Two Rock amps. I don’t get it?

sweepy

Further to my comment about the Two Rock being unforgiving etc is that it has a huge dynamic range especially with Strats  but a nice compression when you get the feel for it 

ecc83

How "huge"?

Dave.

mo6020

ecc83 said:

How "huge"?

Dave.

YUGE

Lodious

I have a Studio Pro 22 (so PGB era). It's light, seems to be well made and sounds really good. I've read the following commonly accepted internet wisdom about this amp which I don't find to be true to any degree whatsoever:

- It's not very loud for it's wattage.
It's louder than my BadCat 15w Cub III.  Bad Cat's are considered loud for their wattage and the Two Rock def. goes louder. 

- It's a clean amp only
Nope, it does rock tones up to early AC/DC very nicely. It's not a high gain monster, but to say it's a clean amp only is in no way true. 

- They are unforgiving
I honestly have not noticed this at all. 

The only criticism I'd have it that having two master volumes (one of which is round the back with a bright pull on it) is slightly inconvenient, and I'm not really convinced by the need for independent send and return levels on the verb, but other than that, I think it's a sweet, well designed amp. It's easy to dial in and wasn't crazy expensive when I bought it. 

There is no fairy dust though. To me, it just sounds like a nice, flexible Fender style amp which stays happy when you push it  harder into rock tones.
 

ecc83

How "huge"?

Dave. Why is this repeated at the bottom of the thread? I AM having odd problems with BT email.

MikeP

I don't understand how the dynamic range is yuuge but you get nice compression. Aren't they opposite?

ecc83

I was being a bit provocative about 'Dynamic Range and I guess I really should by now be used to the fact that if you seek two guitarist's opinions on an amp you will get three answers!

Dynamic range for 'simple' systems is defined as the figure in dB between the noise floor and the maximum output*. That is not easy to specify for a complex guitar amp. Just one factor is that the clean channel will be quieter than the OD one. Also EQ settings need to be specified and few amps have an actual 'flat' setting.

*Even that is tricky to specify. My fave method is sine power at the 10%THD point.

Dave.

57Deluxe

When Joe Bonamassa has his own Two Rock signature, I'll pay attention to them...

revsorg

Lodious said:

...wasn't crazy expensive when I bought it...

Would you be willing to elaborate a little on when and how much?

Stuckfast

Mr_Claw said:

I played my old guitar teacher's Two Rock CRS a bunch of times. Every single mistake was magnified a billion fold.

Is there an amp that does the opposite of this?

Asking for a friend.

McToot

My daughter is best buddies with the duaghter of a (or 'the'?) UK distributor of Two Rock amps. I'll ask him. 

Or maybe I won't - he's a big feller. 

bertie

didnt the stones use these

merlin

Isn't "unforgiving" a euphemism for "clean". 

If it's too unforgiving, turn up the gain surely....or put a boost of some kind up front. 

Lodious

revsorg said:

Lodious said:

...wasn't crazy expensive when I bought it...

Would you be willing to elaborate a little on when and how much?

Just dug out the invoice, It was £1549 from Coda in 2013. 

Nerine

rockmonster said:

Nerine said:

Find one and play one. 

That good eh? I just might do that. Still doesn't explain the number of models that have been discontinued…….     

You might like them. You might not.

I think you have to play one to "get" one.

I guess that's my position. No offense or owt, like. 

Knowing the amps you like and go for, whish is kind of similar to me, you'd perhaps not find what you're looking for in anything other than maybe the Bloomfield Drive. 

They'll all do overdrive, but it's not your typical sounding drive. That said, the drive sound from my Classic Reverb Sig just dominates in a band mix. It has huge authority. For me they are absolutely top tier amps for live use, and that's kind of what they're built for. Live use. 100%

Ddigger

CaseOfAce said:

I'm reminded of this scene...!

Jack Burton: I don't get this at all. I thought Lo Pan—
Lo Pan: Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!

Sorry.  I don't get it.

Wazmeister

I own a Two Rock Studio Signature, and it's my longest lasting amp I've owned !

They do expose your mistakes, but Im cool with that (sometimes...)

I've said this a few times, but I had my first one (blonde) and took it to a gig along with my beloved Matchless Nighthawk - itself a wonderful amplifier.

I took it, well, just because really...

I sound checked, and switched the Matchless off. The TR was incredible. So full, so 3D - I dunno, we use these descriptive phrases to try and explain.

I think it was the best I've ever played that night. Cut through, and as small as that cab is, it was a wall of sound behind me.

I went for the practical suede finish

Joyous.

MichaelAT

I think the high # of legacy amps is just the result of the company being in the hands of amp designers/amp nerds. Especially in the earlier days they were experimenting a lot and there were just really low production numbers. I would say it is rather an anti-business model, but with the luxury of a small company and nice sales price, it is working out. Also they are not dragged down by their heritage like Marshall with basically 5 models, and every new idea is critizised by loyal (traditional) customers.

Re. revealing mistakes: I also don't get this, or maybe just in a very special context. All my amps reveal my mistakes. I've had a couple of Two Rocks and they all were lovely but no more revealing than any other clean amp. The only amp that I really hated was a SSS-type amp by Cougar (Mother amp). It was brutally stiff with no compression or "give" whatsoever, and had tons of high end detail. So if you have any kind of (fret) buzz, string slide noise, don't play notes evenly (dynamics) - stuff like that is put under a scope. Really wanted to love the amp but I sold it after a while.

Snags

@Wazmeister right, you too, you swine! Unpack this "they do expose your mistakes" into words that make sense, please? I'm genuinely curious. Because I can assure you that my DSL very clearly exposed me when I played a G# instead of a G because I was distracted the other day. I'm not sure any amp I've ever owned would have let me get away with it

rockmonster

Snags said:

@Wazmeister right, you too, you swine! Unpack this "they do expose your mistakes" into words that make sense, please? I'm genuinely curious. Because I can assure you that my DSL very clearly exposed me when I played a G# instead of a G because I was distracted the other day. I'm not sure any amp I've ever owned would have let me get away with it

Yeah my Marshalls do that all the time!