bruno ct-22 vs carr rambler

Guy,
You may as well add the Tone King Meteor II 740A combo to the list. Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

- Ken

 

Carr Rambler, IMO, even though being a 6L6 based amp, is a
smokier, darker sounding amp with even a bit of tweed overtones
poking through. The Cowtipper 22 is much more of what you
would expect from a Fender Blackface minus the weak points.
The Cowtipper has much more definition and hang on the high
notes without ever becoming too shrill and will hold the low
end together better than any vintage Deluxe I've worked with.
Two beautiful amps that can both be coaxed into creamy nice
distortion. My personal preference is the Bruno. I did not keep the
Carr as I felt I could cover more ground with tones more to
my liking with the CT22.

You should play them both, as this is not apples to apples.....

 

The Cowtipper will not flub on the bottom, has more detail, and a sweeter top end. It is WAY more 3 D sounding, and the reverb is in a different league. I have A\Bd an UG 30 and vintage blackface amps against all of the Carrs. The Carrs are nice amps, but I like Fenders more. The Bruno is way above the Fenders. The Toneking is nice as well, but I like the Carrs more than the Toneking. The Toneking has a tighter bass than the Carr, but is thinner sounding. I also like the Carrs reverb more.

IMO, the Bruno is an entire level up, and the best sounding amps I have ever heard. If the Carrs sounded as good, never mind better, I would own them. They are less expensive, (and should be), why would I pay more? I also like Victorias over the Carrs, and they can not stand up to the Brunos either. Not even close. I played them both at Ultrasound.

 

The Rambler is tweedier but it's also somewhere else between a BF and a Tweed.

I don't really like BF Fenders but I love the CT22; to my ears it's different from a DR (but I may not have heard really good ones - they were as rare as Hen's Teeth when I was young in England). The CT22 I played was startling in its responsiveness you could go from clean to mean with just varying pick attack (it's not the only amp to do that, the Komets come to mind too but tonally they are different and much louder). Both are very rich sounding amps.

Best, Pete.

 

Does the CT-22 take OD pedals as well as the Rambler?


I know from experience that the Rambler is a complete pedal whore. I have heard mention that some of the Brunos are not quite as pedal friendly.......not sure if that applies to the CT-22.

 

Eats them up!! The UG 30 just kills with them as well. The UG 30 may be the best amp I have tried with pedals. My Cowtipper 45 takes pedals exactly the same as all of my Fenders, so not sure what guys are talking about. The Cow 22 has way more dirt, than the 45, and that seems to "help" many drive boxes sound better than on a totally clean amp.

 

I don't agree on the CT22 having 'dirt' but perhaps the new models are different . I find that the CT line of amps takes pedals better than any amp i've ever played, period, which is good news, as they aren't made to produce distortion at all. The cleans, the feel , the reverb. etc. are great, but they don't crunch unless you have high output pups, and even then grudgingly. I know this at odds with some of the above posters, but i've owned a CT 22, have another CT, and have owned a Bruno UG (which i felt was pickier about pedals).
I can't wait for the new Bruno model with 2 channels, one based on a CT, another gainy!

 

Special.

The new ones must be VERY different then. The two Cowtipper 22s I played were in HEAVY crunch at 3\4s volume. I would say slightly less than a JTM 45. Both were made within the last 6 months, and both had the mid and bright switches. These things have TONS of dirt. Power chords were ROCKING.

 

That sounds just like the 22 I know, but smoother OD than a
45.

 

Well, Tag, i trust you can't be that wrong ... i know you have experience with lots of different amps. My CT22 sounded very punchy when turned up, mind you, not anemic, but it really didn't want to do even a mild BF type crunch . For a bluesy type like me it was limiting. I swapped all kinds of speakers, and tubes, even a 12ax7 instead of an 12AT7 in the PI slot, which did deliver more gain, but also a lot of noise.
Anyway, this sounds like good news. The things you and Cliff C seem to be hearing with the new CT22 will make them even more attractive to me.

 

Are you the one that made the video at the NYC tonefest of the COW 22?? That thing ROCKED! You could clearly hear all the breakup on it with just a Strat. Was that you or someone else?
That amp smoked everything on those videos including the , %13s, Allesandros, Tophats and way more. It was a no contest IMO. Cliff is right. The breakup is smoother than a JTM. I was using it as an "amount of breakup" thing. Not quite as much, but pretty darn close. Its also has cleans that a JTM 45 cant even dream about. It breaks up more than my Pro or Super reverb, and at LEAST as much as my vibrolux. It is a sweeter breakup without that rasp as well.

 

Dude, you need to check your ears, I could hear that amp breaking up even before you plugged in a guitar!!!!


Sounds like Tony has been doing some tweeking to the CT22 since you got yours......

 

What power tubes are in the CT22 btw?

 

From the Bruno web site....

The Bruno Cow Tipper 22 ( aka Underground 22) is the sweetest sounding amp you'll ever hear. Reminiscent of the classic American Blackface amps, the tone far surpasses even that famous design. This amp is smooth, warm and clean (just try to picture that contradiction in amp design) with a supremely linear gain structure. It is very touch sensitive with superb note articulation and silky sweet clean tones that grow into a rich harmonic crunch as you dial up the volume. The Underground 22 has incredible harmonic complexity with a rich spacious 2 knob reverb system that really enhances the gorgeous tone.

The Underground 22 features 22 watts of sweet dual 6V6 power, 2 - 12AX7s, 2 - 12AT7s, and a 5U4 rectifier. The cabinet is constructed of solid pine for its sweet brightness and then fine tuned with a birch ply baffle for superb resonance. Finger-jointed construction is used just like the finest furniture which provides a very strong, extremely rigid, rattle free cabinet that will last a lifetime. Other features include premium tolex coverings, padded handles, heavy duty feet, stainless steel screws/bolts and chromed steel corners. Standard finishes are black, brown, dark green, red or cream with an Art Deco style control panel and aged Ivory "chicken head" knobs.

It is a perfect recording and club amp and comes as a 1X12, 2X10 or 2X12 combo.

 

I am curious if the CT 22 can give me a totally clean sound at low volumes. Will it break up if I dig in or stay clean? Thanks!

 

Depends on what you mean by "low volumes".

It has beautiful cleans at what I call low volumes and gets an aggressive type of sound when attacked aggressively but if you want to turn clean into overdrive then you'll need to turn the volume up. Without any pedals set volume to the degree of overdrive you need then back off with the guitar volume and it cleans up. That is not bedroom levels unless you have a deaf wife but neither is it JMP50 type levels.
You really have to track one down and try it, I'm afraid. I don't want to mislead you.

Best, Pete.

 

Right on the money Pete! This amp has enough clean headroom for low stage volume country playing, but thats about it. Then it starts to breakup. A Cow 35-45 will be need for louder clean playing. Still, if you want it to break up at low volume practicing levels, a box will be needed for sure.

 

Thanks for the replies! I love the clean sound of a CT 45, but I only need enough volume for studio and small clubs. What I really want is enough clean headroom to stay completely clean during hard picking and complex jazzy chords. I wonder if the CT-22 will have enough very clean headroom at that volume, or if I would be better off with a 6L6 based CT35/45. Austin is a long way from NY so any insights are much appreciated.

 

The 22 will do that with no problem at all. If you are after JUST clean sounds, and do not mind using a pedal for breakup, the 45 is the way to go. Both amps have cleans that are the best I have herd...um heard.