This arrived yesterday, and I just sat down with it for the first time...these are brand new to the market, as far as I know. They cost about as much as a decent overdrive pedal, so it's pretty hard to turn down. Not only that, but with the line out on my attenuator, I can use it as an OD pedal into my "big" 5w little giant! It's a 'fractional watt' amp using 2 12ax7s - one as as power, one as pre.
Construction: Extremely solid from the outside. Haven't had the chance to open itup.
Sound: With the stock chinese tubes, it starts to break up very early, around 9:00, at a pretty low volume. At that level, it's clean on the bridge pup with the volume down a bit, switch to bridge and full volume and you get a bit of grit and compression.
If you are an apartment dweller like me, that's a great thing. 12:00 is approaching classic rock OD territory already. I think it loses character beyond about 2:00 but others may differ on that. Volumes are very manageable - I still need to use the attenuator if I crank it and crank my guitar volume, but not so much that it affects the character of the sound.
This thing tends to the 'creamy' thick side. I'd say the easiest sound to get out of it would be a 'sunshine of your love' thing. That's with my warmoth LP, jazz neck pickup and PG bridge - I'm not a huge fan of the PG, because I think it gets shrill too easily, but with this amp that doesn't seem to be a problem.
In the next few days, I'll do some tube swapping - I've got an EH, a Jan 5751, and a tung sol I can play around with. I may order a couple more just to mess with some different stuff, and to try a 'matched' set.
Initial impression: a VERY good deal. This thing is going to get me recording full-on natural tube overdrive sounds in my apartment, and costs less than some boutique pickups.
Construction: Extremely solid from the outside. Haven't had the chance to open itup.
Sound: With the stock chinese tubes, it starts to break up very early, around 9:00, at a pretty low volume. At that level, it's clean on the bridge pup with the volume down a bit, switch to bridge and full volume and you get a bit of grit and compression.
If you are an apartment dweller like me, that's a great thing. 12:00 is approaching classic rock OD territory already. I think it loses character beyond about 2:00 but others may differ on that. Volumes are very manageable - I still need to use the attenuator if I crank it and crank my guitar volume, but not so much that it affects the character of the sound.
This thing tends to the 'creamy' thick side. I'd say the easiest sound to get out of it would be a 'sunshine of your love' thing. That's with my warmoth LP, jazz neck pickup and PG bridge - I'm not a huge fan of the PG, because I think it gets shrill too easily, but with this amp that doesn't seem to be a problem.
In the next few days, I'll do some tube swapping - I've got an EH, a Jan 5751, and a tung sol I can play around with. I may order a couple more just to mess with some different stuff, and to try a 'matched' set.
Initial impression: a VERY good deal. This thing is going to get me recording full-on natural tube overdrive sounds in my apartment, and costs less than some boutique pickups.
