Budda Super Drive 18 112 Combo

Budda Superdrive 18 1X12; made in 2006; bought at MusicToyz in Maine in August 2006; about $1,500 + new. I also picked up a 1X2 Budda cab, 1/2 open back.
Two EL 84s and 4 12 ax7s (I think, I thned to play more than tinker with electrical components).
Two gigs with this amp and at least 20 rehersals.
Plenty of features for me: drive and clean channels, mid contour, footswitch included for channel switching, "volume" is the key to the amp, just keep moving it up and the gets better, clean or driven; has speaker out and 8, 4 ohm switch, standby switch and, dig it, effects send and return, meaning you plug straight into the amp and still use effects (not a bid deal for many, but I usually play vintage Fenders, so this is a major technological bonus).
I do wish it had a light to show when you're in drive mode; a nice feature, not a biggie.
Used it a mid-sized clubs, say 150 or so people in a big-ish room at once. Folks, as you may have read int the guitar mags, this thing gets loud. Really loud. it's great for soft procatice to, since the drive and clean controls are set-up nicely to deliver at low volume. But, may last gig (past weekend) I was at 11.00 o'clock and the thing howled.

I'll be unoriginal here but the right term for the sound is "aggressive rock n roll." You can think of this a Vox AC 15 or old Marshall 18/20 watt, but really the thing rips more than those amps. You can get a decent bottom (all I need, since Buddy guy is my hero) but it's the mids and highs that just scream.
Clarity fo the clean channel - Good or bad, and it's good for me, as you crank the volume up the clean channel gets gnarly and barks; kind of Keef sounds. So you won't do loud jazz gigs with it.
With the drive channel on, it's a very thick mid-high sound, it grinds and it crunches, depending on your guitar tome and volume controls. And that is a joy.
It's not a noisy to me, by my fave amps are pre CBS Fender Deluxe and Super, so I'm used to a little hiss and don't think it matters at all.
The amp suits me because we usually do stright bar gigs where we play mostly dance music,"classic" rock, motown, Knarles B., Jet and Killers. It will do it all, it stays clean enough for the motown, but is thick. In a 3 piece band (with horns and keys sitinng in sometimes) you usually want thick sounds. I can get the thing to a pretty "brutal", ugly distortion with just the Klon, but I don't play that style, so it's not relevant to me. For the metal players, however, I don't think the 18 watt has the bottom you'll want, even with a 1X12 extension cab.
Oh, it handales all effects I use perfectly: trem, chorus, Sparkledrive and Klon.

I depend on the Budda. I do not ever gig without a back-up; always bring an old Tremelux head (never needed it, fortunately).
When I got it one 12 ax7 was blown, whiteish. The Budda guys, who answer their phone! said it was probably brokern in shipping and offered to send a new ax7. I just replaced it myself and it's been perfect since, about 60 - 65 hours of use or so.

Excellent. They answer the phone and they'll make it right.

playing 30 + years, primarily rock. We do a lot of country-rock originals, but that's only a few times a year. rest of the time we do dance music (above). A quick equiptment overview, which i suppose gives an indication that I take sound seriously (by don't spend stupidly): several old Fenders, KJL, Dr Z MAZ 18, '70 strat, EJ Strat, '57 CS Goldtop (Brazilian, 2003), '60 Jazzmaster and a PRS Hollowbody 1 (magogany and maple). You should hear the wonderful Santana tones for the Paul and the PRS, esp the PRS on the fron pu. Bliss; smooth thick and sustain forever.
I'll giv it 10 because when can you find a truly wonderful amp that'll do anyting you want a rock amp to do for $1,500? Yes, ther are some good ones at $1,000, but they dopn't come close to the Budda.
I'd replace it and I'd pay full retail for it.

This is a 2 channel amp. Very good for rock and brown type tones. It is a 2 EL84 amp, and can be plenty loud for normal context. I liked that this amp was well built, solid and yet not too heavy. Maybe it is 45 pounds.

Channel one, the clean channel is simple, and offers a balanced clean tone for a rock player. Channel two, the gain channel is very brown, scooped and chewy. With humbuckers, this channel rips if turned up loud enough. At bedroom volumes, its a bit overly compressed. Louder the better for this amp.

Very good build quality. I only wish more 2 EL84 dual channel amps were this solid and portable. I gigged with this thing for a few months. Very high quality rock amp.

I talked with the amp designer at Namm (Brian?) I can't recall his name. He was great and very humble. I think from my limited experience that these are good people and easy to work with.

I have been playing 20 years. Largely a rack mount, Mesa player. For the last year or so I have been going through the combo amp route. This Budda is a very good rock n roll/ blues amp. I simply am on quest for a less gainy, more chimey clean amp.

