It's a 100 watt version of the emerald 50, which is the predecessor of the emerald pro. so it's going to be a two-channel, dumbly kind of amp. (EDIT: sorry, i always get the amythest and sapphire backwards. see rick owen's post below...) pricewise, it's probably a fair trade, as the older two-rocks have been dropping a lot lately. tonewise, i can't say, since i haven't tried this model. but every other two-rock i've tried has been great.
The Sapphire was the 100 watt version of the Emerald 50. These two were the original production amps. The Amethyst came out a little later and is a 50 watt amplifier with a few more tweaks, (sort of in-between the Emerald 50 and the Emerald Pro). I have played one and it is a killer amp! My first Two-Rock was the Amethyst Special, (still have it). I've never had the chance to try the Bruno Lead Man, but would guess that it's pretty special as well. Hard call, but it's definitely a fair trade IMO. RickO ________________ TR Clips: http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3820&alid=-1 Gear Page: http://rickowens.4t.com/photo.html
I played one for a few hours once. It has the switchable 6v6 gain option or something. Anyway, I was not really impressed. If you got a good clean sound, you could not get a good lead sound without readjusting the amp. Fine for home use, but not useful to me as a gigging amp to footswitch between sounds. The tech was not crazy about the build quality either (this is an early 2-rock). Plus, I did not think the amp sounded like me. My old Demeter TGA-3 sounded MUCH better IMO. If it were me, no to the trade.
originally posted by BrentSP This guy called his a Amethyst signature series. The amp that I have played was an Amethyst Signature Series, (it may very well be the same amp that you are talking about). The head has a Dynamo label, "Amethyst Signature Series", on the faceplate. Great amplifier! There are only a couple/few out there. They are rare. If I remember correctly, they were made in '99. RickO
That's a very fair trade...That's an amazing amp...The Two Rocks are incredible!! If you can't get a great lead tone with a 2 Rock, you either have a bad 12AX7, are setting it up wrong, or can't get a good sound out of any guitar amp anyway..
I did not like it at all either. The amp was VERY closed sounding compared to later TwoRocks. (E.Pro and on) I played it right next to the Fuchs modded Bandmaster that I now own, (They were both for sale at GC) and bought the Fuchs. The Fuchs killed it in cleans and overdrive. It is TOTALLY different than the Leadman which is a single channel high gain tone machine.
To be honest with you guys I probably wouldn't keep this Two Rock anyways. I'm looking at it as "can I sell it faster than the Bruno". I'm really having a hard time selling the Bruno so far. Its up on ebay right now with a beginning bid at 1800 and buy it now for 1995 free shipping. No bids yet.
if you don't end up liking it, the used two-rocks still sell pretty fast for the right price, so the market is out there. but pricewise, i would guess it would be difficult to get around $2000 for it - maybe more like 1800 is doable. any second opinions?
How about paying US$6,000 for one? http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-590434327-two-rock-amethyst-rarissimo-50w-john-mayer-_JM
