Help me pick a new PRS amp

[DM426]

I'm in the market for a new amp and I'm pretty sure I want a PRS. So, now I need to decide which one, which isn't easy as there are so few places which stock high-end PRS amps where one can play the various models and compare them. The Internet is my friend today.

I believe I have it down to the following: MDT Paul's Amp, HX/DA, Blistertone, and 25th.

What I want is something that will do Led Zep, ZZ Top, and most classic rock, but can also do some more modern stuff. Not black metal, mind you, but stuff like Creed or The Cranberries. But it's especially important to me that It be able to get classic tones like AC/DC because I can get lots of amps that do modern stuff well.

Right now the MDT seems to be the best bet based on what I've read, but it's hard to decide because most of the demo videos I've found aren't exactly geared toward showcasing what these amps can do in the classic rock department. I've had an especially hard time finding information and videos for the Blistertone. Is that more or less an MDT with more gain on tap, or does it have an entirely different tone?

All opinions welcome.

 

[daveyisgreat]

I don't know a lot about the Blistertone but I seem to recall when the first PRS amps came out a few years ago they alluded to the Blistertone when describing the PRS Original Sewell amp. I have the Original Sewell and can tell you it sounds great. I play mostly classic rock/hard rock style music, some blues, lots of jazz, a bit of country type stuff and it handles it all. It's got a great modern classic thing going on. To my ears it sounds kind of like a Marshall with more meat in the low-mids. I don't really do the scooped-mids extreme metal stuff. In fact I was just noodling on some La Grange this afternoon and I was getting in the ZZ Top neighborhood, even with my humbuckered-up alder-and-maple super-strat and borrowed Peavey 4x12! So naturally my suggestion would be the Blistertone. But I don't think you can go wrong with any PRS amp.

 

[DM426]

Do you know how the Sewell (or the Blistertone if it sounds similar) compares to the MDT or HX/DA? I know they're all supposed to be good amps, I'm just trying to get a handle on what the actual differences are in overall character. Neither the PRS web site nor the PRS videos do a very good job of explaining what the tonal differences are between the company's top of the line amp offerings.

 

[daveyisgreat]

I've only actually played my Original Sewell so I can't really speak to the differences other than what my general impressions were from the videos and such as well, but this is how my ears perceive the differences.

It seems to me if you're looking for versatility the MDT/Paul's Amp would probably do just about anything you ask of it. I think "MDT" stands for Marshall, Dumble, Tweed, so I would think all those typical foundation sounds are in there -- the high-mid-marshall type sound, the round, seemingly bassy Dumble sound (to my ears anyway), and the mid-to-lower-mid tweed fender sounds.

The HX/DA seems like it's supposed to dwell squarely in the Marshall Plexi camp and I think it's supposed to be based off Duane Allman's Marshall Superbass plexi amp, and the other half I think is supposed to be like a good Plexi like Jimi Hendrix would have used and so forth. I'm guessing you can get some pretty good classic rock sounds out of this one if that's your goal.

As I mentioned before I was under the impression the Blistertone was similar to the Original Sewell, which is something along the lines of a more balanced-sounding hot-rodded Marshall type. Of course the caveat with this is my Original Sewell came with EL34 tubes in it so it was more Marshallesque from the start, but I think the Blistertone may be available with 6L6s? I'm not sure. My Original Sewell currently has Sylvania 6CA7s in it which to my ears are more articulate and balanced sounding than the EL34s which were softer and fuzzier sounding, if that makes sense. Maybe the Blistertone with 6L6s would be like a hot-rodded Marshall that's more articulate and punchy? It's hard to say.

Finally, I think the 25th Anniversary amp is based off an old Marshall Plexi that Eric Johnson had owned. Again, squarely in the Old Marshall camp I would assume.

After reading your post again, it sounds like the MDT would be a good one. You mentioned Creed; I just remembered reading an interview with Mark Tremonti in which he talked all about amps and he mentioned he was having a Bludotone amp made, which is a Dumble-style amp if I'm not mistaken. And I think he's also used Two Rock amps which I think are Dumble influenced. As well as some other Dumble style amps I think. My guess is the MDT will cover all your bases and then some.

Hope this helps! Heck I hope it's even coherent.

