lordriffenstein
New member
Last Saturday, me and my gearbuddy Domenico visited VD Haar in the Netherlands again to do some amp testing. The Masotti is my perfect multi-channel amp so I was looking for an amp for my blues/blues-rock gig.
When we got there, a guy was testing a bunch of Vox-inspired amps. We heard many great tones but the '63-'64 AC30 that they were a/b-ed with blew them all away. I thought the Matchless Avenger sounded good and a small head by Wolftone surprised us all and was last in the running against the Vox.
So, when it was my turn to make some noise, I decided to start with the new Brunetti series. Besides those, I also wanted to play the Guytron again and give the Carr Slant 6V head a try. I picked up a strat and we hooked the Brunetti Wizard up to a Bogner 2x12. The Brunetti has 2 channels with boost on the gain channel, 2nd master volume as solo boost, series/parallel loop etc. Plugged the strat into the clean channel and WOW, that sounded really good, spanky bell-like, tried many settings and got it into crunch but it was nicer as a clean channel. Switched to the gain channel and that was a bit of a let down. I did not like the mids on it, sounded rather grainy no matter what I tried. The grain got worse when I switched on the boost. That WOW-feeling did not last very long. Next up was the Brunetti Mercury, same idea except loaded with EL34s. the clean channel was a big surprise, not as bell-like as the 6V6 but still VERY good sounding, pushed it sounded more pleasing then the Wizard. The gain -channel sounded also much better but it still had some annoying mids. With the boost on, it sounded it's best on the gain side but I was still stuck with the 'close-but-no-cigar' feeling.
The Guytron GT100 has been top of my wanting list for some years so in order to give the Carr a honest chance, I decided to play the Carr first. This Slant6V is the 1.5power version, no half-power switch, 4 6V6 tubes with a SS rectifier (other models have tube rectifier). you get 2 separate channels, they don't share circuitry, have separate tubes. Gain channel has an additional boost switch an no reverb which the clean does have. It also has a serial loop with bypass switch. Time to plug in. I had heard a lot of great comments about Carr and the clips on their site sound great but it quickly surpassed my expectations. usually, I'm not a big clean fan but I easily spend 30mins on the clean channel. First of all, rated at 55w, this is a LOUD amp but it is extremely responsive. I was afraid that the low end would not be tight because of the 6V6s but no problem there. Turn up the clean volume to about 4 and you get a really nice low gain bluesy crunch. I was totally enjoying the clean channel and you could hear that it would rule with pedals. So, time to play the gain channel. I immediately noticed that the eq is different than on other amps. I was able to dial in a number of great tones. This channel was also very touch responsive and it sounds HUGE. With the boost it gets a thick and creamy lead tone, I was surprised how much gain it has. We tried hard to make it sound bad but failed at that. We tried to max the gain and bass but the thing stayed tight. So let's try a tele. Same thing, great sounds all over the board, clean, country picking, crunchy, all pickup selections made a BIG difference and we were able to get great tones. Finally, we tried a Tyler Burning Water to test it with a more modern strat and BAMN, excellent tones as well. After playing this Carr for more than an hour, I had to conclude that it outclassed the Brunettis and I was no longer interesting in plugging into the Guytron. It's been a long time since I was THIS impressed with an amp but the Carr blew me away. Hardest task was to convince my girlfriend AND selling my last Engl.
Convincing my girlfriend was not to hard so the Carr was waiting for me at home when I got back from work on Wednesday. It went straight to my music room and I plugged in and was greeted with the same tones and the same feeling as when I first tried it. I have extensively played it the last couple of days and at first I thought it had a bit to much low end with my Lenders-cab but it sounds very balanced now. Not sure how or what happens, must be the PTP-wiring that's played in by now. so far, the only negative I found was the loop. It has a high impedance loop and when I hooked it up to my rack, I lost a lot of volume and balls. I put my Masotti white Box in the loop first and problem solved. The loop sounds really good though.
As I expected during the first test, the Carr is a perfect match for pedals. Both the clean and gain channel work with pretty much any pedal you try. I have been testing with Barber, several Advance ODs, Menatone, Cusack and there are so many great tones available. I'm using 2 Advance ODs, 1 set for light crunch boost, the other for fat sustaining lead tones. Endless combinations are possible with those pedals and the 2 channels. I absolutely love this amp.
I will try to make some clips during the next weekend, those who can't wait, check out the official clips!
