Took the plunge today on a Two Rock Opal. Anybody currently own one?

[spitshineguitars]

Just handed over the credit card number to K&M. Very excited about this amp. I saw a couple previous threads about the Opal but was wondering if anyone out there currently owns one and what your opinion is. Thanks!

[traviswalk]

I mistakenly sold mine earlier this year after owning it for a few years, tremendous amp. Very, very fast response and quick feel, big solid cleans and a hugely variable gain with the HRMs. Some of my favorite amp settings were using the Opal with a Strat on the gain channel with the Bypass on.....awesome.

Did you get the new production Opal Signature?

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/traviswalk/IMG_0692.jpg

[spitshineguitars]

no. it was made in 02. I think it was one they took in through their trade-in program. What year was yours and how did you get a logo for the front? I asked them if they will put a TR logo on mine and the dude was not sure but said he'll try to get me one.

[Red Suede]

Quickest amp i've ever used. Mine can make me look bad if my technique isn't happening that night. I like using it though, it sounds really good.

[zoooombiex]

I owned one on two occasions. Very fast and extremely responsive amps.

It has a LOT of tonal options and flexibility, so be sure to take your time with it.

[TOMMY D]

Great amp. I've had mine going on 3 years. Do yourself a favor and spend a lot of time with it. It took me a good 3-4 months to really figure out all the tonal possibilities. Two years ago, I had a phone conversation with Joe about how the function of the presence knob was real subtle. He said that he would upgrade the presence to their new global contour. I sent him the amp and now the presence knob can really tailor your tone. Clockwise gets very aggressive, counterclockwise very smooth. The upgrade was definitely worth it. Helps a great deal when switching from single coils to humbuckers. I wonder if their trade in amps are going to have this upgrade? Good luck, and enjoy that amp!!

[tybone]

Congrats on your purchase. I have had one for a few years and I love the amp. This is a very deep and capable amp. Though I understand analog tube circuits it took me a year to have gain comfortable care and control of the chassis. It is different with each guitar! Here are my learnings from the last few years.

1 - The amp is fast as heck. It's like stuff comes out of it as soon as you think about playing a note. Be accurate with your riffs cuz your ass will be hanging out if you miss. The flip side is that once you get used to the amp you just think about riffs and the come out like gold.

2 - The amp likes to be played loud. This is especially true if you go "Carlton" and simply crank the clean channel (with rear master at noon) to get your tone. The clean channel driven into distortion is a wonderful thing.

3) The lead channel can be a monster. The HRM mode is fat and sweet and HAS TO BE TUNED TO YOUR STYLE. It took me a while before I even knew about the internal trimmers. Wasn't until I heard my buddies EM50 that I new how to adjust them. The point is adjust them.....or have a friend adjust them while you play. Makes a world of difference. I recorded this in HRM mode with a strat. I have a beck.mp3 clip floating around that shows what I like about this mode.

Then there is non hrm or "Bypass mode". This is clear and dynamic mode of operation with more gain and much less distortion than then HRM mode. Super touch sensitive. A lot of people like this mode more than the non bypass hrm mode. I did too until I adjusted the internal trimmers to my liking. (I wish they put them on the outside of the amp!

3) The tone switches are cool. I set them with treble and bass on for twang, add mid boost for meaty twang or go with mid boost only (bass and treble boost off). I set these differently for different guitars. Feel free to mess with these.

4) Speakers speakers speakers. The best, and I mean the best, tone I every go from this amp was when I had the EVM-12L in the the combo cab. Freakin sound smooth and punchy and deep and solid and still had the alnico spank. Right now I use 2 Tone Tubby Alnico's in an open back 2x12 or 6 g12-65's in a marshall slant cab (the same cab used for the beck.mp3 clip). Bottom line is speakers make a difference. Most people seem to like Celestion style speakers with this kind of amp. I like the Tubbys a lot too. I also like big ass alnico like the EVM and Altec. Can't go far wrong with 25 or 30 watt greenback style speakers.

5) The rear master is nice. You have control over yet another gain stage but this, as suggest by the Two Rock Folks, really does sound best at noon. It is also loud as heck at noon with all the front panel controls at noon too. Season to taste. I have been using min with an attenuator to get the distortion I want from the clean channel. The character of that channel really changes as the rear master gets turned up. The reverb also seems to have more effect with the rear master turned up a bit (which is a good thing). We are not looking at Sig reverb levels here however, when teamed with an echo in the loop it is just right.

6) I went whole hog and got a TC2290 delay. When put in the loop of the Opal the combination is magical. It can be tricky setting the levels without a mixer but it really sounds good. If you have an instrument level effect in the fx loop, you can turn down the clean and lead masters (to reduce the signal level going to the loop, and turn up the rear master to boost the gain level back up.

7) Have fun with tubes. It's a pity that the old Two Rock site has not been archived somewhere. I had a kind of blog of my tube usage with the opal over a 2 year period. I was changing and tweaking regularly as I had a good stash of tubes at the time. Right now I am using a combination of Chinese and old stock rca's and Amperex. I love the Chinos in this amp. I move between Phillips 6L6WGB's and Jan Phillips 7581A's. I tend to like the big bottles better.

Number 53 has been good to me. Fantastic tone. Has made me more mindful of my playing. Have fun with yours.

Cheers
Larry



Like everybody has said, take your time and learn the amp.