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Gear Review: Aracom Amps Custom 45R (1 X 12 Combo)

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, aracom amps, distortion, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, Guitars, Music, musicians, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2009| 1 Comment »

4.75 Tone Bones - Almost perfect but not quite

Aracom Amps Custom 45R

Aracom Amps Custom 45R

 Aracom Amps Custom 45R

Summary: A great take on the classic Marshall JTM45, with some extra goodies like tube-driven spring reverb, a fantastic master volume (post phase inverter), half power switch (40 to 20 Watts), and bright and bite switches to add hi and hi-mid EQ bumps for more tonal contouring.

Pros: Very versatile amp with a tonal palette that can serve up gorgeous clean tones to thick, super-compressed power tube distortion.

Cons: Heavy – weighs in at 60lbs.

Price: $2195 street (as tested with 1 X 12 Combo)

Specs:

  • Pre-amp tubes: (3) 12AX7, (1) 6BM8
  • Power Amp Tubes: (2) 6L6GC or KT66 (as tested)
  • Rectifier: (1) GZ34 (5AR4)
  • Reverb Tank: Accutronics Long TankHi/Low B+ voltage switch (40/20 watts)
  • On/Off Switch
  • Standby Switch
  • Indicator Lamp
  • Custom Heavy Duty Aluminum Chassis
  • Custom Wound Transformers
  • Impedance Switch:  4, 8, 16 ohm
  • (2) Speaker Jacks
  • Custom Handcrafted Turret Board
  • Handwired

Tone Bone Rating: 4.75 – Sweet amp with lots of tonal variety, but very heavy at 60 lbs. in a 1 X 12 combo! I would definitely get casters for this amp.

One thing I’ve learned about reviewing gear is to never have preconceptions about what something might sound like, especially with guitars and amps, regardless of what the manufacturer might say. When Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps dropped his latest amp off at my house, then explained that it was modeled off a Marshall JTM45, but with a few enhancements, despite my normal resistance to those suggestions, I still made a few assumptions about what the amp would sound like. Mistake. I was expecting a Marshall tone; it’s there, but it’s also different. But let’s get into some detail, shall we?

Fit and Finish

All Aracom amps are very well built and constructed. The amp I tested uses the cabinet shown above, but is covered in green tolex, and the same acoutrements as the cabinet above. The cabinet itself is very sturdy and very resonant. The metal grille at the top of the amp is a nice touch, as you can see into the chassis and see the tubes all lit up. I dig that kind of stuff. Jeff uses all high-quality material from the chassis to the knobs, and everything is well laid out.

How It Sounds

This is one awesome-sounding amp! I was actually expecting a real scooped tone, but was very surprised that the amp is actually voiced quite evenly through the EQ range, with just a tad bit of lower-mid range. This gives the tone a darker, almost fatter feel. But still, the cleans are rich and crisp, not chimey like an EL-84 would sound. The huge KT-66’s this amp packs probably account for that.

The reverb is subtle – very subtle – but I really like the effect it has. It definitely won’t do surf. It was as if Jeff wanted to add the reverb as a nice decoration for the amp’s tone. If you’re looking for a deep ‘verb, this won’t do it, but the reverb it does give you, for lack of a better word, just “fits.” Here’s a sound sample that I recorded with my Strat playing the amp clean in the Normal channel with all the EQ’s set to their midpoints:

By the way, the clip is the raw recording, with no EQ or mastering or level adjustments (which accounts for a bit of the distortion as I didn’t apply a limiter). As you can tell, the clean tone is sweet and well, clean. And it has TONS of clean headroom in the Normal channel.

As far as distortion is concerned, before this, I had never played with a KT-66-based amp, so I didn’t quite know what to expect, but this amp can produce some serious distortion. When saturated, the KT-66’s really compress the tone, and the compression comes on with even just a bit of breakup. It’s a great sound, but it’s difficult to cut through a mix with that amount of compression. But hitting the bite switch adds a bit of high-mid-frequency gain, so that compensates for the compression by sort of shifting the EQ up a bit.

The bite switch works with both channels, but the bright switch only works on the Normal Channel. This switch boosts the upper-mids and highs. Don’t expect a ringy sound out of this – it’s more like an instance presence control, though the amp sports a sweepable presence knob as well.

I wish I had a sound sample for my test with a Saint Guitars Baritone Messenger. Even though it’s a baritone, the walnut gives it a fairly bright tone, and that is really complimented by the Custom 45R. I was enjoying myself so much with the baritone, I totally forgot to record a clip! Maybe later… In any case, this amp just LOVED the Baritone! The Messenger also sports two Duncan active ‘buckers, and the drive they produce really made the amp growl with a real savage tone. It was very heavy, and I was just diggin’ it! Yowza!

Overall Impressions

While I really like the tone of this amp, and am having a lot of fun playing with it, admittedly I still lean towards that chimey EL-84 tone or that “Fender” tone that 6L6’s produce. The Marshall-esque tone never has been for me, but if I were to be on the lookout for an amp with that type of tone, I’d definitely give this amp some serious consideration.

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Gear Review: Blackheart Engineering BH5-112 “Little Giant” 5 Watt Combo

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Home Studio, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 17, 2009| 7 Comments »

4.75 Tone Bones - Almost perfect but not quite

Blackheart BH5-112 Little Giant 5 Watt Combo

Blackheart BH5-112 Little Giant 5 Watt Combo

 Blackheart BH5-112 Little Giant 5Watt Combo

Summary: Nice, simple, and versatile studio/practice/small venue amp with sporting happening EL-84 tones.

Pros: Sweet and chimey EL-84 tones with Class A circuitry; simple and straightforward to use. Switchable between 5Watts and 3Watts, ensuring usability in just about any smaller venue. 3W mode kicks ass for getting power tube saturation at a reasonable volume.

Cons: I wish it had a Master Volume, but that’s just a nit.

Price: $349 street (used to be $249 when it first came out! Damn! Shoulda gotten one then.)

Specs:

• Single-ended Class A circuit
• All tube signal path
• One 12AX7/ECC83 dual-triode preamp tube and one EL84/6BQ5 pentode output tube
• Pentode (5W rms) Triode (3W rms) switch
• Solid-state rectifier
• DC filament power supply for all tubes
• 3-band EQ
• 16-gauge (1.5 mm) thick, folded and spot welded steel chassis
• Double-sided custom color PCB with 2 oz. copper
• 15-ply, 18 mm thick, void-free birch plywood construction
• Custom-designed 12″ Eminence Blackheart speaker
• 16 ohm, 8 ohm, and 4 ohm speaker outputs

Tone Bone Rating: 4.75 – Very musical and expressive amp. Nice cleans, with a decent amount of headroom.

