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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Joe's Guitars, Amps and Gear → PRS Amps
I was not impressed with either the Dallas or the Original Sewell. I was really disappointed. Derek Trucks talks highly of these amps and I felt a good tube fender, Vox, Marshall, or Fuchs, Carr, Victoria, Bogner, Zinky all are easier amps to get great Tones out of.
Played them, loved them
I haven't had a chance to actually plug in and jam on one, but I (along with Dr. Dave) went to the PRS Experience Open House and have seen Paul and others get some pretty amazing tones out of them.
I've been a friend and fan of Paul's for a very long time, and, to be perfectly honest....there is a lot of cost to having the "name" on the amp....I am sure there are comparable amps for like half the price, but the ones I heard sounded pretty darn good to my ears.
Just my $0.02.
CarljMD
I've heard David Grissom play them live down here in Austin
And they sound really good, then again he does make everything sound good
Last time out he had the Sweet 16, lot of bite to it
Didn't really remind me of any other amp
The "decoration" on some of them is a show stopper for me
I might like it with a band behind me. I mean no disrespect to anyone who can make them sing. I've played a lot of amps, and these did little to stand out compared to Carr, Fuchs, or Bogner, Victoria. Hell my Vox's have great clean channels and they dont cost 3000 plus. Paul may need to rethink his price. Just because its 3000-4000 doesnt make it good.
I might like it with a band behind me. I mean no disrespect to anyone who can make them sing. I've played a lot of amps, and these did little to stand out compared to Carr, Fuchs, or Bogner, Victoria. Hell my Vox's have great clean channels and they dont cost 3000 plus. Paul may need to rethink his price. Just because its 3000-4000 doesnt make it good.
Oh man, I didn't realize they were that much
Must be that fancy coverin (not my style)
looks like Gramma's drapes
The Sweet 16 head is $1650
Kinda got my eye on a couple of Z's though
PRS is making acoustics now and amps... I dunno but the market is getting so convoluted in my eyes. Why couldn't PRS just concentrate on making great electrics?
I played the Blues Sierrra (I think that is what it was called)
First off, It was ugly as hell to look at but if it has good tonal qualities I don't care what it looks like. I plugged an R8 off the wall and plugged it up. I tried to mess with the gain a bit but it was pretty fizzy and harsh sounding. No natural sounding OD.
I actually thought..."this can't be right" Sewell had good amps a few years ago, so I plugged the R8 into a little Dr. Z Z28. Dimed the volume and voila- Pure 6v6 niceness. A killer little amp that cost less than 1/2 the PRS. I almost bought it.
Anyway- This amp in particular was a pretty poor experience. They have gotten conflicted reviews and NO ONE wants to piss off PRS as they are big advertisers and make great guitars.
Anyway- the sales seem to be so-so and time will tell.
Buy an old Brown or blackface Bassman for 1K and you are ready to rock. Or better yet, send it off to Andy Fuchs and have him put his touch on it.
I played the Blues Sierrra (I think that is what it was called)
First off, It was ugly as hell to look at but if it has good tonal qualities I don't care what it looks like. I plugged an R8 off the wall and plugged it up. I tried to mess with the gain a bit but it was pretty fizzy and harsh sounding. No natural sounding OD.
I actually thought..."this can't be right" Sewell had good amps a few years ago, so I plugged the R8 into a little Dr. Z Z28. Dimed the volume and voila- Pure 6v6 niceness. A killer little amp that cost less than 1/2 the PRS. I almost bought it.
Anyway- This amp in particular was a pretty poor experience. They have gotten conflicted reviews and NO ONE wants to piss off PRS as they are big advertisers and make great guitars.
Anyway- the sales seem to be so-so and time will tell.
Buy an old Brown or blackface Bassman for 1K and you are ready to rock. Or better yet, send it off to Andy Fuchs and have him put his touch on it.
You wouldn't be the same Billion81 from The Gear Page would you? If so, welcome to the forum! I would like to try one of the new PRS amps out but they are not in stock anywhere near where I live. I know Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks have been plugging them recently. My old man recently saw the Allman Brothers live and DT was playing through one. I listened to the recording from that show and his tone was mediocre. The playing was phenominal and the only saving grace. The overdrive was buzzy, stiff, and thin sounding. I attended a show featuring the DTB and his tone was very good with the old Supers. Very tubey, dynamic, fat, rich, and toneful. Just my 2 cents until I get to try one out.
PS the Dr. Z Z-28 is a killer amp, one of my all time favs especially in the 4x10 combo! Wicked good sounding amps...
Billion81 wrote:I played the Blues Sierrra (I think that is what it was called)
First off, It was ugly as hell to look at but if it has good tonal qualities I don't care what it looks like. I plugged an R8 off the wall and plugged it up. I tried to mess with the gain a bit but it was pretty fizzy and harsh sounding. No natural sounding OD.
