Tried some cool stuff! (AFD100 - Class 5 - HT1 - Lionheart)

Diego

New member
First, the AFD100 fully cranked through a Signature Dave Mustaine Cab.

Bloody hell it's loud! Unbearably loud.
Tried it with a LP Traditional (incredible guitar BTW), the amp's pretty bright if I'm honest.
The onboard attenuator was odd, it squished way too much when attacking the strings, I don't know if it can be adjusted.

It cleaned up as good as you'd expect it to. Such a damn tasty overdrive! I can't really compare it to other modern Marshalls, but it's fantastic.
The bass is never overpowering or flabby, it's always a tight, focused punch and that's great.
The midrange punch just made me smile. Proper Marshall territory.
Kind of the Rock n Roll sound you always have in your head.

What did surprise me a lot (I'd read that here) is how good it sounds at lower volumes.
I had the memory of a TSL100 I tried that was just rotten at bedroom volumes. This one? Fantastic.
Simply impressive.

Then I tried a Blackstar HT-1 combo.
Frankly, the onboard speaker is laughable but it still did some of the expected sounds by itself.

...Then I put it through a Dean Dimebag 4x12 cabinet.
HOLY ****!
Of course, it has nothing in the way of dynamics or cleaning up by that point, but the sound was pretty ****ing brutal and loud in it's own.
I was laughing like mad at the situation, I just couldn't believe a 1-watt amp can roar like that! And the ISF knob is a great idea.
If I only needed dirty sounds for the night, I'd happily take that tiny amp and a cab. It sounds GREAT.

And then the Marshall Class 5. Tried with a Gibson SG Standard this time.

Maybe it needs to go through a cab as well, because by itself I wasn't really impressed. It's got the Marshall flavor by spades and that's good, but it needs to push more air and you don't get that out of the 10-inch speaker by itself.
Also, it didn't do much of a sweet lead sound. Maybe with an OD in front...?
Or maybe the speaker needs to be broken in. Didn't have much time with it though, maybe next time...

I also tried the Laney Lionheart stack and man did that one surprise me!

Since it has EL84 tubes I was only expecting vintage deliciousness. And it does that, but also some righteous modern heavy sounds!

Took it past 8 on the master, and the bass didn't go flabby or anything. It stood as tight as you wanted it to be.

I'm really GASing like mad for the Lionheart now. Affordable, with an amazing palette of classic rock and modern sounds too. And exquisite cleans. And plenty of headroom too.

All in all, a good day. :D
 
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Re: Tried some cool stuff! (AFD100 - Class 5 - HT1 - Lionheart)

Do it man!
The clean channel is fantastic, the drive is very very versatile, and it has more than enough power unless you're playing at Wembley unmiced or something.
And I like how it looks. What else can I say? A fantastic amplifier.
 
Re: Tried some cool stuff! (AFD100 - Class 5 - HT1 - Lionheart)

I'm not surprised about the AFD. IIRC, the couple Jubilees I got to play through were pretty bright, too, and honestly, I never thought Slash had the typical A2 kinda tone. That explains a lot. The Blackstar sounds like it might be up my alley. I do need a little amp that doesn't sound like crap, and that through a 212...
 
Re: Tried some cool stuff! (AFD100 - Class 5 - HT1 - Lionheart)

I much prefer modern Laneys to modern Marshalls. They sound a lot better and they don't fall apart.
 
Re: Tried some cool stuff! (AFD100 - Class 5 - HT1 - Lionheart)

Good post Diego. Thanks.

Sounds like I've got to try that Lionheart as well.
 
Re: Tried some cool stuff! (AFD100 - Class 5 - HT1 - Lionheart)

ayrton had a afd100, I didn't quite care for it - too brittle/harsh/bright, yes. probably cuts through in a band situation though.
 
Re: Tried some cool stuff! (AFD100 - Class 5 - HT1 - Lionheart)

20 Watts.

The 5W combo was next to it, but I'm looking for some decent headroom too, and 5W just doesn't cut it IMO.
 
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