Tweet
Well, I wanted to go with the most portability possible so I ended up getting the 50 watt 1x12 combo. The speaker in this model is the Celestion Vintage 30. I was very close to going with the 50 watt head and the 2x12 cabinet but I decided to go with the combo. I think down the road I will probably grab a recto 2x12 cabinet for it for a little extra kick in the nutz.
First impressions are very good. Even in 15 watt mode it gets wall shaking loud. I haven't cranked it up in 50 watt mode yet as I fear it hehe, but it does sound a little different. There are a lot of tones in this thing.
Here is a quick mini review. Keep in mind that on the amp front I am not highly experienced so certainly don't take what I have to say as gospel. All playing was done with my RR1T with a Duncan Custom in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck.
Channel 1 - This is the crunch/distortion channel. There are a couple of modifier switches for this channel: Boost, Modern, and Scoop. With the boost off, the gain goes from slightly crunchy with some breakup to very saturated 80's Marshall style distortion. The amp seems to respond well to volume knob adjustments, cleaning up as the guitar's volume is lowered. The tone controls seem to be greatly affected by the position of the voicing switches, sometimes being very reactive and sometimes making little difference in the sound. Here is a breakdown of the voicing controls and what they appear to do to the sound...
One more thing about channel 1 before I get to channel 2. This amp really responds to a BBE in the loop. I am using a sonic stomp pedal and it is really letting me dial in some extra bottom punch and high end jangle/shimmer.
Channel 2 - This is the clean channel. It is good for clean sounds and can get a little break up but it doesn't really go far in to crunch territory. It would probably work nicely with distortion OD pedals however. I have yet to throw my trusy SD-1 in front of this thing so I can't say for sure though.
The channel 2 modifier switches are Bright, U.S.A./Brit, and Expander. The bright switch is self explanitory. The U.S.A./Brit switch changes where the tone stack sits in the signal path. In U.S.A. position the tone controls are placed before the gain stages in a Fender style configuration. I like my clean in the U.S.A. position. The Brit position places the tone controls after the gain stages (like Marshall) which lets you dial some extra growl into the signal. The expander switch adds some bottom and top boost which adds an acoustic kind of voice to the signal. I like it on for my clean setting but it may not be for everyone or every situation.
The amp has an accutronics spring reverb tank built in and each channel has it's own reverb amount control dial. They made it so you can easily overkill on reverb at high volumes in order to provide enough reverb at lower volumes so you have to adjust this carefully to avoid reverb tank feedback.
Each channel also has it's own control dial for effects level for the parallel loop. This is a cool option but with modern effects units chances are you are going to leave this near maxed and control the level with the effect itself.
The amp also has a Voice control that affects both channels. This affects the tone of the power amp section with the Presence affecting brightness and the Resonance affecting bottom end tightness. I fiddled briefly with these controls and they don't seem highly responsive. My preferred position for these is defeated with the Voice button. I just prefer the sound with it switched off. If I was trying to cut through a mix though I could see some advantage to using them.
I've always wanted a tube amp and this guy is a perfect start for me. I'm very excited about all the features (I'm looking forward to trying the direct out into the PC interface.) and the tweakability of this amp makes it perfects for my needs. I'll try and get some pictures included but in the meantime, you can see it at Traynor's web site. I'll stop for now since this is starting to get way longer than I'd intended and I want to play it not write about it.
First impressions are very good. Even in 15 watt mode it gets wall shaking loud. I haven't cranked it up in 50 watt mode yet as I fear it hehe, but it does sound a little different. There are a lot of tones in this thing.
Here is a quick mini review. Keep in mind that on the amp front I am not highly experienced so certainly don't take what I have to say as gospel. All playing was done with my RR1T with a Duncan Custom in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck.
Channel 1 - This is the crunch/distortion channel. There are a couple of modifier switches for this channel: Boost, Modern, and Scoop. With the boost off, the gain goes from slightly crunchy with some breakup to very saturated 80's Marshall style distortion. The amp seems to respond well to volume knob adjustments, cleaning up as the guitar's volume is lowered. The tone controls seem to be greatly affected by the position of the voicing switches, sometimes being very reactive and sometimes making little difference in the sound. Here is a breakdown of the voicing controls and what they appear to do to the sound...
- Modern Switch - The modern switch to my ear takes away some of the mid-range "honk" and cleans up the top end a little. I like the amp with this switch on for my guitar and the tone I'm after. There are definitely good tones with the modern switch defeated. I was able to closely hit the Opeth Damnation album lead tone with the modern switch defeated.
- Scoop Switch - The Scoop switch cuts some lower mid frequencies and adds some extra bass. It is usable with the Modern switch in either position but I really liked the tone I got from the amp with both enabled. It really gives the amp a ballsy feel for tight chugging riffs and I think it complements downtuning nicely and would probably work well with a 7 string as well.
- Boost Switch - The boost switch enables an extra gain stage in the preamp. You can control the amount of gain with the boost level control. If you dime this control and the regular gain control, with the modern and scoop switches engaged you should be able to get all the distortion you need without a pedal. If it's not enough for you, you can always daisy chain a couple of metal zones in front. *** please note that this control does not really increase the volume of the guitar so while it will give you extra gain and sustain it won't give you a volume jump for making the solos step forward in the mix. The amp does have a serial loop so you could throw a volume pedal in there to achieve the same end.
One more thing about channel 1 before I get to channel 2. This amp really responds to a BBE in the loop. I am using a sonic stomp pedal and it is really letting me dial in some extra bottom punch and high end jangle/shimmer.
Channel 2 - This is the clean channel. It is good for clean sounds and can get a little break up but it doesn't really go far in to crunch territory. It would probably work nicely with distortion OD pedals however. I have yet to throw my trusy SD-1 in front of this thing so I can't say for sure though.
The channel 2 modifier switches are Bright, U.S.A./Brit, and Expander. The bright switch is self explanitory. The U.S.A./Brit switch changes where the tone stack sits in the signal path. In U.S.A. position the tone controls are placed before the gain stages in a Fender style configuration. I like my clean in the U.S.A. position. The Brit position places the tone controls after the gain stages (like Marshall) which lets you dial some extra growl into the signal. The expander switch adds some bottom and top boost which adds an acoustic kind of voice to the signal. I like it on for my clean setting but it may not be for everyone or every situation.
The amp has an accutronics spring reverb tank built in and each channel has it's own reverb amount control dial. They made it so you can easily overkill on reverb at high volumes in order to provide enough reverb at lower volumes so you have to adjust this carefully to avoid reverb tank feedback.
Each channel also has it's own control dial for effects level for the parallel loop. This is a cool option but with modern effects units chances are you are going to leave this near maxed and control the level with the effect itself.
The amp also has a Voice control that affects both channels. This affects the tone of the power amp section with the Presence affecting brightness and the Resonance affecting bottom end tightness. I fiddled briefly with these controls and they don't seem highly responsive. My preferred position for these is defeated with the Voice button. I just prefer the sound with it switched off. If I was trying to cut through a mix though I could see some advantage to using them.
I've always wanted a tube amp and this guy is a perfect start for me. I'm very excited about all the features (I'm looking forward to trying the direct out into the PC interface.) and the tweakability of this amp makes it perfects for my needs. I'll try and get some pictures included but in the meantime, you can see it at Traynor's web site. I'll stop for now since this is starting to get way longer than I'd intended and I want to play it not write about it.
Comment