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Gary asked me to test one of his 18 watt Blues amps in the studio. I'm not deep in the theory aspect but I can say that I've never experienced an amp like this. I sent it back very reluctantly. The following are my comments...
POWER ON
It was very different from the get go since the controls were a little different from the standard tone stack and master volume. It had twin master volume controls that allow for for direct control of the signal into the power amp in conjunction with a power break with a very apparent musical compression on the output. The amp requires a power up condition which on the prototype was not intuitive but once i talked to Gary it made total sense for anyone used to tube amp power up/power down. Once i started playing with it I realized pretty quickly that you could sustain notes on this thing forever. It's like an extension of the guitar itself in that you could "play" the amp modifying your playing technique accordingly to take advantage of the harmonic content (or totally play out of control!!) For some reason my first thing is to see what full saturation sounds like at low volume. I cranked up the volume(s) and started backing off off with the power brake. Before backing off and at full volume I noticed that everything in my studio was vibrating simpathetically. It was crazy! I stayed there for a bit making my hanging guitars sing. I should have videod that as it was an incredible symphony of hanging guitars.
PLAYING
After the initial ride was over I started playing with tone using my Floyd Rose Redmond model which is just volume control and HB pick up selection. I did the usual max on the guitar>set the amp>roll back volume>tweak the amp routine to find my sweet spot. I did this a few times using various power brake settings to see how that affected the tone and the attack sounds while playing with the two volumes and I my first response to Gary was that this amp was the kind of amp that you get signiature tones from. You can dial up tones that are very distinguishable but not reproduceable with anything else. I have other great tube amps that i really love and quickly had an appreciation for this one as I was able to get what I would call a square wave type of tone with a nice treble bite that was just enough to sing and with emotion due to the sustain. I was able to go thin and able to go full and the tones layered nicely while recording. I have to say that the tone harmonics playihng live sound like a layered guitar. I was actually so caught up in the tonal possibilites, I didn't even use any effects...
REFLECTING
I did the usual power chord stuff that one does when playing through a saturated tube amp but I really didn't think of the amp in terms of rythym tones while playing it whether clean, crunchy or saturated. This was meant to be a lead amp. It made my guitar turn into a saxophone - if you get my drift. I'm still amazed that I never put effects in front of it. It just didn't ocurr to me until after i sent the amp back to Gary. Later Gary explained some of the technical aspects of his approach like the fixed bias and so forth and I'm now going to have to have this amp in my arsenal. I didn't take it out live but I'm sure it would easily become my lead amp in my stage rig. I'm delighted that Gary let me have it for a workout and hope to see it again and might not send it back!!!
POWER ON
It was very different from the get go since the controls were a little different from the standard tone stack and master volume. It had twin master volume controls that allow for for direct control of the signal into the power amp in conjunction with a power break with a very apparent musical compression on the output. The amp requires a power up condition which on the prototype was not intuitive but once i talked to Gary it made total sense for anyone used to tube amp power up/power down. Once i started playing with it I realized pretty quickly that you could sustain notes on this thing forever. It's like an extension of the guitar itself in that you could "play" the amp modifying your playing technique accordingly to take advantage of the harmonic content (or totally play out of control!!) For some reason my first thing is to see what full saturation sounds like at low volume. I cranked up the volume(s) and started backing off off with the power brake. Before backing off and at full volume I noticed that everything in my studio was vibrating simpathetically. It was crazy! I stayed there for a bit making my hanging guitars sing. I should have videod that as it was an incredible symphony of hanging guitars.
PLAYING
After the initial ride was over I started playing with tone using my Floyd Rose Redmond model which is just volume control and HB pick up selection. I did the usual max on the guitar>set the amp>roll back volume>tweak the amp routine to find my sweet spot. I did this a few times using various power brake settings to see how that affected the tone and the attack sounds while playing with the two volumes and I my first response to Gary was that this amp was the kind of amp that you get signiature tones from. You can dial up tones that are very distinguishable but not reproduceable with anything else. I have other great tube amps that i really love and quickly had an appreciation for this one as I was able to get what I would call a square wave type of tone with a nice treble bite that was just enough to sing and with emotion due to the sustain. I was able to go thin and able to go full and the tones layered nicely while recording. I have to say that the tone harmonics playihng live sound like a layered guitar. I was actually so caught up in the tonal possibilites, I didn't even use any effects...
REFLECTING
I did the usual power chord stuff that one does when playing through a saturated tube amp but I really didn't think of the amp in terms of rythym tones while playing it whether clean, crunchy or saturated. This was meant to be a lead amp. It made my guitar turn into a saxophone - if you get my drift. I'm still amazed that I never put effects in front of it. It just didn't ocurr to me until after i sent the amp back to Gary. Later Gary explained some of the technical aspects of his approach like the fixed bias and so forth and I'm now going to have to have this amp in my arsenal. I didn't take it out live but I'm sure it would easily become my lead amp in my stage rig. I'm delighted that Gary let me have it for a workout and hope to see it again and might not send it back!!!
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