what do you think about b-52 amps?

[\m/(00)\m/]

I went to guitar center today to see if they had any new mesa's in, they didn't... actually I went in to try out a rectoverb, it's been itching at me all week long, so I drove over there. I plugged into it and it had the typical rectifier tone...kinda grainy, little shrill tone. It sounds fine on a down tuned guitar but I don't always play downtuned music. Overall I got some nice tones out of it, but I wanted to try some other things. I saw a crate blue voodo 120 half stack, plugged into it and it sounded alright, nothing special but not a lot of options. I take the chord out, and I see this B-52 AT-100 head. I was initially turned off because I don't want a 100 watt amp, but I relented and plugged in. I was really surprised by it. It reminded me of the mesa a little bit, but less grainy tone, and it allowed me to turn it up past 3 and not be way too loud. First thing I noticed is that it has a lot of gain...a lot of gain. 3 channels: 1 clean tone (nice, fendery) and 2 distorted channels. It's also pretty bright, I had to turn the bass pretty high up to get a nice thick lead tone, but that was alright, it worked good for lead and for rhythm stuff. One thing I didn't like about it was the contour control, I don't know why..I just don't like em. I prefer a 5 band eq like on the mesa boogie mark amps, but what can you do?
I was pretty surprised by it, and it was really cheap too. I was also wondering how it'd sound in a better cab...but anyways.
Do you guys have any experience with them? I've never really heard of them before, but they look intriguing.
Thanks

Jim

[SonofaMitch]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

Congratz on your 2000th Post!...as for your question.....havn't tried one so I wouldn't know!!

~Mitch~

[ErikH]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

Well, I can tell you this, even though I haven't personally played through it, I can tell you that the designer knows a thing or two about tone. He's a good buddy of mine. That amp is his brainchild. I need to play it.

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

thanks. Unfortunately, this should be like my 6000th post actually. I've been here for a while, and periodically really, really old posts are deleted. But thanks anyway.

Is there any reason why its so cheap? Is it actually someones own goodness being put into an amp!!?

[LoFiBrian]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

Its just made overseas...

the cabs have vintage 30's and so do the combos....and they are not the worst built non USA tube amps...I actually want one to be honest

the single rec style head version comes in a 60 watter BTW...

[D-EJ915]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

I've played the combo 2x12 and it sounded pretty decent, had a good amount of gain and you could get a good amount of bass from it. I really didn't spend that much time with it and I was kneeling while playing it so maybe that affected my perspective as well.

[jmh151]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

I played one side by side with a Mesa Rectoverb. My complaint was the mesa sounded alive and 3D, whereas the B52 sounded flat, dull and lifeless. The B52 sounded better than the Peavey Valvekings, I just didn't care for the B52. I got a Carvin V3 instead.

[Top Jimmy]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

I like it. Is it as good as a Mesa, well of course not, but it buries anything in it's range for higher gain. It's 100 times better then a Valveking. I didn't think the clean was that horrible either, but I'm not too picky about my clean sound when buying a high gain amp.

I saw one at GC used (the 60 watt 1x12) for $300 I think, I should have bought it.

[Senor Skanky]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

I love their sound, but their dependability is a question mark. Very Rectifier-like for the gain side and fantastic clean channel. Personally I really like the Contour control. You can set the first gain channel with the contour, and the second with the Bass/Middle/Treble EQ and get 2 different tones.

They are Chinese made (apparently) with cheap components. I've read it's essentially the same amp as the Madison Divinity. I bought one from GC and right out of the box (I got one that had been unopened) the reverb didn't work. Back to GC it went. I've read that the reverb konking out is a common problem. So are bubbles in the tolex.

Apparently B52 is going to come out with an "Elite" model that is made with better components, but I haven't heard if they are unveiling anything at NAMM (Which is going on now).

You may want to consider new tubes if you get one. Apparently a good set of tubes really helps the amp shine. Also Jerry at FJA mods may be able to help:

http://www.fjamods.com/

Let us know if you buy it.

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

thanks. I'm still looking around...w/ my eye always on the mark IV, but whatever I get I'll put up a nice review!

[AmirH]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

The thing about b52's isn't that they sound bad. On the contrary they sound very very good, especially for the price. The thing about them is that they're waaaay unreliable. We had one returned/exchanged almost every other week while I was working at GC. So if you do get one, go into it with that in mind. As for the rectoverb... well I own one so I'm biased, but I think it eats the b52 alive. Gotta have good tubes and have it in the spot tho.

[korovamilkdud]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

My AT-100 makes me happy.

[metalmm785]

Re: what do you think about b-52 amps?

I had one for a good while and they sound great. Excellent clean channel for a high gainer and the distortion tone can hang with much expensier amps. Like the other guys mentioned, the biggest deal with them is finding out that won't give you problems. Mine worked flawlessly for the time i had it, so i guess i got lucky.