dmatthews
Dave's not here
Diving right in!
I was a little worried at first. The amp came out of the reasonably well packed box in excellent condition. Really it is almost perfect apart from a couple of frays in the paisley cloth at the back. But I couldn't care less about that, and a quick visit with a razor blade will fix that. Maybe some glue instead. Kudos to the seller for pointing them out in the first place.
My concern was when I first turned it on after the requisite time to warm up in standby. It was noisy! Not stupid noisy like some amps we've all heard, but kind of hissy with a bit of crackle with or without a guitar plugged in. I found that to be particularly bothersome because the H combo is dead silent! WTH? I thought I'd be tube swapping...
Aha! I saw that both the send and return pots were all the way down/off. Bringing them both to approx 2 o'clock sucked that noise away rather nicely! Nice and quiet again. Whew!
Next up is the three button footswitch. Holy... this thing is heavy! I swear it's 2lbs! Did Paul put lead (the metal) in it? It won't skid across the stage I tells ya! Anyway, I was shocked at how bright the leds are on the H amp. Well they decided to put the same retina piercing, eyeball melting leds in the pedal! Wow!
SOB!
Not complaining really... at least I don't have to make a footswitch with leds again.
OK... setup done...
The clean channel seems a tad darker than the H. Completely usable and wonderful, but not as chimey as the H out of the box. That may be because Chris (crgtr) had biased the H to his liking before shipping it to me, not sure. Could be different tubes, don't know. That being said I have found a use for the bright switches on the Custom 50. I NEVER could find a use for them on the H because they sent the H into "shrill" territory on mine. On this Custom they bring a new hightened voice to both channels. Very usable now! The clean channel needs a bit more volume on it in order to keep pace with the lead channel in comparison to the H methinks. I'll check settings when I take it to the studio on Wednesday.
The lead channel. Well... I was concerned about that because I've dialed in a nice filthy "dirty girl" sound on the H and I definitely want to retain that tone. Happy to report that we have no problem here Houston! Mr. Sewell absolutely built this on top of the H. If you're a fan of the H, it's all there.
The "3rd" button... the boost. Aw man I love it! Like the effects send/return there are two pots to let you adjust the amount of boost available for each channel. It was shipped with them down, and I found that the lead at 10 o'clock and the clean at 2 o'clock is a good place to start. The studio will be different, especially with the addition of the 2x12. Can't wait.
Reverb. Hmmm... Seems a bit weaker than the H. I'll work with that and compare as well. The WONDERFUL thing is that I can pull the reverb knob on the Custom and it'll automatically knock off the verb when switching to lead channel. I so love that!
I ran through all my guitars (but of course). P22 taught me to engage the bright switches. I dialed in some sweet tones and jammed some.
Then I went to the McCarty. Pups in the McCarty are not quite as hot but sooo smooth. Coil tap was awesome!
Mira... oh the lovely Mira just loves this amp! Coil tap on the Mira is fabulous, and this amp makes great use. The grunty dirty Mira pups are a dream here too.
305. Wow! 305 re-discovered! Clarity is wonderful on cleans and even dirty. It's a little more work to get filth out of the 305 but you can easily do it with some additional gain. Lovely.
SE ONE. Remember the opening scene in Back to the Future when Marty dimes the big amp on the wall? That's what I felt like when I pounded a chord. My gawd! What fun!
The proof will be at practice in the studio, but I can tell already that this Custom fits like a glove.
I haven't really played with the Mid boost or Presence much yet. Need to have supper and try that stuff out.
Yeah... fun evening...
I was a little worried at first. The amp came out of the reasonably well packed box in excellent condition. Really it is almost perfect apart from a couple of frays in the paisley cloth at the back. But I couldn't care less about that, and a quick visit with a razor blade will fix that. Maybe some glue instead. Kudos to the seller for pointing them out in the first place.
My concern was when I first turned it on after the requisite time to warm up in standby. It was noisy! Not stupid noisy like some amps we've all heard, but kind of hissy with a bit of crackle with or without a guitar plugged in. I found that to be particularly bothersome because the H combo is dead silent! WTH? I thought I'd be tube swapping...
Aha! I saw that both the send and return pots were all the way down/off. Bringing them both to approx 2 o'clock sucked that noise away rather nicely! Nice and quiet again. Whew!
Next up is the three button footswitch. Holy... this thing is heavy! I swear it's 2lbs! Did Paul put lead (the metal) in it? It won't skid across the stage I tells ya! Anyway, I was shocked at how bright the leds are on the H amp. Well they decided to put the same retina piercing, eyeball melting leds in the pedal! Wow!
SOB!
Not complaining really... at least I don't have to make a footswitch with leds again.
OK... setup done...
The clean channel seems a tad darker than the H. Completely usable and wonderful, but not as chimey as the H out of the box. That may be because Chris (crgtr) had biased the H to his liking before shipping it to me, not sure. Could be different tubes, don't know. That being said I have found a use for the bright switches on the Custom 50. I NEVER could find a use for them on the H because they sent the H into "shrill" territory on mine. On this Custom they bring a new hightened voice to both channels. Very usable now! The clean channel needs a bit more volume on it in order to keep pace with the lead channel in comparison to the H methinks. I'll check settings when I take it to the studio on Wednesday.
The lead channel. Well... I was concerned about that because I've dialed in a nice filthy "dirty girl" sound on the H and I definitely want to retain that tone. Happy to report that we have no problem here Houston! Mr. Sewell absolutely built this on top of the H. If you're a fan of the H, it's all there.
The "3rd" button... the boost. Aw man I love it! Like the effects send/return there are two pots to let you adjust the amount of boost available for each channel. It was shipped with them down, and I found that the lead at 10 o'clock and the clean at 2 o'clock is a good place to start. The studio will be different, especially with the addition of the 2x12. Can't wait.
Reverb. Hmmm... Seems a bit weaker than the H. I'll work with that and compare as well. The WONDERFUL thing is that I can pull the reverb knob on the Custom and it'll automatically knock off the verb when switching to lead channel. I so love that!
I ran through all my guitars (but of course). P22 taught me to engage the bright switches. I dialed in some sweet tones and jammed some.
Then I went to the McCarty. Pups in the McCarty are not quite as hot but sooo smooth. Coil tap was awesome!
Mira... oh the lovely Mira just loves this amp! Coil tap on the Mira is fabulous, and this amp makes great use. The grunty dirty Mira pups are a dream here too.
305. Wow! 305 re-discovered! Clarity is wonderful on cleans and even dirty. It's a little more work to get filth out of the 305 but you can easily do it with some additional gain. Lovely.
SE ONE. Remember the opening scene in Back to the Future when Marty dimes the big amp on the wall? That's what I felt like when I pounded a chord. My gawd! What fun!
The proof will be at practice in the studio, but I can tell already that this Custom fits like a glove.
I haven't really played with the Mid boost or Presence much yet. Need to have supper and try that stuff out.
Yeah... fun evening...