 

[László]

The HX/DA is a variant of the 25th Anniversary amp, as I understand it. There are 3 switches that gradually, or all at once, change the amp from a clone of the actual Duane Allman Live at the Fillmore amp (yes, they got the actual original amp from the Allman Brothers), to the Hendrix style Plexi that was based on the Eric Johnson amp.

It's hard for me to imagine a more "classic" rock amp, but then again, one player's classic rock is another player's classic schlock, so you really have to make up your own mind. And remember that the big time classic rock records were not only made with the amps, but using pedals, often with extreme EQ settings at the console, using a wide variety of mics, etc., all of which affect the tone that you heard on the records. That's not a small thing. I'm in the recording biz, and I can change the tone of an amp in about ten seconds with EQ. Or by using a different mic.

What I can say is that the PRS CAD amps are incredible amps; they are very musical, they're not noisy, they have great master volumes, etc. As musical instruments, they are wonderful to play. But who can promise that an amp will cop anyone's favorite tones? I prefer to evaluate an amp on what it does for my own music.

There is no question in my mind that I'd be happy with any of the CAD single channel amps. No question. All of them sound great. I happened to luck into the HX/DA because the videos of that one appealed most to my taste. But frankly, they all do, to one degree or another.

If you can't try one out, I'd strongly recommend listening to the videos on the product site of all the amps; they really are quite good at showing what the amps actually do. Don't listen on laptop speakers, obviously, it's a LOT more effective to listen on studio monitors or at least hi fi speakers.

An audio recording is worth more than 1,000 words.

But bottom line, go play all of them if you can. There's no substitute for that. All we can do is speculate on what might work for you. I always say that recommending an instrument for someone is like finding them a girl/boy friend. Very hard to do.

 

[DM426]

Again, I know they're all really good amps and that Doug is a wizard, so no need to sell me on that. I had an opportunity to mess with a somewhat beat up H at Guitar Center, and I briefly was able to play around with an HXDA. But I didn't get to spend much time with it before real life intruded and I was forced to move on to another amp.

As I said, I'm not a big fan of many of the PRS demo videos. I've watched them all numerous times and I just don't care for the way they do the videos. IMHO they do a very poor job of differentiating the amps and showcasing what each amp is geared to do. I've talked to various people at Wildwood, Willcutt, Sweetwater, etc, and asked them about the high-end PRS amps. They're quick to say they love them, which is cool. But if I ask about a particular amp, I'll generally get something along the lines of, "well that amp was based off an earlier classic, and gets those really killer, classic tones." Okay, that's fine. But when I ask what the differences are, specifically, between the tones of the MDT, HXDA, Super Dallas, Blistertone, and 25th, well... then I tend to get a tapdance.

So the HXDA is a great sounding amp that is geared toward vintage tones and has both great cleans and overdrive. Great! Except that nine out of ten people will tell you the exact same thing about the MDT, Blistertone, etc, without actually telling you anything really helpful.

Why am I harping on this? Because it's important due to the fact these custom PRS amps are very difficult to find, even in a big city like Houston (where I live). So if you can't demo and compare the amps live, then the online information needs to be descriptive and specific, and the demo samples need to show the amps doing a variety of different music and different styles. And that's where, in my opinion, PRS could improve its presentation to make it a bit more consumer friendly.

Right now much of the information on the Internet regarding these amps essentially paints them as more or less slight flavor variations on a very similar theme, and I don't believe that. While I'm sure all of these amps do indeed possess some flexibility, I'm also sure they each have a distinct character of their own. And nailing down those differences is what I'm after before I drop that much money on an amp.

I did find a demo video for the 25th Anniversary amp, which shows what the amp can do at a variety of different settings. It's not a perfect demo, but it's closer to what I was hoping to find.

These videos ought to be available from PRS for all their amps. Why? Because we're not talking about some cheap, solid state amp geared for the masses here, we're talking about high level custom amps. Watching Greg Koch and Doug noodle around at Wildwood and talk about how cool the PRS custom amps are is hugely entertaining, to be sure, but it doesn't do a whole lot to show which amp does what best. In fact, the way Greg plays them (and I love Greg) they all sort of sound just a bit too similar.

And at almost 3k per head, potential buyers of these type of boutique amps will be relying on the official web site to provide a variety of music clips and detailed information, and, IMHO, it could be better in that regard.

 

[DM426]

I also found these videos, which are useful up to a point, but they do tend to leave a lot to be desired in the information department. The way they're edited, they don't even tell the viewer which amp is being played. And that, unfortunately, goes a long way toward mooting the potential value to such videos. Nevertheless, they're interesting for what they are, so I thought I would post them here.

