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What a great sounding but "weird" amp.
I sold my SLO recently because, one, I needed to play it at 3 (very loud) to get a great sound from it, and, two, I was getting bored without my pedals. So I kicked around for amps that would take pedals, and with the proceeds I picked up one 25 watt Class A Head (the Carr), a Carr 2x12 Cab (Cannabis Rex speakers
), and I have a Orange Tiny Terror coming so I can crank it in the house.
Why is the Hammerhead weird? Messing with the preamp volume and master volume radically changes the sounds on this, and then there are two controls (IMPACT and GRIP) which make absolutely no sense. You just have to mess around with each control's 4 positions, to get very different and cool sounds. This thing is made for hard rock and blues, and it loves pedals. I can dial down the IMPACT and GRIP to 1 (clean positions) but if I crank the master and volume it gets dirty quick. Or, I can bring up the IMPACT and GRIP to 3 or 4, and dial down the volume, and I get a great high gain sound. There's also a tone control. When it's off, it adds more gain. This thing just sings when I'm blasting it. A really raunchy sound. I AB'd it with the SLO when the SLO was still here, and though it lacks the SLO's definition, you could clearly hear a full bell-like bloom that the SLO didn't have (sometimes the SLO sounds a bit flat to me, and when you run an overdrive through the SLO's clean channel, hit the footswitch and compare it to the SLO's lead, the difference is noticeable).
I'm very happy with this Hammerhead, it's just what I need right now, and though the SLO remains my favorite amp, it needs to be cranked and played without effects.
Reviews of the Hammerhead
I sold my SLO recently because, one, I needed to play it at 3 (very loud) to get a great sound from it, and, two, I was getting bored without my pedals. So I kicked around for amps that would take pedals, and with the proceeds I picked up one 25 watt Class A Head (the Carr), a Carr 2x12 Cab (Cannabis Rex speakers
), and I have a Orange Tiny Terror coming so I can crank it in the house. Why is the Hammerhead weird? Messing with the preamp volume and master volume radically changes the sounds on this, and then there are two controls (IMPACT and GRIP) which make absolutely no sense. You just have to mess around with each control's 4 positions, to get very different and cool sounds. This thing is made for hard rock and blues, and it loves pedals. I can dial down the IMPACT and GRIP to 1 (clean positions) but if I crank the master and volume it gets dirty quick. Or, I can bring up the IMPACT and GRIP to 3 or 4, and dial down the volume, and I get a great high gain sound. There's also a tone control. When it's off, it adds more gain. This thing just sings when I'm blasting it. A really raunchy sound. I AB'd it with the SLO when the SLO was still here, and though it lacks the SLO's definition, you could clearly hear a full bell-like bloom that the SLO didn't have (sometimes the SLO sounds a bit flat to me, and when you run an overdrive through the SLO's clean channel, hit the footswitch and compare it to the SLO's lead, the difference is noticeable).
I'm very happy with this Hammerhead, it's just what I need right now, and though the SLO remains my favorite amp, it needs to be cranked and played without effects.
Reviews of the Hammerhead
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