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Rockerverb in da house .... a little honeymoon review:
Got the R-verb yesterday and got to mess about with it after rehearsal last night. I must say I'm really pleased. Leonc's reviews seem to be on the money.
I can almost live in the drive channel alone. With the dual pot
controlling two stages of gain simultaneously, it can go from a darn near pristine clean at 9:00, to a bluesy pushed clean at 9:30, to SRV blues with a Strat at 10:00, to a Marshall-esque ZZ Top (think Tush) or Zep crunch with a Paul at 12:00, to Gary Moore/Santana sustain at 2:00 (and beyond I guess). Covers LOTS of bases in this channel. Incredible tone at low volumes too for quiet "please the wife/don't wake the baby" playing - better than anything I've tried and of course it just gets better when cranked. Tones are similar to Marshall but with a bit less upper mids and more lower mids. I think it's even better than my Block 45 (when it's cranked) and that's a pretty darn good amp. This R-verb has more definition in the lows whereas the Block is looser. Time will tell - you know how it is with a new amp.
If the amp has any concern for me at all it's on the clean channel. My first impression is that its very good, but not a lot of sparkle
available. I'm running the treble just about all the way up with fairly hot humbucker (bridge pup is about 13K). There is no Presence control to dial in more highs. Single coils are better in this channel but it doesn't have say, a Matchless DC30 like chime available in the clean channel. Still very good clean sounds but IMHO could benefit from a Fender style bright cap/switch, which is very easy to do - a 47 or 100pf cap across the volume control like a BF Fender. That would give it plenty of high end in (at least) the first half of the volume control rotation. I don't know why they didn't do that. Anyway, there seems to be ample treble available in the OD channel and it can be set to sound kind of Vox-y. Maybe with a Celestion blue it would get pretty close. But you're still limited by the EL-34's, they're not going to chime as nice as El-84's for that type of thang. The amp will run 6L6, KT88, or 6550's (KT88's will put out 140W RMS - ouch!)
So far I've only tried it with my Carvin 12" speaker in a Mesa open back cab and a pair of cheap Celestion 10's in a Jenkins cab. The Carvin is a sort of neutral sounding 100W of Eminence manufacture. Seems like this amp will like a speaker with a bit of an edge to it. I have a Classic Lead 80 that I'll try too, it's been a little harsh with other amps I've tried but may be nice with this amp. I'm going to try it with my Avatar 2x12 w/Celestion Greenbacks tonight and see how they sound.
The reverb is rich and juicy and sounds close to Fender type verb. It's a small tank but I think it has three springs (didn't open that up). I like it and it works great for both channels but it'll get washy if turned up too far like most spring 'verbs do. I love a touch of verb to add a little ambiance. You can footswitch the verb and channels and switch channels on the front panel switch. There's a tube driven loop too but no send return control.
I popped the hood and although it is PCB it's built like a Brick S-H. I'd compare it to the Bogner Shiva as far as build quality. I definitely like it better than the Shiva as far as overall sound but I'd give an edge to Shiva clean channel though. Very elegant design and layout. The guy who designed this (Adrian somebody) did a wonderful job.
Extremely quiet operating/idle noise. I love that.
Leon, if you see this what speaks are you using?
Got the R-verb yesterday and got to mess about with it after rehearsal last night. I must say I'm really pleased. Leonc's reviews seem to be on the money.
I can almost live in the drive channel alone. With the dual pot
controlling two stages of gain simultaneously, it can go from a darn near pristine clean at 9:00, to a bluesy pushed clean at 9:30, to SRV blues with a Strat at 10:00, to a Marshall-esque ZZ Top (think Tush) or Zep crunch with a Paul at 12:00, to Gary Moore/Santana sustain at 2:00 (and beyond I guess). Covers LOTS of bases in this channel. Incredible tone at low volumes too for quiet "please the wife/don't wake the baby" playing - better than anything I've tried and of course it just gets better when cranked. Tones are similar to Marshall but with a bit less upper mids and more lower mids. I think it's even better than my Block 45 (when it's cranked) and that's a pretty darn good amp. This R-verb has more definition in the lows whereas the Block is looser. Time will tell - you know how it is with a new amp.
If the amp has any concern for me at all it's on the clean channel. My first impression is that its very good, but not a lot of sparkle
available. I'm running the treble just about all the way up with fairly hot humbucker (bridge pup is about 13K). There is no Presence control to dial in more highs. Single coils are better in this channel but it doesn't have say, a Matchless DC30 like chime available in the clean channel. Still very good clean sounds but IMHO could benefit from a Fender style bright cap/switch, which is very easy to do - a 47 or 100pf cap across the volume control like a BF Fender. That would give it plenty of high end in (at least) the first half of the volume control rotation. I don't know why they didn't do that. Anyway, there seems to be ample treble available in the OD channel and it can be set to sound kind of Vox-y. Maybe with a Celestion blue it would get pretty close. But you're still limited by the EL-34's, they're not going to chime as nice as El-84's for that type of thang. The amp will run 6L6, KT88, or 6550's (KT88's will put out 140W RMS - ouch!)
So far I've only tried it with my Carvin 12" speaker in a Mesa open back cab and a pair of cheap Celestion 10's in a Jenkins cab. The Carvin is a sort of neutral sounding 100W of Eminence manufacture. Seems like this amp will like a speaker with a bit of an edge to it. I have a Classic Lead 80 that I'll try too, it's been a little harsh with other amps I've tried but may be nice with this amp. I'm going to try it with my Avatar 2x12 w/Celestion Greenbacks tonight and see how they sound.
The reverb is rich and juicy and sounds close to Fender type verb. It's a small tank but I think it has three springs (didn't open that up). I like it and it works great for both channels but it'll get washy if turned up too far like most spring 'verbs do. I love a touch of verb to add a little ambiance. You can footswitch the verb and channels and switch channels on the front panel switch. There's a tube driven loop too but no send return control.
I popped the hood and although it is PCB it's built like a Brick S-H. I'd compare it to the Bogner Shiva as far as build quality. I definitely like it better than the Shiva as far as overall sound but I'd give an edge to Shiva clean channel though. Very elegant design and layout. The guy who designed this (Adrian somebody) did a wonderful job.
Extremely quiet operating/idle noise. I love that.
Leon, if you see this what speaks are you using?