I'm pretty sure the amp in part 3 is an HXDA and the one from part 5 is an MDT. I think. Not sure about the other ones. I did find it interesting to note that Grissom didn't seem to care for the MDT in part 5 (or whatever that amp is), even though he said it was a "good" amp. He complained that it lacked the touch sensitivity of the other PRS amps. Has anyone that has played both the HXDA and the MDT found the MDT to be wanting in that regard?

Hopefully, enough information will get shared during the course of this thread that it will help other potential buyers.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

 

[DM426]

Right now, based on what I know, I'm still leaning toward the MDT. But I haven't ruled out the Blistertone or HXDA. I've found more information and samples of the HXDA than any other amp from the PRS custom shop, so it seems safe to say the HXDA is fairly popular.

What I am using as a benchmark for comparison is this Fargen Olde 800. Now I have had a chance to hear that amp and it was absolutely killer. But the PRS amps may be even better, hence my interest.

 

[László]

But when I ask what the difference are, specifically, between the tones of the MDT, HXDA, Super Dallas, Blistertone, and 25th, well... then I tend to get a tapdance.

So the HXDA is a great sounding amp that is geared toward vintage tones and has both great cleans and overdrive. Great! Except that nine out of ten people will tell you the exact same thing about the MDT, Blistertone, etc, without actually telling you anything really helpful.

With respect, accurately put into words the difference between any two 50 watt EL34 amps geared toward classic sounds that you have experience with.

It's pretty difficult!

I can't even truly describe the differences between my old Two-Rocks and the HXDA. And yet they're quite different!

PRS puts product demos up that I think very accurately capture the amp; my HXDA sounds exactly like the video on the product page.

But here's my bottom line: Doesn't the buyer have some responsibility to seek out and evaluate an instrument for him or herself? Ultimately how are you going to get to know the feel of an amp, and how it sounds in a room, unless you play it? That's stuff that can't really be described.

One can complain about the quality of the videos - though few amp makers even bother with them - but why would anyone get one of these amps based on internet comments and mp3 quality videos?

 

[DM426]

But here's my bottom line: Doesn't the buyer have some responsibility to seek out and evaluate an instrument for him or herself? Ultimately how are you going to get to know the feel of an amp, and how it sounds in a room, unless you play it? That's stuff that can't really be described.

One can complain about the quality of the videos - though few amp makers even bother with them - but why would anyone get one of these amps based on internet comments and mp3 quality videos?

Agreed, at least up to a point. I would Love the opportunity to test drive all of them, even if I had to drive an hour or two. But unfortunately, even though I live in the fourth largest city in America, there's not a single guitar dealer anywhere in the city with even one of these amps available to demo. The only thing I can find here or in Austin are a few SE amps and an H, neither of which interests me. There is a dealer north of Dallas that has a lone Blistertone, however, that is some five hours away.

So whether I like it or not, I'm sort of at the mercy of the Internet on this, at least for right now. BTW, I've seen some good sound clips and detailed demo videos for other boutique amps, many of which are far more readily available than the PRS CAD amps. Just to be clear, I'm not demanding anything from PRS or criticizing its amps in any way. I'm merely expressing the opinion that it would be helpful if there were a variety of additional demo clips available for their custom amps since they're so hard to find in many areas of the country.

 

[László]

Well, you make a fair point about the difficulty of finding the amps, though I bet PRS would love to see them in stock in stores on a wider basis!

Keep in mind that several of the CAD amps are in fact based on the 25th Anni amp. So what you're getting is variations on a theme, as opposed to a completely different thing from the ground up.

I can talk about a few differences between some of the amps. With the HXDA, the very accurately cloned Cinemag transformer from the Allman amp is a big deal, that I think accounts for a chunk of the tone of the amp. And of course, the ability to switch the amp into different tones with the 3 HX switches give the amp a lot of versatility. Based on personal use, this is an amp that can give the player a huge variety of tones, from sparkling cleans to very sweet sounding overdrive, when the player uses the volume control on the guitar. IMHO, it's the most buttery sounding of the amps I've heard. It's truly an old-school amp. There are overtones you can hear on it so clearly that it almost sounds like two notes or more are playing when you're playing a single note. So think late 60s/early 70s kind of tones. This is a warm sounding amp when overdriven, though it definitely sparkles clean.

