Bryston power amps?

[FBlades95]

I heard somewhere that this was a good substitution for a Mac. I think Jeff Mattson plays one, does anyone know which one? Any help would be appreciated

[JustinJohn]

I believe Jeff Mattson plays the Bryston 4B. Those things cost an arm, leg, several teeth, and an eyeball.

[zambiland]

I believe Jeff Mattson plays the Bryston 4B. Those things cost an arm, leg, several teeth, and an eyeball.

And they are warranted for 20 years! Great amps, maybe higher fidelity in some ways than Macs. Similar weight class. They defined the state of the professional art for a while in the 80s.

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

Brystons are great studio amps when well matched to the speakers, preferably a darker and mellower sounding hi-fi speaker or studio monitor. Very much not Mac sounding, actually the other end of the spectrum. Where Mac's are warm and buttery, the Brystons, nicknamed Bright-ston, are overly crisp, quite brutal as a guitar power amp. Mattson in DSO is no longer using the Bryston as he recently acquired a Mac MC2300. I can't strongly enough recommend NOT using a Bryston for Jerry guitar tones. Run screaming. DSO struggled with the brutal ice-picky nature of the Bryston when used as a guitar amp.


Brad

[mgbills]

Interesting.

Saw DSO in Portland a couple of weeks ago. Even though it was an original setlist (typically been sleepers in my experience) this was Smokin'.

I looked at Jeff's rig before the show, and in big bold letters I saw the SMS Classic and the Bryston. But I do have to say, that his tone was dramitically different than last year. Last year he had his 2x12 up 4' off the stage & pointing toward the opposite wall. Totally & unbelievably bright, ice-picky & sterile. This year the cab was next to his rack. It was pointed right at me, and sounded much warmer.

They must be carring the Bryston for emergencies...maybe due to the durability mentioned above...while they sus out the 2300. I didn't see the BigMc, but I'd bet it was there.

Wish I'd been a little more thorough in my rig view.

I definately side with Brad on this one. That Bryston might be an incredible amp, but waaaaaaaaaaaay too dry/crispy for a guitar amp.

Peace
M

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

To help make that Bryston work, we've got Jeff playing with the Earth Drive pedal always on and also after the SMS Classic and right before the Bryston, he's got yet a second clipping/warming device I made for him that operates at line level to help reduce the ice-picky-ness of the Bryston. It does work, but even still it's a battle with the Bryston. Not only a bright amp, but TOO powerful at 400 watts per channel. Definitely out powering what Garcia had using a single Mc2300 channel. The Mc2300 is a very recent addition, like one week ago or so. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE Bryston amps. They're just gorgeous in the studio or they'd be a dream for driving stage monitors or a small PA.


Brad

[tigerstrat]

To help make that Bryston work, we've got Jeff playing with the Earth Drive pedal always on and also after the SMS Classic and right before the Bryston, he's got yet a second clipping/warming device I made for him that operates at line level to help reduce the ice-picky-ness of the Bryston. It does work, but even still it's a battle with the Bryston.

that sure seems like a lot of hoops to jump through, i.e. extra devices in the path!

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

Agreed. Too much crap trying to emulate something. Be better off just keeping it minimal and pure and letting the preamp and Mac and speakers do their magic. We may see this happen with Jeff real soon.

B

[zambiland]

To help make that Bryston work, we've got Jeff playing with the Earth Drive pedal always on and also after the SMS Classic and right before the Bryston, he's got yet a second clipping/warming device I made for him that operates at line level to help reduce the ice-picky-ness of the Bryston. It does work, but even still it's a battle with the Bryston. Not only a bright amp, but TOO powerful at 400 watts per channel. Definitely out powering what Garcia had using a single Mc2300 channel. The Mc2300 is a very recent addition, like one week ago or so. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE Bryston amps. They're just gorgeous in the studio or they'd be a dream for driving stage monitors or a small PA.


Brad

I wonder how it would sound for bass. I've only used them in the studio.

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

Probably amazing on bass. Although these days it seems pretty hard to beat the high end class-D stuff for bass, especially the Hypex and Pascal and Icepower stuff. I don't think anything can touch good class-D when it comes to damping factor and controlling the speaker as needed with bass. This class of amplifiers is the wave of the future, I think. The latest Ncore by Hypex is said to be outta sight. You don't want to clip this type of amp though. So for Jerry style, I say stick with class-AB amplifiers.


B

[zambiland]

Probably amazing on bass. Although these days it seems pretty hard to beat the high end class-D stuff for bass, especially the Hypex and Pascal and Icepower stuff. I don't think anything can touch good class-D when it comes to damping factor and controlling the speaker as needed with bass. This class of amplifiers is the wave of the future, I think. The latest Ncore by Hypex is said to be outta sight. You don't want to clip this type of amp though. So for Jerry style, I say stick with class-AB amplifiers.


B

This comment got me looking into power amps, especially the Hypex. They make one that's around 1kw that looks nice for short money. However, I was perusing Craigslist today and came across a QSC CX1202V, which is 700wpc at .05% THD from 20hz to 20khz. Pretty silly power but it's only 21lbs and was only $175! It's the install version, but upon opening it up, I discovered that the circuit boards are all set for Speakon outs and 1/4" inputs. The guy I bought it from had it lying around and wanted to clear out his garage. His gig is installing sound in major football stadiums and such, so I guess a $2k writeoff isn't too bad. He's also got an old Fender Dual Showman 12 cab for cheap that is awfully tempting.

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

Hypex is the shit, hands down the champion in the world of Class-D amplification. For clean and absolutely UN-CLIPPED power, they rule. But never attempt to overdrive class-D power amps. They aren't friendly in that zone. That's where good old class AB type amps shine, and only certain class AB amps sound good clipped. Many don't.

If you're serious about Hypex, their new Ncore is said to be the greatest sounding class-d ever made. Incredibly audiophile and tremendously powerful. I'd like to build a stereo Hypex amp for my mastering studio.

I've had some recent reports on the cheaper Crown class-d stuff when used on pedal steel and Jerry tones, and word has it that it's bad. Not good sounding class-D. Class-D amps range from crappy sounding to amazing sounding. Generally, you get what you pay for, I think.


B