When we got there, a guy was testing a bunch of Vox-inspired amps. We heard many great tones but the '63-'64 AC30 that they were a/b-ed with blew them all away. I thought the Matchless Avenger sounded good and a small head by Wolftone surprised us all and was last in the running against the Vox.
So, when it was my turn to make some noise, I decided to start with the new Brunetti series. Besides those, I also wanted to play the Guytron again and give the Carr Slant 6V head a try. I picked up a strat and we hooked the Brunetti Wizard up to a Bogner 2x12. The Brunetti has 2 channels with boost on the gain channel, 2nd master volume as solo boost, series/parallel loop etc. Plugged the strat into the clean channel and WOW, that sounded really good, spanky bell-like, tried many settings and got it into crunch but it was nicer as a clean channel. Switched to the gain channel and that was a bit of a let down. I did not like the mids on it, sounded rather grainy no matter what I tried. The grain got worse when I switched on the boost. That WOW-feeling did not last very long. Next up was the Brunetti Mercury, same idea except loaded with EL34s. the clean channel was a big surprise, not as bell-like as the 6V6 but still VERY good sounding, pushed it sounded more pleasing then the Wizard. The gain -channel sounded also much better but it still had some annoying mids. With the boost on, it sounded it's best on the gain side but I was still stuck with the 'close-but-no-cigar' feeling.
The Guytron GT100 has been top of my wanting list for some years so in order to give the Carr a honest chance, I decided to play the Carr first. This Slant6V is the 1.5power version, no half-power switch, 4 6V6 tubes with a SS rectifier (other models have tube rectifier). you get 2 separate channels, they don't share circuitry, have separate tubes. Gain channel has an additional boost switch an no reverb which the clean does have. It also has a serial loop with bypass switch. Time to plug in. I had heard a lot of great comments about Carr and the clips on their site sound great but it quickly surpassed my expectations. usually, I'm not a big clean fan but I easily spend 30mins on the clean channel. First of all, rated at 55w, this is a LOUD amp but it is extremely responsive. I was afraid that the low end would not be tight because of the 6V6s but no problem there. Turn up the clean volume to about 4 and you get a really nice low gain bluesy crunch. I was totally enjoying the clean channel and you could hear that it would rule with pedals. So, time to play the gain channel. I immediately noticed that the eq is different than on other amps. I was able to dial in a number of great tones. This channel was also very touch responsive and it sounds HUGE. With the boost it gets a thick and creamy lead tone, I was surprised how much gain it has. We tried hard to make it sound bad but failed at that. We tried to max the gain and bass but the thing stayed tight. So let's try a tele. Same thing, great sounds all over the board, clean, country picking, crunchy, all pickup selections made a BIG difference and we were able to get great tones. Finally, we tried a Tyler Burning Water to test it with a more modern strat and BAMN, excellent tones as well. After playing this Carr for more than an hour, I had to conclude that it outclassed the Brunettis and I was no longer interesting in plugging into the Guytron. It's been a long time since I was THIS impressed with an amp but the Carr blew me away. Hardest task was to convince my girlfriend AND selling my last Engl.
Convincing my girlfriend was not to hard so the Carr was waiting for me at home when I got back from work on Wednesday. It went straight to my music room and I plugged in and was greeted with the same tones and the same feeling as when I first tried it. I have extensively played it the last couple of days and at first I thought it had a bit to much low end with my Lenders-cab but it sounds very balanced now. Not sure how or what happens, must be the PTP-wiring that's played in by now. so far, the only negative I found was the loop. It has a high impedance loop and when I hooked it up to my rack, I lost a lot of volume and balls. I put my Masotti white Box in the loop first and problem solved. The loop sounds really good though.
As I expected during the first test, the Carr is a perfect match for pedals. Both the clean and gain channel work with pretty much any pedal you try. I have been testing with Barber, several Advance ODs, Menatone, Cusack and there are so many great tones available. I'm using 2 Advance ODs, 1 set for light crunch boost, the other for fat sustaining lead tones. Endless combinations are possible with those pedals and the 2 channels. I absolutely love this amp.
I will try to make some clips during the next weekend, those who can't wait, check out the official clips!
I just dialed in a tone that somehow managed to get it close to Mako Dorado territory (with my Bad Monkey, of course). Well, the Dorado with its gain knob at like 12:00 
In my dreams :?