L
Lewguitar
Guest
I've spent a couple of days with the Mission Aurora 30 watt now, and the truth is, I think it's one of the best amps I've ever played. In some ways it IS the best.
The clean tones are big and warm...but I love the overdriven tone of this thing. It's more Voxy than I realized but also has alot of growl and bark...killer, thick, textured mids.
And this amp does pinch harmonics more easily than any amp I have ever played through.
It has a tone that is both familiar and differant than any amp I've played. It sounds Voxy but doesn't sound exactly like a Vox: it's vocal, but not as annoyingly bright. It sounds Marshally but it's not shrill and bright and to loud like some can be. And it sounds Fendery but not blackface Fendery...more tweed Bassman Fendery, but again, a lot more mids, more texture to the mids and never glassy or shrill sounding.
I really like the overdrive pedal that is included with the amp. It's an off/on footswitch and the boost uses the amp's own tube circuitry. I can go from a clean rythym to a tone that is nicely overdriven...a "brown sound" if you will, very much like a cranked Vox or Marshall but thicker and more textured. Sort of like a Santana/Mesa Boogie tone but again: differant.
The amp uses a pair of 6L6's for 30 watts of output into a G12H30 style 12" speaker that Bruce is having built right here in the USA.
I've been comparing it to my '66 blackface Deluxe Reverb, which uses a Celestion G12H30 and has about 22 watts. This amp has been my favorite amp for several years now and I've always thought of it as being unbeatable. It's tone is alot more Fendery and American...much more so than I thought. I thought my DR had been modded into a very Marshally tone but the Aurora, because it uses a cathode follower circuit like a tweed Bassman, Vox or Marshall, is much more British in it's voicing.
The 30 watt Aurora sounds a lot bigger and louder. Bruce intentionally used a deeper than normal cabinet to give the single 12" speaker a deeper and bigger tone. But the Mission also uses two 6L6's vs the 6V6's of the DR and the Mission has about 10 watts more of power.
The amp also has a "Spirit" control. This is a variable negative feedback control with "0" being maximum feedback for the cleanest tones and "10" being
the least feedback for the brightest, most open, most easily overdriven kind of tones.
I found that I liked it set at about "4".
This amp uses a cathode follower circuit, like a Marshall Plexi, Fender tweed Bassman or Vox AC-30. This gives the amp a "British" tone, even though it was originally used by Fender in the 50's. It gives the tone and tone controls a unique sound and feel that's instantly recognizable as being authentically Marshall/Vox.
The spring reverb sounds great, but it's not a super bright and splashy surf reverb. Bruce tells me that most players describe it as being more like real reverb, where there's a slight delay and then you hear the reflected sound. It does FEEL that way...but I didn't hear any actual delay between when I sounded a note and then heard the reverb. But it feels that way...which is how natural reverb occurs. In any case, it's a great sounding reverb.
The amp has hi and lo inputs and both are totally useable. Use the lo input if you're interested in cleanish tones with beautiful Voxy jangle and chime. I use the hi input which allows me to go from clean to a fairly overdriven blues tone with my Strat that reminds me of Clapton's blues tones with a Les Paul, with just my guitar's volume control...and then I kick in the foot pedal boost when I want to soar a little more and get some outrageous sounding Billy Gibbon style pinch harmonics! Killer pinch harmonics from this amp...the easiest ever.
The amp also features a "single coil/humbucker" toggle switch. The effect is subtle, but the humbucker setting does seem to give some needed hi's to humbuckers and keep the neck humbucker from sounding to woofy when dialing in overdriven tones.
It's a great amp. The absolute best amp that Bruce has designed so far and the culmination of everything he has learned about amps. Also, it bears mentioning that Bruce became very close friends with Ken Fischer, designer of Trainwreck Amps before Ken died, and Ken was very open with Bruce, considered him a peer and passed along many of his trade secrets to Bruce.
Bruce said alot of those trade secrets were great and alot of them were all in Ken's mind... (laugh!)
