NAD! *updated again* (Now with a few clips and whatnot)

Nerine

I decided to pull the trigger after much deliberation on this today:



I haven't tried any Two Rocks before today and I went in with kind of mixed views, but kept an open mind.

I tried out the Coral 40 combo, Bi Onyx 45 combo, Sensor 22 head and Sensor 50 combo. I also checked out a Redplate and a Tone King Royalist. I really didn't like either.

The Sensor 50 combo is the one I settled on. It's the one I primarily went to check out after doing some research.

Firstly, this thing has some serious gain. It's got a lovely saturated feel, yet has a bold voicing. It's REALLY a joy to play through and it can get seriously loud too.

I preferred it to the Coral. That's pretty much a straight up Dumble, and can't say I was quite as sold. Kinda had a slight buzziness to the tone. It still sounded great, but not as nice as the Sensor. Actually. That's a disservice to the Coral. It was lovely. I just preferred the Sensor. The Coral would sound phenomenal in a band mix. As would all the Two Rocks I tried. They kinda have that voicing that you just know is going to work.

The Bi Onyx drive channel was quite similar, but with it having a separate clean channel and all appropriate EQ's, the Drive channel lacked features and tone shaping options. That was a bit more straight ahead than the Sensor. You could coax a wider variety of tones from the Sensor quite easily. It still sounded ace though.

The gain is really articulate and JESUS does it like pedals in front. I love the cascading design. I think it comes on a bit better and nicer.

The clean channel is really nice. I will rarely use it, but I did find myself using it earlier when I got home for quite some time and enjoying it. The clean channel loves pedals as well. the few drives I have tried so far sound excellent. A great pedal platform if that's your thing.

The overdrive is where the show is at though. This thing bloody sings. Every guitar sounds great through it, and boosted with the Keeley TS9 it is a widdly wet dream!!

Such a smooth, yet cutting, yet balanced, yet deep, yet bright tone.

It's absolutely all things at once. Very odd and something I haven't experienced before. It's very well voiced. No harshness, but can still be as bright as you like to get the pick attack going on.

With the bright switch engaged on the treble control and with a bit of expansion dialled in, it gets very Marshally and does remind me of the 101B I had. A nice vocal midrange and top end sparkle. Sounded epic with an LPC.
It's very quiet in operation too. No hum or anything to report.

This one is loaded with a Creamback as well, and that sounds great!

The pull controls on this amp are quite varied. The main ones are the bright, mid and deep on the treble, mid and bass respectively. They all do as they say, but they also do add or subtract amounts of gain. I'm guessing it's to do with the cascading design. Either way, it definitely works and you can more than compensate with the gain controls. Of which it has two. They both work on drive channel. Only the clean gain works on the clean. That can be set to crunch if you max it and the expansion controls out. Pretty cool!!

The master volume is also excellent. In effect, you get three master volumes on this. One regular master and two more on the fx loop send and returns which also have bright switches on each if you pull them.
So if you ever try out a TR and feel it sounds ice picky or harsh, make sure both of those aren't pulled on the back. It does sound a bit much with both.

The fx loop is switchable between series and parallel. Cool.

The expansion control is awesome. It's basically an EQ bypass but it can be dialled in to taste incrementally, and its footswitchable. It's almost like having a Tubescreamer added to your lead tones. It kinda adds a similar tonal vibe.

I'm still experimenting with what else it can do, but this is a serious serious amp, with a very varied palette of tones and LOADS of totally usable features. It's the only amp I've had that feels right under my fingers. I get the pick Attack and thickness that I've been looking for.
It's got a LOAD of gain too. Probably more than my CAA.

What a fantastic amp.

Got a gig on Saturday, so will report back with more info and details, but if anyone's curious in the mean time or fancies checking one out, do it!!

I have a feeling it's going to sit very sweetly in the band mix. One of the best midranges I've heard on an amp.

And lastly.

This really isn't just for crummy lawyer blues. This thing can get nasty and really rocky.

Stunning amp!! Very very pleased with it.

This is a bit of a randomly put together brain fart of a review/whatever, but hopefully it'll suffice for the time being. I'll edit and adjust as I go along.

Love it!!

jellyroll

Great review, thanks. I have the SP22 which is great. But it's kinda like going to a restaurant and always getting just a delicious starter. It's yummy.....but I want the MAIN course!!

RaymondLin

Congrats! And thanks for the detailed review

hubobulous

Great review and I'm looking forward to the post-gig feedback.

TR is a great brand and I've never heard one that I didn't like in isolation....never tried one with a band.

timmysoft

I wasn't all that keen when I tried them, but I can see how TR fit in with your style Lee, plus that's super portable and great for cramped stages.

Nerine

So I gigged with the Sensor last night.

Firstly, the load in was an absolute doddle. The combo is really light and can be manhandled easily. I ended up raising off the floor on a couple of stools in the bar.

