5 Amps in 5 days

[danastas]

This week, I went crazy buying amps!!

I used a Live Search discount to take 35% off used amps and guitars on EBAY. I also took 10% off that with EBAY bucks, and on one of the sales I took an extra $100 off with my 10% EBAY coupon. Uh, yes, indeed, 45% off used prices, 55% off on one amp. I went nuts! Even bought my dream guitar.

So, this is what I bought and these are my quick thoughts on these amps:

Reinhardt 18watt SV: a Marshall 18 clone but kicks the hell out of a Marshall with its clarity AND it has Power Scaling (wattage variation) which you adjust according to the room you're playing in. Clear and groovy tube saturation at very low levels, the amp has a lot of mojo. I love it. Couldn't coax a good clean out of it though, and it had little headroom for what thin cleans it had.

Top Hat Emplexador MKII: Great freakin' amp. 3-D cleans, sparkly Marshall vintage sound, and a high gain modern channel. Marshall fans buy this amp for the modern channel (which was good, but didn't have enough bottom for me) but I was most impressed by the headroom on the clean channle, and the shimmer on the Vintage channel. A great amp.

Egnater Tourmaster 4100: Thin sounding vintage channel, not too impressive. modern channel had great headroom and great cleans, high gain though got very muddy. Worse: the noise floor was off the charts. Thing was humming like a mofo. Nope, don't want one. I ordered this for a taste of a new heavy metal amp. It failed.

Orange AD30HTC: Vox clone with special Orange voice. This thing cuts through very well, excellent string definition, especially on high gain. Very good cleans too, loud and decent for a 30 watt amp. That being said, it left me a little flat in terms of tone. I didn't like the tone much even though I thought this would be a VERY useful amp for pop music. It was very clear, but thin. Also it hums way too much for my taste.

Also had a Bruno Cowtipper in: fender blackface clone. Great cleans, lots of headroom, little else there. I guess vintage Fender amps are costly these days and that's why people need Bruno Fender clones. Me, I don't need them.

I sold these already. Thank you Ebay and Microsoft for allowing me to try these amps.

If I ever buy one of these again, it will be the Reinhardt because the tube saturation and Marshall goodness was so much fun to play. My current amp can outdo the TopHat's cleans and headrooms, so it doesn't add anything for me.

[roodyrocker]

You must be HippieTim's long lost twin for buying all those amps But seriously, nice amps you got to try out there. You need an Uberschall next, that will end the hunt for an amp as far as a high gain channel is concerned

[danastas]

You must be HippieTim's long lost twin for buying all those amps But seriously, nice amps you got to try out there. You need an Uberschall next, that will end the hunt for an amp as far as a high gain channel is concerned

I have a Carol Ann 100watt that has great bottom end, perfect clarity, but it's a Classic Rock amp. I could send it in to be modded for metal since the maker has done them before for friends, but some say it takes away from the amp's best parts. I am looking at the Bogner U, I just didn't want to go overboard on the buying. I was only buying $1k to $1.5k amps and the cheapest Uber I saw listed was at $2.3k.

I'd have a hard time swallowing that one if I had to keep it and didn't want it. I only did this because the money made it easy, and I even made some coin in the end.

[Da' Melta']

Nice amp review. Valuable information. I'm surprised about the Egnater stuff. But I've played through an early Rocktron Vendetta head that he was involved in several years ago and that really didn't impress us either.

He did such nice mod work for me in the past. A lot of guys in Detroit had their Marshalls hot-rodded by him.

Thanks again for the review.

[danastas]

I don't want to bag on the guy's work.

This head is Egnater designed, but built in Asia. I think China. It's supposed to be a low cost multi-channel amp that does EVERYTHING. It sounded fine, but the noise floor was off the charts.

[yard dawg]

It sounded fine, but the noise floor was off the charts.

Thats because the chinese dont know what a "nozshey frow" is.

[Da' Melta']

[quote=danastas;1118720]I don't want to bag on the guy's work.


No worries.

I enjoyed reading your impressions of these rigs. Not too many people get an opportunity to test drive so many pieces in such a short time. You certainly can't walk into your local music store and hear these amps together.

[CharvelRocker]

I am looking at the Bogner U, I just didn't want to go overboard on the buying. I was only buying $1k to $1.5k amps and the cheapest Uber I saw listed was at $2.3k.

Too late! :ROTF: Awesome set of amps there.. I tried out a few guitars on an Orange once at a store, and even though I was a n00b then, I could tell it was an AMAZING amp. I think it was one of their Rocker stacks, but I don't remember or know their line well. Ashame their AC30 clone didn't work for you, but they are finicky amps IMO. I would comment on the Egnater, but tried it only for a few minutes in a GC and walked off. As for the rest, I've never heard of them. So just what are you looking for in an amp? Or were you just trying different ones?

EDIT: Why are quote tags not working right in this topic?

[Spivonious]

Buy 5, sell 4. I feel sorry for the UPS man

[Da' Melta']

EDIT: Why are quote tags not working right in this topic?

.........hhhhmmmm....what......oh, me?!?!

I just don't know what I'm doing today. I think I figured it out. Operator error!

[Da' Melta']

Buy 5, sell 4. I feel sorry for the UPS man

Well, it's job secuity but his back will be shot before long.:ROTF:

[danastas]

Too late! :ROTF: Awesome set of amps there.. I tried out a few guitars on an Orange once at a store, and even though I was a n00b then, I could tell it was an AMAZING amp. I think it was one of their Rocker stacks, but I don't remember or know their line well. Ashame their AC30 clone didn't work for you, but they are finicky amps IMO. I would comment on the Egnater, but tried it only for a few minutes in a GC and walked off. As for the rest, I've never heard of them. So just what are you looking for in an amp? Or were you just trying different ones?

EDIT: Why are quote tags not working right in this topic?

What am I looking for?

Something that can do SLO100 without the earsplitting volume.

I'm in search of a great Hot Rod Marshall. My Carol-Ann covers all territory except high gain. This is why I liked the Reinhardt. It does the Marshall high gain thing very well, and not much else. With the SLO100, I don't need a clean channel since I'm covered there already. I guess the Avenger would work, but again, too freakin' loud.

[CharvelRocker]

What am I looking for?

Something that can do SLO100 without the earsplitting volume.

I'm in search of a great Hot Rod Marshall. My Carol-Ann covers all territory except high gain. This is why I liked the Reinhardt. It does the Marshall high gain thing very well, and not much else. With the SLO100, I don't need a clean channel since I'm covered there already. I guess the Avenger would work, but again, too freakin' loud.

The only thing I can think of that kind of fits that bill is a Splawn, but I get the feeling you've probably tried them.

[danastas]

The only thing I can think of that kind of fits that bill is a Splawn, but I get the feeling you've probably tried them.

Actually I haven't. Is it the QuickRod I should try?

[Firebird V]

i own an older pro mod and i love it. the pro mod has a much bigger bottom end. the quick rod is more in your face. the difference between the two are the tubes. pro mod = kt88's quick rod = el34. the pro mod is a very loud amp. i have owned a few slo100's and i think the splawn would go very nice with it. i owned a hotrod 50 and the splawn at the same time. they compimented each other very nice too.