Same features as everyone else's. Superdrive 18 II with 1x12. Not a lot of gadgets. It is exactly what I was looking for. A low power, two channel amp that I can play at reasonable levels.

I am currently playing the amp using my gibson SG with '57s. It sounds great. On the clean channel, I can get a nice bluesy tone with the neck, and the bridge will give me a good, crisp, clean tone. Even more so with the brite switch engaged. Almost country twang, nothing close to my tele of course. The drive channel gives me a nice smooth distortion with the master cranked up and little drive tuned in, to a very good hard rock tone. Not mesa distortion mind you, but very good and usable. The drive channel does has some noise to it, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Here's where i had my problems with the amp. I purchased it new in the box and when I plugged it in and tuned in some drive, i got a very loud buzzing and nice squeal. I figured the tubes were damaged in shipping. A new preamp tube solved that, and i haven't had any other issues.

This is where I really became a fan of Budda. As mentioned under the reliability, I received the amp running less than optimally. I sent an email to cust. support at budda on a sat after i got the amp. I was out of town, but checked my email monday. I had received not one, but two responses from Budda.First one from Jeff Bober stating the problem was probably just the preamp tube like I suspected. The second email was from Kevin Parker, telling me a new sovtek 12ax7 was on the way. I received the tube on Thurs and everything has worked since. This is the kind of service I love. They did everything to make me happy in a prompt fashion with no questions asked. Never once did i have to plea for support or have to deal with warranty issues. They were even willing to cover sending the amp back so they could look at it, if the new tube didn't cure it. A+

I've been playing now for about 6 years and have owned a few amps, Peavey, Sunn, Soldano, Mesa, Gibson, so far this amp is ahead of them all. It is the amp I've been looking for. I play primarily at home, so these low power combos are perfect for me. I hate spending the big money, but so far I think it has been worth it. I would definitely purchase this amp or larger variants from Budda again if I had to.

This is the Superdrive II with a "circuit board".....ooooohhh scary. Well, guess what!!! It sounds so damn good that a point to point should probably be illegal! I just mean to say that it matters not one bit because this amp just freaking rocks. PERIOD! Mine does have twin twelves and it has some tone benefits from that fact I'm sure. If you like the sound of el84's lit-up like a 747 on take off, then you will pee yourself when you hear this amp. Cut the crap! and if you want one....GET IT!!! I cannot imagine you would ever be unhappy.....unless you play the damn thing to the point where you need a hearing aid like me. Really...watch your hearing kids!

It runs nice with a EH12AX7 in the #1 position. 2 and 3 are stock sovteks, Power el84's are Rubys' NOT to SHABBY !!! Could it run a lil' better?? Maybe....a 5AR4 will speed things up a bit....but the stock sag and brown are very sweet. These guys knew what they were doing. Why muck it up?

Nicely put together. Can rattle a bit at certain freq's. Might do well with power tube clips- they are pretty loose. The boys are helpful and answer their e-mail. Overall, IT is a good product with decent support at this time.

see above huh?

VOX on STEROIDS with a dash of Plexi. Sometimes it just makes me want to weep that I didn't have an amp like this when I started playing. Hell! my playing might have been worth a crap now if I had.

The superdrive 18 is an all tube design, with two footswitchable channels, a pull brite, independant power amp volumes for each channel and 18 watts of the sickest tone I've heard in some time. it comes with an effects loop, but I didn't play around with that. my experience with that amp is a store test, so I haven't used it in a gig. there are no effects on the amp, but the sound of the amp makes effects seem almost silly. it had nothing I wouldn't use, and nothing more that I would have wanted. anyone that plays with a lot of effects generally has their own desired boxes anyway, so who wants built in? although the cost is high, for the sound you get out of it, if you ask me it's the best deal you can find.

I played a fender fat strat and a vintage gibson es-335 through it, and I have never been happier with an amp. because of the fairly low wattage you can crank this little beast all the way, and even if you wanted tons of volume, you get it. the loudest 18 ever. I've had experience playing everything from a bogner 150W full stack to a fender blues jr. on stage, and this is my favorite, and I don't even own one..... yet. the only noise was because of the guitar, although I wasn't in one of the neon lit clubs, but a store. the only complaint i could have is that the clean driven crunches a hair to early. if you want a sparkling clean you can get it, just not at the volume of the grinding hot mean crunch that you get when you crank it. nothing but pleasure here. but if you roll the volume on the guitar back just one notch, you get a smooth clean that doesn't have the attack of the barking fender clean, but is absolutely awesome for any legato clean riffs, leads or rythms you may have. and besides, if you do need the bark, just pull the bright switch. drive the hot channel and prepare for a treat. I know it's just a combo, but it is by far the tightest open back cab distortion I have played to date. (that's right, better than the blasting stack. strange? I think not. good craftsmanship) I'm less of a distortion player, but once it was on that's all I wanted. the sounds range from acdc to more than you can handle for distortion, and what more could any gigging musicain want but a great selection of choices?

