thehikingdude Posted May 17, 2012 Posted May 17, 2012 It's a couple of days late, but I needed to spend enough time with my new amp to be able to try to communicate in words what this amp sounds like. I have never posted up a new amp before, but this one warrants I share. I have never been the best at using words to explain sound so here goes nothing. A few weeks ago I got a bug in me to look at the possibility of getting a new amp. I've been very pleased with by Bogner Shiva, but you know how GAS works. I had recently gotten a PRS Sig Ltd that I hadn't bonded with and was going to work out a trade for another guitar, but I figured why not see about an amp. I was lucky enough to find this amp up for sale and offered up my Sig Ltd as trade bait.....a week later the amp was here. This one is the 50 Watt EL34 / Tube Rectified version - # 7 of 50. First thing I noticed is that even though it's just under 2 years old it looked brand new. It had been very well cared for. The original owner had swapped out the power tubes for NOS RFT EL34 power tubes and had it biased at Two Rock. I still need to check to see where it's set, but it sounds great where it's at now. I did pull out the Chinese 12AX7 preamp tubes in favor of a couple of ANOS tubes that were in my Shiva. I put a Tungsram 12AX7 in the clean side and a Telefunken 12AX7 on the dirty side. The first difference I noticed was a decrease in bass, I may put another Telefunken on the clean channel to see if that changes. I was told that this amp sounds in between a Fender and a Marshall, I haven't played through enough Marshall amps to say for myself. Sound wise the cleans are just as pristine as my Shiva. I can crank it up quite loud and the cleans keep on chiming. The main thing I notice that I've never heard on any of my amps before, at least not like this one, is note bloom. The note(s) will ring on and on and then bloom into a beautiful sounding harmonic. What was surprising to me is that this still takes place at a lower volume, I hadn't expected that. I'd read about note bloom before, but it was hard to imagine what that was until I heard it for myself. Depending on proximity to the speaker (currently I am using the Scumback M75 100Watt speaker in my Shiva Combo as a cab) my guitars will sustain practically forever, at louder volumes of course. The gain and tone controls cascade from the clean channel over to the lead channel, so it really gives you a lot of control over your sound on the dirty side. I have never played through an amp like this, so it may take a bit getting used to. Last night I cranked both gains to the max and still you can hear the individual notes through the tube distortion. Supposedly this model was designed to have more dirt than other Two Rock models at the request of Eric Gales. He asked for a simple 2-channel amp with lots of gain and they nailed it. It's about as simple as it can get as you will see in the pics below. I have yet to play with any pedals as the amp itself still has me wowed, so I will update later with how it handles those. I've also noticed an increase in sensitivity to both my picking and my volume/tone controls. It's almost as if I am hearing my guitars again for the first time. A foot pedal was included to switch between channels along with a Bypass switch which bypasses all tone controls. I'm on the fence if I will use this feature much, but it almost equates to a 3-channel amp depending on how it's used. There is no reverb, but I don't use it that much. I do have a Tonebug Reverb pedal if need be so that part is covered. The looks are nice too. I really like the clean look to it and especially the cover on it, which is referred to as a Western tolex. I have ordered a Forte 3D 1x12 cabinet with the same covering, etc to match up with the head. The hard part will be waiting 12 weeks to get it. I really appreciate the weight difference between the Two Rock head and the Bogner Shiva Combo. The 70+lbs was becoming a real pain at some of the jams I go to with trying to lug it to its destination. Hoping that a separate head and cabinet will be easier even if I have to make an extra trip. If I had to find something bad to say about it, it would be the power and standby switches. The power switch is on the back, much prefer the front. The Standby switch is on the front, but the way it's mounted/labeled you would assume that it is in Standby when it is not. Thus I did not have it in Standby the first time I powered it up, I won't make that mistake again. OK, enough of my blathering. I hope my brief write-up conveys some idea as to how this might sound. Now for some pics!
KH Guitar Freak Posted May 18, 2012 Posted May 18, 2012 Apparently it's the most gainy and low endy Two Rock of the lot. Congrabs...
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