I actually thought..."this can't be right" Sewell had good amps a few years ago, so I plugged the R8 into a little Dr. Z Z28. Dimed the volume and voila- Pure 6v6 niceness. A killer little amp that cost less than 1/2 the PRS. I almost bought it.
Anyway- This amp in particular was a pretty poor experience. They have gotten conflicted reviews and NO ONE wants to piss off PRS as they are big advertisers and make great guitars.
Anyway- the sales seem to be so-so and time will tell.
Buy an old Brown or blackface Bassman for 1K and you are ready to rock. Or better yet, send it off to Andy Fuchs and have him put his touch on it.
You wouldn't be the same Billion81 from The Gear Page would you? If so, welcome to the forum! I would like to try one of the new PRS amps out but they are not in stock anywhere near where I live. I know Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks have been plugging them recently. My old man recently saw the Allman Brothers live and DT was playing through one. I listened to the recording from that show and his tone was mediocre. The playing was phenominal and the only saving grace. The overdrive was buzzy, stiff, and thin sounding. I attended a show featuring the DTB and his tone was very good with the old Supers. Very tubey, dynamic, fat, rich, and toneful. Just my 2 cents until I get to try one out.
PS the Dr. Z Z-28 is a killer amp, one of my all time favs especially in the 4x10 combo! Wicked good sounding amps...
Hey now- Yes, that's me. Thanks for the nice welcome. By all means- Try one for yourself and see what you see and please let me know what you experienced. Buzzy, stiff, and thin. Perfect description for what I experienced.
I agree that my fav DT tone is the Supers and Twins. I have so many amps coming my way that I can't pick up that little z28 or I would for sure.
Coolness. I'll be seeing Joe B this week as he's playing down here in Southern California on Tuesday and Weds at a spot called the Coachhouse which is my favorite place to play as well. High Ceilings, big stage, Shwing. I can actually stretch out my Marshall there. I imagine Joe will too.
Thanks again for the welcome. Cool board. TGP is cool but littered with nutcases....Like me!!Ha.
Laters
Ted aka Billion81
That's cool Ted, the JB forum is a lot more friendly and just as informative. Especially if you are into Joe (and who in their right mind wouldn't be). TGP is sometimes fun to watch all the know-it-alls duke it out but over here its everyone trying to help each other to get the best tone possible. 
I did have a brief play with a PRS Dallas amp over here in the UK when I was shopping for a new amp recently. Personally I liked the Paisley tolex, but sadly the tone didn't match the price tag, which was stratospheric to say the least! It wasn't bad, but a/b'd with a Matchless Independence head there was no contest... I bought the Matchless...
Am I the only one that like the way these amps look with that Paisley cloth? I love the layout on them too. Master, Treble, Mids, bass, gain, it just seems so simple. I'm simple so I love it. Never played one and never will for $3000 but I think they look great. I would buy a Soldano SLO if I had $3000 just to toss around, and I have played one of those 
Man I just got back from GC and played a couple PRS amps...unfortunately not impressed! I even played them with a PRS guitar! I was really hoping that they were not overpriced hype for the companies sake but I dunno...
The model I played was about 18 or 20 watts. I was very harsh and bright sounding at almost all settings. The amp was not very loud and I didn't feel like it would be loud enough for larger venues. The clean headroom was not very good, nothing like my Maz 18 which has great headroom for it's wattage rating. I just couldn't get past the brightness...
I agree that PRS should focus on what they are good at. Guitars. I hear good things about their acoustics, but again they are so expensive it ridiculous. I can buy a Martin with Braz rosewood for the cost of a PRS acoustic.
And the Amps gotta go. They are no more than 1500 dollar amps. Period. I'd buy a Stock Vox AC30 or a Fender Twin anyday over any PRS amp. And thats if money wasnt a concern.
Am I the only one that like the way these amps look with that Paisley cloth? I love the layout on them too. Master, Treble, Mids, bass, gain, it just seems so simple. I'm simple so I love it. Never played one and never will for $3000 but I think they look great. I would buy a Soldano SLO if I had $3000 just to toss around, and I have played one of those
You do know that Mike Soldano started up a new company - Jet City Amplification?
I've been dying to try out their new 20 watt head but they are no where to be seen in my area. Supposedly JCA's 20 & 100 watt amps have the Soldano OD circuitry in them. No price point on the JCA hardware, all the marketing info says is that they are "affordable" whatever that means. I also have my eye on the Egnator 30 W head but I want to HTH the JCA 20 with the Egnator 30 before I pull the trigger.
http://www.jetcityamplification.com/
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