Hello All, I thought i would share my thoughts on 2 amps and 2 cabs i received yesterday. Peavey XL supreme (solid sate) + Mesa 2x12 cab (all used) I like it, its heavy, easy to dial in a tone even at low volume, I had to clean the inside from spider webs and dust, and i fixed a few broken knobs, but its working fine except from a scratchy master volume knob which doesn't bother me. Now comes the big disappointment, The KRANK SST (Hybrid amp) + Laney IRT 2x12 cab (brand new) It is LOUD, the volume is barely at 1 and it is freaking loud. Tone? its harsh, muddy and weak, i couldn't dial in any tone that i like, it sounded nothing like the clip i heard on youtube, i dont know how to describe it, Maybe its like trying to play metal with your guitar volume at 1 I might try swaping the preamp tubes from my dead Peavey XXX, but im not holding my breath. OR do you think i need to turn it up to get decent tone? if that's the case i will need to get a volume reduction box The only reason i pulled the trigger on this amp because i could have the 2 heads and 2 cabs shipped to me in the middle east for free with no import tax. My ENGL Blackmore is still my favourite tone right out of the box. Thank you all for taking the time to read my nonsense, and as always, i apologize for my bad English and grammar skills in advance.
I have tried it with Mesa cab which is used and already broken, could it be the preamp tubes? Or is it just that the Krank is that bad
From what I hear, Krank amps are a pain to dial in with the EQ. The sweep knob tends to be a point of contention. You shouldn't have to turn it up as it is a solidstate poweramp. They usually sound fine at low volume. There may well be a preamp tube problem, if you have spares, try swapping them around to see if there is a problem tube in there. Your English is pretty good, I would have guessed you were a native English speaker if you hadn't mentioned it.
Thanks for replying, i swapped the preamp tubes today with no luck at all, i think i'll have to accept i. this clip is what sold me on this amp, but now i know why they have the comment section disabled, it nowhere close to that tone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QondHB7iV8 With money i paid i could have gotten a Marshall, but i wanted something more reliable for practice.
Sadly i can't, i bought it from Amazon and had it shipped to my friend back in September, He loaded it in the container and just yesterday it arrived to me in Kuwait, Thats how i could get 2 heads and 2 cabs shipped to me for free. I don't think Amazon will accept a return.
From how tight that sounds I imagine he may be using a boost in front of the amp or something. That goes a ways to clearing up a muddy, weak tone in my experience.
Thanks for the suggestion, just to clarify, Do you mean an overdrive in front of the distortion channel? Is so, What would you recommend? Some people suggest a distortion pedal going to the clean channel, That defeats the purpose of having a high gain amp in my opinion.
Yes, in front of the distortion channel. As said above, the TS9 or OD808 are classics. Most overdrives are based in this tubescreamer circuit. There are tons of cheap options out there if you don't want to spend much just to try it out. People generally set the distortion (or gain) to 0, level (or volume) to 10, tone to taste. But you can set it however you want. With this setup you can run the amp gain lower, and the bass higher without it going flubby. It works by adding pre-eq to the signal. Basically it adds some clipping and compression to the signal as well as cutting bass and adding mids. This results in a tighter tone. You can accomplish a similar task with an EQ pedal, this method is generally more transparent, but may not be as 'punchy' if your eq can't boost/cut a ton.
If you're wanting to experiment with putting an od in front, I've heard the Joyo Ultimate Overdrive is a pretty decent pedal and isn't very expensive. Also, Mooer has half a dozen boost/od pedals to choose from that are also pretty inexpensive.
I'm not sure if it's like the regular rev, but I have to keep the presence and sweep low on mine or it sounds all shrilly willy. And when I say low I mean way further down than you would initially expect, so it might be worth a shot dialing it back and using the other EQ knobs to adjust to taste after.
I'm going to assume that the SST has an FX Loop? An EQ pedal (or rack) does wonders for further shaping the overall character of an amp.
It only has a sweep control, no presence, i will try it on the lowest tomorrow and see what will come. Thanks for the suggestion buddy.
Thanks for the suggestion, My complaint with this amp is when i hit and Open chord it sounds weak, no fullness to the sound, Sorry if im not using my words correctly, Its like playing with your pickup volume turned down, I tried it with Icebucker pickups ( mid output ), Emg 81 and Gibson's DirtyFingers. Thanks you all for taking the time to reply.
