I've been gigging my BB 18/30 all summer, and I've gone thru hot/cold&hot on ownership.
Previous years for our classic rock band I had been using a Marshall 2203, Tech21 TM+PM60, later followed by a Hot Rod, and latterly the BB. I went for the BB because I wasnt impressed with the drive channels on the Hot Rod, also felt a certain boxiness with the combo. The BB immediately overcomes the preamp drive problem by design! ....and the 2 x 12 Celestion cab give a great thump. The nice thing is that you dont need loops/reverbs/gain built-in being a high headroom input, and also because I'm sure most gigging players will have a stash of fav pedals lurking around to colour the sound how you want, or backs to the walls and give it some stick for the power section drive. Conveniently, the latter is always there to put the icing on the cake if you really want to push on top of your own pedals. So I used the amp happily & solidly till mid-summer, then thought maybe I'd go back to a Marshal with preamp drive again so I wouldnt need pedals.
So I advertised it nationally - response? - not a dickie-bird!! .....after leaving the ad for 2 months (meanwhile having some fun with a Katana-100 head) I withdrew it, and after catching up on a few YouTube reviews I decided to put the pedals back in front and try again. Its actually a hard one to beat for the price - the cleans are brilliant with a strat, and the drive with bags of thump is what you make it with pedals or sheer volume (latter is a tad impractical!!). For me, when using pedals, it's a hard one to beat, the Katana is good for great drive sounds and built in effects, but I can't find a potent clean.
What amazes me tho, is why it didn't sell?? , to be honest now, I'm glad!! ....but I wonder why? .....I'm interested to hear user experiences if anybody has really tried/gigged them (admittedly theyre not the best house amp!!)
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