Budda Superdrive II 30

[tonefinger]

I just got my new amp and thought I would post my initial thoughts. I only played for about 20 minutes so these are just first impressions. To me it sounds kind of Vox/Brian May if that makes any sense. Kind of chimey and a smooth overdrive when pushed, cleans were crisp and very Voxy. Overall more vintage sounding than I expected, which is a good thing. It does have a pretty good "brown" sound when you get the power tubes heated up. I also have a Marshall JCM 800 fifty watt head I judge all of my other amps against, the Budda is a bit tamer in comparison but it has a nice bloom and great note separation when playing chords.
So far, I haven't begun to unlock what it can do but I'm pretty happy with what I've heard.

[sliding-tom]

Hi tonefinger - Congrats on your new amp! :)

[PeeWee]

Nice! Give that unit a proper workout and get back to us; kinda curious about this amp :)

[tonefinger]

I'll give it a proper spanking tonight after I get home from work and follow up with a better review.
I was always curious about these amps as well, and then I found one at a price that I couldn't pass up.

[DocRock]

Great amps IMO. Congrats!!!

Doc :)

[tonefinger]

After spending some more time with this amp, the thing that really sticks out is the clean channel. Lush and sparkling. The best cleans of any amp I own. I bought the amp because I wanted something with a little less power so I could get a good dirty sound, pushing the power tubes, without blowing my head off with volume.
This is a loud thirty watts, so I probably should have went with the eighteen watter.
Comparing it to my Marshall, I think the Marshall is a little darker. The Budda is a little less punishing than the Marshall, but I think the Marshall has a little more gain available.
When turned up with the power tubes being pushed, this is where this amp sounds the best. I am using my Marshall 4x12 cabinet, and will be buying a 2x12 to decrease the volume a little.
It has a great just on the verge of breakup sound, and the clean channel is beautiful. I am surprised by this, everything I had heard about it was about the dirty channel.

[tonefinger]

The more time I spend with this amp, the better I like it. I still can't get over the clean channel, it is just awesome. It has a surprising amount of headroom.
The drive channel took some tweaking of the controls, but I'm quickly starting to really like it. I haven't played any of my other amps since I got it, I can't wait to pair it with a new 2x12 or maybe a 1x12, the 4x12 is a little too much for what I'm using it for right now.