I've been lurking around for a year or so but never posted before.
I'm a pretty traditional blues rock player but the wreck clips I've found seem to be more 80's + (ie post EVH) stuff. That's fine but not my cup of tea (yes I'm old fashioned).
So... I'm wondering if I'd be wasting my time building a wreck. Apart from the clips all the descriptions sound very much like an amp I'd want to own - touch sensitive, control from the volume, one channel, simple.
You should buy geetarpicker's CD. It gives a really good demonstration of the range that an Express covers.
I have a Ceriatone Express clone that I built. It took me some time to figure out how to adjust it and my guitar volume control for different situations, but I use it for everything from chicken picken country (sort of Brad Paisley, only with five thumbs on each hand) to electric blues (Clapton with realllly slowhands) to rock (Leslie West with webbed hands).
If I can record some decent clips, I'll post them (My playing often has a lot in common with a vacuum cleaner, if you know what I mean, so it takes me a long time to get a clip that is postable in any way, shape, or form).
I hear ya man! I'm not into high gain or 80s leopard pants music. My style is more an old JTM45 for some Peter Green or old Allman Brothers type of things.
This amp is fantastic for that kind of more vintagey stuff. Just don't turn the gain up so high. The clean sound is actually very, very good on this amp. It has a more open vox type of midrange than a peaky Marshall type. So it lends itself well to cleans (not much headroom of course!). THe volume control is more like a gain control on this amp. At about 10-11 o'clock on my express clone it's got a good vintage level of gain and after that the volume doesn't increase too much, mostly the gain increases.
So if you're worried that it's some metal-head amp, don't be! It's got some of the greatest vintage-style tone there is! It jsut also has the ability to also have massive gain if you want it.
Also by simply changing out 1 or more of the 12AX7s for 12AT7s you can dramatically reduce the gain and get it fairly clean up high on the volume!
Thanks guys - sounds like a wreck is at least gonna be a worthwhile experiment. Will keep you posted - but don't hold your breath - my last project took 9 months form go to whoa and it's still not done!!