I didn't notice any loss of low end.

In fact this amp is thick. I got to wind it up a bit last night and it became apparent that my loud TV volume EQ that I was noodling around with at home needed a bit of adjustment.

This amp delivers a lot of low end and the definition doesn't seem to be affected when it's turned up.

I ended up knocking off a bit of treble and some low end half way through the gig.
I had a few muso mates there last night too. One of which is the tech I always use. He commented that the tone was very thick yet cut well. He was surprised with the amount of bottom that this little thing delivers. As was I.

My dad came along last night and having seen me play hundreds of times, I usualy trust his judgement on how my guitar sounds. He kinda lays it out in laymans from an audience perspective and he said that the first set, the amp was very dominant and a bit sharp. Again, that was due to my low volume EQ. I didn't know the amp well enough to start adjusting things mid set, so waited to get some feedback during the break. I lost a bit of treble as stated after that. Dialled back the brightness a bit.
He did comment that it sat well and he could always hear it.

One of my reservations with having a smaller amp was whether it was going to be punchy and bold enough. It definitely is.
I think I also may have been running it with a little too much front end gain. I think there was two occasions where I managed to get some squealing from it.

It was with a hot Keeley TS-9 and a fully wound open Strat bridge pickup though which isn't connected to the tone controls at all. I found myself rarely using the boosts on my board and began to steadily dial back the gain incrementally on the amp.
Again. Slight pilot error.

The way this delivers it's tone is very strident, and I found that during quieter sections the amp was a bit brutish. It's got some lovely delivery on the notes. They really pop.

The feel is superb. Very much a "lead" amp. Quite squashy, yet defined. The low notes had a real nice softness to them which I personally look for, and the top notes pinged off the fretboard. I found myself using less gain in the end than usual. The feel dictates a very smooth feel under the fingers and notes seem to sustain more at lower gain levels.

I do definitely need to just have a bit of a tweak of some settings, running the gain lower and probably the bass (which I had set at 12 o'clock, without the deep pull switch engaged) and possibly with the Strat, the treble down a touch. I need to also re dial some of my boosts as they were far too hot and gave me way more saturation than I'm used to with my CAA

Other than that, it handled everything amazingly. It has a beautiful midrange that really sits well, and has more than enough EQ flexibility to suit lots of guitars and rooms.

It's also got a lot of headroom and is definitely a loud, powerful amp.

Playing out again on Saturday, so will be able to get it dialled in a bit more in the mean time and hopefully have it under control a bit more.

I felt like I was aware of its presence on stage last night. I was constantly thinking/wondering what it was sounding like, but next time I think it'll be great.

Very very pleased with it so far. It does everything I want it to do, doesn't sound boxy, cuts through brilliantly, and has gobs of low end even raised up from the floor.

The elastic, slinky feel is right up my strada and it delivers on punch and volume.

The fx loop is perfect and boosts in the loop work great.

Exceptional amp are my first initial thoughts, I just need to gig it a few times to get used to how it's going to respond. It's my first amp in ages that isn't Marshally so expecting it to behave like one is daft.

Fantastic amp so far. Needs a little tweak, but the minerals are definitely there with this one.

Definitely a keeper. Very happy with it.

thisisguitar

Nice work mate. Thanks for sharing that with us too :-)

Nerine

timmysoft;512293" said:

I wasn't all that keen when I tried them, but I can see how TR fit in with your style Lee, plus that's super portable and great for cramped stages.

Yeah, I was quite surprised how much variance there is in the models to be honest. The Sensor is a bit more Marshally, and I think has a it more grit in the top end than the more Dumble/Fender inspired ones. I hadn't tried any out before Thursday just gone, so didn't really know what to expect.
I think they definitely divide opinion. I wouldn't say that they're gonna suit everyone for sure. In terms of what I was looking for, and how I tend to play though, it seems to work well. I'm not entirely convinced it'd work for heavy stuff, as it's too spongy for that. Having said that, with a 100 watter and big cab, you'd certainly get some coverage.
As you're well aware mate, a smaller corksniffery combo has been an itch I've wanted to scratch for a long time! Hehe.

Hope you're keeping well, dude!!

Looking forward to hearing stuff with the new band and that.

timmysoft

Nerine;512401" said:

[quote="timmysoft;512293"]I wasn't all that keen when I tried them, but I can see how TR fit in with your style Lee, plus that's super portable and great for cramped stages.

Yeah, I was quite surprised how much variance there is in the models to be honest. The Sensor is a bit more Marshally, and I think has a it more grit in the top end than the more Dumble/Fender inspired ones. I hadn't tried any out before Thursday just gone, so didn't really know what to expect.
I think they definitely divide opinion. I wouldn't say that they're gonna suit everyone for sure. In terms of what I was looking for, and how I tend to play though, it seems to work well. I'm not entirely convinced it'd work for heavy stuff, as it's too spongy for that. Having said that, with a 100 watter and big cab, you'd certainly get some coverage.
As you're well aware mate, a smaller corksniffery combo has been an itch I've wanted to scratch for a long time! Hehe.

