Finally got that used SV20 head last week. The thing is brand new. Crazy. Boy these things sure are pretty to look at. All the gold trim and craftsmanship on the outsides are realllllly nice. My first plexi and WOOOOOOOOOOWWW. This thing is incredible...for a lot of reasons.
I can play it clean on like .4 20w volume and be fine indoors with wife at home and no earplugs. Sheesh...the clean is sooo cool too. I've found myself just playing acoustic style stuff on it and it sounds amazing. Its like two different tones from the low to high strings. The lower mids are thick and punchy (that cab is doing work) but then the upper mids and highs have SO MUCH character and sound so different. The pops chirps and glassy but twangy tone...it's sooo cool. I LOVE the cleans even on low volume. You get all these big dynamics from picking things differently, it's like playing a really nice acoustic but with a weird organic tone and character.
Turning it up to mid volume also incredible. I mean...playing ACDC stuff on the bright channel etc...it's just it. Especially for that awesome high voltage tone. There is NO MISTAKING the unbridled SIZZLE and touch dynamics and the sustain for days and feedback. It's not just the tone but that sizzle is wild. It's amazing. And then the lows just BARK OUT and punch you. This is not like the other amps I've played recently...at all. Plenty of headroom fwiw and its loud and clean...if I needed WAY more clean volume I'd be mic'ing it like Stroud or need an entirely bigger cab stack and obviously a 1987/1959SL. So this is a non-issue. Higher volume and I simply roll the guitar volume to 8 and it's all good with a slightly warmer tone and less breakup and PLENTY of growl.
Also impressive is there is WIDE swing of tones here. Like a wide swing. Jumping the cables and tuning the respective volumes changes everything. Then you jump between humbuckers and volume knobs and it's insane how much different things become. The sizzle will be gone. It can get real heavy on the bass (without touching the bass knobs). Darker with less breakup etc etc etc. The beauty is that...they all sound freaking bad ass. It's not like its 2nd rate. I find myself playing all this other music I didn't expect to play out of this and it's just flat out fun. Everything is super organic and just...different.
Then you crank it to 10 and it's just a blast. It's not a mushy blast either, like its real fun on big open chords on 10..you feel those E-minors in your chest...its just a beast (in my little studio office at least). I think a good bit of this is the 1965a Cab that Gene made me buy
. When I run my DSL through it, it wipes away any of the negative EQ stuff that bothers me about the combo. Like I turn the knobs and there is no bad tone to be found. All the bass works without boomy. All treble highs are no longer screetchy and it handles gain a LOT better. I'm sure the SV20 is getting the same advantage.
(oh and yeah that's a blue Keith Urban REAL not fancy guitar...no idea how that made into my house but there it is...polluting my picture lol).
I can play it clean on like .4 20w volume and be fine indoors with wife at home and no earplugs. Sheesh...the clean is sooo cool too. I've found myself just playing acoustic style stuff on it and it sounds amazing. Its like two different tones from the low to high strings. The lower mids are thick and punchy (that cab is doing work) but then the upper mids and highs have SO MUCH character and sound so different. The pops chirps and glassy but twangy tone...it's sooo cool. I LOVE the cleans even on low volume. You get all these big dynamics from picking things differently, it's like playing a really nice acoustic but with a weird organic tone and character.
Turning it up to mid volume also incredible. I mean...playing ACDC stuff on the bright channel etc...it's just it. Especially for that awesome high voltage tone. There is NO MISTAKING the unbridled SIZZLE and touch dynamics and the sustain for days and feedback. It's not just the tone but that sizzle is wild. It's amazing. And then the lows just BARK OUT and punch you. This is not like the other amps I've played recently...at all. Plenty of headroom fwiw and its loud and clean...if I needed WAY more clean volume I'd be mic'ing it like Stroud or need an entirely bigger cab stack and obviously a 1987/1959SL. So this is a non-issue. Higher volume and I simply roll the guitar volume to 8 and it's all good with a slightly warmer tone and less breakup and PLENTY of growl.
Also impressive is there is WIDE swing of tones here. Like a wide swing. Jumping the cables and tuning the respective volumes changes everything. Then you jump between humbuckers and volume knobs and it's insane how much different things become. The sizzle will be gone. It can get real heavy on the bass (without touching the bass knobs). Darker with less breakup etc etc etc. The beauty is that...they all sound freaking bad ass. It's not like its 2nd rate. I find myself playing all this other music I didn't expect to play out of this and it's just flat out fun. Everything is super organic and just...different.
Then you crank it to 10 and it's just a blast. It's not a mushy blast either, like its real fun on big open chords on 10..you feel those E-minors in your chest...its just a beast (in my little studio office at least). I think a good bit of this is the 1965a Cab that Gene made me buy
. When I run my DSL through it, it wipes away any of the negative EQ stuff that bothers me about the combo. Like I turn the knobs and there is no bad tone to be found. All the bass works without boomy. All treble highs are no longer screetchy and it handles gain a LOT better. I'm sure the SV20 is getting the same advantage.(oh and yeah that's a blue Keith Urban REAL not fancy guitar...no idea how that made into my house but there it is...polluting my picture lol).
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