Suhr Badger 30

fretmeister

Time for a quick review.

I bought this from @Catthan and after my happiness was derailed by a failing PP2 causing all sorts of noise and crap I have finally had the chance to properly get to know this amp

30W, 2 EL34 and 3 12AX7

The styling is very "Marshall" but the tone is not completely in that ballpark. There is definitely a strong hint of Plexi, but there is something else too - giving it a bit more sparkle. The EQ is very sensible and can be used throughout the sweep of the controls.

At low gain levels it has a very plummy clear clean sound, especially with single coils, and it crunches up with humbuckers but always reacts very well to the guitar volume - I'd say that it reacts better than any other amp I've ever owned to guitar vol changes.

As the gain gets up to halfway it gets very crunchy in an AC/DC sort of way and initially it got a bit woolly as the gain went up. Knocking the bass down a bit solved that completely.

At full gain and with all the tone controls up it doesn't quite get to an EVH1 level of saturation but it's damn close.

I'm using it with the gain on about 4 for a nice crunch and then hitting it with pedals. It reacts great to simple boosts and to the mental gain levels on my AMT stuff.

I am a very happy bunny indeed. All I need now is a much bigger cab - I've only got a 30W 1x12 EVH cab. First job will be loading a 65W Creamback into it. When I have some more money.

Trotter

lovely amps! Good work

not_the_dj

Blimey, I got to this from the "Recent Discussions" list and thought you were selling it!

fretmeister

not_the_dj said:

Blimey, I got to this from the "Recent Discussions" list and thought you were selling it!

My 5153 will go before this lovely thing does!

ThePrettyDamned

Kinda cool it doesn't fart out with the mega heavy AMT type pedals.

That's pretty awesome

JackGriffiths

Hi @fretmeister, I too was looking to buy Catthan's amp but ended up pulling the trigger on a new one with matching 1x12. It's a truly fantastic amp. I was initially looking for the 35's EL84 chime as I use amps in the same way you've described, just past breakup and let pedals do the rest. The 30 has the chime but retains clarity in the low end better than most amps I've tried. It's completely articulate and dynamic under any gain setting, though I have found that past '7' on the gain it can get flubby quickly, though the EQ is VERY usable and you can really fine-tune any sound. Might be something to do with the 1x12 but this happens at low volume levels, too. 

That being said, hitting it with the right boost tightens things up really well and you can get crazy amounts of gain, still with plenty of dynamics. In a single recording session, I got spanky, funky clean tones right up to seriously heavy 'wall of sound' with a Tube Screamer just offering a clean boost in the front end.

The power scaling tops it off. Volume is no longer an issue whatsoever! I have to add that the matching Suhr 1x12 (Warehouse Veteran 30 speaker) is a great little cab and sounds great at low and high volumes. I've also been using an Orange PPC212 with Celestion V30s for bigger gigs and the sounds just gets that little bit bigger. I've noticed that the Warehouse speaker takes some of the shrillness away from the V30. Both cabs are perfectly suited to the Badger. I tried the amp in the shop through a Dr. Z open back 2x12 with a V30 and a G12H30 and the difference was huge. Much, much louder and far more low end. I wasn't expecting such a difference but I can't help imagining the endless versatility of tones you could get simply from different speaker cabs with this amp. 

I'm definitely with you on usability with the guitar's volume control. I'm constantly altering gain settings with my volume and I've never found another amp that has the responsiveness of the Badger aside from old AC30s. 

On a side note, my Koko Boost virtually acts like a second channel switch with the amp. They sound phenomenal together. 

Can't really think of anything to add. It's a truly awesome amp. 

Jack

fretmeister

I'm not really using the power scaling. It just sounds awesome anyway whether I'm cranking the output section or not.

Brilliant thing!