lst Express build - review

[casey73]

I've been playing with the Express I finished a few weeks ago. Here's a brief review.

It is really a loud amp. I can put the volume on 9 o'clock, and get infinite sustain feedback. The distortion is sweet, and not your typical high gain, cascaded Boogie style distortion. It is very bright, and for my purposes I leave the bright switch in the middle (bypass) position. The gain is so high that I put an RCA 12AY7 in the 1 slot, an RCA 5751 in the 2 slot and a Philips ECG 12AX7WA in the phase inverter slot. It still sings. I am going to replace the 5751 with another RCA 12AY7 so see if that tames it a little more. Right now I have some Valve Art EL34's in it, and initially tried it out with JJ 6L6GCs.

My guitars are a partscaster, H/S/S setup, an Ibanez ARX320 with Tonerider humbuckers and a custom built tele with two Carvin Holdsworth humbuckers. I like the Express best with humbuckers, but I've always preferred HB PUPs since my first real guitar was a late 60's SG.

After playing with it for a few days I watched Glen Kuykendall's video describing how the amp sounds, explaining that it is best to keep the amp volume fairly high and control volume from your guitar. As others have said, it is extremely touch sensative. It does take a while to adjust to it, but it really is a sweet sounding amp. I am a pedal geek. I build and modify stock pedals, and am always in search of the perfect OD/distortion pedal. My Zendrive clone (modded for a bit more gain) is my favorite. But the distortion I'm getting out of the Express is the nicest I've experienced from a tube amp, and I've had many over the years including Marshall, Fender and Boogie.

I love the layout and the simplicity of the amp. It's clear that Ken Fischer put alot of thought into the layout to keep the signal path wiring as short as possible.

I'm waiting for a local cabinet maker to give me a quote on a head cabinet. Once I get it in a cabinet, I want to let my friends take if for a test drive. Most have heard o Trainwrecks, but none have ever played one.

[Zippy]

Congrats on the build!

For a pedal-friendly amp, try a Rocket build (see the "Rockster 66" for an example using KT-66s if you prefer big bottles).