Budda Super Drive 80 II Head

Volume Treble, Mid, Bass, Drive. What more do you need?

Could not believe that there are 6L6 tubes in this bad boy. So fat and juicy you would swear EL34s on 10 where making the tone. However, by using the 6L6's the low end stays nice and tight avoiding the flab you can sometimes get with EL34s. Budda has managed to get the best of those 2 different tube tones into one amp!! unbelievable. For all of you guys who desire vintage Marshall brown sound you get that, exept it is even better. Why?, those Marshalls you here on Van Halen and Eric Johnson records have been run though the board, reequilized, etc, this baby sound like them just by plugging in. I have two main guitars Anderson Cobra S and an Anderson Classic. This amp smokes with both the single coil and humbucking guitars. It is not a Fender Twin so don't think you are going to get that Stevie Ray Vaugh sound, it is a Marshall style amp. Clean channel sounds good, however I agree with Eric Johnson and prefer to run a different amp for clean and chunky rythm. I use my Dr Z Maz 18 Junior for that. And when I want to really rock or play a smoking lead I kick in the Budda. Pedals work great with the amp and a good overdrive pedal can really give this thing a kick. Set on overdrive pedal to a little fat boost and you'll get all the feedback and sensitivity you want and the amp retains clarity and fullness without geting buzzy or flabby. This is not a high gain medal amp. This is a vintage sounding amp. It does have this feature where you can pull out the mid tonal control and get more of a "modern" sound. It basically scoops more of the mids and sounds like it adds a little high end. I don't ever use it but I am sure it is there to add a little versitility. I never thought I would be able to get the tone this amp produces. I thought you would have to find a mad scientist somewhere in the mountains that knew the secret to modifying Marshall's to get this tone. Turns out I didn't need a mad scientist, I needed a Budda!!

Bought is bran new, never had a problem.

If I ever have a problem, I let you know how they handle it.

I am done shopping for amps. The Budda for my rock/lead tone and the maz 18 for my rythm and strat blues means I am done. I use a Palmer amp switcher into my Dr. Z 2X12. Out of that I use a THD hot plate. If someone stole my amp, wait let's not even talk like that. I have played and heared just about every amp known to man. I chose what I believed to be the best, period.

I waited 2 years before giving this review. The features are stated below, all I can say it's all the ones I need and none of the features I don't want interfering with my tone.
The effects loop works great with delays and reverb.
This amp honestly works great with shared eq, with the bright switch on the clean channel It eq's equally good for my tele as on my 335.

After 2 years this amp just keeps getting better. I'm using Strats, Teles, 335, I use multipal pedals up front, with delay and reverb in the effects loop.
I see others try to describe the sounds as Fender/Vox cleans and Marshall Plexi drive, but I find this Budda has a voice all it's own.
I love this fact, this amp has the most beautiful voice that is just different enough from "all the others".
I play mostly Blues Rock/Blues and this amp covers that ground better than any other amp I've ever own including my 69 Marshall Plexi!

I run my head through a Dr.Z Airbrake. So I run the master at 12:00
It sounds incredible through every bottom I own, fat thick brownish drive, fabulous cleans. Loves pedals, there is not one thing I don't love about this tone!

Had it 2 years, played hard and have never had a problem,
because I use an Airbrake and juice the volume, tubes need to be swaped regularly, but with tone like this who cares.

Had my amp tech call Jeff for advice on a clean channel volume mod,
Jeff walked him through the whole mod on the phone,
Jeff has also answered every e-mail within a day, great service!

I've been playing 30 years and cannot even remember how many amps I've owned, this one stays, I really love the tone and esspecially dig that it has it's own voice, this amp reacts so powerfully to your playing dynamics that it trully becomes an extension to your music.
Can't say enough how much I love this amp!

This is a follow up to the review I did about a year ago. Just want to say that this amp gets better with age and time spent with it, I just absolutely love it. The best boutique rock/hard rock amp on the market today, with the Bogner Shiva running a close second.

I also want to say I've had it for almost a 1 1/2 with absolutely no problems. The only thing I've done is change the power tubes, and that's easy because the amp is cathode biased, just pop them and you're ready to roll!

I've email Scot and Craig at Budda a bunch of times with questions and they've always been very responsive. I also took my amp to Jeff (Budda amp designer-guru) at Budda East and had him do the vol-mod (balances out the volumes of the channels better) and a mid-mod. He couldn't have been nicer and did the mod in less than 30 mins. Great customer service.

I'm very satisfied with my purchase. The price of Budda's amps of gone up a lot, so I feel luck I got mine when I did. Budda truely makes a top-notch product.

Not sure exactly when this amp was made, probably early 2002, I got it new. Not a ton of features, two channels (rhythm and drive), 80 watts, four 5881's in the power section, three 12ax7's in the preamp section. Slave out, effects loop and both channels share the eq, overall a very simple layout. That's about it, but you don't buy an amp like this for "features".

