meh, they're good but nothing great IMO. Our singer has a series II trident and my studio preamp into an old 50/50 carvin power amp man handled it the time he brought it to practice. It just doesn't have any real mojo... I mean, it's got a great hard rock and marshally vibe to it but it doesn't really capture the marshall magic and it really doesn't sound like any distinct boogie.
Now, as I said... it's got a good sound but I just didn't hear anything special about it. The studio just oozed class and charisma even in the most brutal songs and the trident was just sort of there making noise with no real "voice" so to speak. And I know it's sort of unfair to pit it against the studio in that comparison because the Marks really carved an unmistakable tone niche into the world as well as the rectifiers and the stiletto was something new that I don't think has it's voice (yet hopefully). But I fear it's one of those amps that a lot of guys will use and the average listener could mistake it for a marshall of sorts but the marshall purists will know it's something else but probably not exactly what. That was my first impression when I heard sound clips without knowing what it was.
Anyways, we tweaked Josh's Trident for a good hour little by little between songs and it got better but we never could really dial in the sound we wanted from it.
It's all just my personal feelings on the two. I almost bought a deuce at one point but felt the same way about it then.
Mightypigeon, the stiletto isn't a smooth amp at all. That's the one thing it couldn't be despite our best efforts. It sizzles anywhere despite where the presence/high knobs are and if you turn them too low, it turns into the wet blanket over the speaker muffled sound. :?
