Kiwi
Silver Supporting Member
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By request, a report on a high-end amp get together yesterday afternoon. None of the amps were mine - sorry to say!
Test cab that we all liked best was a Jenkins Hwy 61 2x12 cab, with a Blue Dog and a Silver Bell in it. Test guitars were Gibson CS 336, Custom Shop Les Paul, Melancon with two P-90s, and a Custom Shop Strat. We could get loud and we did. We all do the classic-rock/blooz rock thing. I am by far the lamest player. So I got to sit back and listen a lot.
Komet 60 - very, very good 2xEL34 amp doing the NMV Marshall thing. Lots of gain on tap with the Fast switch flipped; more clean headroom with the Gradual switch. Likes to be overdriven and gets there fairly fast. Sparkly highs and crunchy lows; more mids than my Matchless Clubman has. Simple, powerful, effective, extremely touch sensitive and cleans up really well with gtr volume. We were sort of cringing at the prospect of plugging in a Strat - they can get very bright and icepicky in some EL34 amps - but this was sweetness, though bright, all the way. Nice stiff tight bottom end.
Earns its rep as a benchmark amp. Modern classic - for a certain type of player/owner.
If you are an EL34 guy and if you're at the end of your gear journey and you've got the jones for the single-channel, NMV Marshall thing, you could happily own this as your one-and-only amp, I'd guess. This is a modern take on it, though ... I still don't think of it as a Marshall clone - see notes below. We kept using the term "woody" for its sound ... it defines organic. You could hear the air and wood in your guitar.
One of our group owns a metal-panel JMP50 watter from the early 70s and we will someday do an A/B test with the Komet. My guess is that the old 4-holer Marshall can add some of that soft wooly bottom end from its dark channel as a tonal variation if you blend the channels ... if you care for that.
The Komet is simple yet subtle, and I liked it for that. It seemed like a more modern take on a classic Marshall sound, like a Matchless Clubman is another modern take on it. (Not to suggest that the Komet is like the Matchless.)
I'd put the Komet's Touch Response Switch on the front, though, instead of the back. It's so useful, why reach around?
Divided by 13 FTR 37 - a 4x6V6 amp with the fat smooth mids, upper mids and easy breakup that I associate with 6V6 amps. We guessed this was gonna get you heard in a band setting, because it's all about the mids; it's very easy on the ears. Flabby flatulent bottom end with humbuckers, but gorgeous with Strats and Teles - there's not an icepick in the toolbox, with the latter, even on bridge settings.
I've thought for years (since owning a Carr Slant 6V head, also 4x6V6, for about ten minutes) that humbuckers just squash 6V6 amps; we agreed that was happening here too. P-90s and single coils are best for this amp, where you hear the clarity and openness of single-coils and the nuances of a good guitar. Just rich and smooth and dynamic. You could listen all day on this amp; maybe not as stiff and immediate and dynamic and exciting as the Komet is, but in many ways more relaxing.
To put it in motorcycle terms: The Komet is a Honda CB900RR, extremely fast, quick, overpowered, exciting and possibly dangerous to anything but a highly skilled rider. Makes its major horsepower after you rev the nuts off it, then hang on for the rocket launch.
The Div13 is more of a Ducati or big-twin sports bike - easier to manage, more forgiving, but equally capable of some serious high speed and great handling, for experts.
Actual owners are welcome to add their remarks and disagree with anything here. I think Sneaky or RiddmURL has a Komet? Any Div 13 guys out there? Pile in here. We all hear things diffferently.
Kiwi
Test cab that we all liked best was a Jenkins Hwy 61 2x12 cab, with a Blue Dog and a Silver Bell in it. Test guitars were Gibson CS 336, Custom Shop Les Paul, Melancon with two P-90s, and a Custom Shop Strat. We could get loud and we did. We all do the classic-rock/blooz rock thing. I am by far the lamest player. So I got to sit back and listen a lot.
Komet 60 - very, very good 2xEL34 amp doing the NMV Marshall thing. Lots of gain on tap with the Fast switch flipped; more clean headroom with the Gradual switch. Likes to be overdriven and gets there fairly fast. Sparkly highs and crunchy lows; more mids than my Matchless Clubman has. Simple, powerful, effective, extremely touch sensitive and cleans up really well with gtr volume. We were sort of cringing at the prospect of plugging in a Strat - they can get very bright and icepicky in some EL34 amps - but this was sweetness, though bright, all the way. Nice stiff tight bottom end.
Earns its rep as a benchmark amp. Modern classic - for a certain type of player/owner.
If you are an EL34 guy and if you're at the end of your gear journey and you've got the jones for the single-channel, NMV Marshall thing, you could happily own this as your one-and-only amp, I'd guess. This is a modern take on it, though ... I still don't think of it as a Marshall clone - see notes below. We kept using the term "woody" for its sound ... it defines organic. You could hear the air and wood in your guitar.
One of our group owns a metal-panel JMP50 watter from the early 70s and we will someday do an A/B test with the Komet. My guess is that the old 4-holer Marshall can add some of that soft wooly bottom end from its dark channel as a tonal variation if you blend the channels ... if you care for that.
The Komet is simple yet subtle, and I liked it for that. It seemed like a more modern take on a classic Marshall sound, like a Matchless Clubman is another modern take on it. (Not to suggest that the Komet is like the Matchless.)
I'd put the Komet's Touch Response Switch on the front, though, instead of the back. It's so useful, why reach around?
Divided by 13 FTR 37 - a 4x6V6 amp with the fat smooth mids, upper mids and easy breakup that I associate with 6V6 amps. We guessed this was gonna get you heard in a band setting, because it's all about the mids; it's very easy on the ears. Flabby flatulent bottom end with humbuckers, but gorgeous with Strats and Teles - there's not an icepick in the toolbox, with the latter, even on bridge settings.
I've thought for years (since owning a Carr Slant 6V head, also 4x6V6, for about ten minutes) that humbuckers just squash 6V6 amps; we agreed that was happening here too. P-90s and single coils are best for this amp, where you hear the clarity and openness of single-coils and the nuances of a good guitar. Just rich and smooth and dynamic. You could listen all day on this amp; maybe not as stiff and immediate and dynamic and exciting as the Komet is, but in many ways more relaxing.
To put it in motorcycle terms: The Komet is a Honda CB900RR, extremely fast, quick, overpowered, exciting and possibly dangerous to anything but a highly skilled rider. Makes its major horsepower after you rev the nuts off it, then hang on for the rocket launch.
The Div13 is more of a Ducati or big-twin sports bike - easier to manage, more forgiving, but equally capable of some serious high speed and great handling, for experts.
Actual owners are welcome to add their remarks and disagree with anything here. I think Sneaky or RiddmURL has a Komet? Any Div 13 guys out there? Pile in here. We all hear things diffferently.
Kiwi
