L
Lewguitar
Guest
Today, my brother Bruce brought me his latest amp design to try: the Mission Aurora. About $1500 and totally handwired! No printed circuit board. http://www.missionamps.com
Christian's been asking me to check it out and this is the first chance I've had to hear it. I knew Bruce was coming in today so I brought two of my favorite guitars: my Hamer Daytona with Duncan APS-1/Twangbanger set up and my rosewood fretboard Strat with the single bridge Custom Custom trembucker.
So how does it sound? Amazing! He brought it in looking for a critique and I told him not to change a thing...it's perfect.
IMO, Bruce has finally put it all together: fabulous tone and way cool cosmetics that remind me a little of the 50's Gibson GA-40.
The Aurora has it's own thing going for it but it also reminds me of several of my favorite amps. It has alot of Brian May Vox AC-30 tone...alot of Marshall JTM-45 tone...alot of the tone of my '51 Fender Super...and alot of the tones of a '59 Bassman.
The highs have alot of the glassy crunch of a '59 Bassman or Marshall Plexi but they are never piercing or ice picky. And the mids have alot of "bark" and what I call "groink" to them. Killer for Joe Satriani tones when I plugged in my Custom Custom humbucker Strat.
The tone controls are extremely effective and the overall personality of the amp can be changed dramatically by playing the volume, treble, bass and master volume off of each other.
I liked the amp best with the master on 10, treble on about 7, bass around 3 and the preamp volume anywhere from 3 to 7.
I found that I could turn the volume of my guitar down to 2 - 5 and get a great clean tone, and somehow Bruce has designed this amp so that the tone does not get muddy or lose highs when the guitar is turned down for a cleaner rythym tone. Exactly what I've always wanted from an amp.
Now here's the kicker: Bruce has designed an internal boost circuit in this amp that is controlled by a footswitch. I can set the amp up for cleanish to semi-distorted tones and get everything from clean to semi-overdriven sustain and grind...and then stomp on the footswitch and get some of the most natural and soaring overdrive tones that I've ever heard from an amp.
Again, the overdriven tones makes me want to try to play like Joe Satriani, and I think Joe would love playing through this amp.
It's a twin 6V6 design with a 5AR4 tube rectifier.
We also experimented with differant preamp tubes and found that we could really alter the tone of the amp and make it more Vox like or more Marshall like or more Fender like by simply changing preamp tubes.
With a 12ax7 for the 1st preamp tube and a 12ay7 for the phase invertor, the tone got much more compressed and buttery and reminded me of Brian May's soaring lead tone...and all without the need of an external overdrive pedal.
Reversing the positions of those two tubes (12ay7 for the 1st preamp tube and 12ax7 for the phase invertor) reminded me of my tweed Bassman or a plexi Marshall.
Bruce has invited me to demo this amp at the Dallas Guitar Show in April and I'll be there. I think he really has a winner on his hands.
And hopefully we'll have the same amp with reverb and also a 40 watt version with two 6L6 tubes ready in time for the show.
This is a Great amp!
Christian's been asking me to check it out and this is the first chance I've had to hear it. I knew Bruce was coming in today so I brought two of my favorite guitars: my Hamer Daytona with Duncan APS-1/Twangbanger set up and my rosewood fretboard Strat with the single bridge Custom Custom trembucker.
So how does it sound? Amazing! He brought it in looking for a critique and I told him not to change a thing...it's perfect.
IMO, Bruce has finally put it all together: fabulous tone and way cool cosmetics that remind me a little of the 50's Gibson GA-40.
The Aurora has it's own thing going for it but it also reminds me of several of my favorite amps. It has alot of Brian May Vox AC-30 tone...alot of Marshall JTM-45 tone...alot of the tone of my '51 Fender Super...and alot of the tones of a '59 Bassman.
The highs have alot of the glassy crunch of a '59 Bassman or Marshall Plexi but they are never piercing or ice picky. And the mids have alot of "bark" and what I call "groink" to them. Killer for Joe Satriani tones when I plugged in my Custom Custom humbucker Strat.
The tone controls are extremely effective and the overall personality of the amp can be changed dramatically by playing the volume, treble, bass and master volume off of each other.
I liked the amp best with the master on 10, treble on about 7, bass around 3 and the preamp volume anywhere from 3 to 7.
I found that I could turn the volume of my guitar down to 2 - 5 and get a great clean tone, and somehow Bruce has designed this amp so that the tone does not get muddy or lose highs when the guitar is turned down for a cleaner rythym tone. Exactly what I've always wanted from an amp.
Now here's the kicker: Bruce has designed an internal boost circuit in this amp that is controlled by a footswitch. I can set the amp up for cleanish to semi-distorted tones and get everything from clean to semi-overdriven sustain and grind...and then stomp on the footswitch and get some of the most natural and soaring overdrive tones that I've ever heard from an amp.
Again, the overdriven tones makes me want to try to play like Joe Satriani, and I think Joe would love playing through this amp.
It's a twin 6V6 design with a 5AR4 tube rectifier.
We also experimented with differant preamp tubes and found that we could really alter the tone of the amp and make it more Vox like or more Marshall like or more Fender like by simply changing preamp tubes.
With a 12ax7 for the 1st preamp tube and a 12ay7 for the phase invertor, the tone got much more compressed and buttery and reminded me of Brian May's soaring lead tone...and all without the need of an external overdrive pedal.
Reversing the positions of those two tubes (12ay7 for the 1st preamp tube and 12ax7 for the phase invertor) reminded me of my tweed Bassman or a plexi Marshall.
Bruce has invited me to demo this amp at the Dallas Guitar Show in April and I'll be there. I think he really has a winner on his hands.
And hopefully we'll have the same amp with reverb and also a 40 watt version with two 6L6 tubes ready in time for the show.
This is a Great amp!
Last edited:
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