Hope you're keeping well, dude!!

Looking forward to hearing stuff with the new band and that.
[/quote]

I know you've been hankering after a 112 super combo for a while, probably at least three years! It's definitely hard to get the volume, weight and tone ratio right with a compact combo, how was the volume, the TRs I tried a little while ago didn't seem to be all that loud for their ratings.

New band is great, it's been nice to concentrate on playing guitar and writing songs rather than politics and band warfare.

Nerine

@timmysoft

Well if it's any measure I usually manage to get the JCM800 to about 9.30 am on the volume dial if I'm being sensible ish.
The TR is a 50w and the master volume was on about a third and the two fx loop volumes were on about two thirds. When I was mucking around with the others in the shop, the masters on the front panel seemed to add volume pretty much right the way round to ten. To be fair, the fx loop volumes on the back may act as the masters on these which might have made them seem less potent if they weren't running high. I don't know if it's a feature on all TR's admittedly, but on the Sensor series it is.

My only gripe at the minute is literally the name. "Sensor" sounds pretty naff.

It's defo up there volume wise though.
I was pleasantly surprised at how loud it is given its pretty tiny.

I haven't cranked the fuck out of it yet, but will do soon to see what it can actually do!

hubobulous

How loud would the JCM800 be if it was set to 9:30pm?

Nerine

Loud enough to propel you to 0000 the next day.

Cabicular

I use a jet 22 as my main gigging amp and it is as solid as two rocks
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10202436191784946&id=1798448324

Nerine

I'm certainly not concerned about the build. It's put together very very nicely as you would expect.
The only thing that could potentially rear its head is valve rattle with it being a meaty combo.

Nerine

So.

I've got another gig under the belt with the Two Rock.

My thoughts and findings are largely the same as last time, but wholly more positive.

I didn't suffer from any squeal at all, the amp sounded great. Very thick and full again. Plenty of volume available.

My only slight gripe, and again, it's probably pilot error, is that I seemed to run out of headroom for solos.

I tried to run the two fx loop volumes pretty much wide open so I could run the front panel volume as an overall master a little easier.

I think that basically meant that the boost pedal in the loop was then pushing things too far and the loop had given all it had to give. I know the boost pedal worked A LOT better/perfectly at the first gig.

So that's something to remember. I'll drop the fx loop volumes to 2/3 again and see how that works out.

My mate Jesse came along and took some recordings on an iPhone.
He kindly sent me pretty much the entire set and listening back, from the audience perspective, the amp sounds AMAZING!!

The guitar was always audible, sounded thick and fat, yet cut through nicely. I was VERY happy with the sound on the recording in terms of how it sat with the band and then cut through for lead work. The recording is surprisingly good actually.

So yeah, aside from me running the loop out of headroom, which was a bit daft and an oversight on my behalf, because let's be honest, none of these things ever seen to work quite the same.. I was much happier with the amp second time out.

It was much more controlled, sounded great, was louder than I expected due to me basically having to stand on top of it, and again, I had to run the bass very low. The amount of low end for a 50w mostly open back 1x12 combo is rather ridiculous.

But yeah. Again, very very pleased with it. Hugely convenient, sounds epic, takes pedals like a champ, has big balls, very well put together, haven't heard a single squeak, pop, static, hiss or anything.
If that's what better components will do for you, I'm sold.
This amp, when it's turned on and turned up, is pretty much silent.
Very impressive.

It's also making me play guitar a lot more because I can just move it around the house so easily.

Absolute gem.

Si_

How about posting some of the video?

hubobulous

Agreed. Video would be cool

Nerine

It's audio clips. I'll see if I can upload to my soundcloud or something.

Nerine

Think I've managed to upload some clips. 

Anyway, 

Just some iPhone clips from the other nights gig. 

The band is not mic'd or anything. The amp was on the floor. And pretty much all the drive is literally just the amp. I maybe kicked on a TS-9 in places. 

It's all bluesy rock stuff in this band. 

There's a bit of widdly wank from The Thrill Is Gone

Some Hot Legs kinda rocky rhythm stuff with the odd bit of lead

and Ice Man by Albert Collins. Decent mix of wankery and rhythm.

Ice Man

TTIG

Hot Legs

There's also some very decent sax and piano playing on this stuff if you're that way inclined. 

Anyway, yeah. Few clams here and there as well, but for the most part it's pretty solid. 

I think it showcases the sound of the amp pretty well i.e. how it's voiced and sits in a mix etc.

hubobulous

Yeah, that does cut through really well. Nice playing too :-)

slate

That sounds great, and brilliant playing Lee.