Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

[SoCalSteve]

You guys were right. I know these amps have been praised by Robert S., the Chris, and bungalowbill among others here and I had a chance to play one today. I stopped by GC on the way home with the intent of buying a Valve Jr. to run through my 2x12 for fun but saw a Palomino plugged in and grabbed a nearby Schecter and gave it a spin. Sweet, smooth and warm are the adjectives that immediately came to mind. I instantly loved the tone of this thing.

Just behind me sat a Stiletto Ace which I've been dying to hear so I plugged into it and was not blown away. Maybe I'm an EL84 guy and didn't even know it.

BTW, I forgot all about the Valve Jr. and ordered a new in the box Palomino V32 on the spot. :bowdown: As a bonus it matches up with my goldtop Wolfgang!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

I think a lot of us are EL-84 fans that didn't know it. :fingersx:

I'm curious to know how you think it compares to the EL-34 Traynor you sold several months ago. I know your Splawn is a totally different beast.....a volume monster! Are you keeping the Splawn, or am I gonna have to justify some financially stressful way of buying it off you, so I can add it to my growing pile of amps? :chairfall

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

I think a lot of us are EL-84 fans that didn't know it. :fingersx:

I'm curious to know how you think it compares to the EL-34 Traynor you sold several months ago. I know your Splawn is a totally different beast.....a volume monster! Are you keeping the Splawn, or am I gonna have to justify some financially stressful way of buying it off you, so I can add it to my growing pile of amps? :chairfall

LOL! You know, I was leaning towards getting another Traynor but wanted to try the Palomino first (explanation to follow). I only played it in the store (they didn't have any new unopened ones, just the display model) but it was very smooth sounding to the Traynor's grindier tone. I liked the Traynor but the MI Audio Crunch Box actually sounded better through the clean channel than the amp's gain channel. I bonded with the Palomino right away. Another guy was playing it a little later and it sounded sweet.


As for the Splawn - it's gone to another home already. I have to say after all that waiting I was disappointed from the start. Too much gain for me (yes, even at 9:00) and very bright/harsh. I tried different 'aged' speakers and got the same results. I don't want to disillusion anyone else - it could have been the cab. I got their first OS cab and maybe that one is too bright. Anyhow, I didn't get off playing it and after some thinking decided to just get rid of it and get a 1x12 combo - what I should have done in the first place.

I have a little solid state Marshall I picked up from Jeff B with a cd player input and I can get some pretty enjoyable tones out of it. It's a keeper but you know there's nothing like good tube tone so I wanted to get a combo for those needs. Enter the Palomino!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

Yeah I sure don't need any more loud amps. That's why I made a comment about the EL-84's, because for years I ignored them, thinking they'd be too chimey without enough bottom end. I really like the new trend of dual EL-84 amps, because with the right pickups, guitars, and speaker cabs, they have the breakup point at a more reasonable volume. My Gibson Goldtone 30 gets a lot of play, because it sounds big for a 2-12 combo, and the notes sound fatter at lower volume than EL-34's.

The Palomino is cool because it's got a gain channel, clean channel and reverb. The market needs more EL-84 amps like that, and I think Crate and Budda have the most useful ones now.

 

[Mike M.]

Re: Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

Speaking of EL 84's, the other day I plugged my Peavey Classic 30 into my Marshall 4X12 for the first time. The low end came across rather "tubby" and I did'nt care for it until I clicked on my Barber Direct Drive SS. Whoa!! To my surprise I got what I thought was a good sound going.

 

[joelap]

Re: Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

^ Everytime I fool around wih custom amp circuits, I always find myself trying to get 3 seperate preamp circuits. A modded-Marshall type for high gain, a Fender blackface, and a voxy AC30/DC30 channel. but once I start thinking about the vox, I start thinking about dual poweramps, then I start thinking about an EF86 channel. And then I find myself back at square 1: a MAtchless DC30. My god I love the soundclips of that amp! Too bad you cant get a true Fender Blackface and DC-30 tone in one amp... because in both cases a lot has to do with the poweramp. a Dc-30 will most likely be the next amp I build, but damn it's a hard decision.

 

[callous_frigid_chill]

Re: Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

my carvin is in the same vein, and i love it.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Man, those Palomino V32's do sound sweet!

I have played many Crate amps over the years and their SS stuff always sounded marginal to me and the SS stuff seems to always have break down issues. The Crate GT-80 I have stored away somewhere is no exception.

Just the name Crate made me cringe for years until I plugged into a V32 Palamino after hearing about them here. They are very nice sounding amps and even my amp tech was amazed by my V32s tone and he is a tough cookie when it comes to amps.

Lately I have been running my Mesa rack into the V32s line in while my 2:90 is being serviced. Now I wish Mesa made a big Class A power amp. The tone is just amazing.