Sonzera 50 Watt Or 20 Watt

Paulg2uk

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Jan 14, 2015
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HI guys,

I'm waiting on the Sonzera's to turn up over here in the UK. I just wondered I usually go for a head version when I buy an amp as it goes with my rack setup and I've noticed the 20 watt combo's are 6L6 based and the 50 watt head and combo are EL34 based. I'm guessing the head can only take EL34's and I won't be able to put any 6L6's in there? I'm usually a 6L6 guy anyway as I love the headroom especially on the clean channel.

Does anyone own a head version yet? I'm interested to see if it provides that clean headroom that 6L6's do. At 50 watts I'm guessing it does.

Cheers

Paul
 
Does anyone own a head version yet? I'm interested to see if it provides that clean headroom that 6L6's do. At 50 watts I'm guessing it does.
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Part of the headroom equation is the power section of an amp, but don't underestimate the effect of the design of the preamp on headroom. Play a 22 Watt Fender Deluxe with its 6V6s alongside something like a 22 Watt Magnatone with 6V6s, and there's a world of difference in headroom; the Deluxe starts to break up at much lower volume.

In fact, a 50 Watt Blackface Bassman head I owned for years from new had much less headroom than my 25 Watt Ampeg Reverberocket 2 from the same era.

And of course a 100 Watt Marshall breaks up sooner than an 85 Watt Twin.

It's not simply EL34s in a Marshall style amp that give it less headroom, or 6L6s in a Twin that give it more headroom. It's preamp, tone stack, transformers, in fact, the whole circuit.
 
I'm interested to see what the impressions of the 20 vs 50 are, not only in terms of headroom, but just the tone in general. I'm usually not a fan of "small box" combo amps, but the clips of the 20 I've heard just have a certain sweetness to them that I like. But if I get the 20, I'll want the 50 too... *sigh*

From the sounds of things, the Sonzera may not have tons of clean headroom, especially the 20 - I know they designed the clean/rhythm channel to break up a fair amount in the preamp. What that will equate to in the real world, hopefully someone with experience can chime in on that. Although I would say it's a safe bet that the 50 will have more headroom because they're probably very similar preamp sections in both amps, just with more in the power section of the 50.

If you're looking for headroom in a smaller amp, I would look at the Custom 20. The 2 channel custom series have a serious amount of headroom on the clean channel.
 
I'm interested to see what the impressions of the 20 vs 50 are, not only in terms of headroom, but just the tone in general. I'm usually not a fan of "small box" combo amps, but the clips of the 20 I've heard just have a certain sweetness to them that I like. But if I get the 20, I'll want the 50 too... *sigh*

From the sounds of things, the Sonzera may not have tons of clean headroom, especially the 20 - I know they designed the clean/rhythm channel to break up a fair amount in the preamp. What that will equate to in the real world, hopefully someone with experience can chime in on that. Although I would say it's a safe bet that the 50 will have more headroom because they're probably very similar preamp sections in both amps, just with more in the power section of the 50.

If you're looking for headroom in a smaller amp, I would look at the Custom 20. The 2 channel custom series have a serious amount of headroom on the clean channel.
I can't make a 20 V 50 comparison, but I can comment on the 20. Been playing mine for a week, once at gig-volume rehearsal. The clean channel breaks up at around 12:00 plus. It breaks up gradually, which makes it seem very useable. I've found that it was easier to get the volume I needed while controlling the breakup while using my Tele. My Paul was a little more unruly, but still useable. Overall, this: Sounds great, both channels. Hard-to-fathom loud. Gain channel covers very wide territory. My back loves the relief!!
 
fwiw... One of the videos I watched, Brian Ewald stated that the 20w leaned more to the American Fender tone while the 50w leaned a little more toward the British tone.
 
I've only got experience with the 50w head. I've had it about two months or so. Still digging it! Was playing last night and this evening before I got distracted by hockey..

Very loud but sounds good at home. I've gigged it once, done various jam sessions with drums, bass, and another guitarist.

I went with the head because I already have another 50w combo and figured the weight relief would be nice.

I have primarily used it with two Friedman cabs; an open back 1x12 16ohm and a closed back 2x12 8ohm. Sounds killed with both! Right now the 2x12 is at jam spot and the 1x12 at home.

Also used my Fryette PS2 with it, to excellent effect.

The clean channel is nice. If you dime the master and slowly roll up the clean channel volume that's what gives you max clean headroom; and tons of volume.

The channel volume introduces breakup in preamp. Roll back master roll up channel to taste.

Drive channel trickier. Gain comes on fast! Can't dime the dirt master without introducing noise. I put a JJ5751 into V2 to tame the gain a touch. I like it alot! Does some nice blues to crunch to Marshall-esque within the first portion of the drive range. Then it goes into a sort of fuzzy crispy high gain almost JCM800 kind of vibe. Though I Might be just inferring any Marshall tones from the choice of EL34 for the power amp tubes! It definitively has its own vibe. I can get the two channels balanced very well; anything from almost identical to very different. I tend towards full Fendery clean to semi Plexi crunchy.

It does respond well to use of volume knob on guitar! I also find rolling back the bass a fair amount on both channels helps tighten things up with the particular cabs I am using.

All that being said, I would really like to compare with the 20w!
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. That's a big help. I think I'm gonna go and try them both out when they tun up over here in the UK. I've played Boogie's since 94" and have always used them. Since buying a Road King 2 head I've decided to sell my MKV 35 Combo as the RK does everything I need it to do. I was just after something a little different to use at home and possibly when gigging now and again depending what I feel like. I saw the the Sonzera and thought I'd give it a go. I forget the last time I've owned a different brand in an amp.Really looking forward to trying them out and exploring those PRS tones.
 
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