Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

krankguitarist

Krankitupologist
So, I received my Ear candy Buzzbomb a few weeks ago. These things come packed in some very thick closed-cell foam that I've since cut up and used as isolation pads for my cab and my monitors. SO, a bonus there ;).

I didn't want to write a review on it till I had tried it out in a practice setting, and I just had that today. I'll be comparing it to a mesa/boogie traditional 4X12 loaded w/ two eminence governors and two man-o-wars.

I had Tim at ear candy load it up with an eminence governor and a screamin eagle. Pluggin it in at home the first thing I noticed was how much more controllable the volume is on this thing compared to my mesa/boogie 4X12. When pluggin my 4X12 into my Krank, there's pretty much two settings: A) wimpy quiet, and B) butt **** loud. With the Ear Candy there's a much more useable "middle ground". I'm attributing this to the fact that the Ear Candy has two less speakers, though.

In practice: The ear candy is very present, very thick, and disperses well. Compared to my 4X12, it is much less "beamy" and much smoother, though it doesn't have quite the same low-end "thud" to it. I had to tame the bass a bit on the KRANK channel, as I was getting a slight "woofy" sound when palm-muting an open E5. I'm not sure if this is due to the design of the cabinet, or due to my choice of speakers.

The Buzzbomb isn't quite capable of the same level of "holy **** that's loud" that I can achieve with my mesa 4X12, but I had no problems competing with the other guitarist's JCM2000/1960A combination. Its certainly much louder than the old Celestion G12t-75 loaded Marshall 2X12 I used to have.

Overall, the Buzzbomb is a much cleaner, much clearer, and much more...erm.."sane" cabinet than the Mesa, though I'm likely to keep the Mesa around for when I need that extra kick of volume.

It's not exactly a monster 4X12, but it is a very musical cabinet. It gets a thumbs up from me and my band mates ;).
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

can you drive the tubes more with the 2x12 as opposed to the 4x12?

do you still use or wish you had a hotplate attenuator?
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

can you drive the tubes more with the 2x12 as opposed to the 4x12?

do you still use or wish you had a hotplate attenuator?

Definitely...Its much easier to drive the power tubes at a lower volume. It still can't quite get *there* at bedroom levels though. I'd need an attenuator for that.

I got other amps for quiet pratice though.
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

coolio!
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

The only bad thing I've ever heard about Ear Candy is they can get a little slow in their builds.....But I've never heard anything bad from the results.

I'm super happy with my Port City Wave 2x12, but before I stumbled onto it, I was eyeballing the Ear Candy cabs.

Good luck Bro....glad you enjoy it :beerchug:
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

I really like my 2 ear candy cabs. They are slow but worth it. it is good to hear that someone else used the foam packing for recording purposes!
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

Slow on their builds, yes. I was quoted at about 6 weeks, it ended up being around 26. I'm happy with the end result though. I'm considering eventually picking up another one and loading it up with V-30s. If I do that I might consider unloading the 4X12.
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

I wish that someone would compare all of the best 2x12 cabs out there, like Splawn, Bogner, Genz Benz, Mills Acoustics and Earcandy.
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

Slow on their builds, yes. I was quoted at about 6 weeks, it ended up being around 26. I'm happy with the end result though. I'm considering eventually picking up another one and loading it up with V-30s. If I do that I might consider unloading the 4X12.

Wow! 26 Weeks! Boy Tim sure must be busy. I think mine took about 3-4 weeks but htat was also 2-3 years ago when he was just getting started. Love mine! I just got a pair of G12hs to throw in her.
 
Re: Ear Candy Buzzbomb 2x12 - First Impressions

Granted, I didn't have a Mesa 4X12 but I like my BB better than my Crate, Avatar, Carvin (Legend? The Vai cab) and Marshall 4X12s I had. However, I've always used 50 watt amps so my amps may be driving the speakers harder. This cab has great bottom for my type of music, which is just about everything except the real bassy modern guitar.
 
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