Man, I'm struggling with this decision. It's going to be one or the other. I owned a Rocker 30 combo in the past & am well aware of what it can do. Really dug that amp, but didn't need the headroom at the time so I sold it off. It was also heavy as hell so I'm getting a head this time. The AD30HTC seems to have a bit less gain on tap, but I love the tones & probably wouldn't ever need to really push the Rocker's gain anyway. Sort of leaning this way at the moment. Positives are the tube rectifier, but negatives are this is truly 2 separate channels so it takes quite a few more tubes (hence has more to maintain) than the Rocker. Any thoughts/opinions appreciated. I've been going back & forth on this all weekend... figured I would've already pulled the trigger by now.
I'm always a sucker for the gnarly raunch an R30 can put out. The AD30s always sound a little rounder. The one thing I think I would like the AD30 more for is the ability to have one channel that is somewhat dirty and the 2nd channel more dirty. Sort of a rhythm and lead using your volume knob to get 'clean'. I just really don't like the sound of clean electric guitar and the R30s clean channel never breaks up.
Well, I went back to a R30 & am not the least bit disappointed. Though this amp is all about the dirty channel, I also find the clean channel quite tasty & very useful... particularly with pedals. The amp sounds great run into a WGS Liberator too. It seems little to no break-in period is really required with this speaker. It's been fun getting re-acquainted so far.... I don't think I could really lose either way... the AD30 is a great amp (not so sure it's more versatile though). I just happened to find a Rocker at a great price sooner.