The HX mode is crunchier and shifts the tonal emphasis a bit, too, more into the mids. I generally set the amp up with the switches in DA, DA, HX modes going left to right, which gives me a warm gain tone, but a very crisp clean tone. I also set it up with my guitar volume around 5-6. That way I can completely control the gain with the guitar volume, and coax a load of different tones out of it, as I used to do back in the late 60s/early 70s when I was only 800 years old. LOL

It is the most vintage sounding of the bunch, in my opinion. There are times I feel like I'm going back in time when I play through it, except that I'm still old when I'm done, darn it!

The Blistertone seems to be geared toward an edgier, grindier, more modern kind of distortion. A friend who has both tells me that the cleans on the HXDA seem to be a bit different, perhaps sparklier, but of course the Blistertone goes more into what we think of as modern overdrive. I've only heard this amp on recordings on my studio monitors, but the clips were pretty good, and the overdrive definitely has a more modern character and texture, with more of a searing quality in the upper mids. I'm hearing more ripping canvas than butter with the Blistertone, if that makes sense as a description. From my friend's description, there's a bit less clean headroom, you get the amp into clipping very quickly.

The Paul's amp has a 100 watt transformer in a 50 watt amp, that should give it a more piano-like bottom end, especially clean. Having owned several Two-Rock dumble style amps, I'm not sure I hear much nasal dumble tone in there, but because the clean mode can get vintage gainy, and the dirty switch gets more modern gainy, the effect is similar to what you get with the dumble cascading gain thing, despite the fact that it works differently. I'm hearing the Paul's Amp as a bit less warm on the bottom, but maybe crisper there, than the HXDA. It's definitely higher gain and crunchier than the HXDA, probably sits in the middle gain-wise.

Hope this description helps - it's definitely what I'm hearing.

 

[Kine]

Nice rundown Les! :top:

 

[DM426]

Damn, I wish I could play all three in person.

But thanks for those descriptions, they've helped me make up my mind. I've decided I want them all.

Wow, that was easy!

 

[Kine]

I've decided I want them all.

Wow, that was easy!

Nicely done! Now onto cabinets... :biggrin:

 

[László]

Damn, I wish I could play all three in person.

But thanks for those descriptions, they've helped me make up my mind. I've decided I want them all.

Wow, that was easy!

Haha! I want a Paul's Amp, to add to my arsenal, but for now...I have to wait. Thankfully, I am in love with the HXDA, so there's that.

What is really amazing about these amps is that they are dead quiet, even when cranked. None of that hum and noise you get with most amps (unless you have ground loops somewhere in your rig, but I'm extremely careful about that and don't have any).

So the notes come out of this inky blackness that makes them really stand out, you're not overcoming the typical amp noise floor. To me, that is a huge plus and really helps the tone -- I hate hum and noise, especially for my recording work.

One thing that helps me hear the differences between the amps on recorded clips is that I'm so familiar with the HXDA tone, that they more or less jump out when I hear the other amps. I think most folks who don't have one of the amps have a harder time explaining what the differences are - and maybe they don't have the familiarity with them to really know.

 

[mapleleaf14]

Dang, Les...thanks...now I want to buy another PRS amp!

 

[Sekunda]

Les is always a continual source of awesome info!

DM426 - if you look through some of the older threads in the amplifier category there are several hitting on these exact points that you are looking for. Lots of discussion about heads, cabs, pickups, and the sounds, etc.

Les was a big influence on my picking up an HX/DA myself and I love it... so very classic rock in every way. It gives me that tingly feeling every time I plug into it. Good luck on your search!

 

[daveyisgreat]

Whoa. I think I have to check out the HX/DA.

 

[DM426]

Okay, I had to make a hard choice. All of these PRS amps sound interesting, but it's only practical for me to get one for the foreseeable future. I'm in the process of trying to get my first Harley, so sacrifices have to be made somewhere.

HXDA is incoming. I had a chance to very briefly experiment with one of these about a year ago, but I never had an opportunity to really get familiar with it, plus I didn't have a decent guitar I was comfortable with back then. Now I want to see how it will respond to my Nik Huber Orca '59.

This should be fun. Thanks for all the help, guys.

 

[László]

Enjoy it. DM!

I really hope you like it! Remember my tip about setting it up with the guitar volume lower than normal, you might not ever need a footswitch amp again.