Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

[Phantasmagoria]

What do you know...not much of a difference (...and they all sound awesome :laugh2

Dialed them in as close as I could & then recorded them all through the same cab (stock Laney LX412/HH drivers) with a no-name chinese condensor (sweet mic!) & my new Behringer MiniMic preamp -> digital handheld recorder's line input. No effects/pre/post production.



High gain clips. Full description in the video's credits.. Watch in HQ or it's pretty close

Which would be which in a blind test? (was tempted to do it that way lol) ...your guess is as good as mine..

I'll get the .wav uploaded to Soundcloud in a while and post it here..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

&...the .wav up on Soundcloud:



1. Randall T2HL (Hybrid)
2. AMT Stonehead (SS)
3. Bugera 333XL (All Tube)

 

[trevorus]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

I almost more interested in that timing.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

I tighten things up when it's called for This is about the recording/tone....just random sloppy jammed crap, not aiming for fantastic tunes or killer licks... ..it's not even listed on my channel.

Just trying to work with things & get my recorded stuff to sound like it does in the room. Unfortunately that's not yet happened ..but I'm working on it :lmao:

 

[trevorus]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

As far as tones go, from my speakers, they are remarkably similar.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

With my headphones the the randal faired poorest. There's not enough clarity IMO. If I had to guess blind I would swear it was the solid state one.
The Stonehead and the Bugera were both great and pretty similar but the Bugera had a little less icepick; though the stonehead didn't sound bad, it had a touch of grating high treble overtones.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

As far as tones go, from my speakers, they are remarkably similar.

Yeah, that's what I thought .. I found I was happy with the mic positioning when I was experimenting & recorded one of them (Stonehead) ..that gave me the idea to do the other two ...thought I'd try this comparison ..kind of on a whim. I did'nt really expect them to sound so similar recorded. They do in front when I'm playing them ..but that usually changes when you record stuff...not so in this case. Thanks for checking it out..

With my headphones the the randal faired poorest. There's not enough clarity IMO. If I had to guess blind I would swear it was the solid state one.
The Stonehead and the Bugera were both great and pretty similar but the Bugera had a little less icepick; though the stonehead didn't sound bad, it had a touch of grating high treble overtones.

Thanks for the insight. I have'nt used my headphones to check it yet, but from what I hear that's pretty accurate. To be fair though the Randall is tougher to match as close because the two mid level knobs (EQ) confuse things a bit more than just one would. It has an additional 'mid sweep' control (changes the mid frequencies/voicing) ...which I think I set a bit darker than the other two amps (..can otherwise get a bit too tight/clinical). It also has a "Density" control which makes things even more difficult lol. Likewise the Stonehead had it's treble up past noon compared to the others that were set around the 11 o'clock mark. So that might account for it...it's hard to EQ "exactly" with your ears. I think they maybe all had too much gain going on (it's a weakness of mine :laugh2 but the Randall was recorded with it's volume up a bit higher so it actually clipped on the recording and I had to lower the recorded levels to match the other two.. (that's the only thing I did after recording them..matching the Randall's levels to the other two's)

 

[dominus]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

Half of recorded tone is in the cabinet/mic technique. That's what people don't understand about most emulators. They're meant to sound like recordings, not live amps.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

Yeah, I do find that my Chameleon Cab sim pedal sounds like a semi-processed guitar track (some hi/lo pass filter/compression/limiting/touch of reverb etc..the bare minimum of everything but enough to spruce it up..) and is ready to go in a mix right out of the box..which is really cool actually. It sounds fantastic in a mix but also sounds awesome live etc. I ran a DI out from the Chameleon pedal to the mixer at our last gig & it sounded insane..

 

[dominus]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

Yeah, I do find that my Chameleon Cab sim pedal sounds like a semi-processed guitar track (some hi/lo pass filter/compression/limiting/touch of reverb etc..the bare minimum of everything but enough to spruce it up..) and is ready to go in a mix right out of the box..which is really cool actually. It sounds fantastic in a mix but also sounds awesome live etc. I ran a DI out from the Chameleon pedal to the mixer at our last gig & it sounded insane..

If you watch Ola Englund's amp videos most of the time he's using his Randall ISO Cab, so a lot of the amps sound about the same.

I have my favorite IR for playing "live" in my music room. Not sure how it'd sound in a mix (probably awful ) but it makes my monitors sound like there actually is an amp there.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

all pretty close. I think I like the randall the best (my laptop speakers are pretty bad but still)

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Compared my tube/SS/Hybrid heads (Bugera 333XL Vs AMT Stonehead Vs Randall T2HL)

If you watch Ola Englund's amp videos most of the time he's using his Randall ISO Cab, so a lot of the amps sound about the same.

I have my favorite IR for playing "live" in my music room. Not sure how it'd sound in a mix (probably awful ) but it makes my monitors sound like there actually is an amp there.

Yeah, a lot of Ola's stuff is just too heavily processed/similar sounding...his "playthrough" vids are what I listen to if I'm trying to check something out. Those are just a room mic/single SM57 in front of his cab.

When I play "live" that way it's just the amp/cab lol. I don't even have monitors .. (headphones or a cheap computer bluetooth speaker for that). Really ..really need to invest in some decent monitors haha. I will say my amp's line out into the Chameleon Cab sim pedal into the crappy bluetooth speaker does'nt sound half bad though :lmao:

all pretty close. I think I like the randall the best (my laptop speakers are pretty bad but still)

Yeah, really close..the rest boils down to personal preference I'd say

None of them really sound any less "tubey"/more "SS" than the other...the only (rather slight) difference is the voicing/EQ.