So, that's the 1200 stuffed into the Xbox case at tonight's band practice (basement rehearsal). Hey, it'll serve for gigs and rehearsals until the Gigskinz bag comes in.
I really came here to say how thrilled I (still) am with the 1200. I've sort of been GASsing for the new Berg CN210 cabs, but the CN112 sounded fantastic tonight being pushed by the 1200. The same rig has sounded great at apartment volume too, but it's even nicer when the speaker gets to work a little harder!
Tonight I played my Martin Keith Elfin Plus fiver with Nordstrand pickups and Aguilar OBP1 preamp. The strings are stale from a couple of sweaty gigs, but the reverse P and Music Man tones were still spectacular. I tweaked the 1200's EQ a little just for fun, but mostly left it absolutely flat... because it sounds that good. With the Music Man pickup I sometimes boosted onboard bass and treble for classic MM zing, but mostly left the onboard EQ flat, too.
Of course the 1200 has tube mojo out the wazoo, whether clean or dirty. Again, I've owned some boutique tube preamps, but the 1200 has the tone I've always been looking for, with powerful, musical, usable EQ that's flat when set flat. With the active Keith bass, the Gain knob on the 1200 transitions from clean (9 o'clock) to mostly-clean (noon) to fairly overdriven (4 o'clock).
As expected the overdrive isn't modern metal, it's vintage/warm. If I need metal, I'll use a pedal. On that note I have a BDDI, a VT Deluxe, a new Brimstone XD2, and a Darkglass B7K on the way (I'm guessing I'll prefer the latter two). I haven't gigged a pedal in decades... it's been a lot of fun using SansAmp rack rigs and keeping my stage area clean... but I don't mind changing because I am delighted to have the 1200 as my starting point. I'm all about downsizing these days, and I'm playing less hard rock so cleaner/flatter tones have become more important. The 1200 is a mini-rig with tube sparkle and maxi-volume. Actually the real volume test will come this Saturday night, but I'm confident that the 1200 will hang with my hard rock band.