I first heard about Blackheart amps back in 2007. They were so new that very few people knew about them. And while a local shop was listed as a dealer, only the owner knew about the amps, and they didn’t carry them in stock! Blackheart Engineering is sort of an overseas spinoff from Crate which produces cool, yet affordable tube amps. As a home studio enthusiast, I keep my ear to the ground about low-cost, low-wattage combo amps. When I first heard about the BH5-112, I was excited. I thought it was a bold move for Crate, and a smart one, considering Crate is a huge manufacturer with huge lineup of gear; adding even something cool like the Blackheart line would just get lost in the mix. But Blackheart was pretty low-key. No ads, spotty coverage on the Internet.

So it was a very pleasant surprise to see a few Blackhearts at a local shop yesterday, and among them, the Little Giant. I was actually there to play that G & L Tribute Comanche I wrote about last week; the last time I was at the shop, they didn’t have any Blackhearts, so I wasn’t expecting to see them at all. But with them there, I naturally had to try one out, and luckily they had the Little Giant.

Fit and Finish

This little amp has a real cool vibe going on. I really like the cabinet that Blackheart uses. It’s a closed back cab, and for an amp made overseas, it’s appears to be very well constructed. There were no apparent flaws in the tolex layering, and Blackheart logo on the front is killer. I dig the white vinyl trim used on the front around the grille cloth. Real boutique styling at a pretty affordable price!

The control layout is simple: An input jack on the left, volume and three-band eq knobs, an indicator light and an on/off switch, making it simple to plug in, dial in your tone, and start rockin’.

How It Sounds

I’ve really come to love the EL-84 tones, especially when they’re saturated, and the Little Giant doesn’t disappoint when delivering its sound. With the EQ knobs at 12 o’clock, the natural tone of the amp leans toward a slightly scooped tone with a bright voicing. Even with the specially-made Eminence 1 X 12, it’s bright, but it does retain a taut low-end that really smooths out the tone. Quite pleasing. I only tested the amp with that Tribute Comanche, but it didn’t matter. When I test an amp, I play it clean for a lot of my tests to see if it will deliver the natural tonal character of the guitar, and the Blackheart Little Giant fulfills its mission.

The amp is very responsive to volume knob and pick attack. With the volume set at about halfway, and cranking the guitar volume, I was able to get that AC30-like response: Clean and shimmery, with just the slightest bit of breakup when you dig in. Very pleasing to the ears.

Amazingly enough, even though its power rating is a minuscule 5 Watts, with the 12″ speaker, this amp can put out some volume! Hence its name “Little Giant.” It probably couldn’t keep up with a drum set and a band going all out, but it can pack a good enough punch to work well in a small venue where lower volume is critical, and it definitely could be put to great use in a studio!

Overall Impressions

What can I say? I dig this amp, much like I dig the Fender Champ 600. But unlike its Fender cousin, the 12″ speaker really lets the amp breath. And speaking of volume, I was quite impressed with the volume control. Unlike many amps that practically max out by 6, the sweep covered by the Little Giant’s volume knob is nice, even and more importantly, wide. Two thumbs up!s

Here’s a video (excuse the dude’s misinformation about Class A amps – damn! That’s even worse than my faux pas about modes 🙂

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New Gear: Faustine Amps Attenuator

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2009| 4 Comments »

This piece of gear is so new, it’s not even in production yet, but I just had to share the news!

A few months ago, I was watching a video on YouTube about the Faustine Amps VT-58 amp, which is based on the 5E8A “Low Power Twin” circuit. Very nice, compact amp. But that’s not the story. Faustine is just about to debut a standalone version of their built-in attenuator.

One thing to note about Faustine amps is that all models have a built-in attenuator that gives you from -3dB down to -18dB attenuation. I played at VT-57 at Tone Merchants, which is a 35Watt, 3 X 10 amp – classic, sweet Tweed tone. But it was the built-in attenuator that really sold me on the amp, and actually one of the things that started me thinking about using an attenuator in the first place. As you know, I ended up going with a Dr. Z AirBrake, which has totally served me well, and will continue to do so in the future, but I remember the attenuator working so well on the Faustine, that I was wishing that Faustine had a standalone attenuator.

My wish has been granted.

If you watched the video (and I will present it in its full glory at the end of this entry), the reviewer mentions it being released in early 2009. That prompted me to contact Tim Gregoire, Faustine Amps designer and owner to see if and when it will be released. According to Tim, full production models will be available by the end of this quarter or early next quarter. He’s currently building a set of pre-production models for select clients in the SoCal area, and once he’s done with those, he’ll begin production of generally available models.

So what’s so special with this attenuator? From my personal experience with the built-in one, the attenuator circuit Tim has created is totally transparent – at any level. While I love my Dr. Z, at high attenuation levels, it starts sucking tone, and that’s not good. But with the Faustine, I didn’t detect any tone loss, even when I cranked up the attenuation to its highest setting!

According to Tim, the standalone model will have a wider attenuation range than the built-in attenuator. He shared that it will attenuate within the range of -2dB all the way down to -26dB – that’s conversation-level! Freakin’ awesome! No price yet, it probably won’t be cheap. But sometimes you have to pay for transparency. Once out, the unit will be sold exclusively for a time through Tone Merchants. Stay tuned, as I will hopefully be able to get a unit to review!

Here’s the video of the VT-58. This is a great little low-power amp, with wonderful, vintage Tweed goodness!

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Gear Review: Reason Amps SM40 Head

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, reason amps, SM40, Tone, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 8, 2009| 1 Comment »

5 Tone Bones - Gear has stellar performance, value, and quality. This is definitely top of the class, best of breed, and it's a no-brainer to add this to your gear lineup!

Reason SM40 Head

Reason SM40 Head

 Reason Amps SM40 HeadSummary: Deep, lush cleans, with bright, ballsy and aggressive overdrive. The SM40 is a classic rocker’s wet dream come true.Pros: Touch-sensitive and expressive. The voltage sag in the 5U4 is just enough to create almost a reverb quality as the signal fades. Truly lovely sound!

