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Well, this came via UPS(thanks again Rupe!) on Thursday night and I finaly gat a chance to sit down with it to see what it could do. Mind you, I just spent an hour with it so I do need to do way more tweaking, but I wanted to post this review while it was still fresh in my mind. I also think first impressions are the most accurate (unless it's a Mark III [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img])
I have the Stiletto going through a Mesa Recto traditional 4x12 with V30s. For guitars I used an SLATQH with an SD Custom 5 in the bridge and my new PC-1 with a Dimarzio super 3 in the bridge.
<font color="red"> If you already know what this amp has as far as features or don't care, you can skip this paragraph. </font>
This amp is full of bells and whistles I guess it's basic purpose is to compete with the traditional british/Marshall sound by way of EL34s. The Deuce is 100 watts (vs the 150 watt Trident Stiletto). It's a two channel amp with each channel having the ability to be switched down to 50 watts. Each channel has the standard volume, high, mid, bass, presence and gain. The gain channel has a three way mini toggle to switch between crunch, tite and fluid drive gain. The clean channel has the same type of switch, but the options are fat bottom, tite clean and cruch, Each channel also has the ability to switch between silicon diods or Rectifier tube tracking. I haven't used the silicon diod mode as of yet. There is also a switch on the front panel for bold or spongy. The spongy option just reduces the internal voltage kind of like a variac, but it's not adjustable. I left it on Bold for now.
How does it sound? Well, I've heard this amp described as a modded Marshall. I don't know about that, but it definitly has that EL34 sound. It's still a Boogie though. Between a rectifier and a Marshall, it's a lot closer to a Marshall. That being said, I can see whay the die hard Marshall guys don't like it. As much as it has that british 80's tone, it's still has the feel of a boogie. It's kinda hard to describe.
The clean channel is absolutely the best I've ever heard from a high gain tube head. It's unbelievable. It's tight and bell like, but you can push it by switching to the crunch mode for a nice overdriven Gibbons type tone. This is the best thing about this amp for for me so far. My rectifier's clean was almost unusable for good clean tones. The Stiletto shines here.
The gain channel took a little tweaking to get a good tone out of. I took Rupes advice and started with the factory suggested settings. Working from there I got a real decent tone. I was looking for a Lynch type tone. The crunh mode is great for older british tones like AC/DC or Aerosmith. I like the tite mode the best as it has the strong mid high gain 80's sound. The fluid drive mode is really only great for leads. It's kind of like having the neck pickup on. It's almost compressed. I wish this was footswitch selectable as I would use it all the time for leads.
How does it compare to the rectifier? It doesn't. It's apples and oranges. The rectifier is good at what it does. The Stiletto is more flexible, but only as far as you would expect EL34 amp to sound. It does 80's tones great as well as classic rock, but you'll need something to push it in front if you are looking for modern or heavier type gain, but thats a givin. I have to say that my SLATQH with a Custom 5 in the bridge liked this amp better than the PC-1 with a Super 3 did. That was the opposite with my rectifier. I'm not going to go pickup swapping, it's not like that, but side by side, the custom 5 gave it more of an organic feel. The super 3 worked better with the rectifier because it's a darker pickup.
Do I like? Yes I do, but I've always been a Boogie person. I still need more time with this amp, but my first impression is that it's a pretty damn good head and I like it. After dialing it in by itself, it will be time to plug in the g-major and play around with the parametric eq.
Stay tuned...........
I have the Stiletto going through a Mesa Recto traditional 4x12 with V30s. For guitars I used an SLATQH with an SD Custom 5 in the bridge and my new PC-1 with a Dimarzio super 3 in the bridge.
<font color="red"> If you already know what this amp has as far as features or don't care, you can skip this paragraph. </font>
This amp is full of bells and whistles I guess it's basic purpose is to compete with the traditional british/Marshall sound by way of EL34s. The Deuce is 100 watts (vs the 150 watt Trident Stiletto). It's a two channel amp with each channel having the ability to be switched down to 50 watts. Each channel has the standard volume, high, mid, bass, presence and gain. The gain channel has a three way mini toggle to switch between crunch, tite and fluid drive gain. The clean channel has the same type of switch, but the options are fat bottom, tite clean and cruch, Each channel also has the ability to switch between silicon diods or Rectifier tube tracking. I haven't used the silicon diod mode as of yet. There is also a switch on the front panel for bold or spongy. The spongy option just reduces the internal voltage kind of like a variac, but it's not adjustable. I left it on Bold for now.
How does it sound? Well, I've heard this amp described as a modded Marshall. I don't know about that, but it definitly has that EL34 sound. It's still a Boogie though. Between a rectifier and a Marshall, it's a lot closer to a Marshall. That being said, I can see whay the die hard Marshall guys don't like it. As much as it has that british 80's tone, it's still has the feel of a boogie. It's kinda hard to describe.
The clean channel is absolutely the best I've ever heard from a high gain tube head. It's unbelievable. It's tight and bell like, but you can push it by switching to the crunch mode for a nice overdriven Gibbons type tone. This is the best thing about this amp for for me so far. My rectifier's clean was almost unusable for good clean tones. The Stiletto shines here.
The gain channel took a little tweaking to get a good tone out of. I took Rupes advice and started with the factory suggested settings. Working from there I got a real decent tone. I was looking for a Lynch type tone. The crunh mode is great for older british tones like AC/DC or Aerosmith. I like the tite mode the best as it has the strong mid high gain 80's sound. The fluid drive mode is really only great for leads. It's kind of like having the neck pickup on. It's almost compressed. I wish this was footswitch selectable as I would use it all the time for leads.
How does it compare to the rectifier? It doesn't. It's apples and oranges. The rectifier is good at what it does. The Stiletto is more flexible, but only as far as you would expect EL34 amp to sound. It does 80's tones great as well as classic rock, but you'll need something to push it in front if you are looking for modern or heavier type gain, but thats a givin. I have to say that my SLATQH with a Custom 5 in the bridge liked this amp better than the PC-1 with a Super 3 did. That was the opposite with my rectifier. I'm not going to go pickup swapping, it's not like that, but side by side, the custom 5 gave it more of an organic feel. The super 3 worked better with the rectifier because it's a darker pickup.
Do I like? Yes I do, but I've always been a Boogie person. I still need more time with this amp, but my first impression is that it's a pretty damn good head and I like it. After dialing it in by itself, it will be time to plug in the g-major and play around with the parametric eq.
Stay tuned...........
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