initial thoughts? mini review? man, i bet that things AWESOME!!!
must....know.....more!
OK. Here's a quick mini review. I've only had a total of about 1 hour on it so far.
Testing with: Bergantino HT322 cabinet, Monster 3' Speakon, Stingray 5 HH, Fender Am Dlx Jazz 5 (with Quarter Pounders), Core X2 cable (clearest cable I have found to date).
The V12 is a BEAST! What a loud bass head. I should know loud because it's sitting on a Crest CA9, and that's pretty loud too!
Anyway, my initial thoughts are still the same after 1 hour. Very loud and clear head. The A/B switching makes it like 2 preamps to make 2 different tones by one switch. Very cool.
Tone: I'm used to my Ampeg SVP-CL, set to "Ultra low classic", so this was totally new to me. It sounds more "hi-fi" then what I am used to. Not saying that's bad at all. The notes are very clear, and did I mention it's loud? Turn the output to 12 o'clock, and the master at 9 o'clock (it starts at 7!), and the room is shaking!
Overdrive is not my thing, so I cannot review that part at all. Sorry.
This head is clean! No hiss or unwanted noise at all. The knobs are "active", so whatever that means, but they are very sensitive. A little turn goes a long way. I tried making it close to my SVP-CL by cutting the 600Hz and boosting the low, and what I got was a Hi-Fi, dare I say "new metal" version of the CL. Perhaps a blend between new and old. I had to cut the treble a litte as well. It's a little bright.
I think the V12 is what they were trying to create when the Big Block 750 came out, but with 2 channels, much more power, and more options. It is a monster. I really couldn't see anyone disliking this head. No reason to, especially at only 28.4 pounds.
