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Intro
Ok.
Before I begin, may I add a few caveats to my own situation ?
I’m a valve snob. Love the high end stuff. Tried, played and owned most of them, and currently own a Carr Rambler and a Lazy J J20. I’ve just sold my excellent Matchless Lightning…
Same with pedals. Like many of us, I’ve spent a small fortune on pedals and gear. Had the Gigirig G2, the Salvage Custom board etc etc.
I mainly play at home now, with some small gigs and the accompanying rehearsals.
I don’t use high gain, and mainly go for great cleans and those clipped/low OD sounds.
Some of the best sounds I’ve had live have been natural driven amps, and we ALL know this ! But at home volumes, I’ve struggle to get the ‘sound in my head’.
Anyway, having stumbled (much to my amazement) in the incredible Fractal FX8, I thought “why not try some digital/modelling amps’’ ? The traditional, vintage amp snob recoils in horror, BUT it won’t hurt to try will it ?
http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q493/Warren3333/FullSizeRender_19.jpg
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Comments
Testing and Trialling…
So, having recently tried the lovely Carr Lincoln (I really liked it but didn’t love it), I had the chance to try the Yamaha THR100HD with the incredible Ross (from Yamaha) guiding me through it.
Superb sounds, a great gigging amp, and I was SO close to buying it.
Returned to the same dealer next day, to try and buy the 100HD. Whilst there, I thought I’d revisit one of my fave amps (which can be hard to come by) in the form of the Mesa Boogie Express Plus 25. They had a combo and whilst I was there, I thought I’d give it a blast. Loved it again.
The Express is around £1600 but well worth it, and I thought, yep I’ll take this. In the meantime, A/Bing with the Yamaha, the guy working there brought in the Roland Blues Cube.
Ok. I’ll give it a spin. I tried the Stage model to start with. Bloody brilliant. Full stop. Loud, powerful, great tones yes GREAT tones.
Then, I tried the slightly louder/bigger/fx loop Artist model (and the even larger 2x12 too). Now, here me right now.
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST AMPS I’VE PLAYED.
Why ?
Well, it does those clipped cleans that Ive been searching for. Easy and very instinctive to use, no stories issues or downsides. It even bloody looks good in the flesh
Maybe, just maybe it lacks the feel, bloom of the Mesa Express sitting alongside it. Only maybe. But still, £1000 cheaper !!
Then, I blended the clean channel and the OD channel on the Blues Cube. The sound in my head. It could virtually copy and mirror the Mesa.
Needless to say. The Blues Cube Artist came home with me…
At home (and still fairly loud) volumes, it can match the Rambler. Now, just hold on and think about that.
MATCH THE RAMBLER ?!?!? Get a grip.
This is a modelling amp costing £699.
Mind blowing.
http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q493/Warren3333/Blues CUbe 2.jpg
You know your tones so I'm going to have to check one of these out, never bothered before.
Have a wiz for actually listening with your ears!
How you getting on with the Collings? I'm loving the tele.
Bloody he'll I hope you get commission because I'm caving now!
I did have the 100 demoed to me at Birmingham and it sounded immense but we didn't do edge of breakup sounds.
Warren's a cool guy - and usually displays exemplary taste when it comes to gear - but his typical level of spend must create stresses and perhaps the occasional 'strangeness' is what we're witnessing here.
I'm sure given time to calm down, he'll come to his senses and 'normal' service will be resumed.
In the meantime @Wazmeister, if you need to talk - PM me. I'll happily give you my number straight away.
No stresses financially here mate, fortunately... Just after good tone. Try one mate.
is it just the EJ thing in the modules? Either way congrats on the new amp day, you've piqued my interest...
In all seriousness my buddy @brownovich has a Blues cube after we tried one out at Musicmesse last year. Through headphones I was blown away by the tones and I've always thought about getting one just for that reason - there aren't many amps that actually inspire you to play through 'phones! My favourite tones were as you described too - blending the channels adds a fatness and depth that with single coils (think it was a Roland ready Strat we played it through at the show) hit that SRV break up dead on.
HNAD.