New amp day... well weekend...

[khabibissell]

So, I head to the local music store today to see if they had any Tung Sol preamp tubes for an amp of mine (more on that later). Of course, I had to wander through the store to see what they had in stock. Naturally, they had to have an amp I've been gassing for since I played one a few years ago, a Soldano Avenger:



After about an hour of ear shattering testing, I'd say it is a winner. Straightforward, single channel amp that absolutely sings. Lots of bottom end chunk too. I'm looking forward to trying it with the band ASAP.

Also, on friday on the way home from work, I stopped at a Guitar Center that has alot of cool gear, different to the one that is close to my house. Low and behold, they had a new DSL 50 on clearance. I scooped that up for a pretty good price and after throwing in some GT EL34M's and biasing them to 42Mv, I really don't understand why people bust on them. I think it is a great sounding amp and sounds like a Marshall should on OD1, and has a very nice clean. I used it at a gig last night and it worked like a champ. Here's a group shot of my money pit... :ROTF:

[Joe_Steeler]

Pretty awesome quartet you have there fella!!!
I have owned at one time or another three of those: DSL50, DR and the Avenger.
If I HAD to make a decision I would choose the DR since its got a bit more flexibility, but all kick ass type of amps nevertheless.

[scotty]

How about some sound clips? hehe

[Boxcar Willie 84]

thats the way to be scuba steve

[khabibissell]

How about some sound clips? hehe

You're right, I should record something... I'm curious to hear clips of them back to back to see the differnce myself. The Soldano sounds alot like the Recto cranked up on modern mode, but with more clarity, definition and complexity. The Soldano has a vicious top end, but it is pretty musical and not piercing the way alot of amps can be. The lows are great... Nice and tight.

I'm going to mess with it more tonight to see how the low gain input sounds, as well as try to get some darker tones out of the high gain input.

[kmanick]

A man after my own heart.
how different do the JSX and the dual Recto sound from each other?
I'm gasing for a Mesa really badly, but I can't decide on which one

[P I K A]

How loud do you need to go for the avenger to sound really good?

[khabibissell]

A man after my own heart.
how different do the JSX and the dual Recto sound from each other?
I'm gasing for a Mesa really badly, but I can't decide on which one

Honestly, I don't think they are similar at all. The Dual has so many different tonal options: channel voicings, bold/spongy power, and tube or diode rectifier. Like I've said in past threads, the JSX to me sounds like it sounds. In some ways, almost solid state. It seems to lack that complex tube tone, plus that "wah" thing is always there (with mine anyway). On the other hand, though it has that huge recitifier sound (fills up alot of space in a mix), the Recto can do so much more. When I brought that DSL home, I was messing around to see if I could copy it's tone with the Recto. I put in EL34's in the Recto, set it on Vintage and set the Rectifier to tube (which adds some sag and darkens the tone somewhat. After a bit of EQing, it was pretty close. Of course, the Recto has a more modern edge to it... it just sounds bigger. The pushed mode on the clean channel is great with the mids, treble, and presence up for crunch tones as well.

A couple of caveats... Rectos are VERY finicky to EQ changes. You have to have your settings exact to get what you want. Any slight change in settings throws off the whole tone. If there is one big negative thing that I could say about them it is that. They sound great when dialed in right but are very easy to make sound like ass. Also, they are unforgiving to bad technique (at least when they are dialed in properly. Obviously, you can scoop out the mids and crank the gain, but who does that?). To me, the JSX has it's sound and that's what you get. If you like it, you are all set. Also, the JSX is very easy to play. Actually, the DSL and Soldano are too.

[khabibissell]

How loud do you need to go for the avenger to sound really good?

I think that Solano sounds great even on 1. I was messing around with the volume on 3 and it was very loud. Sounds great like that though! It gets very aggressive the more you crank it.