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I will admit I have a gear addiction. I've spent crazy money on all of my amps and gear. I do enjoy nice amps, which now includes my 69 Marshall SuperBass, Bogner Ecstacy, Soldano SLO, Marshall JVM410, a 1981 JCM800 2203, an early fuzzy 80s Carvin X100B, and many more. So, while my gear addiction is certainly a problem, I at least have great perspective against the best when I buy or review new amps. A while ago, I picked up a mint condition green Legacy 3 mini stack recently for $1600. While I have alot of amps, I've always enjoyed my Carvin's. They are great sounding amps at affordable prices, and don't get enough respect. This Legacy 3, which really is a boutique level amp, is no exception. These are such tasteful amps, very classy boutique type tones with great features.
Before I got my 69 SuperBass, the best clean I ever heard was my Legacy 3 clean, so warm, lush, and bell like. Carvin cleans have always been tops. While the clean from my 69 SuperBass is probably tops now for me, the Legacy 3 clean is gorgeous, with the crunch and lead tones so tasteful and boutique sounding. Many amps have a great lead channel, but few have 3 truly great channels, and can do the light breakup to heavy crunch as tastefully as this Legacy 3 can. I've never enjoyed a real gentle breakup/light crunch before, but I do now because it's that tasteful on the Legacy 3. A top clean channel, a tasteful, classy crunch channel, and a great, very high gain lead channel that is complex, balanced, and dripping with harmonic content. I think the better the player someone is, the more they appreciate amps like the Legacy 3. The Legacy 3 does lean "loose" on the bottom end, which is what Steve Vai prefers, and I have to say I now increasingly prefer. There is a complexity and fun to looser amps that tight amps don't have, and seem stiff and clinical by comparison. It's not "loose", but just a touch looser than many high gain amps where it works perfectly. They hit the sweet spot. My SLO is a very tight, defined amp, and while fine for detailed lead work, the downside is it produces a rigid, clinical feeling amp in many ways. The clean channel of my SLO is very tight and defined, but clinical and stiff as a result. Nobody would ever describe the SLO clean channel as warm, which is where the Legacy 3 shines, so warm and satisfying. While the SLO lead channel is probably considered the best lead tone in history, the Legacy 3 clean channel walks all over the SLO clean, and has a wonderful high gain lead channel all it's own. For me personally, I've really embraced the benefits of bit looser amp, they are more alive and more satisfying to play than stiffer amps.
Now, if I had to choose btw my Ecstacy and my Legacy 3 (similar tones)....it would be my Ecstacy, but by a smaller margin than you might think. The Ecstacy is the greatest amp ever made, without question, but make no mistake, the tones of the Legacy 3 are full boutique level, and a steal for the $1200ish they usually command used, head only. If rich harmonic content and boutique level tones is what you are after, you will be very impressed with the tones of the Legacy 3. The more you use the Legacy 3, the more intrigued and impressed you become, it's that good. Owning so many amps has shown me that every amp has a contribution to make. There is no "best" amp or "worst" amp, just different! Give amps outside the mainstream a chance, you just may find yourself blown away when you least expect it.
Before I got my 69 SuperBass, the best clean I ever heard was my Legacy 3 clean, so warm, lush, and bell like. Carvin cleans have always been tops. While the clean from my 69 SuperBass is probably tops now for me, the Legacy 3 clean is gorgeous, with the crunch and lead tones so tasteful and boutique sounding. Many amps have a great lead channel, but few have 3 truly great channels, and can do the light breakup to heavy crunch as tastefully as this Legacy 3 can. I've never enjoyed a real gentle breakup/light crunch before, but I do now because it's that tasteful on the Legacy 3. A top clean channel, a tasteful, classy crunch channel, and a great, very high gain lead channel that is complex, balanced, and dripping with harmonic content. I think the better the player someone is, the more they appreciate amps like the Legacy 3. The Legacy 3 does lean "loose" on the bottom end, which is what Steve Vai prefers, and I have to say I now increasingly prefer. There is a complexity and fun to looser amps that tight amps don't have, and seem stiff and clinical by comparison. It's not "loose", but just a touch looser than many high gain amps where it works perfectly. They hit the sweet spot. My SLO is a very tight, defined amp, and while fine for detailed lead work, the downside is it produces a rigid, clinical feeling amp in many ways. The clean channel of my SLO is very tight and defined, but clinical and stiff as a result. Nobody would ever describe the SLO clean channel as warm, which is where the Legacy 3 shines, so warm and satisfying. While the SLO lead channel is probably considered the best lead tone in history, the Legacy 3 clean channel walks all over the SLO clean, and has a wonderful high gain lead channel all it's own. For me personally, I've really embraced the benefits of bit looser amp, they are more alive and more satisfying to play than stiffer amps.
Now, if I had to choose btw my Ecstacy and my Legacy 3 (similar tones)....it would be my Ecstacy, but by a smaller margin than you might think. The Ecstacy is the greatest amp ever made, without question, but make no mistake, the tones of the Legacy 3 are full boutique level, and a steal for the $1200ish they usually command used, head only. If rich harmonic content and boutique level tones is what you are after, you will be very impressed with the tones of the Legacy 3. The more you use the Legacy 3, the more intrigued and impressed you become, it's that good. Owning so many amps has shown me that every amp has a contribution to make. There is no "best" amp or "worst" amp, just different! Give amps outside the mainstream a chance, you just may find yourself blown away when you least expect it.
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