Moving on to the audition, I couldn’t wait to
let that Wolf out of its cage. This amp comes
from the “less is more” tradition that most
of us old vintage cats admire. I used multiple
guitars with multiple styles of single coils and
humbuckers to let her howl. I must say that
we (my neighbors and I) were impressed. I
didn’t find much use for the dark channel on
humbuckers at clean, normal volumes. As I
started to get into Strat and Tele territory, I
found myself adding some dark channel to
fill out the bottom… superb for pluckin’ that
chicken. When I ventured into mild overdrive
territory by turning up the gain and backing
down the master, I basically got lost in one
of the nicest classic blues tones my mini-humbucker
Tom Anderson Cobra Special has
ever generated. About three hours later, I
decided to give my ears a rest before putting
the pedal to the metal.
Turning the gain(s) and master up produced
some very smooth and singing overdrive.
The compression envelope of the power
tubes, rectifier, and output transformer provided
good attack and note definition along
with that sweet song. I did not get up the
nerve to dime both gains and master; I was
sure something (other than the amp) would
be damaged—like my aging ears. Here I
want to reiterate that the preamp signals
are additive, so things can get loud in a
hurry—and when I say loud, I mean LOUD.
These are 18 of the biggest watts on the
planet, thanks to the straight-ahead circuitry,
the huge output transformer and power section,
and two growling Celestions. As with
most amps (but not all) the louder volumes
sounded best, and I think there is more to it
in this case than the Fletcher-Munson effect
(look it up). This amp was born and bred to
be played in medium-sized clubs.
The effects loop worked well, as expected,
using distortion, reverb, etc., and flipping the
pentode/ultralinear switch—which actually
converts the EL84s to triodes—lowered the
volume and “browned” the sound a bit. At
rehearsal the other night our harp player, who
is an amp builder, modifier, and general fanatic,
spotted the amp in the studio, plugged
in and, using the dark channel, produced
some of sweetest “Walter” tones at some of
the highest volume (without feedback) ever
to grace a small room. Not only is this a fine
guitar amp, but as an added bonus, thanks to
the dark channel, an A1-choice harp amp.
Buy if...
You love the sound of EL84s singing
their hearts out in a roadworthy
amp in medium sized clubs; and
you can deduct or depreciate the
cost; or price is no obstacle.
Skip if...
You don’t dig the sound,
need more watts, can’t afford it.
Rating...