Cons: None.

Price: $2195

Specs:

• Output: 40 watts RMS @ 10% THD
• (4) EL84 output tubes, in Class A Cathode Biased configuration
• (2) 12ax7 preamp tubes
• 5U4 Rectifier tube
• 3 way Stack switch – Normal, Stack, Bright
• Normal channel – Volume, Tone
• Bright channel – Volume, Tone
• StackMode™ – Bright & Normal channel controls are active, Stack Volume & Hi-Cut
• Oversized extra capacity power supply
• Harmonics Switch – works in the final output stage to change the harmonic structure of the
overdrive.
• Power Switch
• Standby Switch
• Half-power switch
• Independent output jacks for 4,8, 16-Ohm operation
• Footswitch access to all three channels/modes

Tone Bone Rating: 5 – This is a blues and classic rock machine!!!

This review is a long time in coming as I evaluated the SM40 over a month ago, but as they say, better late than never. As many may know, I’ve had a love affair with the SM25 that the Reason guys sent me to review, and that amp will be in my rig (see my review here). In my view, very few amps can match it in versatility. It is an extremely expressive amp that is capable of producing lush, ringing cleans, to searing overdrive. And according to both Anthony Bonadio and Obeid Kahn, the founders of Reason Amps, the SM25 Combo was built specifically with versatility in mind. It is very pedal-friendly, and StackModeTM is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

But sometimes, you just don’t want or need that kind of versatility because with versatility comes compromises. For instance, the SM25’s Normal or clean channel breaks up a little earlier than you’d expect though I actually rarely if ever play at the volume so it’s a none-issue for me. Since I play a variety of styles, versatility is a key factor in my decision on an amp. But that versatility is lost on those who just don’t need it. And mind you, that’s not a bad thing. It’s merely a matter of choice, which is why you have a number of amp options to choose from with Reason Amps. Premier Guitar already covered the SM50, which gives a fair picture of the SM50’s capabilities – though I do have to take issue with Premier Guitar giving it the “Loud As Hell” award. It’s not just a noise-maker. It’s just that you’d swear the SM50 is 100 Watts as opposed to 50 Watts. It’s an extremely powerful and expressive amp with classic EL-34 goodness.

The SM40, on the other hand is a very interesting take based upon EL-84 output tubes. Where the SM25 and SM50 are based on EL-34’s in Class AB fixed-bias configuration, the SM-40 is built around two EL-84’s operating in Class A Cathode Bias configuration. Like the other Reason Amps, the SM40 has two independent channels with the trademark StackModeTM “channel,” that combines the fully amplified signals from both Normal and Bright Channels in a series with an extra gain stage, while retaining both the volume and EQ control that each channel contributes to the combination.

The Story Behind the SM40

I called the Reason guys up to shoot the breeze a bit yesterday, but to also pick their brains about the SM40, Obeid Kahn (Reason’s amp designer) and I had a great conversation about the story behind the SM40. For all intents, and purposes, the SM40 was Reason’s first production amp. Obeid had gone through several prototypes before he finally produced the SM40 which included StackMode. Previous versions had completely independent channels with separate inputs, then evolved into switching between the two, then finally evolved into connecting the two channels in a series. So the SM40 could be considered the eldest sibling in the Reason amp line and the first successful incarnation of StackMode.

How It Sounds

The SM40 is targeted at blues and classic rock players, and it definitely shows that in the way it’s voiced. Moreover, there’s something really special about the clean tone of an EL-84-based amp. It’s naturally chimey and glassy, and guitars that have that natural quality bring that tone out even more. On the Normal channel, the kind of voicing is beautiful; chimey with lots of mid-range, but not overdone. And there’s TONS of clean headroom in this channel, which makes it ideal for use with pedals. Put a booster in front of this channel, and you get that AC-30-like breakup, which is subtle and smooth. Very nice.

The Bright channel, on the other hand, is actually not that much brighter than the Normal channel. In fact, the tonal differences between Normal and Bright are so subtle that you’d think there’s no difference at all. But that’s by design. Unlike the SM25 which was built around versatility, the SM40 is a much more focused machine, which is why you only get volume and tone on any channel or mode, as opposed to the SM25 which includes a 3-band EQ on the Normal channel. The idea behind that makes sense: Players who buy this amp will mostly play a certain style of music and don’t want to be bothered tweaking knobs to dial in their sound. Not that the amp can’t be used in a variety of genres, but players who play this won’t want to stray from the general tone the SM40 produces.

Similarities between the channels aside, the real kicker for me is the StackMode “channel,” which combines Normal and Bright channels in a series, while retaining both volume and tone shaping in both channels. This really opens up a whole new pallette of tones you can produce. It’s super-expressive, and because you’re essentially working with three gain stages in a series, this mode makes the amp incredibly responsive to volume knob and attack. Dime the volume on your guitar, and you can get tons of overdrive. Back it down and pick lighter, and the tone cleans right up. In my tests of both Reason amps, StackMode was pretty much all I used, unless I was playing something where I needed a pure, glassy clean tone for which the Normal channel excels.

An interesting switch labeled Odd/Even resides on the control panel. This is a harmonics switch that works with the phase splitter in the final gain stage. The idea behind it is that at super-high gain, you start getting a “notch” type of distortion. Flipping the switch smooths that out. I actually didn’t notice that much of a difference with the switch in either Odd or Even positions, but maybe that was because I was only 3 feet from the amp, and it was cranked! 🙂 For the most part though, the switch won’t have too much of an effect until you get into really thick overdrive.

Playing It

The SM40 was tested with a Strat copy and a Saint Guitars Benchmark with humbuckers. With the Strat copy, you’re immediately taken to the roots of blues. The chimey vibe really comes out with single coils, and I found myself closing my eyes to take in the sweetness. With the Benchmark, the SM40 grew big balls of steel. Not that you’d do metal with this amp, but humbuckers make the SM40 want to growl. It’s really nice.

Overall Impressions

The SM40 is a sweet amp, and like its sibling, the SM50, it’s really made for the stage. It’s expressive and ballsy, and is meant to be played hard. As both Anthony and Obeid have both told me, this amp is made for active musicians. And while I wouldn’t want to keep people from buying it because it sounds so good, by the same token, I wouldn’t recommend it for bedroom use. You wouldn’t be able to take advantage of its full range of tones.