I have no idea how reliable this amp is, because it's only a store test. I can say this though. I think that judgeing by the craftsmansip put into it (great sound, and if you look inside you will see very tidy handiwork. I tried finding a flaw and couldn't) it should be a reliable amp. but you may want to talk to an owner for this one.

I haven't been playing for the longest amount of time. a little over four years, but I've played in more clubs than I have digits on my hands and feet, and I don't mean once each place. I play a fender amp for the clean right now, and use a tonebone pedal giving me a good sounding combo. I've had experience with several other amps, have had many and used many more. and I've played some of the best. this is a great little amp. and it's small enough for any gig, but big enough for almost all gigging musicians. no, it's not as loud as a twin, but I don't know anyone personally who's succussfully used a twin to it's full potential, and this amp will shine every time in all settings. not big enough for you? check the sight, they have all sizes. for more on me, check out my bands website at www.mixednutzrock.com. hope you at least try one out.

This is the 2x12 Superdrive 18 II . Two channels clean and dirty , effects loop , bright pull switch on rythm channel and a pull switch that drops out the mids . What I wish it had was reverb , I`ve never had much luck using reverb effects . I`m using my Maxon delay through the effects loop and it gives the sound some nice ambience .

Currently I`m playing a Erine Ball Axis with Dimarzios Virtual PAF in the neck and Tone Zone in the bridge and also a hotrodded strat style with a single Seymour Duncan custom in the Bridge . I bought this amp mainly because I heard it could get the Van Halen brown sound and it comes very close . The clean sounds with the Axis on the neck pickup are beautiful but the Tone Zone pickup doesn`t sound that great so I`ll probably repalce it with Seymour Duncans Custom5 . The dirty/crunch sounds I`m getting with my Strat style are very nice and thick , great hard rock n roll sound . This is not a high gain amp though so if you want brutal distortion you`ll need a pedal . For only 18 watts this thing cranks and should have no problem playing over a drummer.

The only problem this amp gave me was when , like an idiot , I forced the rectifer tube in the wrong way and burnt out the transformer . I learned something with that bonehead mistake , I`d probably use a backup if I gigged , even the best gear breaks down . I`ve had it with the new transformer for only a month now so I really can`t give an opinion on reliability .

Great people at Budda . I had to deal with them about the problem mentioned above and they were very cool to talk to and deal with and they installed a new transformer .

I`m still waiting to plug my Wolfgang Special into it , I`m having new pickups installed in it . If your playing rock(VH ,Zeppelin ,Sabbath,AC/DC,Aerosmith)this is the amp to do it with but I think a high output pickup (like the Tone Zone) would sound to muddy with this amp , I`m gonna try and stay with med./high output pickups in the 14k range (the three Seymour Duncan custom models all fall in that range) . I did get to compare it with a 20 watt Marshall Dsl 201 and I`ll just that the Budda blows it away . The Marshall has more gain and is $500.00 cheaper but sounds paper thin compared to the Budda . I hope nothing happens to it because I can`t afford another one , it`s an expensive amp but you can hear where your extra dollars went .

1X12, all tube 18 watt combo. For a full list of features: http://www.budda.com/products/printed_circuit/product_super18_1x12.html
This is a LOUD 18 watts. Plenty of clean headroom. I play only at home, so I cannot say if this is loud enough for playing out, but it will definitely be loud enough to keep up with a drummer. I like that it has an extra speaker jack, I may add a 1x12 cab later. No reverb or headphone jack. But with the master volume you can get it pretty quiet, and I really don't miss the reverb (it is a big enclosure, so it may have some natural reverb in the tone). Well designed clean and lead channel (more below).

