Just bought it this afternoon. Had heard one of the shop staff playing the new Edge Strat through it on Friday and it sounded fantastic.
So...
It's now mine.
It's much more tame-able than other Fender amps - the master volume does whisper quiet, and then slightly louder and so on rather than off to OMG turn it down.
The 3 gain pre-amps all sound good - sparkly cleans to smooth high gain and the EL84s give it a more British-sounding overdrive than yer usual Fender. And the hall reverb is fine - nothing particularly special and I'd have preferred a spring unit in there, but perfectly acceptable. FX loop, XLR line out (which I probably never use). Looks very well put together.
Sounds great with single coils and humbuckers so far. But this is the "during-wedding-party-not-even-at-the-honeymoon-shag" period, so I shall report back after a few days of playing.
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Whilst shouting requests for Sex is on Fire, Mr Brightside and Livin on a Prayer
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Just test drove the 007 Combo
Very impressed.
Sounded wonderful.
Pay day tomorrow isn't it?
Yes, still really enjoying it - for what I need which is home use and occasional jam nights with mates.
Still think it's the best I've had for that. It's not particularly "Fendery" - although the cleans are lovely - but its got a fantastic range of tones in the 3 gain settings and the reverb is superb.
Definitely worth trying one out - but I wouldn't buy without trying because what's good for me could be completely useless for you!
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The HRD has about the best cleans I've heard in an amp sub £1K. It's almost the definition of Fender Clean.The overdrive is excellent - it's very Fender too. Fender overdrive is a very different thing to Marshall / Vox / Mesa overdrive. You might not like it - many don't. The HRD volume is kinda on/off as well, which wasn't great for my needs. The Bassbreaker has a really gentle sweep.
They are very different amps. The HRD is a gigging quality amp with plenty of headroom - it's why they are in almost all backlines. I'd say the Bassbreaker is more Vox than Fender (although, it's really it's own thing), the overdrive is much "creamier" and "British" (if that makes sense?) and the cleans have a bit more grit.
The clean (low gain) channel is quieter and breaks up early with humbuckers. All 3 clean up with guitar volume rolled back.
I suspect it would need to be mic'd at a gig.
Only way to know if it's for you is to check one out. There should be plenty about to try.
I actually preferred the distortion on this amp to Mesa & Marshall!!
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Had a go without the delay the next day and bought it - but I was on the hunt for an amp. Rarely buy stuff new, so was clearly sold on it!