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Alright, I got my Hot Rod 50+ last saturday. Since then I've used it for my rock project rehearsal and my funk/afrobeat band's rehearsal.
Overall, I'm very impressed with it sofar, both in terms of tone and versatility. It's certainly a gain monster, and I haven't had the gain over four the whole time I've used it. For the rock stuff, we're aiming for a pretty 70s sound, so I had the gain on 2 and the master dimed for both channels. Generally I was using it with the treble fairly low, mids and bass at midday and the presence fairly high. The presence control is definitely the key for getting a nice overdrive tone that cuts yet still sounds sweet.
The sound is chunky without sounding scooped, and with a nice, chiming top end. Very impressive. Different enough from the other guitarist's 800 marshall, but still able to hold up in the mix. It's also very loud but not insane, as a good 50 watt A/B amp should be. You can get the power section to work without feeling shellshocked after ten minutes.
Clean is the name of the game for the funk/afrobeat stuff, and I was pleasantly surprised with the tones I was getting with my tele. It's definitely a different eq setup, with much lower presence, but the tone was punchy without being sterile. Much tighter in the bottom than my vibrolux, too.
I really like how 'playable' the amp is. I'm using pretty low gain, but this amp plays so nicely that you don't need the gain on offer. It also translates the basic tone of different guitars very well. My strat sounds fantastic in particular, and very distinct from my tele. You can really get a sense of difference between my LP jr and my PRS.
The other thing that's really noticeable compared to my blue angel or vibrolux is the range of the eq. There's a lot of scope for sculpting tones, whereas my other amps offer subtle tweaks on the same basic flavour.
Cons would be the standard shared eq thing: the best clean tone isn't the same eq setting as the best crunch or lead tone. Luckily I don't play top 40, so I can get by without too much fuss.
Sofar, a big thumbs-up! -it's definitely going into the studio this weekend.
Overall, I'm very impressed with it sofar, both in terms of tone and versatility. It's certainly a gain monster, and I haven't had the gain over four the whole time I've used it. For the rock stuff, we're aiming for a pretty 70s sound, so I had the gain on 2 and the master dimed for both channels. Generally I was using it with the treble fairly low, mids and bass at midday and the presence fairly high. The presence control is definitely the key for getting a nice overdrive tone that cuts yet still sounds sweet.
The sound is chunky without sounding scooped, and with a nice, chiming top end. Very impressive. Different enough from the other guitarist's 800 marshall, but still able to hold up in the mix. It's also very loud but not insane, as a good 50 watt A/B amp should be. You can get the power section to work without feeling shellshocked after ten minutes.
Clean is the name of the game for the funk/afrobeat stuff, and I was pleasantly surprised with the tones I was getting with my tele. It's definitely a different eq setup, with much lower presence, but the tone was punchy without being sterile. Much tighter in the bottom than my vibrolux, too.
I really like how 'playable' the amp is. I'm using pretty low gain, but this amp plays so nicely that you don't need the gain on offer. It also translates the basic tone of different guitars very well. My strat sounds fantastic in particular, and very distinct from my tele. You can really get a sense of difference between my LP jr and my PRS.
The other thing that's really noticeable compared to my blue angel or vibrolux is the range of the eq. There's a lot of scope for sculpting tones, whereas my other amps offer subtle tweaks on the same basic flavour.
Cons would be the standard shared eq thing: the best clean tone isn't the same eq setting as the best crunch or lead tone. Luckily I don't play top 40, so I can get by without too much fuss.
Sofar, a big thumbs-up! -it's definitely going into the studio this weekend.
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