Lighter alternatives for my HRD ?

Chalky

ZT Club? Thats not an amp, its a sound-loudener! Its like someone told the designer what an amp was but neither they nor the designer had ever actually used one themselves (rather like Death's bathroom for any Terry Pratchett fans). I remember being so very, very disappointed with those amps when I first found and tried one

DarnWeight

Pete24v said:

As already mentioned, check out some Neo speakers. I put a pair of Jensen Neo's in my old Twin and it drastically reduced the weight.

+1

I think the HRD White Lightning Edition came with the Celestion Century Vintage as stock, so I daresay you could chase down some clips/vids of one to see how it performs.  Saying that, it's only gonna be a few kg lighter than stock at best.

Blueingreen

Chalky said:

ZT Club? Thats not an amp, its a sound-loudener! Its like someone told the designer what an amp was but neither they nor the designer had ever actually used one themselves (rather like Death's bathroom for any Terry Pratchett fans). I remember being so very, very disappointed with those amps when I first found and tried one

All about opinions I suppose.  I thought I was being a bit more critical than the online feedback generally.  A really in-depth review of these was done by 5 different guys on the Jazz Guitar forum and generally came out very positively.

bingefeller

What about a SS jazz amp?  Foulds have lots of good SS amps...

http://www.fouldsmusic.co.uk/jazz-guitars-and-accessories/jazz-amplification/

Danny1969

Another option is if you only use your HRD for the clean ( well lets face it no one buys one for the drive channel) then just get a lower wattage lower weight valve amp to plug your pedals into ... 

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

Another option is if you only use your HRD for the clean ( well lets face it no one buys one for the drive channel)

You'll be wrong about that if I buy one . I haven't decided to yet… but it does do the very best Neil-Young-at-bedroom-volume sound I've got out of an amp. Fantastic, and actually more unique than a decent clean sound, so if I ever do buy one it will be for that .

Danny1969

ICBM said:

Danny1969 said:

Another option is if you only use your HRD for the clean ( well lets face it no one buys one for the drive channel)

You'll be wrong about that if I buy one . I haven't decided to yet… but it does do the very best Neil-Young-at-bedroom-volume sound I've got out of an amp. Fantastic, and actually more unique than a decent clean sound, so if I ever do buy one it will be for that .

Lol well there's one reason to like it. I actually love the dirt in a Fender Twin but I never see anyone else rave about the drive channel in a Twin ,,, only the clean again ..

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

I actually love the dirt in a Fender Twin but I never see anyone else rave about the drive channel in a Twin ,,, only the clean again ..

I like the pushed/overdriven clean channel mode on the '94 'Twin Amp' more than any other sound on any modern Fender… although the second channel on the Tonemaster at jet-engine volume probably beats even that, it's just not normally usable.

In fact I think I'm beginning to like Fender overdrive more than Marshall overdrive now.

thisisguitar

A Bluguitar amp/pedal came in at guitarguitar whilst I was there today… it's tiny, and 100w. Has an fx loop too.

Won't get easier that that!

57Deluxe

Sessionette 75... cheap, lighter, louder and all the tones of your HRD with a couple of peds

Blueingreen

I thought the Sessionettes were similar weight to the HRD?

57Deluxe

My Rockette is 13kg

Blueingreen

From a little Googling the Sessionette 75 seemed to vary somewhat in weight depending on when made, but 20KG is the weight of the model being marketed here:

http://www.award-session.com/pdfs/SG75_1997_Op_Inst.pdf

Some older models apparently were 16KG.

The HRD is only a hair heavier than 20KG so if you wanted something significantly lighter than a HRD and fancied a Sessionette 75 you'd have to be careful that you were buying one of the lighter models.

impmann

My old Sessionette 75 was lighter than my HRD. Great sounding IMHO but can be a bit stiff with some pedals. You need to work with the EQ to get the best out of it - whereas the HRD sounds good pretty much wherever the tone controls are set.

I also have a ZT lunchbox that I run through a lightweight Montage cab with an Eminence Swamp Thang driver. It's a great sounding amp but *needs* pedals to get the best out of it. It adores fuzz!! The clean sound isn't anywhere near as deep or lush as a HRD but it's nice enough.

monquixote

I too am on a bit of a mission for something light and easy to manage.

My top choice would be a Tech21 TM60. They can be had for beans secondhand and they sound really good on the clean channel.

I would say avoid the Fender Mustang as though the clean channel sounds good the overdrive sounds are crap and it hates pedals. If you want to go that way then I'd advise the Blackstar ID:TVP as they have pretty decent cleans and seem to respond to pedals like a valve amp.

I'm probably going to go with a BluGuitar Amp1, but they aren't cheap.

Emp_Fab

You can stop suggesting for me now....  my HRD is going back in the corner of my man cave - the band has jacked it in.  Thanks for all the suggestions anyway.

monquixote

Arses, sorry to hear that fella.

57Deluxe

@Emp_Fab - Aww- go on, isn't there something else you want advice on that we can go on endlessly about??

ICBM

Emp_Fab said:

You can stop suggesting for me now....  my HRD is going back in the corner of my man cave - the band has jacked it in.  Thanks for all the suggestions anyway.

Damn.

Oh well… you can now have fun trying The Best Neil Young Sound At Bedroom Volume Ever, without annoying anyone who doesn't like that sort of thing. I understand there are some .

(Drive channel, drive and bass up full, can't remember exactly where the mid and treble were set, reverb up a bit, presence fairly low, MV about .00001 above where it just comes on.)