C'mon Les...you KNOW if Mr. Sewell concocted a 5 watt tone demon for Mr. Paul Reed Smith, you'd jump on that bandwagon!
I dunno about that...I didn't buy a Sweet 16...or an Archon...or
any of the 2-channel amps; or a 513, a Brent Mason, a Hollowbody, a Studio, a Santana, or any number of other PRS models.
I like big amps that can drive a speaker cab and push the drivers. If PRS came out with a 5 Watt amp I'd certainly want to check it out, as I did the other PRS amps, but that doesn't mean I'd buy it.
I'm
very enthusiastic about what really floats my boat,
definitely, but I don't buy just to jump on the ol' bandwagon.
I had three Valve Jr's. Unless you're going to mod them, they don't sound that good. Ok, but not really good. Tweaker is WAY WAY better and I sold mine for something like $275 shipped.
I've played the Tweaker - one of my session guys had one and brought it over (he still might have it?). It did a lot of things, none with any kind of vibe/personality. Not my thing. Competent. Did the usual tricks modern amps do.
When my son was in for my daughter's wedding (3 weeks ago), he visited a buddy he'd loaned his Valve Jr. to years ago, and brought the amp here; we tried it in my studio with one of my PRS cabs just to see if it worked. I thought it sounded absolutely awesome for the thing it does; better than I remembered when we bought the amp for the princely sum of $129 on a whim while visiting GC ten years ago. It was never modded, and still had the stock tubes.
Yup, it's ragged when cranked, it's raw, it's too simple, it's all those things. But it also reminds me of real amps from the golden age of tubes -- it's got vibe and a personality I didn't find in the Tweaker.
IMHO that's a weird, but desirable thing, "personality." There are some very highly regarded amps that are versatile, that do all kinds of things, but that I find lacking in that department. For instance, people love the Bogner Shiva. I thought it was OK, but didn't have personality when I went shopping for one. However, I loved the Bogner Metropolis, made around the same time, and took one home for its unique vibe.
But just to show how opinions vary, when my son was working with 30 Seconds to Mars, they picked a Shiva over
everything else. Just goes to show ya that everyone's got their own opinion - and is entitled to it! I'll also note that on the next record, they used old Vox amps instead. I won't guess as to why, but...some amps have a very long shelf life for a reason; maybe they just liked the personality of the Vox?
I might have to do a thread about musical instrument personality some time.