity to get one brand new today on sale for a very good price (relatively speaking) . So I tried it out for a while with a number of guitars and a couple cabinets. I'm not sure what the hoopla about this thing was all about - it sounded terrible. Really awful. It was buzzy and harsh. The clean tone was dull and lifeless. The tone switches were easy enough to figure out - the impact of each was obvious. It did respond properly to tone/volume adjustments on the guitar. A buddy of mine was with me and couldn't believe it. He played the thing for a bit as well and couldn't get any good tone out of it either.
The guitars I used were a 70's Strat (maybe 80's I didn't look closely), 70's Les Paul, and an 80's Les Paul. The cabinets I tried it with were a THD 2x12 and a Fender 2x12 loaded with Celestions (Vintage 30's I believe). It sounded least bad with the Strat and the Celestion cab.
It's funny, the guy in the store said "oh yeah, we had a guy come in a few days ago and had the same results - he didn't like it either." Apparently this other customer was far more determined than I was, he played it with a lot more cabinets and guitars. Didn't change the outcome though.
I was really hoping this was going to be a cool amp. I had resisted trying one before because I didn't want to get interested in a $500 amp that had limited uses. Today it was $300 (I walked into a store that had 40% off of all ZVex stuff today). I wouldn't have paid $100 for it.
Sorry to post a negative review - either this thing is seriously overrated or I played through a real lemon.
It's a very cool idea and a great form factor. Maybe the next one...
The guitars I used were a 70's Strat (maybe 80's I didn't look closely), 70's Les Paul, and an 80's Les Paul. The cabinets I tried it with were a THD 2x12 and a Fender 2x12 loaded with Celestions (Vintage 30's I believe). It sounded least bad with the Strat and the Celestion cab.
It's funny, the guy in the store said "oh yeah, we had a guy come in a few days ago and had the same results - he didn't like it either." Apparently this other customer was far more determined than I was, he played it with a lot more cabinets and guitars. Didn't change the outcome though.
I was really hoping this was going to be a cool amp. I had resisted trying one before because I didn't want to get interested in a $500 amp that had limited uses. Today it was $300 (I walked into a store that had 40% off of all ZVex stuff today). I wouldn't have paid $100 for it.
Sorry to post a negative review - either this thing is seriously overrated or I played through a real lemon.
It's a very cool idea and a great form factor. Maybe the next one...
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