New Amp Day - yesterday

I have been fortunate in that some surplus HiFi gear I had up for sale went over the weekend, after the new guitar it left me with enough money to consider a new amp.

I had already shortlisted :-

  • Fender Blues Junior IV - In budget
  • Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV - I have owned one before, they are great but can be loud at home
  • Mesa Boogie California Tweed 20W 1x10 Combo - Nice but a bit pricey, too much really

Having purchased the PRS Studio 10, I came across their DGT15 Combo and Sonzera 20 Combo. I was not aware off them before and did a bit of research, the DGT15 was a bit more than I wanted to pay, the Sonzera was closer, each has different things to offer. Both have great reviews and all the demos of them both sounded great, and fitted what I was looking for a flexible pure Valve amp with a leaning back to vintage(60’s). The DGT15 possibly is a better fit sonically.

It looked like I was going to have wait and then I came across a great deal at Anderson’s for the DGT15, it looks like they have a sale going saving nearly £600 off of list price, that was the clincher, and arrived yesterday afternoon. Initially I was not sure if I had done the right thing as it goes incredibly loud, I was initially struggling to get the tones/drive out of if it and get them at lower volume. This morning I spent a couple of hours playing around with the settings and got exactly what I wanted and experimented with tones from rich and warm to hard and bright. It is a very versatile amp and I am sure I will get lots more from it as I become more familiar with it. It is certainly on par with the Fender Hot Rod, maybe a bit cleaner tonally, and I prefer it to the Blues Junior which I have tried before. If you are in the market for a similar amp I would recommend you go and try one out.

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Very nice! Happy amp day

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Congratulations Adrian! Enjoy the new amp!

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Oh my, nearly 1/2 off.
What a great score!
Congratulations!

Since I’d not had that one come across my radar, I just checked a few youtubes on it out.

Sounds great!
Perfect compliment of tubes.
Great controls.
And best for me, on board tremolo. I’ve really come to like tremolo. So much so that I had to get a tremolo pedal. One of two pedals I have in use.

The youtubes I checked out sounded great.
Looks like ya got a real keeper there to me.
Wish you many enjoyable hours of play time with it.

Now, all we need is a sound demo of ‘your’ new amp. :wink:

Way to go your new amp man!

Oh, and it looks cool too. :slight_smile:

Thanks Jim, I was not sure but after a few hours today I am really pleased with it. The tremolo on it is something else, possibly the best I’ve heard. I have a 69vibe pedal so that will be finding another home. :house:

Congratulations and thanks for the write up! Looks really good too!

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Hey Adrian!
What a great write-up about your new amp!!!
Sweeeeet!!! Congratulations!!!
The DGT-15 has been on my wishlist for a while now but I have never seen it on sale… what a great deal on a great looking & phenomenal sounding tube amp!!!
I am looking forward to hearing it along with the new PRS guitar!!!
Have Fun!!!

Tod

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Wow that is a nice looking amp. I love the color and I really dig the knobs. Everyone knows the knob aesthetic are the most important thing about the tone.

:grin:

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Thanks Tod, I think several dealers are moving stock on as sales are being hit due to the current crap going on in to the world, which is hitting everyone financially.

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My word, what a deal… I didn’t know they made amps as well, so thank you for bringing that to my attention.

I’m going to take a closer look.

Congratulations!!!

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I would offer this advice on the DGT15 and actually it probably applies to most Tube(valve) amps IMHO, and even some Solid-State ones.

The DGT15 may only be rated as 15W but it goes extremely LOUD, I have not measured it but suspect well over 100dB at 1m at full chat. I will check it one day, with ear defenders in.

Dave Grissom is known for liking two things playing loud and driving the amp hard to get that edge-of-breakup warmth, which is a key aspect to Tube amps, so this amp is designed for this. Having said that with the Volume cranked up over 3/4 and Master set up to 1/4 then you can get acceptable volume levels, without stripping paint from the walls. Another thing to note is that Dave Grissom does also use an array of pedals and does play at lower volume levels as well, so it can be done that way. I have tried it with my Behringer Tube Overdriver with the amp Volume set below 1/2 and master higher and that sounds pretty good at lower volumes.

There is a solution if you want to crank the amp to get those break-up overtones to the full, which is to use something like the BUGERA PS1 ATTENUATOR FOR GUITAR AMPLIFIER which I might look into in a while.

I sort of knew what to expect having already owned a Fender Hot Rod over 20 years ago, a 40W valve beast, and they go vey LOUD pretty quickly, as my wife was always telling me when I practiced with it.

On the positive front I think the DGT15 Combo is a great practical amp, with wonderful tone and richness that used sensibly can be used at home with some limitations. Also if you are going to gig or in a band it will easily cut through the band and it will sound great IMHO.

Ya might consider keeping your 69vibe pedal. Ya never know when you’ll want some extra vibe on a amp that don’t have onboard tremolo.
I just put a joyo tremolo back into use on a amp that I had repaired that don’t have onboard tremolo. While it’s only a ok tremolo pedal, it’s better than no tremolo capabilities at all.

I’m thinking your advise is sound.
I for sure agree that a 15W tube amp is plain loud. At least that’s what my wife says. :frowning:
Your advise for how to control the vol. is pretty much where I’m at too.
And I’ll throw in that to further control vol. on a loud amp, there are vol. controls on the guitar, which I also use.
Especially with the amp I got. It has no master vol. control. So amp volume is what it is on the vol. control on the amp. Guitar vol. control helps me tame the vol.

Your new DGT15 has the master vol. control which imho is a big win.

Enjoy! :slight_smile:

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Yes, a friend of mine and one of his band mate both set up there amps to loud for soloing with the guitar volume set to full, and then for rhythm turn them down and up for solos.

The DGT15 has a boost pedal switch which if you get the value set cranks it up quite a bit, so can do it that way. But need to be careful how amp Vol and Master is set as with boost on can become quite extreme.