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Acquired one of the new "Century" amps


crust

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Posted

The amp sounds wonderful, looks cool...really a great amp. What more can be said besides Thanks alotmsp_thumbup.gifmsp_thumbup.gifmsp_thumbup.gifmsp_thumbup.gif

 

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Posted

Really nice looking amp! The only thing that bothers me is the knobs and inputs are on the back.

 

How does it sound?

 

There are 3 input jacks on the back. Normal , bright and dark. The tones are ...well "varied" I guess is a good word. I think this amp is really a "do all" but without the "DSP" stuff that the recent "modeling" amps all come with so there are no extra "effects", just straight forward amplification. The amp doesn't have much background hum...very quiet, even at high volume. I have a 2x12 Bugera cabinet that will work with it but haven't hooked it up yet (I'm remodeling part of my house, stuff is messed up right nowmsp_bored.gif). But when I do, I'm sure it will wake the neighbors...lol...Man, this is plainly put, "just a nice amp".msp_thumbup.gif Where can I get a matching cover ? This thing is to nice to let get scratched and dented.

Posted

Congrats!!

 

Thanks Jon S. Being a brand new amp, I'm still going through the "break in" period, so far so good. It seems to be put together solidly, no rattles hums or any of the other strange buzzing noises or other anomaly's I've experienced with some other amps. So, when are the "mod kits" coming out for this amp ? And, what would be some cool modifications or tube changes ? Any input on that Jon S. (or anyone else for that matter) ? This amp, to me, seems like "modding" would be fun...if I knew what to do...lol

 

Well, what do you think ? Mods, or no mods ?

Posted

Dunno about covers except... back in the '70s when I was acquiring big, heavy, expensive amps, my wife made covers from heavy fabric-backed plastic. She had a treadle sewing machine to do the work, though. The actual construction should be easy enough for anyone to do with somewhat lighter material backed with a bit of padded material - possibly even something heavier in front of that nice speaker front. She just did the sewing inside out, then... voila.

 

m

Posted

I got one too. As soon as I saw the pictures I had to have one, being a sucker for Art Deco stuff.

 

It sounds nice and takes pedals well, at least in my limited testing so far. I think the built-in overdrive is a bit harsh sounding. Overdrive pedals worked better for me. Hopefully this will get better as the speaker breaks in. The boost footswitch function on mine doesn't seem to work, at least not with the various one button single-pole single-throw switches I have already. I thought they all worked the same, and I've sent a query about this to Epiphone's tech support. They haven't indicated yet whether or not the optional footswitch is a proprietary design.

 

It's smaller that I expected, what with it having a 12" speaker. The tight spacing of the cabinet gives it a boxy sound to my ears when cranked up past 5 or 6 on the volume, sort of like a Champ on steroids. I don't think it has enough headroom to be played cleanly over a loud drummer, but it will make a great practice amp. Plus it looks cool, which goes a long way for me. Here's hoping Epiphone and other companies release more items like this.

Posted

I got one too. As soon as I saw the pictures I had to have one, being a sucker for Art Deco stuff.

 

It sounds nice and takes pedals well, at least in my limited testing so far. I think the built-in overdrive is a bit harsh sounding. Overdrive pedals worked better for me. Hopefully this will get better as the speaker breaks in. The boost footswitch function on mine doesn't seem to work, at least not with the various one button single-pole single-throw switches I have already. I thought they all worked the same, and I've sent a query about this to Epiphone's tech support. They haven't indicated yet whether or not the optional footswitch is a proprietary design.

 

It's smaller that I expected, what with it having a 12" speaker. The tight spacing of the cabinet gives it a boxy sound to my ears when cranked up past 5 or 6 on the volume, sort of like a Champ on steroids. I don't think it has enough headroom to be played cleanly over a loud drummer, but it will make a great practice amp. Plus it looks cool, which goes a long way for me. Here's hoping Epiphone and other companies release more items like this.

 

I still haven't tried it through my 2x12 cabinet. I expect very good things when I do msp_smile.gif I'm thinking that the foot switch is a "special design", like you said. I have one on order (backordered) right now, should be here in 2 or so weeks, not long (I hope). Then I'll have a better Idea what this amp is all about. msp_smile.gif

Posted

I still haven't tried it through my 2x12 cabinet. I expect very good things when I do msp_smile.gif I'm thinking that the foot switch is a "special design", like you said. I have one on order (backordered) right now, should be here in 2 or so weeks, not long (I hope). Then I'll have a better Idea what this amp is all about. msp_smile.gif

 

Bob at Gibson's customer service says

 

"The foot switch for this amp is a proprietary foot switch and should be available for dealers to order within the next 2 weeks. The Century footswitch (EPA-CNFP-1) has a TRS plug, the ring switches the tone-stack boost and the tip switches the first-stage cathode cap so the bass is leaner in boost mode, so you get deep and fat clean tones and then punchy overdrive with the boost. The industry standard footswitch will not work."

 

So now we know. I'll probably end up getting one just because, but I think it sounds better with overdrive pedals.

 

Speaking of which, I played some more with the amp tonight. I ran a Blackstar HT Dual tube-driven distortion pedal into it and it sounded great if you keep the amp's master volume at 5 or less. I was playing with an LTD Eclipse 1000 with a set of Seymour Duncan 59 and JB pickups. The JB is really hot and drives the amp pretty hard. Combining that with the Blackstar with the gain set up pretty high, I was able to get some pretty intense saturated distortion tones without blowing out my eardrums.

 

Playing with no effects, the amp seems to max out volume-wise at around 6, and from that point on it just gets more distorted. It reaches a point where it becomes somewhat flabby and "farty" sounding, if you'll excuse the expression. Hard picking at higher volumes will really drive it into distortion. But at saner volumes it has a really nice tone, although very mid-focused to my ears, and it takes to pedals well so far. I can see some folks using this as a low volume recording amp.

 

I did get some tube rattle when playing louder and at certain pitches.

Posted

Bob at Gibson's customer service says

 

 

I did get some tube rattle when playing louder and at certain pitches.

 

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Posted

Jeffrey I was just thinking this is the sort of thing you could set the volume and tone to appropriate practice settings then put the amp into a bookcase in the loungeroom as I nice deco looking piece then just plug in and play when you feel like it - all very civilised!

Posted

Jeffrey I was just thinking this is the sort of thing you could set the volume and tone to appropriate practice settings then put the amp into a bookcase in the loungeroom as I nice deco looking piece then just plug in and play when you feel like it - all very civilised!

It DOES look a lot better than most of the furniture in the living room. And with only dogs now (and no house cats), I wouldn't have to worry about the grill cloth becoming a scratching post.

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