Connecting is what we do... At least it should be what we do. The music and the show are the part we get to enjoy, but the business is all about making connections. This is one of the reasons I've been more active on Linkedin lately...
One such connection I made was with the sound guy at a conference I spoke at (it was actually the same conference 10 times to make sure all of the leaders of a large company heard the same message) a couple of years ago. Kevin was good at his job, and doing talking-head type of work is not his passion, we chatted about sound stuff and recording and concert systems and mixing and I hope that I was easy to work with (some professional speaker types can be a little more than a handful).
Kevin reached out a few weeks ago to see how I was doing and to let me know that he had started building small tube amps. (I had been following him on Facebook, so I already knew!) He asked if I'd be interested in testing one of his amps and doing a review. I told him I'd be glad to do it, and would do a write up for my blog (this one), too!
It arrived a couple of weeks and I could not wait to put it through its paces!
One such connection I made was with the sound guy at a conference I spoke at (it was actually the same conference 10 times to make sure all of the leaders of a large company heard the same message) a couple of years ago. Kevin was good at his job, and doing talking-head type of work is not his passion, we chatted about sound stuff and recording and concert systems and mixing and I hope that I was easy to work with (some professional speaker types can be a little more than a handful).
Kevin reached out a few weeks ago to see how I was doing and to let me know that he had started building small tube amps. (I had been following him on Facebook, so I already knew!) He asked if I'd be interested in testing one of his amps and doing a review. I told him I'd be glad to do it, and would do a write up for my blog (this one), too!
It arrived a couple of weeks and I could not wait to put it through its paces!
The instructions were clear - do not power it up without an 8ohm or more speaker attached (If I've never told you the story of how I killed a super-rare Fender Rivera-era Twin Reverb II [6X10" combo with a Twin Reverb II black-face amp instead of the 'Super Six' amp on top] with an improper speaker load when I was younger and a little more clueless, I will some day. I'm still kicking myself...) and to not open it up as the caps can hold lethal voltages. This stuff is pretty common sense, but I was glad that Kevin was very clear about it all. If you've never really dealt with tube amps, you might not know - and they can hurt you!!
I brought my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III 'Red October' into my jam room and connected the Eminence red Coat Wizard speaker (75 watts, 8 Ohms) to the Ramp amp, since it is the speaker I am most used to hearing, I thought it would be a good first impression/test.
OK, first test, straight in with my Epiphone Les Paul Custom since it is my most versatile guitar (I installed coil-splitting pickups in it - a feature now found on these guitars from the factory). Responsive. Spanky. Clean. EQ is very tweakable. I'm not a fancy gadget kinda guy, but having just Lo and Hi EQ knobs actually lowered my expectations of the tone-shaping capabilities. Boy was I wrong. The qualities of the pickup settings (neck/bridge, single/humbucker, etc...) were super evident, showing that this amp isn't doing any 'coloring' or tone-sucking besides the EQ (which doesn't suck!).
I quickly found 'my sound' with the tone knobs relatively close to center - my sound is fairly non-offensive/generic, to be honest.
Driving the amp volume most of the way up provided some distortion, though I don't know that it was as musical or usable as some classic tube amps (for the non gearhead types, many guitar players like the sound of a tube amp cranked and pushed as hard as possible.) I also gave the front-end a little push with a boost pedal (DOD Bi-FET preamp) but the resulting grit was not quite as good as I hoped. Again, it's not really designed for that kind of use, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway... Kevin had indicated that he had re-amping in mind when he made this amp. For that purpose you probably wont find many people cranking it up, but I think it will definitely add some nice tubey goodness to tracks that need a little life added.
Next up, I got some pedals involved! The amp reacts really well to the Overdrive and Distortion channels on my Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde pedal. Not much to report, if you know the pedals, you know the sounds. Good OD (very Tubescreamer-like) and beg distortion. The quality of the tone remained, though. I've found that sometimes through my solid state amps the distortion/OD combo gets kind of flat, and that was not the case here!
Once I had hit all the basics, I decided that it was time to try my Strat - Holy stratty goodness! The glassy edge that the Jason Lollar single coils (Neck and Middle) and the Duckbucker in the bridge were all very clear. The neck pickups full-bodied bluesy tones were there in mass quantities and I was tempted to see what it would have sounded like with a little reverb (but that is not a pedal I have...)
Volume-wise, you could definitely use this amp live - as long as you aren't trying to rip people's faces off and there is adequate PA system to reinforce the sound and get a little splashed in the monitors for the band. It was quite surprising, though, how loud it actually gets. With the volume up at 2:00 (or about 3/4 of the way up) it was right about where I keep my Usual rig for smaller gigs. SO I'd say at 5 watts, it definitely surprises and pushes some sound!
The Final Take
This amp will be great for studios to have handy, as it will give a great starting place that has some 'basic' tones, but also allows you to hear and enjoy the guitar you are playing more than you might have ever before. If you are in the studio and need a good tube amp to pair up with different speakers/cabinet options, this little bad boy is just right! With the right speaker/cab/mic combination and a little processing, this could be the main go-to for recording and re-amping.
