[Arnold's Carnival]

Well after reading all the reviews and doing some soul searching, i took the plunge and ordered the SMS Classic with 70's mod. I'll be connecting it to a Crown 402 to start and a pair of Weber Cali's in a vertically aligned AC-50 Cab. I know others have indicated that the Crown is a bit shrill....guess i'll have to wait and see. Ill be sure and post my thoughts after some R&D!

Peace,
AC

[AKdead]

Good choice! I love mine. I've been playing it through a SAE 2200 and soon I'll try it through a Rivera tube power amp. I wasn't expecting much from the reverb but the reverb is really nice and better than a couple reverb pedals I tried.

[Arnold's Carnival]

HI AK Dead!

Nice! Good to hear on the reverb. I was previoulsy running a DRRI, nice, but not as clear/clean as i want. I am not familiar with the SAE 2200. Solid state?? What type of guitars are you running?

Peace,
AC

[Lembic]

I known it is not quite the same thing, but, I have been using this Crown as part of my bass rig for almost 2 years. Sounds great, no problems.
I am using a tube preamp, it has nice warm sound.

Lembic

http://www.myspace.com/violinriver

[Arnold's Carnival]

Lembic,

Thats cool to hear. I am going to keep an open mind (ear) to it. This will be my first foray into soild state amplification for guitar. Oddly, i have two spare 402's as they were the power amps for th PA until recently replaced with 802's. Never had any problems with them in that application, but guitar will be another story for sure. I am looking forward to the experiement!

Peace,
AC

[AKdead]

AC,
Yes the SAE is solid state stereo. I think it is from the 70's and it was completely rebuilt by the guy I bought it from. It sounds great, very clean and warm with the Classic. It has no controls so it is on full power all the time. I will be trying it soon with a tube power amp, a Rivera TBR-5. The TBR-5 can be run class A or AB and takes 8 tubes...can be 6L6, EL34 or 6550 (KT-88). Depending on tubes full power is between 120 and 160 watts per channel. It also has a power switch...that combined with class A or A/B permits 4 power levels: 160, 70, 45, and 20 watts per channel (with 6550 tubes). I've read great things about it but it is heavy...I think about 65 pounds!

Here is Rivera's description of it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W85g0XyT ... r_embedded

My main go to guitar right now is a Suhr classic strat.

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

Rivera should do a spell check before he silkscreens his faceplates. I think the word is spelled "presence".

But I'm sure the amp is killer.


Brad

[Arnold's Carnival]

Hey guys & gals,

I was able to do a bit of experimentation with the crown 402 and another tube preamp a friend has into my existing cab. Let's just say that the crown wasnt exactly ideal in this application and has made me rethink the options. Ive got a good lead on a Acoustic Image that i will be able to try with the SMS Classic when the time comes. From what ive read here from Vic and from others abroad, this amp should prove to be a much bettter match for this application. If not, there are plenty of other options.

I have been using a Hayseed 30 head with the 2x12 weber Cali/AC-50 cab for a year or more and it has performed great. But i am looking to get an even cleaner sound and do not want some much compression when really diggin in. We just added a key board player (complete with real B-3 & Leslie!), so i will be in need of a bit more clarity. I am really stoked about the pre and this new step. Cant wait!

Peace,
AC

[jkstraw]

Well after reading all the reviews and doing some soul searching, i took the plunge and ordered the SMS Classic with 70's mod. I'll be connecting it to a Crown 402 to start and a pair of Weber Cali's in a vertically aligned AC-50 Cab. I know others have indicated that the Crown is a bit shrill....guess i'll have to wait and see. Ill be sure and post my thoughts after some R&D!

Peace,
AC

Ditto here - just ordered mine today. I have more GAS that talent but it sure is going to be fun Just picked up an Axe-FX as well....searching for the sound sure is going to be fun

[Arnold's Carnival]

Hey Jack Straw,

It will be fun to compare notes when the time comes. I hope you get the sounds your after. Lord knows its a long journey, but a fun one at that! AxeFX too? Sweet! Do you have an idea on how your going to incorporate these items?


Peace,
AC

[jkstraw]

Ya man I am stoked!

My plan is to try the following configurations for comparison and pure sonic enjoyment!:

Axe-FX -> SMS Classic -> Axe-FX -> MC 2105 -> 2x12 E-120

* Basically using the Axe-FX purely as an effects processor...but able to have the effects either before or after the SMS Classic

Axe-FX -> Atomic Reator FR (using Vic's E-120 IRs and pointers and/or patches for effects)

Can hardly wait

[Arnold's Carnival]

jkstraw,

Nice. I imagine that rig will sound mighty fine indeed! Be sure and post your thoughts on the individual/sum of the parts when the time is right.

Tried the Acoustic Image by itself last night. Definitely much warmer and more musical than the crown for this type of application.

Peace,
AC

[Arnold's Carnival]

Hey All,

Just wanted to say that i received my SMS Classic from Brad late last week. I have had a chance to put it through it's paces using either a Crown 402 or an Acoustic Image Clarus for the power amp and a AC-50 cab loaded with ceramic Cali's. Guitars were a Gibson R7 w/ PAF's, CS69 with Blaster and Kinman Woodstocks and a Michas Wolf with Dimarzio's, with OBEL but no buffer. I found the SMS to have a simple interface, low noise floor and a pure BIG clean tone. Deep thumpy bass, sweet highs and a nice mid curve. The gain can be set anywhere you like depending on how hard you want to drive the power amp, i have not had the need to use it yet, but the pad knob seems like a usefaul addition. Reverb is musical, highly usable and sounds natural.

The strat gave me the closest tone to the 70's JG tone that i love. The R7 sounded like a huge clean machine. The wolf clone sounded fair, but is nowhere near the level of the other two axes.

I was pleased to hear that my sound had all of the "tube" mojo that i have been used to with the DRRI, Hayseed, etc and that i did not detect any sterility.

The Crown is powerful enough, but was definitely way too trebly in the upper registers of the guitar and would be dangerous at gig levels. Not a good choice, as others have stated.

The AI Clarus made all the differnece in that it added the warmth that the Crown was missing, was pleasant in the top end (the Cali's are paper domed, which probablay helps) and had plenty of power for my curreent set up and gig locations.

Thanks to all that have (and conttinue to) provide so much usefaul information on this board. And a BIG THANK YOU to Brad for such a great product at a price point most of us can obtain!!!!

Peace,
AC

[jdsmodulus]

Nice review I think I will try one of these sooner than later. I currently run the Trio> Crown set up with Jbls and find it to sound excellent. Very loud and clean sounding. I was wondering though I see my Crown is a XLS 402 but it is not the "new" model but is a new amp, do these amps sound different from year to year? or these new models that are grey in color and have an LED display what some are using? Just not sure because it seems alot of folks have ditched theirs and right now, I couldn't imgaine it!

[playingdead]

Mine was new at the time, JD ... I didn't necessarily think the Crown sounded bad with my Trio and JBLs, but it was immediately clear that the Acoustic Image power amp section sounded warmer and better, the Crown being somewhat shrill in comparison. A worthy upgrade if you don't want to carry a Mac around (and who does, really?).