Right then...

[Dirtbox]

I've had my Stiletto Deuce for a while now and gigged it loudly quite a bit, mostly through a 5150 4x12.
Whoever said these things lack in bass or gain must be mad, deaf, a combination of the two or complete noobs. No, there's not as much bass as a JCM 800 with the bass turned up, but you wouldn't have it turned that far up unless your bass player's using a 1x8 combo, would ya? When it's quiet it doesn't sound nearly as good, but get the volume up....
The other gutarist in my band uses a JCM 2555 Jubilee which seem to be regarded as a bit of a tone 'Holy Grail' at the moment, and yes, they are **** nice amps, but this slays it in terms of clarity, thickness of tone and sheer 'in you faceness'. Played it live in a different band to usual last weekend using my Strat with it for the first time, fecking marvelous, none of this over brightness talked about on here so much, you've just got to get it turned up. The clean channel even sounds great with my LP which is very dark sounding and very hard to get a good clean sound out of (unil now).

Definitely a keeper.

 

[Riff Blister]

I agree with you Dirtbox 8)

 

[budlovesaly]

Nice post. I really want to try out the Trident. Not for the extra headroom or wattage, but because I am wondering if the extra rectifier can give the EL34 sound a bit more sag and chunk than the deuce. I play guitar in a band where I am the only guitarist, so to have something that could potentially get closer to the lower mid-range sonically, would be wonderful!

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

I love Dirtbox...

That being said, I still run my bass at 3 o'clock on the tite gain mode in channel 2... :lol:

 

[Vigo1999]

actually i think that those guys that complains about the stiletto's brightness only played it in a bedroom situation . . . you really have to turn that thing loud to see it's potential, ya know you MUST have those EL34s cooking 8)

otoh i cant quite make it sound great with my strat, only with my mahogany buckers equipped gtrs :? but oh well, maybe it's me

 

[rocksalt7]

I think most folks complain about the brightness with the Ace; I don't hear that much whining w/ the Deuce / Trident. I could be mistaken though. What I do know is that Dirtbox is spot on about the volume on these things. My Ace was the typical "bright" when I was doing home practice. I got it out in the real world a time or two and there was no holding it back. Ya just gotta remember, it's not a Recto or Mark IV...it's an EL-34 driven beast that likes to run out front. If you still think it's a bit on the bright side, plug that Stiletto into a Recto cab :wink: ... 2x12 or 4x12, it'll put a BIG smile on your face. :mrgreen:

 

[surferdeac]

The other gutarist in my band uses a JCM 2555 Jubilee which seem to be regarded as a bit of a tone 'Holy Grail' at the moment, and yes, they are **** nice amps, but this slays it in terms of clarity, thickness of tone and sheer 'in you faceness'

often people mistaken brightness for clarity. The stiletto's are such nice amps. my ace head is killer with my rec cab when turned up.

warmth in mudd?? i don't think so. some like to hide in it though

 

[carbenez]

I've only had my Deuce Stage 2 for 3 days now...and haven't had it out to a gig or even up to volume as I have family visiting... but even at low volume I've run the amp through all the modes and it sounds great! Mic'd it up...recorded some sound samples...none of the over the top brightness people talk about. Mind you - I had a brilliant idea....I turned the treble and presence WAY DOWN to start with... And there is SO much usable gain...even at low volumes the fluid drive sustains for days...

It boggles my mind how some people seem to have no idea how to use a machine for its intended purpose..."yeah, but can it sound like a Dual Rec??? Can it sound like a 5150???" C'mon... if that's what you want your sound to be then buy those amps. As mentioned in the leading post....deaf??? Noobs?? Too bright??? I think not.

I've played through EL-34 amps for nearly 20 years... professionally for many of those years. This amp is really great...there is for lack of better description just an extra dimension to the sound,,,extra harmonic complexity that I just haven't gotten from my other "British" amps. I can't wait to get to know her better!!!