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Thoughts on Guitar Amp Speakers

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, aracom amps, buying gear, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitar lifestyle, guitarists, Guitars, reason amps, SM25, speakers, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 31, 2008| 4 Comments »

Celestion GreenbackMy good friend Phil of Phil ‘N The Blanks has been bugging me to write about speakers for the last couple of weeks. I’d talk about this speaker or that in some amp or cab, and he’d say, “There’s your next article, dude. You gotta write about speakers.” Admittedly, I’ve been a bit reticent about the subject because of all guitar parts, what makes a speaker sound good is purely a subjective thing; that is, someone’s assessment of a speaker’s tonal quality is entirely personal.

Oh yeah, you can argue the case of alnico vs. ceramic. You can argue vintage vs. modern voicing. You can argue about the materials used in a particular speaker. But in the end, none of that matters unless it sounds good to… well… you.

Phil has been trying to get me to write about certain speakers, but that’s something I just won’t do because again, it’s personal preference. For instance, Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps came over to my house today and we talked at length about his RoxBox 18 Watt Combo. I love the amp, but really wasn’t moved by the Eminence Red Coat Red Fang, which uses an alnico driver. On the other hand, I love the RoxBox head plugged into the Reason SM25 speaker cabinet that sports a Red Coat “The Governor,” which uses a ceramic driver. To me, it has a deeper sound. I kind of lean towards the “woman tone,” and “The Governor” is voiced a lot like a Celestion Greenback, which is known for its rich tones. Combined with my Strat I can get that tone. It just wasn’t happening for me with the Red Fang, though for really heavy rock stuff, the Red Fang really shines when it’s pumped up, as it compresses very nicely at high gain output. But that’s not the style I play, so it was hard for me to truly appreciate its virtues.

That said, Jeff mentioned another guitarist who just loves that setup. He’s more of a pure rock player, and loves the warmth and brightness that the Red Fang produces. See what I mean? To talk about this speaker or that is akin to starting a holy war. And you can’t tell anyone a particular speaker is bad or good because that’s just an opinion.

So here’s my advice if you want to switch to a different speaker: Go to a place where you can try speakers out and pick the one YOU like. Use reviews and sound bites as guides only. They’ll generally get you into the ballpark of the tone you want to achieve. And don’t be surprised if you get a speaker for cheap. Remember, as far as gear is concerned, something that costs more a lot of times just costs more – it may not sound any better to you. A good comparison to make is with the speakers I mentioned above. The Red Fang costs about $129, while The Governor costs $89. But I like the sound The Governor produces. If the prices were switched, I’d still go with The Governor.

So don’t be fooled by any marketing mumbo-jumbo. Go out and test for yourself! 🙂

There Phil, I wrote an article about speakers…

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Gear for the Home Studio

Posted in amplifiers, amps, buying gear, GarageBand, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, Guitars, Home Studio, inspiration, instruction, mac, Music, musicians, recording, songwriting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2008| 2 Comments »

Home Studio There are different schools of thought around this subject, but I thought I’d throw in some of my own thoughts, since I’ve been at it awhile. Note that I won’t be talking about techniques necessarily, though I will include some tips and tricks… So without further ado…

First, let’s establish something here: You don’t need to buy super-expensive gear to sound good, and you don’t need a lot of equipment. I’ve found that in a lot of cases, while more expensive gear will afford you convenience features, and a better sound quality, for the home studio enthusiast, a lot of times this gear is overkill. I’ll go into some details below, but in my opinion, recording technique is far more important. So with that said, let’s start talking about what I think are essential pieces of equipment:

Computer Equipment/Software

You probably already have a computer, but it should be configured to handle digital recording. While drive speed is important, it isn’t necessarily critical. My MacBook Pro’s hard drive spins at 5400 rpm, and I have no problems recording stuff. But what you do need is space. I’d recommend getting two hard drives: one for programs, and the other dedicated to saving data. It’s just a cleanliness thing. Also, get as much RAM as your machine can handle. I’ve got 4GB on my machine. That’s even more important than a hard drive. You don’t need a super-poweful machine either, but dual-core machines really work well.

Okay, Mac or PC? Go with what you’re comfortable with. There are lots of programs out there; among them is a neat little program that works great on both PC and Mac called Audacity – it’s free! Todd Rundgren recorded a lot of his latest album using Audacity, so it’s definitely doable.

What about ProTools?

I’ve got it. It’s great. But the learning curve is super steep. In fact, when I first started recording, I spent more time learning how to use the damn software than getting my ideas down and that just frustrated me to no end; so much so, that I lost my taste for recording for several months – I just didn’t want to mess around with the software! I just wanted to get my freakin’ ideas down! I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s complicated, and you’ll have to spend a lot of time learning the ins and outs of the program. With the home studio, what you’re after is getting your ideas down with reasonable quality – and fast. That, at least, is my opinion. In light of that, I use GarageBand to get all my ideas down. It has built-in rhythm loops so I don’t have to use a click track, and there are lots of add-ons, both free and affordable, that you can use in GB. The sound quality is excellent, and it even has some mastering presets that work amazingly well!

Digital Interface

There are lots out there. I happen to use the DigiDesign MBox 2, which has two analog inputs, MIDI, and a couple of others I don’t use. Very handy little box. But there are lots of solutions out there in the $300-$400 range. Most use USB, though FireWire is probably the optimum – it also costs more.

Microphones

Now this is just my opinion, but you’ll need at least two mics: One ribbon mic, and one dynamic mic. I have a Nady RSM-200 ribbon that cost me less than $200, and it works superbly! I also swear by my trusty Sennheiser 835 stage mic, which is a workhorse similar to the Shure SM-58, but I think it’s warmer and has a much flatter EQ response than the SM-58 which can get kind of boomy.

MIDI Controller

Being also a piano player – not nearly as good on this as I am on guitar – having a keyboard to trigger MIDI and add MIDI-based instruments is another essential. You can go the small route (2 octave) or go the full-size keyboard route. I use an M-Audio full-size stage keyboard myself only because it doubles as my MIDI controller as well as my gigging keyboard. It was also cheap at $300 new. Nice.

