Two Rock Sterling Signature! (Clips added)

Fortunate new owner of Two Rock Sterling Signature #2! Thanks to fellow TGP member DSPBlues for selling me the amp; excellent seller. I had to sell some good gear to fund the purchase but I think in the end it was well worth it. Plus my Les Paul went to another TGP member, another great guy. I only got to play it very briefly because we have family over for the holidays. My first impression is that this amp is exactly what I hope it would be. With minimal tweaking I got a very gorgeous clean tone. Here's a picture of my new baby...

 

Yea the blue face plate is growing on me for sure. Normally I like the understated look but in this case it's kinda fun. I was thinking of getting a second head case for it in medium dark grey suede so that the original can be kept nice when I take it out. I think the dark grey and blue face might go well together.

 

Yea, I feel like one lucky dude right now. All due to TGP! Thanks to TravisWalk too for helping to hook the seller and I together.

I was just playing it; just swapped out the Ruby 12ax7 in v1 with a Tung Sol U.S.A, whew!

 

Once again, thank you for everything. Thanks for sending along the original JAN Phillips 6L6WGB's; The two different sets of power tubes sound quite different. I'll take great care of it and play it a lot!

I'm curious where all the other Sterling Signatures are? There are 12 of them. I know Bill and Joe each have one and Mayer has two, that leaves 6. Any other TGP members with these things?

 

Glad you found this thread. Another TGP member, Sam Cannon, also has one. That's four out of ten accounted for by TGP members. From what I understand there were 10 sold with serial numbers and 2 not sold (owned by Joe & Bill).

P.S. Please post pics, clips, and/or reviews/findings if you have them.

Thanks.

 

I'll report back in about 6 to 8 months on a full review since that's usually how long it takes me to really figure out an amp. If anyone can PM me some tips for making videos or clips that would be cool to. I do have a camcorder but not sure if that's an acceptable method to make clips (i.e. do people usually mic the amp).

As for first impressions, first I should put up the disclaimer that my Classic Reverb is a 50 watter while the Sterling is 100 watts. I have Sylvania 6L6GC's in the CR and JAN Philips 6L6WGB's in the Sterling. I haven't begun to try out different tubes in the Sterling. I do notice that power tubes seem to make quite a difference in tone on these amps (as oppose to say a Matchless C-30 where I didn't find as much difference on the power tubes as much as tube changes in other positions such as the preamp and PI). On the CR changing from RCA's to Sylvania's made the amp completely different; Sylvnias alot smoother (not necessarily better sounding but I left them in there b/c I wanted that smoother sound). Unfortunately I don't have quads of the RCA's, GE's, and Sylvania's so I can't try them out in the Sterling. So therefore it's hard to say if the differences are due to the wattage difference, tubes or the amp itself.

With that said, here are some 'first impressions'.

- Both amps 'wow' me. They are similar in that they both have a great clean tone that has a lot of presence and nice high end but never fatiguing or harsh in the highs.
- Though it's a 'clean' tone they both have great sustain; especially when you dial up the mids a little. It's quite amazing the sustain actually, it's almost like it's overdriven but still considered a clean tone. (keep in mind I'm playing a strat and it still sings). I would say my Classic Reverb has a bit more sustain.
- Strumming chords on both is a thing of beauty, you get nice overtones/harmonics/sparkle or whatever it is that makes it sound nice and 'complex' or 'three dimensional'. Not quite like as chimey/jangley as a DC-30 but of course these amps are warmer in general.
- They both have a similar voicing (but my switches are set different). These two are voiced a lot more similar than to my Jet Signature. The Jet's tone seems to be beefier in the mids. These two seem to have a more naturally scooped tone. Adding mids on these amps and taking way mids on the Jet doesn't yield the same tone (or at least I haven't been able to).
- Both have the most gorgeous reverb ever. The Classic reverb has additional control via a three way switch that can give you different reverb voicing's.
- At least with my amps (given the tube setup) I notice the Classic Reverb has more bass than the Sterling (note: I hear that Sylvania's have more bass in general while the Philip's have less bass; this might attribute to some of what I'm hearing). I have the high & mid switches up on the CR and only the bass switch up on the Sterling. The way I have it currently dialed, the tone doesn't match up exactly but same ball park.
- There's more pre-amp gain on tap with the Classic Reverb. The Sterling stays cleaner throughout the volume range. Both are very cool to me. It seems that Naturally the CR is easy for me to get it into a more overdriven/starting to break up tone. On the other hand I like how I can crank up the Sterling and hit the bass strings of the guitar and still get a nice clean note (quite amazing actually, and this is with the 6L6WGB's...I can't wait to find a quad of RCA or Sylvania 6L6GC's or Philips 5781A's).
- Of course the Classic Reverb has two feedback switches and a Class A/Class AB switch on the back which allows you to get even more variety. The Sterling has the high/bass cut which is useful for fine tuning your eq (I actually do use the high cut, it seems to do something different than treble knob). I guess in summary I like my 50 watt Classic Reverb for the versatility/different tones you can conjure up while I like the Sterling for creating the best ever 'clean tone'. Even though I've only had the Sterling for a few weeks i've been able to set the eq to a better clean tone and of course I like how it stays clean when going louder! Woo hoo!

 

What's more addictive, The Gear Page or the Gear itself? Or is one the gateway drug!? =)