Loganator456
New member
Hey guys!!!!
This is my 3rd post over here, so hi and i'm glad to be here!
Ok, this is my first review so questions and constructive criticism are appreciated.
This is what I bought:
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=481416
First off, let me say that this is my first half stack, so I don't know much as far as half stacks go.
Flexwave FW120H Guitar Amp Head
3 channels
120 watts
Evolution 5 preamp
DSP effects
Onboard tuner
FW412 Guitar Cabinet
Compatible with all Crate heads
4x12" speakers
120W power handling
Stereo or Mono operation
4 or 8 Ohms
I bought this halfstack on the day after Thanksgiving last year, as an early Christmas present. This half stack is about the same size as any JVM/JCM Marshall Stack, in case you were wondering (the MG stacks are a little smaller). It is pretty versatile; I can get a good blues, blues rock, rock, metal, death metal sound.... really almost anything you could think of, you could get a decent sound out of this amp.
It has 4 effects, Delay, Chorus, Flanger, and a Phaser. The Chorus, phaser and Flanger effects are pretty good. But the way these effects are controlled can be kind of confusing; they were for me when I first bought this amp. I'll post of pics of everythin later this week so you guys can understand what I'm talking about. The only effect I think is lacking is the delay. When you go from no Delay>Delay, nothing will happen unless you turn the knob to just around all the way up to 10. And you cant control speed, decay, etc. so I was somewhat dissapointed with the Delay feature on this amp.
Anothing thing to take into consideration if your looking into this amp, it that IT IS NOT AS LOUD AS YOU THINK.... It really isn't that loud for 120w, like some other people have said. The onboard tuner on this thing sucks. Souriously, don't use it. I think it is the worst feature on this amp. I play a low E, and it registers as a different note about every second. Now i know that the attack of the pick makes it sharper and stuff, but it won't register as just one note.
I just use my Fender G-DEC as my tuner.
Okay, Overdrive channel, its pretty good, I don't have really any complaints about it, but I don't use it very often. One thing is that the High Gain channel doesn't have it's own EQ. The Overdrive and High Gain channels share an EQ. I'd like it to have it's own EQ channel, but since I don't use the Overdrive channel very much, it's just fine. The High Gain channel is pretty ok, as I said it doesn't have its own EQ but it does have a "Shape" knob, which as you turn it higher, it craps up your tone and cuts every single bit of Mids out of this amp. I just keep it at 0 all the time.
Now that the sound part of the amp is done, I'll talk about the rest of it. As I said, it is about the same size as a normal Marshall Stack, I think I remember the cab being about 29.5 inches but don't hold me to it. :wink: The casters are fine on the cab. It's pretty lightweight, but it's bulky so I still had a hard time moving it. (I bought it at a Guitar Center an hour away
) It almost makes it feel like a toy, how light weight it is. The one thing I wish I would've got was the footswitch. I didn't realize I didn't get it until awhile later, but I've read review on MF and some people say there pretty crappy. The speaker cable the comes with it sucks, quite frankly, just go out and buy a new one if you can. I have no idea what speakers are in the cab, probably just generic crap Crate speakers. Definitley not celestions, or anything of the sort.
All in all, I'm glad that I got the amp, as it was only $500 ($400 with my discount), but I'm a little dissatisfied with the features. I'd much rather have pedals than the onboard effects. So...
Good:
Good tone (from my perspective, probably not to any ENGL fans out there..)
Relativley cheap
Light weight
Versatile
Bad:
Not very loud for 120w
Crap delay
Crap tuner
Both dist. channels share an EQ
Noise/Feed back
if you guys have any questions about it I'll be happy to answer them. But alas, sorry no soundclip or vids.
Another thing: This thing has a lot of feedback... My pickups have sup-par output and it still has raging feedback and noise... I need a gate anyways. All in all, If you absolutley need a stack for $500, then this is the way to go. If you're not in a hurry, I'd reccommend saving up for a better stack.
PICS:
Switch + Tuner
Effects
Overdrive + High Gains channels
Back of Cabinet all hooked up
Stack Full Shot
Back of the Stack
Back of the Stack
This is my 3rd post over here, so hi and i'm glad to be here!