From my standpoint, this is all you need as far as essential equipment for recording. Now let’s get into some techniques and some nice-to-haves:

  1. Always record acoustic guitar using mics – and use two of ’em. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? I’ve tried going direct into my computer, and the sound is horrible. But using two mics works great. I usually place my ribbon mic about six inches from the sound hole, then place my dynamic mic pointed at a 45 degree angle at about the 3rd fret to capture sounds coming off the neck. Also, to take advantage of the ribbon mic’s rear pickup, I have a board, or hard, reflective surface placed about two to three feet in front of me to reflect sound back. It gives just a sligh reverb effect that really fills out the recorded tone.
  2. If you can swing it, get a couple of low-wattage amps. In particular, I use a Fender Champ 600, which is a 5 Watt amp with an 8″ speaker. Another one I’ve used, but don’t own is the Epiphone Valve Jr.. What a nice little amp! Since you’re recording at bedroom levels, a small amp that puts out less volume works wonders. Now here’s the trick I’ve found to recording with these small amps. You can make that sucker sound HUGE by close-mic’ing the amp. I use a dynamic mic pointed at an angle along the cone of the speaker, and place it no more than 2″ away from the grille cloth. Then I use a variety of overdrive and distortion pedals to get grind or searing distortion, then in my software boost the low frequencies. The end result is that it sounds like I’ve just recorded a full-size stack! You have to play with your settings, but it’s definitely achievable. The other nice thing about using a small amp for recording is that the naturally bright voicing really works well in a digital recording environment.
  3. For vocals, always use a pop filter. I’m an experienced singer, and even though I have great mic technique, nothing is worse on a recording than picking up those oral transients that your mouth makes when making consonant sounds. Pop filters cost less than $20 and believe me they’re a life saver.
  4. While we’re on the subject of vocals… Avoid using a compressor on vocals as much as possible. When you’re singing a louder phrase, move away from the mic. It’s that simple. Compression is good to a point, but there’s a lot to be said about having volume dynamics in your vocals. You get a lot more emotion coming through when you have it. If volume is pretty much the same throughout a song, it’s well… boring in my opinion, no matter how good a singer you are.
  5. Avoid EQ as much as you can. Dial in the EQ on your instruments before you record, then only do wholesale volume adjustments later to make mix corrections. What you’re trying to do is capture the natural sound the instrument makes as closely as possible. The only exception I make to this is when I’m recording a low-wattage amp and want to boost the lows. Otherwise, I just do volume adjustments for the mix.

These are just a few things I’ve learned over the last few years of doing this. I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff, so if anyone else wants to add to this, please feel free!

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Gear Find: Aracom Amps RoxBox 18 Watt Amplifier

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, musicians, Tone, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 19, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Aracom Amps RoxBox 18 Watt Amp

Aracom Amps RoxBox 18 Watt Amp

I love writing this blog. Not only do I get to share my passion for guitar and guitar gear, in the couple of years since I started this blog, I’ve met and encountered some really great folks who also share the same passion. After all, it’s why you visit, and I thank you for all the support you’ve given me! When I started GuitarGear.org, I didn’t have any idea of where I’d go with it. I just started writing; not very often at first, but then it just kind of took on a life of its own as I found other great gear blog sites, and started interacting with the general blogging community, and the people I’d meet on other sites would visit my site. That’s what has kept me going, and it’s just an amazing thing!

Of course, it’s really cool to review gear, whether I own it or test it, then share my findings with folks. And speaking of reviewing gear, in this article, I’m introducing what looks to be a real promising, new amp company, called Aracom Amps! They have a whole line of reasonably affordable, hand-wired amps modeled mostly after classic Marshal amps. From what I could tell from the sound samples, these are very nice sounding amps, and the few reviews I’ve been able to find have all been exceedingly favorable. So like I said, there’s a lot of promise in this relative newcomer to the custom, hand-wired amp space.

Jeff from Aracom contacted me the other day to see if he could buy some ad space on my site. I replied that I had never even considered doing that because I didn’t want to commercialize the site. The most commercial thing I’ve done to this point is to put “click-throughs” to Musicians Friend on some of my review pages so people could buy gear directly, but I never actually expected to make any serious money from the site. However, I did tell him that at the very least, I’d review some gear for him, and if I really loved it, like I do with Reason Amps and Saint Guitars (by the way, I just got a new baritone yesterday to test, and IT ROCKS!!!), I’d make a banner for him and put it on my site.

So I am now awaiting delivery of what I think is a very, very cool EL-84 based 18 Watt amp called the RoxBox. It’s completely hand-wired on turret board, and it comes in a head version (which is what I’ll be initially reviewing), and in two different combos: A 1 X10 and a 1 X 12. Nice. It has two individually voiced channels with independent volume and tone control, and is also switchable down to 9 Watts. So this promises to be a very versatile little amp. To say I’m extremely excited about receiving this amp is putting it mildly. The reason why I’m so excited is because the most you’ll pay for one of these is $995.00!!! Imagine that! A hand-wired amp for less than a grand! It’s unheard of! And all Jeff’s amps are very reasonably priced.

Let’s look at some features:

General Specifications:
– (2) EL84 Power Tubes
– (2) 12AX7 & (1) 12AT7 Preamp Tubes
– S.S. Rectifier with “sag” circuit
– Hi/Low B+ voltage switch (18/9 watts)
– On/Off Switch
– Indicator Lamp
– Custom Heavy Duty Aluminum Chassis
– Custom Wound Transformers
– 4, 8, 16 ohm Speaker Jacks
– Custom Handcrafted Turret Board
– Handwired

Head Cabinet
Standard Tolex: Black Levant. See options below for other colors.
– Dimensions: 19″w x 8h x 8.25″d
– Weight: 23 lbs

Combo Cabinets
Standard Tolex: Black Levant. See options below for other colors.
– Dimensions
1×10 Combo: 18″w x 19h x 10″d
1×12 Combo: 18″w x 19h x 10″d
– Weight
1×10 Combo: 36 lbs
1×12 Combo: 39 lbs

Introductory pricing:
Rox Box Head $895
Rox Box Combo with 10″ Jensen ALNICO Speaker $995
Rox Box Combo with 12″ Jensen Ceramic Speaker $995

Pretty impressive!

I had a great conversation with Jeff this morning about his amps’ price points, and he said that considering today’s economy, he wanted people to be able to buy his amps, and since he does all the work himself, and has done a tremendous job with planning his manufacturing (for example, all his amps use the exact same chassis template), he can keep the price down. With the RoxBox, he was able to keep the price point down further by using a solid-state rectifier that simulates a rectifier tube’s voltage sag rather than using a tube rectifier. Now before you dismiss this, remember that the venerable Fender company has been using solid state rectifiers in their amps for decades, and no one complains about their gorgeous sound! But besides that single piece of solid state componentry, everything else is hand-wired and tube-based.