I have a feeling though that Bruce's new amp would compare very favorably to any Trainwreck amp.
The clean tones are big and warm...but I love the overdriven tone of this thing. It's more Voxy than I realized but also has alot of growl and bark...killer, thick, textured mids.
And this amp does pinch harmonics more easily than any amp I have ever played through.
It has a tone that is both familiar and differant than any amp I've played. It sounds Voxy but doesn't sound exactly like a Vox: it's vocal, but not as annoyingly bright. It sounds Marshally but it's not shrill and bright and to loud like some can be. And it sounds Fendery but not blackface Fendery...more tweed Bassman Fendery, but again, a lot more mids, more texture to the mids and never glassy or shrill sounding.
I really like the overdrive pedal that is included with the amp. It's an off/on footswitch and the boost uses the amp's own tube circuitry. I can go from a clean rythym to a tone that is nicely overdriven...a "brown sound" if you will, very much like a cranked Vox or Marshall but thicker and more textured. Sort of like a Santana/Mesa Boogie tone but again: differant.
The amp uses a pair of 6L6's for 30 watts of output into a G12H30 style 12" speaker that Bruce is having built right here in the USA.
I've been comparing it to my '66 blackface Deluxe Reverb, which uses a Celestion G12H30 and has about 22 watts. This amp has been my favorite amp for several years now and I've always thought of it as being unbeatable. It's tone is alot more Fendery and American...much more so than I thought. I thought my DR had been modded into a very Marshally tone but the Aurora, because it uses a cathode follower circuit like a tweed Bassman, Vox or Marshall, is much more British in it's voicing.
The 30 watt Aurora sounds a lot bigger and louder. Bruce intentionally used a deeper than normal cabinet to give the single 12" speaker a deeper and bigger tone. But the Mission also uses two 6L6's vs the 6V6's of the DR and the Mission has about 10 watts more of power.
The amp also has a "Spirit" control. This is a variable negative feedback control with "0" being maximum feedback for the cleanest tones and "10" being
the least feedback for the brightest, most open, most easily overdriven kind of tones.
I found that I liked it set at about "4".
This amp uses a cathode follower circuit, like a Marshall Plexi, Fender tweed Bassman or Vox AC-30. This gives the amp a "British" tone, even though it was originally used by Fender in the 50's. It gives the tone and tone controls a unique sound and feel that's instantly recognizable as being authentically Marshall/Vox.
The spring reverb sounds great, but it's not a super bright and splashy surf reverb. Bruce tells me that most players describe it as being more like real reverb, where there's a slight delay and then you hear the reflected sound. It does FEEL that way...but I didn't hear any actual delay between when I sounded a note and then heard the reverb. But it feels that way...which is how natural reverb occurs. In any case, it's a great sounding reverb.
The amp has hi and lo inputs and both are totally useable. Use the lo input if you're interested in cleanish tones with beautiful Voxy jangle and chime. I use the hi input which allows me to go from clean to a fairly overdriven blues tone with my Strat that reminds me of Clapton's blues tones with a Les Paul, with just my guitar's volume control...and then I kick in the foot pedal boost when I want to soar a little more and get some outrageous sounding Billy Gibbon style pinch harmonics! Killer pinch harmonics from this amp...the easiest ever.
The amp also features a "single coil/humbucker" toggle switch. The effect is subtle, but the humbucker setting does seem to give some needed hi's to humbuckers and keep the neck humbucker from sounding to woofy when dialing in overdriven tones.
It's a great amp. The absolute best amp that Bruce has designed so far and the culmination of everything he has learned about amps. Also, it bears mentioning that Bruce became very close friends with Ken Fischer, designer of Trainwreck Amps before Ken died, and Ken was very open with Bruce, considered him a peer and passed along many of his trade secrets to Bruce.
Bruce said alot of those trade secrets were great and alot of them were all in Ken's mind... (laugh!)
I have a feeling though that Bruce's new amp would compare very favorably to any Trainwreck amp.
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