• Worth Every Single Penny

  
  As reviewed by John on 7/13/2011

  This is far and away the best amplifier I have ever owned. I have been playing guitar for the last 20 years, though not professionally. In this time I have owned a number of amps that have ranged in quality from cheapies that cost a few hundred bucks to a those that cost around a thousand. I have also owned nearly every one of the popular amp modeling plugins. Absolutely none of the amps that I have owned so far have satisfied me except this one. It's amazing how simple this little two-knob amp is, given that its tone is infinitely complex - like some sort of sonic fractal. One of my favorite tricks is to turn it down to threshold volume (around 3) and then do the same for my strat and then sit right up against the speaker while I play. This gives the cleanest sound, but it still provides a rich, bottomless quality to every note. This setting is loud enough for solo practice or recording, but quiet enough that it won't wake up my children if I'm downstairs and on the other side of the house. At this level the amp sparkles in the most fascinating way; I play like this for hours and never get tired of it. It sounds like raindrops in a puddle or something when I play. I can't even describe the subtle details in every note. It's unbelievable. Once I turn my guitar up to 10 the amp is far too loud (even when set to 3) to be used at night. When everyone is awake (including the neighbors who share a wall with me) I turn the amp up to 4 and keep my guitar volume at 10. This results in a very warm clean sound with a full, round tone. It's not too bass-heavy, but it's really deep and rich. It takes an overdrive pedal well at this stage, but I tend not to use one often just because I like the amp's sound as it is. From 4 to 6 it gets loud enough for my neighbors to notice if they aren't making any noise in their unit. The compression sets in a bit and the the amp begins to break up. Somewhere in this range you can find the sweet spot that straddles clean sound and early breakup so that you get that fantastic touch sensitivity that makes loud notes "bark" more than softer ones. From 6 to 9 there is some increase in volume, but mostly it just an increase in distortion. The amp is more or less at full volume once you hit 6 and it just gets dirtier and dirtier as you go. The sounds in this range are fantastic, but you have to be careful with the low notes because this thing REALLY throws out a lot of bass. I love the tube crunch for rhythm playing, and I can get some great blues lead tones in this range. I like to turn the guitar down to 8 for the rhythm and then turn it back up to 10 for the lead. From 9 to 12 I really don't hear any volume increase. It's all rectifier sag and distortion at this point. I don't get to crank it up like this often, but it's extremely fun to do so when I get the chance. This thing is a beast! This amp is far more musical than any of the amplifiers or software models that I've used before. I had to sell a lot of my equipment to afford it but I don't regret it at all. I started selling my stuff off about three months ago and I've had this amp for about a month. I've never looked back, honestly. This was a great decision.

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• What a Tone Monster.

  
  As reviewed by Barnard Buddaz on 11/21/2009

  Paid huge bucks for this amp, and sure, it's WAY too expensive. Should be half as much. I mean, it's a simple, uncluttered, basic amp. That aside, this amp has got tone you simply cannot believe for one this size. At a mere twelve watts output, it has a very big sound, and I mean BIG. Turn it all the way up, and you get the revered Fender tube distortion without the ear-splitting volume normally associated with larger tube amps, with no extraneous and expensive distortion stomp-boxes, and yet, the volume is respectably loud enough to let other musicians know you are there. Keep the volume under half-throttle, and you get fabulous "clean and clear" with a hint of tube saturation. Just impressive as all get-out. You want touch sensitivity? This amp wrote the book on it. The control panel is nice and simple: two channels volume, one master tone. I do not miss reverb with this amp because it has such amazing complex layers of tone, it seems to have reverb. My other amps now sit in the shadows as this little gem shines. I put an Electro-Harmonix 12AY7 tube in the first slot instead of the supplied 12AX7, to achieve the very smooth yet tangy original tone. Very pleasing. It goes without saying, this amp was MADE for Strat and Tele. The combination is something to behold, but still sounds awesome with yer basic Gibsons and others. In fact, plug a heavy-output humbucker into this and you will be blown by the tone. It becomes a creature of unbelievable possibilities. It is the perfect recording amp too. That said, if you dare, try this amp in person, if you can find one on display somewhere. Compare it to ALL others, and you will discover what I did: this is the amp that started it all, and for very good reasons. You may be tempted to throw rocks at your other amps.

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