Check out the RoxBox and other Aracom Amps at the company web site!

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Review: Reason SM25 Combo Amp

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar lifestyle, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, reason amps, Saint Guitar Company, SM25, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2008| 6 Comments »

Reason Amps SM25 25 Watt Combo Amp

Reason Amps SM25 25 Watt Combo Amp

 Reason SM25 25 Watt Combo Amp

Summary: Incredibly expressive and versatile amp that can deliver a wide range of tones from glassy, sparkly cleans, to lewd, rude, and crude distortion, all in a single cabinet!

Pros: Killer tones in all channels. Amp is voiced bright by design, which makes it great to use in the studio. StackModeTM is the best thing since sliced bread, and is THE secret sauce that makes Reason Amps stand out from the rest.

Cons: No effects loop, which would be handy for placing reverb and other modulation effects after the amplified signal. Just a nit.

Price: $2395

Specs:
• Output: 25 watts RMS @ 5% THD
• 1 X 12 Eminence Red Coat Driver
• (2) 6V6 output tubes, in Class AB Fixed Biased configuration
• (4) 12ax7 preamp tubes
• GZ34 Rectifier tube
• 3 way Stack switch – Normal, Stack, Bright
• Normal channel – Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass
• Bright channel – Volume, Tone
• StackMode™ – Bright & Normal channel controls are active, Stack Volume & Hi-Cut
• Oversized extra capacity power supply
• Power Switch
• Standby Switch
• Independent output jacks for 4,8, 16-Ohm operation
• Footswitch access to all three channels/modes

When I discovered the Reason Amplifier company a few weeks ago, I was so intrigued by what they had to offer that I immediately contacted them. I had the fortune of getting in touch with Anthony Bonadio, one of the founders of Reason to talk to him about his exciting new company and his new line of amps. That conversation led to him sending me an SM25 25 Watt combo to review; and since I’ve had it, I haven’t gotten much sleep from playing with it late into the night. Now you might say that I’m just excited about playing a new amp. Yes, that certainly has a lot to do with it. But what Reason has come up with in their amplifiers is so incredibly brilliant and unique that I’ve been spending all my free time trying to discover the subtle intricacies of this tone machine. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get started!

“Dahr-ling, you look mahvelous!”

The Reason founders, Anthony Bonadio and Obeid Kahn, are both vintage gear freak-o-maniacs, and the retro styling of the entire Reason amp line is a testament to that passion. The SM25 sports a black tolex cabinet with light brown trim around the grille cloth, and a thick leather handle with what appears to be brass accoutrements. Between the control surface and grill cloth is a prominent tolex-covered cross board sporting the Reason logo which, by the way, is very cool, very retro as well. The control board looks like burnished brass with black, bold lettering for labels. And to add to that retro vibe, chicken head knobs are used for all the controls. This amp, and all Reason amps for that matter, just ooze vintage mojo. Just looking at the amp, I can’t help but grin that grin you get when you see something so far-out COOL!

It’a hard to discern the actual size of the amp from just a picture. So make no mistake about its size: This is not a diminutive 25 Watt amp. In fact, it’s about as big as a Fender Twin, though not as deep. The shipping weight said 32 pounds, but from feel and comparison to my Fender Hot Rod, it weighs almost as much. But that’s not a bad thing. A beefy cabinet creates a lot of resonance if done correctly, and believe me, it’s done correctly with this amp.

How It Sounds

All Reason amps, including the SM25 are voiced bright. You don’t get beefy lows out of this, and that’s by design. Now before you dismiss that, on stage and in the studio, that bright voicing will ensure your guitar cuts through the mix. I recently played it at one of my regular gigs, and where my amp oftentimes gets lost in the mix, forcing me to pump up my volume, I had no problem cutting through, and mind you, I barely had to push my volume. The bright voicing let my guitar tone sit in the mids and highs. My sound guy even commented on how well he could hear my guitar without me pushing the volume like I usually do during a solo break; though admittedly, like any lead guitarist, I usually don’t mind being louder than everyone else. 🙂

In the studio, using the amp for recording is like being in heaven. The bright voicing combined with the rich tones the amp produces is simply candy for the ears. From a practical perspective, brightly voiced amps also record much better. For home recording I’ve had to stop using my big amp because it’s just too boomy, no matter how I set the EQ. I’ve had to use smaller, brighter amps because they cut through a mix much better. But since I’ve had the SM25, I’ve recorded two songs with it, and like I said, I’m in heaven. I now have a bright voice to cut through the mix, but rich tones as well. It’s the best of both worlds!

The SM25 is also incredibly touch-sensitive and responsive to the subtlest manipulations I made on my guitar. In fact, when I first started playing with it, I was a bit embarrassed by how I sounded. For my all my tests, I played along to some jam tracks I’ve produced for practicing different styles, and recorded what I played through the amp. When I played back what I had recorded, I was appalled at how crappy I sounded! All my mistakes came through! I couldn’t hide whatever bad habits or bad technique I had behind effects, like I normally would. In short, this amp has forced me to play better because it’s so unforgiving when you make a mistake. But hey! It’s never a bad thing to be shown your weaknesses. That’s how you grow and improve!

Multiple channels, lots of tone shaping possibilities…

The SM25 comes with two channels: Normal and Bright. But it also sports a third “channel” called StackModeTM that’s essentially the Normal and Bright channels run in a series with an extra gain stage, while retaining volume and tonal control over the Normal and Bright channels. To me, StackMode is Reason’s secret sauce, but I’ll get into that in a bit. I’ll first describe the independent channels.

The Normal channel sports a volume knob and a three-band EQ. The volume knob is also a push-pull knob, and pulling it out adds some extra high-freq boost to bring out the super high frequencies. The effect is that once you set up your EQ, pulling out the knob adds some extra high-freq shimmer and sparkle. It’s subtle, but absolutely delicious. Comparatively speaking, the Normal channel sounds like your classic, jangly American clean tone, but with the high-freq boost, you get a bit of the sharpness of the British clean – nice.

