Well after a long and arduous wait, (kidding Rob), I took possession of my Valvetech Hayseed 30 today. I took it to a buddy's house and we fired it up with his Les Paul Studio since all my instruments are gone at the moment. These are just first impressions but here goes: Normal Channel: Very nice and thick and dark sounding, probably would sound fantastic with a treble booster or my Crowther Hot Cake. Top Boost Channel: very articulate, very detailed, definitely has a "singing" quality to it. Of course I worked my way through the Tom Petty catalog and a little Pink Floyd, just felt RIGHT, you know? When I wound this channel up I must admit it sounded very much like my old JTM45, I was very impressed. Then when you roll the volume back you still have plenty of detail and chime, and a beautiful, fat clean tone. This is just the initial impression, I'll post a full review in a couple of months, but right now I'm very pleased at my purchase. Also Rob, was / is great to work with, his customer service and patience were phenomenal, I'd definitely recommend him.
Cool review BB59 -- what kind of speakers are you using in your Hayseed. Mine is still about a month away from being done. I have a pair of Celestion Blues that I've been breaking in gradually, one at a time, in an AC-15.
15 watt Weber Alnico Blue Dogs, which look WAY TOO COOL!!! And they sound really bad ass in this amp, good bass response but I do worry about cranking the amp with them in there. I cranked it for about 15 minutes today and they seemed to be fine, but they were "laboring" just a little.
how about a photo. rob does great work. my valvetech teefus special has been to the open stage for a month now and sounds fantastic. any speakers, any cabs it's great.
I'm probably at least partially deaf already, so keep that in mind. My friend said it was almost too loud when we had it cranked, but for me it was just right, tons of harmonics, big fat sound, and a great clean when you back off the volume, which is how I prefer to play. I'd also like to add that the Master volume on this amp is VERY UNINTRUSIVE!!! I hate MV's, but this one is fantastic, because I lowered it down to show someone else that it doesn't have to be loud to get a killer tone. The cleans were a little more difficult on the roll back of the guitar volume when the master volume was cranked WAY DOWN, but if I would've had more time, I'm sure I could've found a nice, happy medium. I just didn't have a lot of time to play with it. This amp IMHO, is not going to deafen you, like my 50w Marshall and 4x12 cab did to me. Don't misunderstand me its loud and proud, but its not "overbearing". It can also get quite bright, but that brightness on this amp is almost part of the addiction for me. Right now, I am in the honeymoon period, so it will be interesting to see where my thoughts are 90 days from now. I know with my Victoria Double Deluxe, its a full blown love affair almost a year and a half later. They sound somewhat similar, but the Tweed is a little more "barky" and the Hayseed 30 is a little more "crunched glass", maybe bad terminology but that's my thoughts right now.
Hi, When you get a chance can you e mail me a pic? I forgot to take one before i sent it.The tan look was cool, just like the one in the GT book. Rob
I posted a review of the Hayseed30 in the review forum. I am interested to hear what you have to say as well. I find it easy to get an Older AC/DC sound with the amp.
Great review, I'm still loving my hayseed several months out now. You're right it can get bright, but that's part of the attraction to me. And the master volume definitely works well. I wish I could ab the hayseed with the webers vs the celestion alnico blues. I've used weber blue dogs in a few amps before (including a marshall bluesbreaker), and they never quite had the ultimate chime factor that the celestions do. Great speakers though, and right behind the celestions IMO. I wonder if that's why you're hearing the JTM 45 in there. I ran my hayseed into a little 2x10 cab with jensens and it definitely sounded more fender than vox, well kinda drz ish really. Speakers really make a huge amount of difference...
Man I just wished I could play it more. Due to some "personal circumstances" its sitting at a friend's house, so I've only got to play it for about an hour now, and its REALLY killin' me not to bring it home, but its just not a good idea to do that right now. Hopefully in a month or so, I can get my gear and actually use it again, but right now its safer out of the house.
Got to spend some time with the Hayseed 30 yesterday, and I have to admit, I'm loving this amp more and more everyday. I finally got to use my main guitar "Old Faithful" through it with my Hotcake OD, and it was tone heaven for this boy. I was just amazed at how nicely it goes from light and gritty to full on creamy OD on the normal channel, and the cleans on the bright channel are just superb. I also enjoy the cleans on the normal channel if I have my Hotcake setup almost as a Treble boost, (Pres @3, Vol @ noon, Drive @ 9). This sounds very nice through the normal channel. I'd love to put my Echoplex and Tele through it too, but for now this test will have to do. Yesterday I played through it for a good 4 - 5 hours, and never had the volumes below noon (master full up), it was getting this wonderful smoky blues tone when I rolled the volume back on the neck pickup of my guitar. VERY SWEET!!! I would also like to try my Mullard 12ax7's in there, but for right now it sounds REALLY good with the stock tubes. I also tuned to open G for a while and got down with some old Stones riffs, that was tremendous fun through the bright channel. Again, still honeymooning, but this amp is definitely impressive, its giving me the same enjoyment as my beloved Vicky Double Deluxe. Way different sounds, but both are just unbelievable amps. I'd really like to try a Leslie or leslie pedal with these amps in stereo, I think that would be too sweet.