I play a Peavey Wolfgang and Ernie Ball Music Man Axis. Both have humbuckers (though the Axis has some single coil sounds which are very nice). I play rock, nothing too fancy, just at home. The clean channel is very quiet. It has great headroom, and with the bright boost, I love turning it up and just playing some arpeggios or letting some open chords ring. Very pretty, glassy tones. Pushing the gain on the clean channel gives more bite and some breakup, more of a "crunch" type sound. Very warm, even with a lot of gain. The lead channel is what made me willing to put my name on a waiting list for this amp. If you pull on the "mid" knob, it like gives an eq boost for a more "modern" sound. I don't know how they figured this voicing out, but it sounds to me like Eddie Van Halen, or Slash (from Guns N Roses). By that I mean, it is a VERY articulate, SMOOTH distortion, that feels very responsive too. I give up trying to desvribe it. All I can say is I used to have a mesa/boogie combo, loved it, and was ready to but a Mesa Rectoverb, and then I tried this amp in the store (actually the 80 watt head with a 2x12 cab), and it did not compare. I tried Top Hat, Koch (nice combo, I recommend), Carr, and even a Bogner combo (great sound, but a bit confusing layout). They are all fine products, but I don't think you can find as good a combo of clean and lead channels. In my opinion, the only better clean channel was the Top Hat, and there was no better distortion (maybe I should have played the Bogner more, it was really good too). This amp makes me play better, just out of love of the tone it produces. The controls are all useful, and change the sound, but it is always goign to sound good. Mesa i like a lot, but I had to adjust things just right to get a great tone I felt. This one you can just plug in and play, which I HIGHLY suggest you do. I heard the sound samples on the budda.com website and they did not even come close to what the amp really offers. I think Budda is known for their "blues/clean" type tones, but The Superdrive series rocks.

I had a problem that probably occured in shipping. Ups just left it at my house when I was out, and I saw there was a hole in the side of the packaging, where it must have hit some corner or something. Musiciansfriend.com just shipped it in the Budda box, and when I opened it up, I found a tube rolling around the bottom of the amp. Not good. With some help (see below), I got the tube back in and was able to play it fine. Sounded great. Maybe a low hum on the dirty channle, but I crank the gain. There was a slight burning odor, and the tubes do get hot (see below). I have only had it 2 days (hope to have it many yearS), and have HEARD great things about this company (handmade, boutique, ex-Mesa guys etc.). However I knock my rating down 2 because I think they should do a better job protecting the tubes (bubble wrap was used on the solid steel footswithc, which came in box anyway. That wrap would have been much better served taped underneath and around the tubes, to protect them in shipping. UPS obviously screwed up, but at this price point (over $1000), I think some more care in packaging is required.

When I got the amp and saw the tube in the back of it, I pretty much immediately called the support number (the tube would not go back in). I talked to a guy, who I later realized must be the actual owner of the company (Scot). He suggested I talk to the internet site I bought it from, since it seemed to have been damaged in shipping. He also asked me more about the issue, and told me of a solution (bending the pins manually) that should work (I am not technical and don't want to mess with something I don't know). That solution worked, though I noticed a slight burning smell. I sent an email, asking about that burning smell, and some other questions I had about the product. I received a reply the next day itself, from Scot (the owner). He was informative and helpful and I have every expectation that they will stand behind their product. More than even the warm/fuzzy of hearing from the owner, I got the information I need, either right there on the phone, or in a day (for email).

I give this 18 watt combo a 10, it really is a fantastic value, though it is hard to say that for something in this price range. I have one warning (at the bottom). If I could have afforded the 80 watt head which is like $2000, I would call that a great value too (though not practical for one who plays at home only!). I also own a very nice Music Man axis guitar, which is damn pretty AND sounds great AND plays great. The budda is not that great looking (see for yourself), but sounds so good and is so fun to play. My music man was actually stolen a year ago, and I spent the $1300 and waited the 3 months to get another one. With the budda I would do the same. The only question would be if I would get a different configuration (18 watt or 30 watt head with 2x12 cab). I tried out Top Hat (great clean sound), Carr Slant 6V (good clean and dirty), Bogner Metropolis, Koch Twintone (european amp, good sound) I love Mesa stuff, but this is better. Mesa has some good tones, is fun to play, but this is just more so. I am a bit worried about the tubes--after that first burning smell they are fine, but they seem pretty delicate.
WARNING: My only warning is that I have heard (as of Dec. 02) that there is a 3 month wait on getting any new Budda amp/combo. The salesman I talked to said that there was a burst water main at the Factory, and it set back production. I lucked out into finding an internet site that had one left. I am very very happy. But I think if you spend in this price range, you may be willing to wait to get the amp you want. IN any case, I would tell anyone to try out the Superdrive series.

pretty basic setup, but thats the way i like it. two channels, both of them kill. one clean, one dirty. sometimes i wish i had separate master volumes. I also wish it had reverb.

i play mostly rock with a gibson les paul. it can cover a wide range of music with the range of distortion it gets. i love the distortion. its the best i've ever heard. even at low volumes it sounds good. thats one of the good things about its low wattage(18watts). you don't need to crank it, but you definitely can. i've played a few small gigs with it and it worked great. it is very quiet even at high volume levels.

It has never broken down, though i've only had it for a year. i haven't had to change the tubes yet.

i've been playing for 5 years and i'm 19. i would definitely recomend checking this amp out. if it was stolen, i would probably look at some of the other budda's. some of the higher wattage ones. maybe the SD 30 watt 2x12 combo or head.