The Bright channel is well, bright. It too has a push-pull volume knob for extra high-freq boost, and it has a single tone knob to back off some of the brightness. The Bright channel is also the more “ballsy” of the two, and really kicks in some pretty high gain. It’s quite lovely, in my opinion, and it’s perfect for doing the traditional solo break that will cut right through a mix with ease.

Channels? We don’t need no stickin’ channels!

But for me, the real attraction of this amp, and actually any amp from Reason for that matter, is StackModeTM. In all my years of playing, I’ve never come across anything quite like it. On the surface, you might think this is just another channel on a multichannel amp. It is in a way, because of its independent gain stage. But that’s about as close a comparison that you can make to other multichannel amps. Unlike other multichannel amps where all the channels are independent, StackModeTM input doesn’t come directly from the guitar. The guitar’s signal is routed through the Normal and Bright channels first, then fed into the StackMode channel. And the volume and EQ settings on the Normal and Bright channels are still active!

Because volume and EQ are retained in the Normal and Bright channels in StackModeTM, the tone shaping possiblities are incredible. What you adjust in Normal or Bright affects the final output. You can crank up the volumes on the first two channels and achieve uber gain, with thick, rich distortion. Or you can dial it back a bit and take a more balanced approach. The point is that you can do a lot of tone shaping to your needs while in StackModeTM. And here’s the kicker: The amp still retains its touch and guitar volume sensitivity in StackModeTM.

What does this mean? Well, I soon discovered that StackModeTM was the only channel I’d probably ever use, unless I had to go super clean, whereas I’d just switch to the Normal channel. The amp in StackModeTM is so responsive to picking attack and volume knob levels that I found I just didn’t need to do any channel switching at all once I dialed in my settings for the Normal and Bright channels. It’s that good!

One other thing, the volume knob on the StackModeTM channel is a very good Master volume. When I’m playing late at night, I can turn the volume down on the StackModeTM channel, and still retain the characteristics of the settings I made in the first two channels. It’s just softer. How cool is that? So that’s why entitled this section, “Channels? We don’t need no stinkin’ channels.” Once you have your settings dialed into StackModeTM, you’ll never want to get out of it! So for me, the SM25 is effectively a single channel amp with adjustable stages.

My Tests

In any case, for my tests, I used four different guitars: A Strat, a PRS SE Soapbar II with P-90’s, an Epiphone Korina Explorer and a Saint Guitars Benchmark, both with humbuckers. I’ll talk about how each guitar sounds separately below.

Fender Strat

Obeid Kahn is known in the industry as a “Strat man,” and this amp really sounds great with a Strat. I’ve got the vintage re-issue Tex Mex pickups in mine, and slathering on reverb, you can get some awesome Dick Dale-like tones. But it doesn’t necessarily sound like a Fender amp. In fact, the clean tone is like a cross between a Fender and a Marshall. It’s creamy smooth, but bright and sparkly at the same time. The big cabinet adds to the resonance, and the ever so slight voltage sag that you get from the rectifier adds to the sustain and resonance. This is boon when you’re playing with a Strat because they do not sustain well at all. I could get country twang to hard-driving distortion with uber sustain with my Strat.

PRS SE Soapbar II

P-90’s are hot pickups by nature, and it doesn’t take much to push any amp into overdrive, and when it does this, it’s a preamp overdrive lover’s wet dream! With the SM25, the 12AX7’s just sing with sweet, smooth overdrive goodness. There’s nothing harsh about the sound this produces in the SM25, but one thing I did notice with the tone was that unlike other amps I’ve played with my SE Soapbar II, even though the amp is bright, the sound the amp produces with it is big and bold, without being boomy. It’s crystal clear, and doesn’t wash out the higher notes in a barre chord, which often happens with more boomy amps. All in all, I just dug that halfway between single coils and humbucker sound my P-90’s produced with the SM25.

Epiphone Korina Explorer

This is a real rock guitar, with a warm ballsy tone. Plugged into the SM25, I was amazed at how the amp responded to this guitar, and I was able to spew out some thick distortion and singing sustain with the volume knobs on the amp dimed to the hilt. I’m not a metal player, and technically, with the bright voicing of the Reason amps one wouldn’t think they’d be suitable for metal, but the lewd, rude, and crude drive I could produce with the Explorer plugged into the SM25 was scary! But in a good way. And when I scooped the EQ, yikes!

Saint Guitars Benchmark

Of all the guitars I used for testing the SM25, the amp seemed to love the Benchmark the most. This guitar was spec’d with Blues and Classic Rock in mind, and through the SM25, I’ve never heard it sing like this. I could go from deep, dreamy clean to rabid dog distortion, and the whole time, the SM25 maintained a tonal clarity and character; never muddying or washing out. It was other-worldly, to say the least.

Made for the Road and the Studio

Anthony Bonadio cautioned me during a previous conversation that he didn’t want to alienate people from buying the amps when he said, “Our amps are really intended for the gigging and session musician.” In other words, Reason amps aren’t really meant for the bedroom musician. These amps want to move air, and that’s no exception with the SM25. In fact, when cranked, it’s a hell of a lot louder than my 40 Watt Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and that’s a loud amp! It just wants to project its voice. Premier Guitar even gave its bigger brother, the SM50, its “Loud as Hell” award. But in my opinion, the real test of an amp is how good it sounds throughout its entire range of volume. That’s a mark of versatility, and in spite of what Anthony claims is the focus of Reason’s line of amps, you actually can play these amps at bedroom levels and still produce kick-ass tone!

A lot of amps don’t sound good unless they’re cranked, but at lower volumes they just peter out and lose their character. But at least with my experience with the SM25, it sounds great at ANY volume. Considering that all Reason amps are built around the exact same circuitry, I can safely say that this probably applies to the entire line. So don’t be fooled by the “loud as hell” moniker. These amps are incredibly versatile amps that are comfortable be played in lots of different venues under a variety of conditions.

My Overall Take

I think you can guess that I just love the SM25. For a musician like me who plays small to medium venues, and whose studio is located in a carpeted garage, this amp is a dream come true. It’s expressive with all my guitars, and it’s so versatile that I can use it wherever I play.

As I shared with Anthony recently, StackModeTM is it for me. It’s the secret sauce that sets Reason amplifiers apart from the competition! For more information, go to the Reason Amps web site. And if your local dealer has some in stock, I encourage you to go there and play around with one. You will not be disappointed; in fact, you’ll be blown away!

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Reason Amps: Notes from a Conversation with Reason Amps founder Anthonly Bonadio

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar lifestyle, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, performing, recording, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 12, 2008| 1 Comment »

Reason Amplifiers

This is a continuation and expansion of the original new gear article I wrote previously…

Riddle me this…

So what do you get when you cross a veteran cabinet maker with an electrical engineering guru? Right. A new amp manufacturer. But the two guys I’m talking about, Anthony Bonadio and Obeid Kahn, didn’t just want to create another boutique amp outfit; they had to have a “reason” to create yet another amp manufacturing company; and after putting their heads together they did come up with a “reason.” It’s called Reason amps!

I recently had the privilege to speak with Anthony Bonadio at length about his new company, and I’m incredibly impressed with the vision behind Reason amps. As Anthony put it, their new amp had to be different: Not just a re-expression of existing designs, but something truly different; otherwise there wouldn’t be a reason to build one (get it?). And at first blush, it certainly appears that they’ve realized their desire to be different. But in order to be different, you have to know what you can do against the existing paradigms, and both Anthony’s and Obeid’s pedigrees as amp cab manufacturer and electrical engineer respectively have given them a certain industry perspective that have allowed them to produce an amp that does indeed push beyond the current paradigms.

So what’s so different about Reason amps? You might look at the amp and say, “This is just another flavor of a vintage-voiced two channel amp.” And if all you used were the Normal and Bright channels independently, you’d be mostly correct. In fact, both Obeid and Anthony are vintage gear freaks, and wanted to produce a vintage-voiced amp – but take it elsewhere… And it’s the third mode of operation that makes this amp really stand out. It’s something Obeid coined “StackMode.” Make no mistake, StackMode isn’t just adding a gain stage to an amp. It’s actually running the two amp channels in series.

“So what,” you might say, “That sounds like a bunch of marketing mumbo-jumbo. There are lots of multi-channel amps on the market.” Not like this. In almost all multi-channel amps, the signal handling for each channel is performed independently. Channel switching is pretty much an internal A/B box. Some amps will have independent EQ on each channel, though most have a “Master” EQ that controls the EQ for all the channels.

StackMode is different – and more importantly, it hasn’t been done before (at least not that I know of).

With StackMode engaged, the fully amplified signal from the first channel flows into the next channel in a series, so what you do to the input gain, EQ and output from the first channel directly affects the signal of the second stage; hence the term, “StackMode.” So in reality, this is not just a different take on an existing pattern. It’s taking an existing pattern and creating a completely new application out of it.

In light of this, I asked myself, why hasn’t this been done before? It seems so simple in concept. But in reality, it’s not easy at all because of the power management issues that arise from essentially re-amping a previously amplified signal that has already gone through a gain stage. With the Reason amps, it’s all about the engineering behind managing the voltage and current, and that’s where Obeid Kahn’s engineering genius has come into play.

So to re-answer the original question that I started the article with: What do you get when you cross a veteran cabinet maker with an electrical engineering guru? You get a new amp that completely breaks the mold of existing amp designs. To say I’m excited about this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what I’m feeling.

The Amps

Reason amps come in two tonal flavors depending upon the power tubes you choose, either EL34- or EL84-based. From the EL34 side Reason offers the SM50 head, SM25 head, SM25 combo for 50 and 25 Watt ouput respectively. On the EL84 side, there are the SM40 head and SM20 combo, with 40 and 20 Watts of output respectively. And of course, they 4X12, 2X12, and 1X12 speaker cabs for the heads as well. No matter what amp you choose, all come with StackMode, so all you have to decide upon is your tonal and power requirements!

Amazingly enough, prices are “Reason-able” considering the engineering that has gone into the amps and compared to other boutique amp manufacturers. Here’s a quick list:

EL34

SM50 Head – $2295
SM25 Head – $2195
SM25 Combo – $2395

EL84

SM40 Head – $2195
SM20 Combo – $2295

Cabs

412 Cab – $995
212 Cab – $595
112 Cab – $395

So why are the prices for the different amps so close together? Simply because the circuitry is the same for each amp. The only significant difference between the amps is in the power handling for each amp, and according to Anthony, that doesn’t impact the production cost in any significant way.

Hybrid Construction

A lot of purists scoff at the idea that any PCB board is used in the construction of a vintage-style amp. But Reason actually uses a combination of turret boards and PCB boards to handle specific tasks for optimal performance. For instance, all signal handling (read: the tone producing stuff) is done with point-to-point wiring on turret boards, while all the switching is done on PCB boards to ensure fast response and reliability. All boards employed are high-grade, 1/8” thick, so even the PCB boards have ample traces to ensure great current flow. So the idea is to use the best and most appropriate components for a particular job. That’s just plain intelligent engineering.

Made by players for players

A lot of companies claim this, but with Obeid’s and Anthony’s collective experience as performing musicians, they really had the gigging and session guitarist in mind when building their amps. For instance, the amps are voiced bright by design, as brighter amps will be able to cut through a mix a lot easier. They also record a lot better. Case in point, even though I love my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, I have to admit that it doesn’t record very well because of its naturally expansive output that makes it sound a bit muddy in a mix. It works great on stage, especially in the low volume venues I play. But in the studio, I tend to use smaller amps that have a real mid- to high-freq voicing because the guitars just sound so much better through them. But with a brightly voiced amp like a Reason, I wouldn’t have to rely so much on tiny, less “ballsy” amps.

One thing I do have to mention is that the volume knob on all Reason amps is a push-pull knob. When you pull it out, you get a high-freq EQ boost, to get more high-end freqs that’ll add extra sparkle and shimmer to your output. This is great for recording!

All that said, Anthony did stress that he didn’t want to alienate any players who didn’t happen to be gigging or session musicians; it’s just that those kinds of guitarists would definitely find an immediate advantage of using a Reason amp because of how it’s voiced.

My Take Overall

Yeah, yeah, I’m excited about yet another thing – if you read this blog with any regularity, when am I not? But really, it’s not too often that new gear totally blows me away. To me, the concept behind StackMode is a staggering achievement. As an engineer myself (though in software), I have a genuine appreciation for new and innovative solutions to different problems, and StackMode is something that really tickles the geek in me. Granted, I’ve only heard sound bites, but I’m soon going to be demoing the SM25 in the near future, and I just know I won’t be disappointed!

Check out the whole story at the Reason Amps web site. It’s awesome.

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