So I got to play a Craig last night at Andrea Barth's Guitar Experience.
This was outside across from Andreas' complex:
I took it as a good sign.
It's the first time I've played one even though I've been chatting to ben about pedals, pedalboards, guitars, amps, circuits and other geeky stuff for more than a year now.
I took my 6120DSW and modded 5120 through to play it but also got to play the GXP with a Linhoff Telecaster, Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-125, Gibson ES-335, G&L Stratocaster and my lowly 5120 (with TV Jones pickups). I unfortunately didn't get to take my Rickenbacker 620, but that's the very next thing I wanna play with it when I get the chance again!
So some info on the amp:
It has and EF86 preamp, Volume, 6-Way Tone Switch, Reverb, Cut, PPIMV Master and a Jensen C12N. (more info on the guitar experience website)
6120DSW:
The first thing I did was plug my 6120 in, set volume to break-up, crank the reverb, make sure the cut was off and fiddle with the tone knob to get a sound.
It took about 3 seconds to get an awesome tone.
Did my surf/rockabilly thing just great.
Crisp, clear chords.
Excellent note definition
Solid bass response
I then took the cut all the way down, reverb down to just a touch, dropped the volume, upped the master, twiddled the tone.
Excellent, warm, jazz tone. It wasn't muffled at all, it was still solid, articulate and musical.
5120:
Then I plugged in my 5120 with TVs and flatwounds.
Dropped the volume a touch more as the TV's push the amp harder, maxed the cut again.
Perfect old school 1950s rock and roll tone. I would have KILLED to have some slap-back there.
Really made my 5120 sound like 20k worth of guitar!
ES-125:
I love vintage Gibsons with P90s. This was a thin-line ES-125, nice and old, excellent condition. It had that AWESOME FAT Gibson neck on it (which I love) and flatwounds.
The low treble response of the flatwounds and the low output of the p90s was just awesome. Excellent, characterful, early blues tone.
The amp, at all settings, remained musical. I particularly liked the ES-125 with the volume just past breakup, TEENY TINY bit of verb. The amp really is so touch sensitive that one setting and one guitar can provide you with a massive tone palette.
ES-335:
Wine red, satin finish and a couple of humbuckers. 2007 model. Solid guitar.
First thing I did was drop the master, kill reverb, max the volume, find a nice tone, adjust cut to control the bite.
When I had it on the bridge pickup it had a great lead/blues tone. Then I switched to the neck and rolled the tone off and got a ridiculously cool fuzz tone. It was a REALLY interesting sound that I would LOVE to explore more. It was incredibly rich and creamy, almost big muff style.
Guitars that I'm less familiar with but also tried out and was REALLY impressed by:
Linhoff Tele:
The neck pickup on it was a Lindy Fralin. Sounded awesome. Nice rich neck tone, not muddy at all.
I managed to get a cocked-wah sound on the bridge pickup with the volume cranked and the tone-selector on the 5th or 6th setting and the cut all the way down.
Then I hit the tele bridge pickup, dropped the volume on the amp to breakup again, got the cut all the way up and got some crazy twangy-tones.
G&L Strat:
Damn fine strat. Got all the strat tones great off the bat. Really nice, rugged build.
I cranked the volume and the verb, put the strat on the bridge pickup and jammed Misirlou (Dick Dale) and it sounded EPIC! Great cut but not tinny, fat but still articulate. The reverb is incredibly musical.
I dropped the low E to D and even played some Tool (Lateralus) and heavier stuff. Excellent "djent".
In conclusion:
The preamp is an old-school vox style with the EF86 and has great tone.
The 6 way tone selector constantly provides fresh, interesting options and makes different guitars have completely new tonal abilities. It's not just more or less, it's 6 tonal options!
The reverb is rich and musical at all levels.
The Cut is an excellent tone-shaping tool and seems to always be useful at creating interesting, usable sounds.
The PPIMV is out of the circuit when you open it up, giving it the sound of a non-master volume amp.
The amp really has it's own character and edge.
The amp is hand-built, hand-wired with top grade components.
It's red all over. Even valve covers, JJ's logos and turret board.
The finish is EXCELLENT.
It's also way underpriced compared to what's available in it's performance bracket at local music stores. It's LOCALLY made, so you are supporting a native South African while you get a better amp for cheaper.
Did I mention that it's red all over?
Here are some pics:
P.S. Werner Botha took some video footage of me playing (horribly as I'm sick at the moment) which I'll try put up here but we are hoping to get it into a studio and do a proper review at full volume and possibly in a band context.
Thanks to Andreas Barth and Werner Botha from Guitar Experience for letting my play some fine guitars through a fine amplifier. You're a classy bunch! Thanks to Benjamin Craig for being a local legend, good friend and amp-building HERO! You pretty much build tone.
