Price Paid: US $385
Features: 7
I think the features have been covered - maybe a little too much. I did make a few changes. I started with the cabinet. I wanted wood, so I made one out of birch plywood and covered it with black tolex ($100 for cab). The speaker sounded harsh, so I bought a Celestion GT-75 for it ($95). The stock tubes are crap, so I bought Mullards and used them for preamp tubes ($90). I swapped out the stock Groove Tubes power tubes for JJs.
Sound Quality: 7
I am rich so I have just about every guitar there is. If I want to see how a particular guitar sounds through it, I just buy it, then return it or sell it on ebay. I do the same with amps. I play mostly disco and rap music, some jazz and blues, and death metal/thrash/screach this isn't music anymore, just noise. I dunno, I think I need to replace all the ceramic caps with paper caps, and all the resistors with American made silicon ones. I may also change the tone stack. Sound is blah blah blah. I use an LP and American Deluxe Fat strat, they sound ok I guess, kinda sorta. The diodes seem kinda cheap too, so they will be replaced.
Reliability: 7
It cuts out now and then, but what do you expect after a year? It hisses at me all the time.
Customer Support: N/A
I got the schematic from Fender. I did all the mods myself, so who needs support? If it craps out I just throw them out.
Overall Rating: 7
Iv'e been playing about a month now, I got this for my 16th birthday.I pretty much know everything about amps by now. Much more than you old tube geezers will know in a lifetime of "I give it a 10 becuase it sounds like my Marshall/Mesa/Bogner what-ever" I have already hand wired 3 amps similar to Fenders old AB763 circuit. Piece of cake. Point-to-point is the only way to go. These PCB amps have a looooong way to go, but with about $200-500 worth of mods, they might sound ok, I guess. What-ever.
Submitted by Money Baggs at 08/23/2004 20:25
Thats when it starts to get good.