Compared to my usual rig (because we can't help to compare anything new with what we already know) I thought it was 'just slightly less' in a few ways, but that is pretty much what I expected, based on the fact that it is just generally less involved (5 watts vs 40, 2 EQ pots vs 3, No reverb/presence...). Where it is not 'less' is in the build quality. This thing is hand made and the components are all top-notch.
I ca't wait to see what Ramp comes up with in the future!
Because I like the way the Strat came through so sparklingly (is that a word?) I did a couple of clips (below) to show the tones - Clean and with the OD and Distortion because like I mentioned before, the tonal character of the guitar stayed in there when the Overdrive and Distortion were in play, which isn't always the case. I've also included a clip of the Hot Rod Deluxe III 'Red October' with the same guitar and pedals. This amp is a stage standard and for many artists (even big timers) it is a go-to. The amp is known for the Fender clean sounds, durability and volume (at 40 watts, it kicks!!) This version has an Eminence Red Coat Wizard 12" speaker. This speaker has it's own character and was the reason I went with this amp over many other more expensive offerings, it just had 'my sound'!
Nothing too incredible as far as the licks I'm playing, but wanted to capture the tones. Enjoy!
I brought my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III 'Red October' into my jam room and connected the Eminence red Coat Wizard speaker (75 watts, 8 Ohms) to the Ramp amp, since it is the speaker I am most used to hearing, I thought it would be a good first impression/test.
OK, first test, straight in with my Epiphone Les Paul Custom since it is my most versatile guitar (I installed coil-splitting pickups in it - a feature now found on these guitars from the factory). Responsive. Spanky. Clean. EQ is very tweakable. I'm not a fancy gadget kinda guy, but having just Lo and Hi EQ knobs actually lowered my expectations of the tone-shaping capabilities. Boy was I wrong. The qualities of the pickup settings (neck/bridge, single/humbucker, etc...) were super evident, showing that this amp isn't doing any 'coloring' or tone-sucking besides the EQ (which doesn't suck!).
I quickly found 'my sound' with the tone knobs relatively close to center - my sound is fairly non-offensive/generic, to be honest.
Driving the amp volume most of the way up provided some distortion, though I don't know that it was as musical or usable as some classic tube amps (for the non gearhead types, many guitar players like the sound of a tube amp cranked and pushed as hard as possible.) I also gave the front-end a little push with a boost pedal (DOD Bi-FET preamp) but the resulting grit was not quite as good as I hoped. Again, it's not really designed for that kind of use, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway... Kevin had indicated that he had re-amping in mind when he made this amp. For that purpose you probably wont find many people cranking it up, but I think it will definitely add some nice tubey goodness to tracks that need a little life added.
Next up, I got some pedals involved! The amp reacts really well to the Overdrive and Distortion channels on my Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde pedal. Not much to report, if you know the pedals, you know the sounds. Good OD (very Tubescreamer-like) and beg distortion. The quality of the tone remained, though. I've found that sometimes through my solid state amps the distortion/OD combo gets kind of flat, and that was not the case here!
Once I had hit all the basics, I decided that it was time to try my Strat - Holy stratty goodness! The glassy edge that the Jason Lollar single coils (Neck and Middle) and the Duckbucker in the bridge were all very clear. The neck pickups full-bodied bluesy tones were there in mass quantities and I was tempted to see what it would have sounded like with a little reverb (but that is not a pedal I have...)
Volume-wise, you could definitely use this amp live - as long as you aren't trying to rip people's faces off and there is adequate PA system to reinforce the sound and get a little splashed in the monitors for the band. It was quite surprising, though, how loud it actually gets. With the volume up at 2:00 (or about 3/4 of the way up) it was right about where I keep my Usual rig for smaller gigs. SO I'd say at 5 watts, it definitely surprises and pushes some sound!
The Final Take
This amp will be great for studios to have handy, as it will give a great starting place that has some 'basic' tones, but also allows you to hear and enjoy the guitar you are playing more than you might have ever before. If you are in the studio and need a good tube amp to pair up with different speakers/cabinet options, this little bad boy is just right! With the right speaker/cab/mic combination and a little processing, this could be the main go-to for recording and re-amping.
Compared to my usual rig (because we can't help to compare anything new with what we already know) I thought it was 'just slightly less' in a few ways, but that is pretty much what I expected, based on the fact that it is just generally less involved (5 watts vs 40, 2 EQ pots vs 3, No reverb/presence...). Where it is not 'less' is in the build quality. This thing is hand made and the components are all top-notch.
I ca't wait to see what Ramp comes up with in the future!
Because I like the way the Strat came through so sparklingly (is that a word?) I did a couple of clips (below) to show the tones - Clean and with the OD and Distortion because like I mentioned before, the tonal character of the guitar stayed in there when the Overdrive and Distortion were in play, which isn't always the case. I've also included a clip of the Hot Rod Deluxe III 'Red October' with the same guitar and pedals. This amp is a stage standard and for many artists (even big timers) it is a go-to. The amp is known for the Fender clean sounds, durability and volume (at 40 watts, it kicks!!) This version has an Eminence Red Coat Wizard 12" speaker. This speaker has it's own character and was the reason I went with this amp over many other more expensive offerings, it just had 'my sound'!
Nothing too incredible as far as the licks I'm playing, but wanted to capture the tones. Enjoy!