phil_104
Cheesesteakologist
Hey guys. Sold my peavey windsor halfstack that was 2 much for me, and got one of these babies. So I figured after 10 days of playing it about 4 hours a day, with every possible set of pickups, and a bunch of different styles, I might as well give a quick review, caus I know there was a thread about it earlier.
Price paid :640$ (Can) - They go for 650 of MF, but are apparently 930 list price.
Features : 9/10
- For most people, this amp is loaded with just the right ammount of features. It has everything you need, but not to much useless stuff.
- First of all, its a 2-channel, 40w, all tube, single 12 amp. The speaker is an eminence, and I think it fits in well with the amp. A vintage style celestion would perhaps make it even better.
- The 40w its nice, since you can use it for practice and small shows.
- The amp has a nice deep reverb, that work wonders and is rich and fun to play with.
- The clean channel is exelent, but the driven channel is not what most people think of when they think dirty. It's more of an boost than anything. It's perfect if you are doing the blues, but if you want to get into heavier stuff, you will need a good distortion or overdrive. This is why the features lose 1 point.
- The amp takes pedal VERY well, so anything you feed into it will sound nice.
- The amp is finished in tweed, wich looks really good IMO. The constructions and finishing seems good, and it has a nice tube guard at the back, wich is a nice upgrade from the peavey classic series that don't have them.
- Another nice thing that these have over the peavey classics, that made the difference for me, was the fact that these have a standby switch. Very important to me.
Sound : 9/10
It's always hard to put a sound in words, but I'll do my best. The first impression I had of this amp is dynamic. When plugged in, this amp has more presence and projection than my halfstack had. It feels very, very warm, and give that tone that would you expect from a vintage reissue amp. The cleans are typical fender, brilliant. The fun thing about this amp is when used with effects or reverb, the amp retains the warm properties of the tubes, while being very transparent to the sound of the effects. This is great if you have good effects, but bad effects will sound terrible through it. When it comes to style, this amp is obviously a blues amp, but does great when it comes to jazz and rock. If you compare it to the peavey classics ( wich was my other option), it is somewhat warmer, and the clean channel is more dynamic. If you want true tube distortiont though, this is not for you. Overall I am very happy with the sound, and once more, the only point loss comes with the dirty channel, but like I said, that is not problematic if you have good effects.
Overall : 9/10
If you want an amp to get you those nice blues/rock/jazz tones, and already have a good collection of pedals, then this amp would probably be on your list of things to concider. It is a little more expensive than the peaveys, but the fact that the fender has a standby, better speaker imo ( the eminence!), and the slightly warmer true tube tone. I love this amp, and I feel it will be with me for a while, because in the price class, it is the best I have tried, for what it does, and it is versatile enough to be my main amp.
So I hope that I might have answered a few questions, even though my review skills are not that good. Here is a picture of mine.
Price paid :640$ (Can) - They go for 650 of MF, but are apparently 930 list price.
Features : 9/10
- For most people, this amp is loaded with just the right ammount of features. It has everything you need, but not to much useless stuff.
- First of all, its a 2-channel, 40w, all tube, single 12 amp. The speaker is an eminence, and I think it fits in well with the amp. A vintage style celestion would perhaps make it even better.
- The 40w its nice, since you can use it for practice and small shows.
- The amp has a nice deep reverb, that work wonders and is rich and fun to play with.
- The clean channel is exelent, but the driven channel is not what most people think of when they think dirty. It's more of an boost than anything. It's perfect if you are doing the blues, but if you want to get into heavier stuff, you will need a good distortion or overdrive. This is why the features lose 1 point.
- The amp takes pedal VERY well, so anything you feed into it will sound nice.
- The amp is finished in tweed, wich looks really good IMO. The constructions and finishing seems good, and it has a nice tube guard at the back, wich is a nice upgrade from the peavey classic series that don't have them.
- Another nice thing that these have over the peavey classics, that made the difference for me, was the fact that these have a standby switch. Very important to me.
Sound : 9/10
It's always hard to put a sound in words, but I'll do my best. The first impression I had of this amp is dynamic. When plugged in, this amp has more presence and projection than my halfstack had. It feels very, very warm, and give that tone that would you expect from a vintage reissue amp. The cleans are typical fender, brilliant. The fun thing about this amp is when used with effects or reverb, the amp retains the warm properties of the tubes, while being very transparent to the sound of the effects. This is great if you have good effects, but bad effects will sound terrible through it. When it comes to style, this amp is obviously a blues amp, but does great when it comes to jazz and rock. If you compare it to the peavey classics ( wich was my other option), it is somewhat warmer, and the clean channel is more dynamic. If you want true tube distortiont though, this is not for you. Overall I am very happy with the sound, and once more, the only point loss comes with the dirty channel, but like I said, that is not problematic if you have good effects.
Overall : 9/10
If you want an amp to get you those nice blues/rock/jazz tones, and already have a good collection of pedals, then this amp would probably be on your list of things to concider. It is a little more expensive than the peaveys, but the fact that the fender has a standby, better speaker imo ( the eminence!), and the slightly warmer true tube tone. I love this amp, and I feel it will be with me for a while, because in the price class, it is the best I have tried, for what it does, and it is versatile enough to be my main amp.
So I hope that I might have answered a few questions, even though my review skills are not that good. Here is a picture of mine.
