SQUAREHEAD
Well-known member
I picked up one of these last week, in pretty much mint condition and I have to say, as far as bang for the buck goes, these things are real good high gain amplifiers.
No, not as refined or quite as tight as some of the high dollar Amplifiers we talk about often around here, but if you have the chance to grab one of these for a half decent price, Just do it.
If you’ve never played one, you’ll be very surprised.
A nice stock JCM 800 is selling for what, $2-2500 right now, And you can grab one of these for much less than half that, it’s a better amplifier in my opinion, at least for high gain without a pedal.
If I were only allowed to take my JCM 800 or this amplifier to that Desert island, No Boost pedals, this would win.
If these things were a ‘Marshall’, made back in the 90s, and not currently in production, I believe people would be paying easily 2k for these now…
It does take some tweaking with the 8 DIP switches, so there is lots of fine-tuning to get to your tone, if you take the time, you will find it.
I don’t know the whole story, many of you guys probably know exactly what the history is, but I understand that it was made by James Brown, from a Jose Modded Marshall Superlead owned by the guy that played in Keel, Reportedly one of the best sounding Jose Modded Marshalls around at that time.
( I might have some of this wrong, so correct me if I do )
Anyways, a very underrated, still somewhat under the radar, beast of an amplifier, tons of useable gain, lots of fun!
I was somewhat hesitant to buy one without trying it which is basically what I had to do, (when I watched Kyle‘s video, it sounded loose in the lower end), but mine is pretty darn tight, maybe a preamp tube or something was haywire with his, I’m not sure, but it’s not at all flubby when set up properly, and still has lots of low end.
Our resident, Bubbastain swears by these amps and he’s right.
So far, I have to say, I prefer this amplifier over my block logo 5150.
I only wish it I had 34’s instead of 6L6’s,
But that’s just my personal taste…
I play through this thing and I just shake my head thinking how much money we spend on hi end boutique Amplifiers…
Is a new wizard worth nine times as much as this thing? No way.
But, obviously, the rule of ‘diminishing returns’ comes in to play, and we pay a lot more money for that last 10%?
… Presently looking for a new lighter head so as this thing is stupid heavy.
No, not as refined or quite as tight as some of the high dollar Amplifiers we talk about often around here, but if you have the chance to grab one of these for a half decent price, Just do it.
If you’ve never played one, you’ll be very surprised.
A nice stock JCM 800 is selling for what, $2-2500 right now, And you can grab one of these for much less than half that, it’s a better amplifier in my opinion, at least for high gain without a pedal.
If I were only allowed to take my JCM 800 or this amplifier to that Desert island, No Boost pedals, this would win.
If these things were a ‘Marshall’, made back in the 90s, and not currently in production, I believe people would be paying easily 2k for these now…
It does take some tweaking with the 8 DIP switches, so there is lots of fine-tuning to get to your tone, if you take the time, you will find it.
I don’t know the whole story, many of you guys probably know exactly what the history is, but I understand that it was made by James Brown, from a Jose Modded Marshall Superlead owned by the guy that played in Keel, Reportedly one of the best sounding Jose Modded Marshalls around at that time.
( I might have some of this wrong, so correct me if I do )
Anyways, a very underrated, still somewhat under the radar, beast of an amplifier, tons of useable gain, lots of fun!
I was somewhat hesitant to buy one without trying it which is basically what I had to do, (when I watched Kyle‘s video, it sounded loose in the lower end), but mine is pretty darn tight, maybe a preamp tube or something was haywire with his, I’m not sure, but it’s not at all flubby when set up properly, and still has lots of low end.
Our resident, Bubbastain swears by these amps and he’s right.
So far, I have to say, I prefer this amplifier over my block logo 5150.
I only wish it I had 34’s instead of 6L6’s,
But that’s just my personal taste…
I play through this thing and I just shake my head thinking how much money we spend on hi end boutique Amplifiers…
Is a new wizard worth nine times as much as this thing? No way.
But, obviously, the rule of ‘diminishing returns’ comes in to play, and we pay a lot more money for that last 10%?
… Presently looking for a new lighter head so as this thing is stupid heavy.
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