The Watering Hole

@ Satan Center this weekend.  Guitar -> cable -> amp = itsa nice!  Add an OD and I'd be good.

Much better in person than any of the youtube vids I sampled...

Sounded OK at tinnitis friendly levels - big plus for me.

I've been pretty happy with mine.  Lotsa tones in that little thing!  

DreamTheaterRules — Mar 23, 2009Lotsa tones in that little thing!  

True.

And to think we could be hearing those tones...   ;)

We could be hearing them through a Red Fang...

GC has to special order the Blackstar stuff, so I didn't get to drool on an Artisan.  They did have the Alchemist but I didn't even feel a twinge of temptation.

I haven't done much research yet, do you know how the variable wattage is implemented?

I'm hearing them almost every day, why aren't you?   ;D

You should hear it with the Wizard!  

The variable wattage is a nice feature.  It's the "power pot" type setup.  It is not power scaling.  If you turn it down to 1 watt, it still get's pretty loud if you turn it up, but with obviously less headroom and bottom end.  It is handy for tuning in sweet spots when you can't turn it up very loud.  

Wizard sounds better than the Red Fang?

If I were to get a Rebel I'll have to grab the matching cab to get the 'upgrade' trade in allowance.

It didn't sound bad, but there was a fairly solid din when I was in there.

DreamTheaterRules — Mar 24, 2009I'm hearing them almost every day, why aren't you?   ;D

You should hear it with the Wizard!  

The variable wattage is a nice feature.  It's the "power pot" type setup.  It is not power scaling.  If you turn it down to 1 watt, it still get's pretty loud if you turn it up, but with obviously less headroom and bottom end.  It is handy for tuning in sweet spots when you can't turn it up very loud.  

How does the OCD sound in front of it as a little juice enhancer (clean boost)? Enough to get it into hairy/lead areas (while staying UNfizzy)? Does that particular combo produce a lot of nasty/unwanted noise or does it handle a heavy does of clean boost well? A clip would be the perfect, telling answer, but I'll settle for the wordage, lol.

It is absolutely silent when recorded :)

;D ;D

Plug 15 Keeley modded MT-2's in front of it and it won't wake a baby in the next room.   ;D ;D

Tobe — Mar 24, 2009Wizard sounds better than the Red Fang?

Different.  The Red Fang (Alnico Blue copy) has this cool chewy vintage chime and is great for clean to classic rock.  Works at higher gain fine, just not it's forte'.  The Wizard is a G12H clone.  It sounds great anywhere from clean to scream.  

How does the OCD sound in front of it as a little juice enhancer (clean boost)?

OCD works GREAT with the Rebel.  Being a one channel amp, you can set it at your cleanest you'll need for any song then goose it to wherever you need with the OCD.  It also takes the Blues Pro, and any boost of fuzz pedal I've thrown at it, very well.

It is absolutely silent when recorded

 It is, in Dar terms, an "Ultra Low Noise" recording device.   ;D

Plug 15 Keeley modded MT-2's in front of it and it won't wake a baby in the next room.

ok, this was all fun and games til now.  ANYONE knows you can't put more than 4 Keeley Modded MT-2s in front of ANY amp, without sounding just like..... hey wait!  I just figured out how J O E Y get's his tone!   :o ;D ;D ;D  

Got one!   :)

Congrats!  I bet you really like it. Covers a lot of ground for sure.  Randy got one and he loves his.  

I've heard it sounds even better with a Tong Sol in V1, but I haven't even bothered to try one yet.  Will soon though.  

I could take this amp and my MI Blues Pro for solos, and play about any style music.  If I wanted to get really heavy, you could throw the OCD in front of it and scoop the mids and get that too.  Very pleased.  I really wanted to get a G Major for the loop and be done with it but man, that thing is getting SLAMMED for reliability issues...  

I have a few old American made Groove Tubes 12ax7s, a Chinese one that sounds good in my VJ and a JJ 803s to eventually try.  No rush.

I got the matching cab - it needs a good thrashing to mellow it a bit.

I see what you mean about finding the sweet spot with the watts control at low volumes.

I really want to see how the bias is set...

didn't get the cab.  I have plenty.   ;)  Although it does look cool, matches, and is a good cab.  I like it a lot with the Private Jack or the Wizard.  

It's becoming more a rule, that even if I can only do moderate levels, I leave the watts control all the way up MOST of the time.  It takes away some bass (duh, is cutting watts) when you turn it down.  When the wife is in bed, it goes down, if not, it stays up.  Many have said that it's great for LOW volume playing but other than that it stays up.  I'm finding that it sounds better that way, but is a cool feature to tone it down more when you have to go LOW volume.  

And yeah, I haven't messed with the bias yet, but tuning that might make this amp even better....

Let's see if I've picked this up correctly...




CLIPS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!!



:)

j/k!   that's very cool, I hope the honeymoon lasts forever

Thanks Paul and Howie.

[quote author=KrankZilla link=1237822358/0#14 date=1238973354]
CLIPS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!! :)
/quote]

I'll get some up soon, but they will not necessarily be a representation of the true tone potential of the amp.

:-[

DreamTheaterRules — Apr 05, 2009Congrats!  I bet you really like it. Covers a lot of ground for sure.  Randy got one and he loves his.  

I've heard it sounds even better with a Tong Sol in V1, but I haven't even bothered to try one yet.  Will soon though.  

I could take this amp and my MI Blues Pro for solos, and play about any style music.  If I wanted to get really heavy, you could throw the OCD in front of it and scoop the mids and get that too.  Very pleased.  I really wanted to get a G Major for the loop and be done with it but man, that thing is getting SLAMMED for reliability issues...  

Tung Sols sound great.  Tung Sol w/ gold plated pins are even better!!!  Only thing better than this is NOS.  I've had a gold plated one in my Boogie and it rulez!!!  Only reason it still isn't there is because I got a heck of a deal on an NOS RCA!!! WOOT!!!

OK - a quick clip.  MXL 990 condenser is the mic I had plugged in, pointed straight in, two finger widths off the grill, approximately nipple ring.

My Less Paul has Burstbucker Pros - I think they are a bit harsh in that guitar.

Left channel is tubes blended at 11:00.  Right and middle are 2 clicks off full EL84.  Gain at 3:00 (7 of 10?)  First segment has the 'signature' tight switch engaged, second it is off.

Just had two guys here to demo my 1x12 with an Alnico Blue in it and they brought a Rebel 20 which is my first time hearing one.

All I can say is NIIIIIIIIIIICE!

Wasn't all that crazy about the gain sounds, but I have no need for that anyway with the amps I already have (they both have one and said that it takes pedals very well which is what they both do instead of cranking the amp's gain knob).  The other tones though were VERY nice and I loved the size of the head (plus the coloring matched my 1x12's - LOL).  Will probably have to get one once I have money again.  :)

I like the gain better in mine since I tweaked the bias and put a couple of different preamp tubes in it.  But it's not the best HG tone ever and is so loud with the preamp gain cranked I can't get the master up enough to get the power tubes cooking.  I like the gain down and master up clean and with peds.

EJ Strat -> Rebel set with a bit of grit when digging in = many hours well wasted.

I would love to try a nice alnico speaker with it.  Did they take it?

Oh yeah!  Made me wish that I didn't have to sell it.  The Rebel sounded pretty damn nice with my ADA 2x12 slant stack (with the pre-worn in Vintage 30 and G12H30 in it), but had the perfect tone coming out of my 1x12 with the Alnico Blue in it.

I been looking at the Rebel 30 head, goodness that looks like something worthy of note, it has on board verb and channel switching. A bit pricey at $799, but probably worth it. You could gig with that amp no pedals needed (Except Howie he needs at least 40 pedals and a pickup truck to carry his 15 pedal boards.  

Never heard a 30 myself, but both guys that were here said they preferred their 20's to the 30.  Not sure why.

CraigBert — Dec 11, 2009Never heard a 30 myself, but both guys that were here said they preferred their 20's to the 30.  Not sure why.

I tried the 20 when I was on an amp quest six months ago or so. I liked it, but it was not anything I wanted to add to my gear. I need channel switching and reverb, and I don't want stomps to do that in any amp I ever purchase (if I ever buy another one). For now my HRD and stomps do everything I need but that is only one amp, there should be at least two if I ever perform. My first gig ever I blew my amp on the first tune, a Music Man hundred watt combo hybrid amp. I had to rush home and get my Peavey Hundred Watt amp and it took an hour to get that done.