Ok, this is my first review so questions and constructive criticism are appreciated.
This is what I bought:
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=481416
First off, let me say that this is my first half stack, so I don't know much as far as half stacks go.
Flexwave FW120H Guitar Amp Head
3 channels
120 watts
Evolution 5 preamp
DSP effects
Onboard tuner
FW412 Guitar Cabinet
Compatible with all Crate heads
4x12" speakers
120W power handling
Stereo or Mono operation
4 or 8 Ohms
I bought this halfstack on the day after Thanksgiving last year, as an early Christmas present. This half stack is about the same size as any JVM/JCM Marshall Stack, in case you were wondering (the MG stacks are a little smaller). It is pretty versatile; I can get a good blues, blues rock, rock, metal, death metal sound.... really almost anything you could think of, you could get a decent sound out of this amp.
It has 4 effects, Delay, Chorus, Flanger, and a Phaser. The Chorus, phaser and Flanger effects are pretty good. But the way these effects are controlled can be kind of confusing; they were for me when I first bought this amp. I'll post of pics of everythin later this week so you guys can understand what I'm talking about. The only effect I think is lacking is the delay. When you go from no Delay>Delay, nothing will happen unless you turn the knob to just around all the way up to 10. And you cant control speed, decay, etc. so I was somewhat dissapointed with the Delay feature on this amp.
Anothing thing to take into consideration if your looking into this amp, it that IT IS NOT AS LOUD AS YOU THINK.... It really isn't that loud for 120w, like some other people have said. The onboard tuner on this thing sucks. Souriously, don't use it. I think it is the worst feature on this amp. I play a low E, and it registers as a different note about every second. Now i know that the attack of the pick makes it sharper and stuff, but it won't register as just one note.
I just use my Fender G-DEC as my tuner.Okay, Overdrive channel, its pretty good, I don't have really any complaints about it, but I don't use it very often. One thing is that the High Gain channel doesn't have it's own EQ. The Overdrive and High Gain channels share an EQ. I'd like it to have it's own EQ channel, but since I don't use the Overdrive channel very much, it's just fine. The High Gain channel is pretty ok, as I said it doesn't have its own EQ but it does have a "Shape" knob, which as you turn it higher, it craps up your tone and cuts every single bit of Mids out of this amp. I just keep it at 0 all the time.
Now that the sound part of the amp is done, I'll talk about the rest of it. As I said, it is about the same size as a normal Marshall Stack, I think I remember the cab being about 29.5 inches but don't hold me to it. :wink: The casters are fine on the cab. It's pretty lightweight, but it's bulky so I still had a hard time moving it. (I bought it at a Guitar Center an hour away
) It almost makes it feel like a toy, how light weight it is. The one thing I wish I would've got was the footswitch. I didn't realize I didn't get it until awhile later, but I've read review on MF and some people say there pretty crappy. The speaker cable the comes with it sucks, quite frankly, just go out and buy a new one if you can. I have no idea what speakers are in the cab, probably just generic crap Crate speakers. Definitley not celestions, or anything of the sort. All in all, I'm glad that I got the amp, as it was only $500 ($400 with my discount), but I'm a little dissatisfied with the features. I'd much rather have pedals than the onboard effects. So...
Good:
Good tone (from my perspective, probably not to any ENGL fans out there..)
Relativley cheap
Light weight
Versatile
Bad:
Not very loud for 120w
Crap delay
Crap tuner
Both dist. channels share an EQ
Noise/Feed back
if you guys have any questions about it I'll be happy to answer them. But alas, sorry no soundclip or vids.
Another thing: This thing has a lot of feedback... My pickups have sup-par output and it still has raging feedback and noise... I need a gate anyways. All in all, If you absolutley need a stack for $500, then this is the way to go. If you're not in a hurry, I'd reccommend saving up for a better stack.
PICS:
Switch + Tuner
Effects
Overdrive + High Gains channels
Back of Cabinet all hooked up
Stack Full Shot
Back of the Stack
Back of the Stack
