Tweet
Got my 333XL. It actually came yesterday, but it was frigid out, I felt sick as hell (too much hot food for lunch) and I had no heat (propane)for the rehearsal space, so I was gonna wait till practice on Friday to test her out with my good cabs. Well, practice got postponed till Saturday because Susan Bray (Nathan Bray who died trying to save Dime at Alarosa Villa is her son) is coming into town for a visit and we're gonna make a party jam out of the night. So I'd been sitting here all night bored out of my skull and could wait no longer, and hooked it up to my 2x12 Jackson "red cone" cab and my KVPro with Mustaine Livewires.
First off, the amp is really good looking in person. Yes there is plastic (knobs, the chrome on front and a few other things) but is very sturdy. The pots are all very smooth and solid feeling. Weighs about 60lbs. The footswitch is metal and seems really beefy.
Sound - Let's start by saying THIS AMP IS LOUD AS HELL!!!!!! It knocks the pants off my 5150 and may be the loudest amp I've ever owned.
The clean channel is pristine. Almost makes you forget this is a high gain amp. All the tone pots are highly responsive. Very warm and lively, and once I added a bit of reverb it got extremely Rivera-esque. Serious thumbs up.
The crunch channel reminds me a lot of my Laney with a bit more tonal sweep in the eq and once you push the "xl" button it gets very brown sounding....Kiss of Death Lynch like. I was very suprised by this as I expected it to be AC/DCish but it's not at all. It's got more gain range than expected as well....so far so great.
The lead channel is absolutely BRUTAL. Again way more usable range than my 5150 ever had, but I don't ever see me using THAT much gain.....If I wanted to tho, I could. Unlike the 5150 which falls apart with the gain past 1 o'clock the sound stays tight and together. There was a bit of hiss at high gain setting, but when I turned the noise gate to about 12 o'clock it just goes away....and the tone didn't change at all. Did I mention that this thing if f'n LOUD AS HELL???? Then I pushed the XL button. The bottom end got so punchy I was afraid I was gonna blow my speakers but they held up well and once I got my nerve up I jammed out a few Megadeth and Pantera riffs. I don't know how to explain the feeling other than it is the perfect tone for what I do...metal rhythm. Again, the tone knobs have a wide sweep and are very responsive. I don't scoop the mids as I like a cross between the honky Mustaineish mids with the low end growl of Dime's sound, but scooped it sounds like those who like that scooped sound want their amp to sound. I don't use effects so the loop is just being used for the "Boost" feature which is like a kick in the nuts when you engage it. Extremely versatile for sure. I ask myself, "How much did this thing cost?" Well worth the price and more. Can't wait to put it up against my other guitarist's VHT Ultralead that's been burying me in the mix since my 5150 went down. That's gonna be interesting for sure. So far I love this amp!
I'll write another review after a couple band situation trials, but I really can't imagine my opinion changing much if at all. But so far it gets a huge 2 thumbs up!
Bugera's made a believer out of me for sure. I'll take pics and chasis pics when I get the nerve to take it apart....might be a while though since I'm gonna be a little giddy about it for the forseeable future.
First off, the amp is really good looking in person. Yes there is plastic (knobs, the chrome on front and a few other things) but is very sturdy. The pots are all very smooth and solid feeling. Weighs about 60lbs. The footswitch is metal and seems really beefy.
Sound - Let's start by saying THIS AMP IS LOUD AS HELL!!!!!! It knocks the pants off my 5150 and may be the loudest amp I've ever owned.
The clean channel is pristine. Almost makes you forget this is a high gain amp. All the tone pots are highly responsive. Very warm and lively, and once I added a bit of reverb it got extremely Rivera-esque. Serious thumbs up.
The crunch channel reminds me a lot of my Laney with a bit more tonal sweep in the eq and once you push the "xl" button it gets very brown sounding....Kiss of Death Lynch like. I was very suprised by this as I expected it to be AC/DCish but it's not at all. It's got more gain range than expected as well....so far so great.
The lead channel is absolutely BRUTAL. Again way more usable range than my 5150 ever had, but I don't ever see me using THAT much gain.....If I wanted to tho, I could. Unlike the 5150 which falls apart with the gain past 1 o'clock the sound stays tight and together. There was a bit of hiss at high gain setting, but when I turned the noise gate to about 12 o'clock it just goes away....and the tone didn't change at all. Did I mention that this thing if f'n LOUD AS HELL???? Then I pushed the XL button. The bottom end got so punchy I was afraid I was gonna blow my speakers but they held up well and once I got my nerve up I jammed out a few Megadeth and Pantera riffs. I don't know how to explain the feeling other than it is the perfect tone for what I do...metal rhythm. Again, the tone knobs have a wide sweep and are very responsive. I don't scoop the mids as I like a cross between the honky Mustaineish mids with the low end growl of Dime's sound, but scooped it sounds like those who like that scooped sound want their amp to sound. I don't use effects so the loop is just being used for the "Boost" feature which is like a kick in the nuts when you engage it. Extremely versatile for sure. I ask myself, "How much did this thing cost?" Well worth the price and more. Can't wait to put it up against my other guitarist's VHT Ultralead that's been burying me in the mix since my 5150 went down. That's gonna be interesting for sure. So far I love this amp!
I'll write another review after a couple band situation trials, but I really can't imagine my opinion changing much if at all. But so far it gets a huge 2 thumbs up!
Bugera's made a believer out of me for sure. I'll take pics and chasis pics when I get the nerve to take it apart....might be a while though since I'm gonna be a little giddy about it for the forseeable future.
Comment