Trying Hard to Like the HDRX20

El Fenix said:
My annoyance is they made the amp super dark in voicing. Its as if they tuned the amp for the bridge pickup on a Strat.
I have 2 inherently bright guitars, and it works well for them. The others? Not really.

Pretty sure I'm going to move mine on down the road.
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I know this doesn't help you, but ..........I am that guy: I live on the bridge p/u of an S-type.

The juggling that is necessary (as in Eric Johnson's use case), or the cost of amps that do this stuff without so much as a second thought (Two Rocks, certain older Boogies etc) is no laughing matter.
 
Longneck Tenon said:
Or my wife and I having to each get a crown on the same day this week? That hurt in so many ways!
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I sympathize. I had a root canal and two crowns this year.

WTF!

I told my wife that this was guitar money, not tooth money, and I'd rather have guitars than teeth. She demurred. So I got the teeth done. The eyes are coming up in September.

I'm still thinking of backing out, but my family seems to think I should be able to see if I intend to keep on driving. So...I dunno. ;)
 
El Fenix said:
My annoyance is they made the amp super dark in voicing. Its as if they tuned the amp for the bridge pickup on a Strat.
I have 2 inherently bright guitars, and it works well for them. The others? Not really.

Pretty sure I'm going to move mine on down the road.
Click to expand...
If my understanding of the amp design is correct, this is an interesting perspective. Because, it SHOULD be a "super lead" tone if you turn the bass channel volume all the way down. Correct? I'm just wondering... as I haven't seen people complaining that it's too bright, but I also haven't seen any other remarks that it was too dark. I can't STAND most Strat bridge pickups unless the amp is completely redialed from where the other pickups sound their best (one of my long term issues with Strats) so this is a bit concerning as I'm bidding one one now...
 
WingerRules said:
If my understanding of the amp design is correct, this is an interesting perspective. Because, it SHOULD be a "super lead" tone if you turn the bass channel volume all the way down. Correct? I'm just wondering... as I haven't seen people complaining that it's too bright, but I also haven't seen any other remarks that it was too dark. I can't STAND most Strat bridge pickups unless the amp is completely redialed from where the other pickups sound their best (one of my long term issues with Strats) so this is a bit concerning as I'm bidding one one now...
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It’s not too bright. Don’t worry about that.
 
László said:
I sympathize. I had a root canal and two crowns this year.

WTF!

I told my wife that this was guitar money, not tooth money, and I'd rather have guitars than teeth. She demurred. So I got the teeth done. The eyes are coming up in September.

I'm still thinking of backing out, but my family seems to think I should be able to see if I intend to keep on driving. So...I dunno. ;)
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Thanks for reminding my about my eyes! It never ends, until it ends!
 
WingerRules said:
After reading his remarks, I was concerned it might be too dark.
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It's not too dark either. It's just about perfect.

But if you want it brighter or darker just adjust the tone controls and the balance between the bright channel and normal channel with the two preamp volume controls.

Once i get the tone controls about right I use the two preamp volume controls to get the treble where I want it.

Can't help but wonder if most of the posts with reservations about this amp aren't coming from players who wouldn't like playing through a 60’s non-master volume Marshall either.

The HDRX is a great amp.

Some people get it.

But those expecting an uber-gain Mesa Boogie might not.
 
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WingerRules said:
If my understanding of the amp design is correct, this is an interesting perspective. Because, it SHOULD be a "super lead" tone if you turn the bass channel volume all the way down. Correct? I'm just wondering... as I haven't seen people complaining that it's too bright, but I also haven't seen any other remarks that it was too dark. I can't STAND most Strat bridge pickups unless the amp is completely redialed from where the other pickups sound their best (one of my long term issues with Strats) so this is a bit concerning as I'm bidding one one now...
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There's a launch video with Paul talking about the circuit tweaks saying "They made a treble pickup sound like a bass pickup" about the HDRX circuit.

I've found that to generally be true. Trying to dial in a "1959 SLP circuit" tone to be difficult.

Keep in mind, I do have a Marshall 6100LM to A/B it with.

I'd argue with Lew's post and his always needing to be right, but I don't argue with internet strangers anymore. Its a waste of time.
 
I will admit I didn’t spend a lot of time with the HDRX 20 when I had a chance to play one, but I don’t remember it being too dark at all, and I was playing a Les Paul into it. But could we step back from having arguments about this kind of stuff? These are opinions folks, not facts. And if someone is happy with their gear, let them be happy. I personally don’t care for the Marshall sound in general these days, and I played one exclusively for 10 years! It is nothing that anyone has to agree with though and I am very happy for those that love them.

Let’s not become one of those boards that can’t allow people to have different opinions and perspectives.
 
Come on @Lewguitar, sell me one! Save me some hassle, and you some room, and ship me the "extra" one! I'll send you a money order, so no paypal fees or anything. You can even make a small profit for you care and feeding during your ownership period.
 
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WingerRules said:
Come on @Lewguitar, sell me one! Save me some hassle, and you some room, and ship me the "extra" one! I'll send you a money order, so no paypal fees or anything. You can even make a small profit for you care and feeding during your ownership period.
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Sorry man, I'm not selling.

I just had covers made for both. An upholsterer made them for me for $30 each.

Have you looked on Reverb or eBay?

I see some good deals every morning, often with free shipping.

https://imgur.com/sqviGhA
https://imgur.com/lQH2uOM
 
Lewguitar said:
-

Sorry man, I'm not selling.

I just had covers made for both. An upholsterer made them for me for $30 each.

Have you looked on Reverb or eBay?

I see some good deals every morning, often with free shipping.

https://imgur.com/sqviGhA
https://imgur.com/lQH2uOM
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’ve seen others lately and even some going cheap. Just thought you didn’t need two, and would eventually want to sell it so I bug you ever couple months. :)
 
László said:
I sympathize. I had a root canal and two crowns this year.

WTF!

I told my wife that this was guitar money, not tooth money, and I'd rather have guitars than teeth. She demurred. So I got the teeth done. The eyes are coming up in September.

I'm still thinking of backing out, but my family seems to think I should be able to see if I intend to keep on driving. So...I dunno. ;)
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this must be the year for teeth problems! in the last year, I had 2 crowns, 1 root canal, and 2 extractions. Now I need to eventually get a partial for the 2 molars that were extracted so I can eat proper again. I would rather have 2 implants but they would cost me $10k! I always have taken care of my teeth but this thing just snowballed out of control all at once! Sucks getting old! Oh wait, are we talking AMPS? haha
 
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