Thinking of letting the Reb30 Combo go.

[duffman]

I've had this amp for a little over a year, and I bet I dont have 20 hours on it. I bought this because of its silent record mode, for my home studio. Damn I love the clean on this amp, can bring a man to tears, but the dirty channel really leaves me wanting.

I dont use a lot of pedals, usually just a touch of chorus, and a bit of delay. I'm really not interested in having to add a pedal to get the type of higher gain sound I am looking for.

I'm torn. Keep it - Let it go? If I let it go I would like to find another lower wattage amp 20-30, whose cleans are as or almost as good as the Reb30s but whose OD channel is more of a hi-gainer. I haven't even looked to see if there is anything out there I would consider as a replacement.

Duff

 

[Steedee]

Duff what kind of music do you play / cover? And what type of guitars do you have?
I think the R30 gain sounds best between 2-3 o'clock.
I have found that I can get some killer tones by maxing out the gain and treble, and then slightly rolling back the tone or volume controls on my humbucker guitars.
Especially the tone on my bridge.... when I roll my tone down to 5 and max the R30 gain... mmmmm sweet.
I've also found the R30 gain sounds best with the bright and tight switches off.
Try these settings if you haven't already.
Bright / tight = off
Gain = max (or slightly backed off)
T = 3 O'clock
M = 11 O'clock
B = Off or 8 O'clock (or just slightly enough to round out your tone)
Roll your guitar tone pot on the bridge pickup down slowly and find your sweet spot.

 

[duffman]

Thanks for the response and sharing your settings.
Play any and everything from blues slide, modern rock, funk, to country. Dont play out anymore just record my own shyte in my home studio and host a once a month jam where we compare guitars, amp, pedals, ect.
I own several guitars. I have found I like my home brew hard tail strat through it, but not my LP or Tele.
At higher gain and the bright switch off channel 2 is dark, and cranking the volume makes it flubby. It's not like it has a deep-heavy bass response but more of a dark coloration to the sound. I have often thought a speaker change might make a difference.

Still undecided. Guess I will chew on this awhile.

 

[Steedee]

I've been through about 10 amps in the last 25 years.
Almost all of them were mid-ranged priced amps... Peavey, Traynor, Fender, etc... and every single amp I've owned had some feature or tone I didnt care for.
This amp didnt have a boost, that amp sucked on overdrive, man that re-verb sucks, I wish this amp had better treble....
Now, I haven't had the privilege of playing through a Dumble ODS, or a Two Rock thing-a-majig, or any other $5K amp.
But I can tell you that you probably wont be able to find the holy grail amp that covers every single tone perfectly thats floating around in your head without spending serious dough and maybe even multiple amp purchases.
Maybe you should try swapping out your V1 with a hi gain tube like a JJ or a Chinese 12Ax7. (I just put a JJ in V1 and it sounds great.)
Try flipping in and out pre-amp tubes for different tones and textures.
Also try some new speakers or a new cab, check your bias on your power tubes.
One thing I've noticed about the Rebel 30 is it responds well to all of these variables. And, the Rebel 30 definitely has a volume sweet spot on the OD channel.
Anyway, just make sure it's not for you before you do this same thing again.