nightlight
Well-known member
Pretty stoked after getting my hands on one of these. I used to own one, but had to sell it to fund something else. Was kicking myself after that, as it's a Swiss Army knife of an amp. Great clean tones, an excellent rhythm channel and a fantastic lead channel for soloing.
Plugging into was like entering dry sonic territory again after spending much of the past two-three years experimenting with amps that are known for compressed tones.
This amp is very different from my Engls, Marshall and Mesa Boogie. The closest thing I have to it is a VHT GP3 preamp, which is also dry sounding but is its own kind of beast.
What really surprised me was how much better the rhythm channel on this one sounded compared to the older one I had. Might be because of the KT88 tubes that are in it. I did pop in a couple of 6505s to see which I preferred. but like my Engl Savage 120, the KT88s just add a thumping bottom end and also seem to be less shrill in the mids and highs.
A funny thing is that the original owner was complaining that there was something wrong with the amp, as the volume was really low. I thought it might be a tube problem and told him as much, and we agreed to stay in touch in case there was something more amiss, in which case repairs might have been merited.
When I got it home, I plugged into my Orange 2x12 with V30s and, as described, the volume was very low. I tried flipping the switches to 100-watt mode from 40 watts, messed with controls and adjusted other parameters. The tone was definitely there and the amp was making sound, just at extremely low volume.
At this point, I opened up the back and put the 6550s in, expecting to see the volume go up. Except it didn't. I was a bit concerned that maybe the phase inverter tube had gone bad, but I didn't have any way to check it and didn't have a spare anyway.
I then took a look at the back to see if there was anything wrong with the FX loop.
The Sig:X has the option to set the FX loop in either serial or parallel, and there's an option to bypass it altogether. I flipped all the switches and took the loop out of the equation.
And voila! The amp was working perfectly. I've done business with this particular gentleman before, so pleased as punch he didn't sell me a broken amp.
I am seriously grinning from ear to ear. Been gassing for one of these for a long time now. I'll try to post some tones, but for now, here's a look at the amp, it's very clean for something so old.
And here's a family shot for all the gear whores out there:
Plugging into was like entering dry sonic territory again after spending much of the past two-three years experimenting with amps that are known for compressed tones.
This amp is very different from my Engls, Marshall and Mesa Boogie. The closest thing I have to it is a VHT GP3 preamp, which is also dry sounding but is its own kind of beast.
What really surprised me was how much better the rhythm channel on this one sounded compared to the older one I had. Might be because of the KT88 tubes that are in it. I did pop in a couple of 6505s to see which I preferred. but like my Engl Savage 120, the KT88s just add a thumping bottom end and also seem to be less shrill in the mids and highs.
A funny thing is that the original owner was complaining that there was something wrong with the amp, as the volume was really low. I thought it might be a tube problem and told him as much, and we agreed to stay in touch in case there was something more amiss, in which case repairs might have been merited.
When I got it home, I plugged into my Orange 2x12 with V30s and, as described, the volume was very low. I tried flipping the switches to 100-watt mode from 40 watts, messed with controls and adjusted other parameters. The tone was definitely there and the amp was making sound, just at extremely low volume.
At this point, I opened up the back and put the 6550s in, expecting to see the volume go up. Except it didn't. I was a bit concerned that maybe the phase inverter tube had gone bad, but I didn't have any way to check it and didn't have a spare anyway.
I then took a look at the back to see if there was anything wrong with the FX loop.
The Sig:X has the option to set the FX loop in either serial or parallel, and there's an option to bypass it altogether. I flipped all the switches and took the loop out of the equation.
And voila! The amp was working perfectly. I've done business with this particular gentleman before, so pleased as punch he didn't sell me a broken amp.
I am seriously grinning from ear to ear. Been gassing for one of these for a long time now. I'll try to post some tones, but for now, here's a look at the amp, it's very clean for something so old.
And here's a family shot for all the gear whores out there:
