Budda Superdrive 30 1x12 Combo

2 channel (shared eq), all tube, tone monster. It has controls for gain(lead channel) bass, middle (pull mid cut), treble, rhythm volume (pull bright), master volume. It has an effects loop, and a line out, with level control. 2 speaker outputs with a 4-8-16 Ohm selector switch. A couple more features than the basic amp, a lot less than, say, a Marshall TSL, or Boogie Roadking. The features it has are usable, not cluttered by unnecessary BS. The only thing I wish it had was a presence control, it is bright enough, but I've had one on every amp I've owned since 1982.

Here we go (hold on!)
The tones on this thing are awesome, the cleans are a blend of vox chime, and fender warmth. The tone is very 3 dimensional, filling your senses. The overdrive has more sustain than any amp i've ever played, even at lower gain settings. The tone is still really full at bedroom volumes, and only gets better as it is cranked up. You can hear every note in the chords, and single note lines...awesome. This amp goes from Santana, to Alice in Chains, and gets a real good Gov't Mule Warren Haynes sound. Again, it's 3-D, full, thick, articulate, with a sweet top end. I've owned this amp for a year and a half now, after waiting 7 months for delivery..talk about frustration! All was forgiven once I started playing it. The Budda Fat 12 speaker was a little brittle at first, but once it got broke in...sounds awesome, the amp really sings through a 4x12 cab with vin 30's...sweet.

So far so good, Their reputation precedes them, hope it stays that way

I don't think I should rate it until after 5 years or so.

Excellant customer service, I called and asked a few questions regarding tube funtions, possibility of using a SS rectifier among other things, very friendly and courteous. Answer emails quickly.

I started playing when I was 15, I'm 42 now. I call myself a reformed shredder, but you know how it is, once you get into it....got to let loose! Have been a marshall freak since day 1, I like all amps, as they have their own character. I've played boogies, VHT's, soldano's, Orange, hiwatt... This amp has so much character and tone, it makes you play better. The tone is so good, it makes me slow down, and finesse the notes a little more, as it is so touch sensative. Like a horny woman, you know when you are touching it correctly. I would take this out for all my gigs if I weren't so paranoid. I got this before the price increase and simply could not afford to replace it. I have been looking a lot on ebay lately, as I would like to find a head. I would buy this again, and as I said, looking for another one now. I would not say fantastic value, but this is one of the best sounding amps out there, I don't care that it is not PTP, it is build like a tank, and sounds from the heavens!

This is a followup to my initial post 21/2 years ago. I wanted to say that unlike others here, I have not encountered any sort of pedal unfriendliness in this amp. While my chain is not a massive one,the usual suspects such as Fulldrive IIs, Banzai Fireballs, Analog Man BiComps and Budda or Teese wahs work fine with this amp for me. Although I run the dirty channel's drive a little lower now than I did then, even balls-out distortion sounds fine with some Fulldrive or Fireball in front of it: little of the goofy super saturation that can happen with many amps.

Noise free. Distortion not brutal as much as it is refined and singing. This is a marvelous amp for fusion playing or Santana types of music requiring liquid sustain at any volume. Never tried to make it sound like ACDC or Michael Schenker, but it strikes me as having a much more subtle voice than a Marshall or even a Mesa.

Have had a few problems over 2 1/2 years, and Budda has responded well. Had a short in the effects loop that somehow caused the controls to have limited effect on the amp's sound. I sent it to Budda, they found the problem and repaired free of charge. Several years ago, an hour prior to a gig, I couldn't get the amp to fire up. While checking the tubes for tight fits in their sockets the rectifier bottle pulled loose from its base. Yup. The glass pulled loose from the base. I now carry a solid state replacement just in case, one I luckily found before hitting the stage that afternoon, and again, Budda immediately shipped me a replacement when notified. These were odd events, but after over 10 years of steady gigging with a Mesa Mark III and no problems whatsoever, I occasionally feel a twingge of "What's next?"

Exquisite customer support.

this post is in addition to my previous post. I just took my Budda into the studio, and I've posted the demo online so you can hear the Budda in action for yourself. All the guitar tracks were recorded with the Budda Superdrive 30, 1x12 combo, recorded pretty dry so u can hear pure Budda tone, used two sm57 mics.

My guitars: main guitar: 89 strat plus, with tom anderson humbuckers
second guitar: 2000 american strat, stock

Download these songs from www.edchung.com and let me know what u think, email: edchung1@yahoo.com

track1: Something From Nothing

intro: my main guitar(middle position) > boss super phaser > Budda clean, bright switch on

clean rhtyhm: main guitar(middle position) > straight into Budda, bright on

distortion rhtyhm: main guitar(bridge PU) > straight into Budda, gain set at 1:00-2:00

solo: main guitar(bridge PU) > dunlop orig crybaby > Budda, gain set at 3:00


track 2: Alone

chorus: main guitar(neck PU) > Voodoo Lab SParkle Drive > Boss Super Phaser > Budda, clean channel, bright on

bridge: clean rhythm, 2000 american strat(neck PU) > straight into Budda, bright on


track 3: Love and Affection

main guitar(neck PU) > straight into Budda, distortion channel, gain set at around 12:00

doubled choruses and ending with same setting, except bridge PU

solo: main guitar(bridge PU) > Budda, dist channel, gain at 2:00

I am totally satisfied with the tone out of this amp. very articulate, and has this "darkness" to it, i love it.

30 W 2 channel cmbo clean and drive with 1x12 speaker made by Eminence, Year 2000 (?), Point-to-Point (PTP) in an alu box, handmade the old traditional way, solid pine cabinet, speaker remote switching to switch between the built-in speaker and another cabinet - different Ohm settings to compensate, slave out with vol.

Reminds me of a cross between a Vox and a Bluesbreaker. Clean can get dirty especially with humbuckers, but can stay clean at amazingly loud volumes for 30 W. Has 4 EL84 (mini-EL34) that are cathode biased, which means you don?t have to rebias the amp when you change tubes, just use matched pairs. How easy is that? Great features all along.
Great drive, the distortion cleans up very well when you turn down your guitar volume - Amazing!! Very rare! I play entire songs from arpeggios to dirty full chord rhythm to Rock?n?Roll to Van Halen Rhythm and then solos with the same drive channel by using my guit vol !!!
The sound cuts throught the whole band - drummers who use a lot of cymbals cannot cover this beast. I always hear me and the others never complain about me beeing too loud because the sound is not ear-piercing but round and warm, yet has the right amount of bite to play with expression - ha, I love this amp. Never felt so satisfied with a piece of equipment.
Palm-muting - no problem ;;>>>
Don?t get fooled into thinking the amp sounds the way it sounds when you play alone in front of it. It gets to its full potential with a band.

Played it for the last couple years with no problem. Always performed flawlessly. Built to last - you know, like the old Plexis and Vox.

They stand behind their products. Were willing to reply to any mail I sent. Instantly.

A perfect 10? I don?t know, there is always something better out there. But has any amp served me better? No, definately no! I use it with a few pedals, wah, Overdrive, Fuzz, Microvibe and it responds nicely. What else would I want? Oh yes, either a roadie or a built-in engine to drive it from one place to another. Just kidding, it is not heavy for such an amp thanks to an aluminium chassis and a solid pine cab, much lighter than steel and plywood.

I have had the folloing equipment (sold everything except my pedals): Fender Twin, Marshall Plexi Reissue, Marshall JTM45 reissue, real Plexi, real vox AC30, Soldano Hotrod 50+, Marhall JCM800 head.
Never felt happier since buying the SD30.

One of the first PtP models, 1x12 Budda speaker made by Eminence (similar to Vintage 30), aluminium chassis, solid pine cabinet, 2 channels clean to dirt and overdrive to distortion, cabinet switching feature on the rear, slave out with vol adjust, multiple impedance switches, 3 12AX7, 1 5U4G, 4 EL84, shared eq controls, but seperate gain/vol controls for both channels, series loop.

Amazing, but you have to get used to it. At first it sounds much darker than your usual amps: Marshall, Fender, Rivera, Soldano, VHT, etc. But then you can get fat tones at any volume (set the master at least on 9:30 that is). It is a very loud 30 W amp, easily cuts thru the mix, even with a loud drummer and a keyboarder who uses a lot of sound layers - if you know what I mean. Your tone is always there - not too harsh, not too muddy, lots of mids that supports your guitar tone!!! Has chunky rhythm sound. You really have to experience this amp in a band context, that?s how it has been designed. The mids are very solid, no scooped sound here. But there is enough chime on both channels to make up for.
I have owned the following amps/preamps/poweramps (since the 70s): Fender Twin Silverpanel with JBL, Princeton II, Acoustic combo (Boogie clone), Marshall DSL50, DSL401, EL84 2020, JMP1, JCM800 4010 combo and head, JCM800 4210, modded Plexi reissue, Tech21 PSA1, Trademark 60, Mesa/Boogie Studio 22+, Triaxis, DC2, VTwin, 50/50, Soldano X99 (LOL a lot of gear during my search - the SD30 made me calm down). I was never totally satisfied and now I feel confident everytime I play with my band.
I played or listened to the following (during rehearsals and in shops): various Riveras, various Marshall JCM 900, Marshall Slash signature model, Peavey Classic 50 2x12, Fender the Twin, a real Marshall Plexi with 60s cab, Fender Hotrod series, Marshall Valvestates, Soldano Reverb-o-sonic. Some were crap (or jokes), some were only average.
The best amps were: real Marshall Plexi, Marshall Slash sig model, Soldano X99.
The SD30 reminds me of an old Plexi a buddy of mine played in the 70s.
I use both a Custom Shop Relic Strat and a Gibson LP Std, and the differences are very audible. You cannot hide behind this amp. With the SD30 everything gets thru. Also, I recently retubed the entire amp and went thru different brands. What a difference that made. I think as it is a very simple and effective tone circuit, what you put through it will be heard. This lets the tubes do almost all the work like it was originally intended. Everything will make a difference: the tubes, the type of guitar, the pickups, your playing style, etc. There is not a jungle of circuit to hide the tubes or anything else for that matter, like on modern designs where certain electronic parts make up for a feeble circuit design. If something happens to this amp I know any amp tech will be able to fix it. It is basically a Plexi type of setup, or Vox, or JTM45. Pure organic tone - nothing artificial here.

Lasted for two years without trouble. Always use a backup, the tubes could go south. I opened it and saw a very neatly built tone circuit, with quality parts. Should last at least as long as those coveted amps from the 60?s that are still around when people knew how to build amps or were willing to build tube amps the way they should be built.

Superb. Always respond to emails the same day or the day after. There is always the feeling they stand behind their product and will treat you as if your next gig would depend on it.

Everything superb. For certains songs I use the clean channel with a TS9 for additional grind. For other songs I use the drive channel with a booster for solos. This way I seem to have two different setups.

2000 Budda Superdrive 30 combo, probably the best amp I'll ever own or hear. Two channels, one clean, one dirty. They are both very versitile on both channels, its a bit like having a Vox AC-30 for clean and a dialed-in marshall for the dorty side, very thick!

I use this amp for evey gig I play, from country, rock, blues, jazz, and any kind of tone you could ever need, you can bring out of this amp. I would like another volume for the clean side so it's a little easier to balance the channels out, but bedies that it's fine on features

Like I said every tone you could ever want or need you can get with this amp. The tones are thick and smooth, sometimes a little to smooth, but I like it thick and smooth. It's nit noisy at all, even with the gain all the way up it's no where near a Marshall or Mesa niose.

This is where I have had a small problem, I had this odd sound going on for about 3 months, it would run fine then start to pop, despite turning the volume off or even up, the popping stayed the same volume. I re-tubed the entire amp, and still the sound stayed, then I took it to my amp tech and he said it was built great and he found that the main ground was SQUEEZED on by a WINGNUT, no wire ties, no soldier. After he fixed that and put a few gaskets to keep things still, and I haven't had a problem since. Beside that the amp has been pretty dependable, but I do get a little nervious when I dont have a back up.

Pretty good, I haven't talked to them in a long time, but about a year ago I called and got a guy who was nice and meaningful, but he did know to much about the amp. My other times calling or e-mail, they are good, but I wound't send it back to them for the fact that the amp's ground was retained by a wingnut I could by at Ace Hardwear.

Overall, I still love the amp, it's sounds amazing, every sound man who has heard it loves it. If it where lost, I may not buy another one simply to try something different, but I would go with another one if I found one for the right price. I think this amp is good for the money when I bought it, now the price is a little more, maybe its still worth it? Im not sure, I haven't played one of the new ones. I have a love hate relationship with this amp after hearing about that ground wire, but if I sold it my tone would never be the same.

u already know the specs... wish it had a master volume. using this amp for live applications is gonna be a little tricky, esp if u change channels a lot. getting the volume and tone for each channel just right without a master volume and without separate EQs is the major drawback to this amp.

i am using an 89 fender strat plus with custom electronics setup: Tom Anderson H2+ humbucker in the bridge and an H1 humbucker in the neck. I play mostly heavy blues and rock, anything from chilli peppers to soundgarden to old school lenny kravitz.
this combo is pretty damn loud, and noise is pretty low. first the clean channel: the clean channel has a lot of headroom. don't expect fender warmth, different kind of clean. pretty close to a vox ac30, definitely has the compression tone to it. i really like how their is a bright boost, it's not top end harsh at all like i had expect, both clean tones are every usable, depending on what tone you're going for. definitely has some break up at higher volumes, especially with your guitar volume up all the way. awesome punchy clean blues tone with plenty of grit and slight dirt.
the distortion channel is punchy punchy punchy. exactly the tone i was looking for. the thing about this amp is that it's very input sensitive, everything from your pickup selection, picking style, to how new the strings are, etc. new strings will drastically change your tone through this amp, a huge difference, the difference is much more noticable with this budda than with other amps. least muddy overdrive channel i have yet to experience. not too tight, and not too warm, just nice punchy heavy tones. the bottom end will stay nice and articulate until you drive it to about 2:00 - 3:00. playing single notes sounds great, but the distortion really shines through when u pick multiple strings at once, so if you do lots of multiple string blues bends, you're gonna be in tone heaven. is there really an amp that gets a 10? if so, let me know where i can get one of those.

just got this amp. looks sturdy, but u never know about tube amps.

i bought this lil tone monster for $895 brand new in original factory box from Rudy's music in NYC off EBay. i think this amp is worth every penny spent. even for 1300, you can't go wrong with this tone. for recording purposes, i have absolutely no complaints. dialing in the exact tone during live gigs is gonna be quite a challenge. if you're looking for nice vintage clean tones and a punchy clear distortion, and an amp that's super sensitive to your playing, this is the amp for you. this amp is all tone. i'm still looking for that perfect amp that delivers unmatched tone and live user-friendliness. if budda would simply add a master volume, and separate EQs, than my search for the perfect amp would be over. go plug one in, it'll be worth a listen at the very least.

This is one of the original point-to-point wired models. The lack of separate tone controls for both channels--or presence control or reverb--is kind of a downer. However, this baby is very innovative and gets high marks for the cabinet-switching feature, complete with ohm selectors, etc. Slave out with volume control on back...excellent. Gotta be careful with the footswitch--do not use the front panel jack for the footswitch unless you're using the cabinet-switching feature, otherwise you could accidentally stomp on the wrong button and there will be no load--very bad!--but you can get around that by plugging the footswitch into the "channel" jack on back of the amp, no problem. Extremely good rear panel features on this amp, very simple to use, intelligently laid out, easily accessable. Definitely one of the high points. The amp is also reasonably light--just around 50 lbs--so it's feels easier to move around than the 112 Mesas and other well-built tube amps of this size.

The 4 EL84s are...loud! Terrific clean, distorted, and in-between tones. The heavy distortion is very reminiscent of the early Van Halen sounds--nice! Extremely musical, complex, warm. I use both single-coil axes (a Fender Tele and an Anderson Classic strat) and humbuckers (PRS McCarty), the amp sounds great with both. The clean is nice and Vox-y, and the Pull function on the rhythm channel volume gets you even more chime if you want it.

My main beef with this amp is the way in which it handles effects: it hates them! I have no problem with the Fulltone Choralflange and a small handful of other effects, but they tend to sound like crap with this amp. Could be the EL84's being finnicky, as is often the case I'm told. Well, the effects loop doesn't really help all that much--this is kind of a disappointment. All in all, I'm reduced to using this amp on those gigs where very few effects are required, and this keeps it from being my main gigging rig right now. For the effects-intensive shows, I grab either my Rivera or the Dr Z. I will probably give the Budda guys a call and see if they can offer any words of wisdom with regard to this. If this can be remedied somehow, I'd probably use this amp on the majority of my gigs. For the guy who posted that this amp eats tubes for breakfast, well...yeah, that's not uncommon when yer driving an EL84 amp really hard. This unit arrived with a Celestion Vintage 30...maybe not the absolute best speaker choice for this particular combo (kinda midrangy), but at least there are no surprises. Overall, it doesn't detract from the sound, and ya can always hook up a bunch of other cool cabinets and switch between them--terrific.

Again, the tone on this baby is really lovely, and it kicks ass at any volume, really. The Master Volume on this amp really works, so you can get some nice tones at practice volume level, too--no power attenuator necessary. I'd give it a 9, but because it is not very effect-friendly we gotta drop it down a notch. Doh!

Construction seems pretty darn good. Could probably hold up to some serious abuse. I will hold off on rating this area until I've had the amp on more than a year's worth of gigs. This is a used model in perfect condition, seems like it's holding up just fine. If there are any major setbacks, I'll post.

I've already called Budda a couple of times. Not only do they answer the phone, but they gave me some very useful information and were totally kind...very cool guys. They stand behind their products 100%

The amp has a great vibe--excellent cleans, smoking overdriven distortion which doesn't get muddy--very crisp. If you want a killer modded Marshall tone and a Vox-y chimey clean tone in a small combo, this is it. The cabinet-switching feature is way cool. I picked mine up used--if I were to buy a new Superdrive 30, I'd probably stick to the head version instead of the combo. Either way, for the $, it's a pretty good deal. The Budda products are very cool, I'd be interested in checking out the Superdrive 80 head with the 6L6's if I ever start playing larger venues again. I've been playing out for about 20 years, rock, funk, jammy stuff, metal back in the 80s, fusion, and jazz. I've owned numerous run-of-the-mill amps and boutique gear, Fenders, Boogies, and now Rivera and Dr Z. This Budda has the best modded Marshall tone in a small package. Definitely darker-sounding than say, a Bogner Shiva, but still very pleasing to the ear. While I do have some reservations about the Superdrive 30, overall it's still pretty impressive.

Rating 9. Doubt if the perfect "10" will ever exist! A very versitile amp. It has two channels, 3 band eq, an effect loop, many nice features on the back panel allowing extension cabinets, proper ohm match to speakers, etc. There is also a cabinet switching device which could be nice...haven't had a chance to real experiment with this but will some day. If you have one of those fancy midi-signals switching pedal board thingys, this will handle it as there are separate input jacks on the back to handle the same duties (cab switching/channel switching) that the combination channel/cabinet footswitch jack on the front panel does....whew confused? Don't be. The amp also has a slave out...for a signal to another power amp. The manual says you can try going into a board with this output. You can, but the sound is sterile and brittle. It would need to go into a power amp or at least a cabinet simulator of some type first, not directly to a console in my opinion. Micing the amp is way better, again in my opinion.

I personally still wish it had a "presence" control...I know I would like a Marshall guy now, but if there was a wish list for things, that would be my only listing.

This amp is rated at 30 watts. Man is it loud. I've owned louder, but this is loud. I wish I would have choosen the 18 watter sometimes as the sound level can crush even in a modest club setting pretty easily. You're always trying to get (at least I am) that thick power tube thing going and this amp will deliver but the overall volume is pretty loud. I've tried a power soak with it but that just takes too much high end off for me too quickly so I just tweak and watch the bass player roll his eyes over the volume issues. If you only do studio recording, a little practicing here or there or an occassional small club only gig, this amp is more than sufficient and the 18 watter may actually suit you better. I was fortunate enought to play on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Stage in Cleveland last year. Its a big stage, at least 25 or 30 feet deep, 40 feet or more wide, no reflecting walls and I could hear myself decently as long as I didn't go completely over to the other side of the stage. So, being verbose...loud and secretly enjoying it!

Guitars I play:
1. Custom self built strat sytle with Kinmann noiseless pickups, a Callahm vintage style bridge, Stew Mac alder body and Warmoth maple/rosewood neck.
2. Custom self built strat with Frahlin pickups, Callahma (gold) vintage bridge and Warmoth ash body and maple/ebony neck.
3. Custom tele style self built with Ste Mac ash body (heavy), vintage three saddle bridge, Fender nosielss tele picksups - which sound really great, not like their strat noisless - and a "don't know the name" old maple tele style neck.

I play hard blues. Hendrix/Trower/Deep Purple style and many orignal tunes. Also have played in a softer Beatles sytle cover band with lots of clean stuff foing on. Like modern heavier music but don't play that as much as I'm an old fart and stick to what I know best. Don't think my set up is quite aggressive for that type of thing.

Clean channel is pristine clean, unless you really crank it. The distorion channel is not clean, even at low distorion there is grit. That no complaint either. Low distortion gives a 'vox like' mild grind. It makes for a pleasant departure for jangly rhythms that maybe you used to play clean but now want just a hint of grind...very cool. High settings are quite distorted but not way over like the new Marshalls. With my single coils, I always go for the addtional fuzz pedal to give me the total creamy lead tone. Can't quite get that from the amp alone. Now with humbuckers, the distortion is way over the top. You wouldn't need an additonal fuzz pedal to get there. The tone controls are great. You can tweak a little and listen and hone in your tone.

This amp is TONE. You can get so much tone from your guitar!! The way you play will dictate the tone as much as tweaking the controls does. Use your guitar's volume control and enjoy the pallet available from your picking style changes and volume swells...this am delivers the tone...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One last note to former Marshall owners like me...this amp is not quite as bright. you don't get the brilliant rage of metal in the distorion. Its just a bit darker, but I am happy with the tone, its just different and takes the former Marshall owner a bit of getting used to.

I give a lower rating here, mostly cause this beast EATS tubes for breakfast fast! It runs HOT.. I play everyday, so this amp is on like 4 hours a day, at least 5-6 days a week. The longest the tubes lasted for me is 6 months. This summer was way hot, even in the Pittsburgh PA area and I had three outdoor gigs where the temp was near 100 degrees. The tubes lasted a couple months, I am sure the intense heat just broke them down. I've aimed one of those ugly dollar store fans on the back end of this thing since, maybe I'll get a real fan installed. Also my effects loop jack went bad and you have to run a small 1/4 to 1/4 cable across the jacks for the signal to continue. Not a big problem, just an inconvenience for now.

They seem pretty cool. I've e-mailed with two or three questions and have gotten response within a day or two every time. Have had no bigh repair problems though.

Pretty awesome! I doubt if the holy grail amp exists that delivers every tone you want in an easy to use reiable package, but this amp is great. Its best feature is it allows you playing style to come through and your tone is just that .."your tone".

It's a little pricy and the tubes get used up more quickly than other tube amps I've owned.

Very recommended and give it a chance...play with it a few weeks to get a feel for its subtleties...its great.

You've read the specs on the amp. Actually mine is the SD18. I would have started another category, but essentially it's the same as the SD30, minus the cabinet switching feature, and 2 EL84's. I give it a 5 for features b/c this isn't the amp's strength. It's very straightforward. All of the features are very useable, just what you need. My one criticism of this amp is the lack of a separate master volume for each channel. I have balance issues when switching channels. More on that to come.

Gorgeous. I've just recently had the chance to record with this amp, and let me say it really came through beautifully. I found that the two channels have very different distortion qualities, i.e. the lead set low doesn't sound like the rtm set high, and this provided a really nice range of crunches and lead sounds for recording. Very versatile. The eq section sounds particularly good as well. You can't get a bad sound out of this thing!

No probs so far, I've only owned it about 4 months though.

I called up Jeff at Budda East, telling him that I was having a balance issue with my channels. I explained the situation, and he said he would take care of it free of charge. Instead of shipping the amp to him, we arranged for me to drive it down on a particular day. He fixed it right in the shop. This is so above and beyond the call of duty, I have to give the guy a ten. The balance is much more friendly now, though still limiting b/c of the lack of a second master.

Overall, I'm incredibly happy with this amp. It replaced a fender hot rod (crap) and I compared to other similarly priced amps. In this range, it's kind of a question of taste. This amp just had a different tone that sounded more distintive and yet let me shine through as well. Great buy.