This is why you buy an amp like the Budda SD80 series II,...the sound/tone! I bought this amp because I wanted something that would compliment the aggressive nature of my other amp, a VHT 50/CL. The the SD80 does do that, but to my surprise it can be just as aggressive as the VHT! I use humbucker equipped Strats, Fat, Double Fat and Subsonic w/either Duncan Custom or Custom V pups in the bridge, and run the Budda into an Orange 4x12 w/V30's. If I could use only one word to describe this amp it would be "AMAZING". The rhythm/clean channel does the VOX'ish thing very well, nice, chimey and full. The volume knob can be pulled out and acts like a "bright" switch to give a some more top end sparkle. When you push this channel it breaks up very nicely perfect for blues and rock tones. I imagine this channel cranked through a 4x12 w/Greenbacks would sound heavenly for medium-high gain applications, ie classic rock. Overdrive/distortion pedals sound great through this channel as well, it doesn't "fight" the signal like some other amps I've used. The drive/gain channel was really a suprise to me! The Budda amps are touted as being able to give you that "brown sound" on their drive channel, and I will say that this amp can do that with ease, but that's not all! Pull out the Mid knob and the gain/eq structure changes by adding a bit more top, lowend and gain which gives you an amazingly full modern-voiced grind! Plently of gain for hard rock and metal (nice chunky palm mutes!), AND, all the gain is usable and will not mush out when dimed like a lot of other high gain amps on the market. The amp is super sensitive to your playing, dynamic, extremely articulate and full of harmonic content that swirles around when you're playing. The fact that the amp shares an eq is not an issue because both channels are voice so well. The only thing that I can "ding" the amp for is that if you want the rhythm channel to break up it will be louder than the drive/gain channel, which does kind of suck. But you can get the channels to have even volumes by dialing in a totally clean tone on the rhythm channel, which is what I do. If Budda could install a separate volume control for the rhythm channel without changing the way the channel sounds that would be GREAT, and I would have the mod done in a heart beat! But the sounds coming from this amp are as close to perfect (IMO) as you can get. From a purely sonic-standpoint I will give this amp a 10! But we all know that "tone" is in the ear of the beholder.

The is a very well built amp, solid, with lots of attention to detail. Even has a fan installed to keep the power tubes cool. Too early to tell how well it will hold up over the long haul, but Budda seems to have a really good reputation. Also, the east coast Budda Headquaters is not too far from where I live. So if I need some work done it will be somewhat convenient.

I've never dealt with them, but I've heard good things.

This amp is a real gem, and is somewhat underrated IMO. It's a great alternative to the other more popular high gain amps out there, ie Mesa, Marshall, Peavey, Bogner, Soldano etc. I've been through my share of amps, and there are a lot of GREAT tones are in the SD80, just depends on the way you set it up! And these amps can be had for a really reasonable price! The only thing that prevents me from giving this amp an overall 10 rating is the volume issue with regard to the rhythm channel. Aside from that it's darn near close to perfect!

Channel switching 80 watt head. Stocks 4 - 5881's, 3 - 12ax7's. Hand wired transformers. Master Volume, bass, mid (with push pull modern feature), treble, gain , and clean volume (with push pull bright feature). It has an effects loop, slave out with level control, and 2 speaker outs selectable from 4, 8, or 16 ohms. Looks killer, and is very well constructed. I'll give it an 8 for features, not to knock the amp (it has all that it needs), but I have had a few other amps with more features. The good thing is that this head doesn't need extra features.

I am using 2 different Italia guitars, both with vintage wilkinson humbuckers... the Maranello (les paul), and the Mondial (semi-hollow). I have owned dozens of amps over the past 5 years... other Budda's, Fenders, Mesa's, Marshall's, Trace Elliot, Ashdown, Laney, Line 6, Johnson, etc.... almost all of them have meen modern voiced amps (Foo Fighter Tone). I have been in search of "The Tone" for a long time. Up until now my favorite amps have been Trace Elliot's Speed Twin, Fender's ToneMaster, and the newer Mesa Dual Rectifier (3 channel version). After 5 minutes with this amp I can say I have a NEW FAVORITE AMP!!!! The clean channel sings, every note comes alive at the end of your fingers... as strait forward as a Bassman, with the texture of an AC-30, and as musical as a Fender Twin. The Gain channel absolutely rips. The overall effect changes depending on the amount of gain dialed in. I was able to get the modern "Mesa" voiced beef I love, but this amp retains clarity that the mesa's lack (over compressed). The type of high gain tone that will cut through the mix. But that isn't all it can do... push in the "modern" push/pull feature and the gain becomes slightly less aggresive and a bit rounder.... like a master volume JCM 800 Marshall. Pull down the gain a bit more and the vintage tone comes to life. I can say this amp hasallthat you need. I was a little hessitant in buying this amp because I was afraid the gain channel wouldn't cut it for me...but I was wrong. All of you modern rock players out there, this amp has what you need. It's such a well made amp. Budda does a very good job of giving you the features you need, andnone of what you don't. They actually spend time playing the amps before they send them out the door. I have always had problems with amps that share the EQ section of the clean and dirty channel, but with Budda amps they voice the channels properly so it sounds great. Now I won't have to check all 25 knobs for both channels to make sure the setting didn't get changed on the way to the show. BUY THIS AMP... never buy any of the new Marshall's. Check Ebay for these andsave some money. I got mine virtually brand new for 1000.00.

I have owned 2 other product madeby Budda, both very reliable, and well built. I've only had this head for a week, but I have no worries.

Budda is great with customer support. The phone number provided in the manual,and online sends you right to the guy you want to talk with. Very helpfull with questions on features.

Quality Tone. There is such a wide difference between hand made amps, and the mass produced amps everyone is familiar with (marshalls, fenders, etc.). I've owned so many amps that I've almost given up after spending good money on a name brand amp only to have it sound like mush. This amp comes alive. All of my favorite amps have been hand made (fender tone master - fenders custom shop) (trace elliot speed twin - custom shop). Spend the money and get a well thought out, hand made amp. Or save the time and buy this amp!!!