Had a few weeks with the hybrid amp. My review

[freethought]

A little while ago I made a posting if anyone had ever used a hybrid amplifier. A few posters came back with opinions that were, for the most part, pretty positive. Although, I still had impression that if given the choice just about everyone who gave me a reply would go with an all-tube amp. Certain factors, such as price and money, not withstanding of course!

Well, the amp arrived a few days ago. A Randall RG77 hybrid with one 12" Celestion in the body.
Amp has two channels, one clean and one dirty. Both channels have the typical controls like tone, bass, treble and the like. There is no reverb. Why is it such a big deal for an amp to have reverb?
The dirty channel can be switched back and forth between a vintage style distortion to something with a more heavy-metal crunch. Play with the controls and you can produce a good overdrive.

There are 16 built-in effects. Chorus, flanger, phaser, delay, and something similar to reverb, but the manufacturer calls them room, Hall, and Hall. One simulated reverb in good size room, the other two simulate concert hall. And it came with the footswitch.

Well, I spent time plugging each of my guitars into the amp and playing on different settings, different pickup positions, different effects. You get the idea. I even would play a riff or two on the hybrid and then quickly turn it off and plug in to my all-tube amp and play the same riff to compare the tone.
I am quite happy with the hybrid. It sounds nice and the on-board effects are quite good. Years ago I had a solid-state amp whose on-board effects, shall we say, sucked. In a side by side contest I would still choose my Carvin tube amp. It has just slightly better tone and presence. Only slightly though. I think with some more R & D and time these hybrid amps will be able to go mano-a-mano with all-tube amps.
So it looks as if assortment of gear will be upped by one more amplifier.

Play Loud!!

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Turn It Up!

Good for you. Glad you got what you paid for and then some.

I just put new tubes in my Boogie. Noise: Gone! The old tubes were pretty much shot. They were really "hissy". Tubes are pricey now, though! A little sticker shock. Nearly $90!

Have fun, and i "amplify" your idea of playing it loud!
GAC

[freethought]

2. For me having a Mesa Boogie

Lone Star or Stiletto is kind of a fantasy. I looked for one on Ebay and a few other spots but they gave me sticker shock. I have no doubt as to the quality of a Boogie amp.

$90.00 for tubes? Please say that is $90.00 for all the tubes you needed and not just for one.
My Carvin is going to need a replacement set some time in the near future.

What kind of tubes by the way? Groove Tubes is the name I keep hearing.

Peace!

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Whole Set

6 Tubes. 4 preamp and two power tubes. So, really about $15 per tube, on average. (The power tubes are more, the preamp tubes are less.)

And yes, i bought Groove Tubes. They do a good job of matching the power tubes, so they only come in matched pairs. In theory, that's supposed to increase efficiency and smooth out the tone. Don't know if it really is something we can hear or not. Maybe, maybe not.

Boogie. Accept no substitute!
GAC

[smoogatz]

4. I have a Mesa Lonestar Special--

great little amp, super versatile, perfect for small club gigs, practice, etc. I've had a slight problem at low volumes with some mysterious internal rattle at certain frequencies--apparently it's fairly common in these amps, which have a lot of bells and whistles tacked onto the chassis. Still trying to track down the source, with intermittent help from the Mesa tech support guys. But even with that small annoyance in the equation it's a great-sounding amp--very rich and much "bigger" than you'd expect for a 1/12 combo. They seem to be going used on eBay (when you can find one) for around $1300; current retail is something like $1700.