Well after the wait, I got mine in today... A number of differences from my old combo:
(Its in the later 00035xx's, after all....my old combo was 000084x and 'Variac' still says 'Variac')
Heres my 1st impressions:
Slight differences:
*List of patents on the right of the back panel that I swear weren't there before.
*LED on the EQ on the fave of the amp is different/orangier red from the really red Mute one, but still is not blatantly orange except for with power off you can blatantly see it, like in that vid clip closeup.
*The print around the amp seems bolder.
*The EQ sliders section feels different... The old ones sliders would press in very slightly, in unison,in a way I never felt right with and the slider values kept screwing up, which was why I returned it. This feels nice and tight, and the slider grips feel different: The old one was plastic caps on metal slider posts, this feels like the posts're plastic maybe almost like there is twist and bend give/play... My treble band slider is slightly malformed....but I dont mind so much.
On the combo, Im sure I could remember seeing like a circuit board or something behind the sliding tracks might be wrong I remember seeing like grease n stuff...now its solid black plastic all the way up and down like each slidertrack is sealed better. Im sure Im not falsely remembering that issue....I looked at that up close when it started playing about before returning for repair before it got trashed.
* The knobs all feel like they offer slightly less and more smoother resistance, and the switches for power and standby feel less efforty and smoother too.
*The tone definitely has more savagery on the low end and definition on the high.... I feel the tone across the channels is like at least a 25% better, more authorative/crisper, clearer detailed sound....the preamp knobs feel more effective, the bass seeming to let you get away with more with out flub....... How much of this is tubes/tube condition related on both my old amp, and my new one, I honestly dont know.
*The tubecage is way different to my old one.....! Dont know if thats a combo/head difference in general..
When I found out it'd be a long assed wait for a 5xxx plus issue, I was thinking will a 35xx plus era one be an improvement at all..?
My opinion is now this: If they amended things, it was earlier than 1st suspected at the 4xxx mark as this amp IS a little different..
It could be that what Ive got now is just what everyone else had when production was refined maybe.... maybe I had a bit of a lemon...
But I played another early combo in the same store mine came from, and it sounded the same as mine as my combo, (with or without extension cab) and seemed to have the same features as my old one did... Those amps in particular were slaughtered in size of sound/savagery by a Purple stripe Mark III non-widebody they had in that day.
I couldnt see THIS beast running through even a c-90 and open backed having the same problem... Epecially in Extreme, which I feel now lives up to its name. The Namm video of 2009's amp had this slightly fizzy lacking low oomph thing going on like my old combo. That seems to have changed here.
I spent an obsessive year with that amp and got to know the old amp really well, I feel, before it went....and Im positive Im not imagining the more subtle differences. Im really happy with the replacement. Thats my tuppence worth, anyhow.
Thanks for reading.
