Budda Superdrive 45 Head

All tube head. Aluminum chasis to reduce weight. Six knobs: master (push/pull channel selector), bass, mid (push/pull mid structure), treble, drive, and rhythm (push/pull bright). The amp shares it's EQ controls between the two channels. Has a good effects loop, and a slave out, with level control, that taps off of the power stage. Solid state or tube rectifier switch. Two speaker outs with an ohm switch (4, 8 or 16 ohms). 2 KT66 power tubes (45 watts), 3 12ax7's, 5ar4 rectifier tube.

Rating based on how the features work with this amp, not what the ideal feature set should be.

The amp has a very unique tone. I'm using it with the Line6 pod x3 pro, a Budda 4x12 cab, BBE sonic maximizer, and an Ibanez SC420BC with a Q-Tuner Hi-Z in the neck and Super Hi-Z in the bridge. I'm a music student and play pop, jazz, blues, hard rock, and metal.

I've always found that finding a good clean sound is the most crucial part of any guitar tone. You can add effects or drive to clean, but when your base tone is crap, you tone will always suck. The cleans on this amp are awesome and fit my tastes well. Not perfectly clean. They have a little fur around the edges, but I like that. Very responsive to pick dynamics and 3 dimentional. The tone is pretty thick in the mids, and the high mids jump out at you, but there is still plenty of bass. It cuts really well, and the note separation is nuts. The tone controls work well and there's not really a bad way to set them, and the bright switch adds a decent amount of brightness. It'll go from pushed fender, to voxy purr, to plexi bark on the clean channel.

The drive is NOT brutal at all... More like bluesy, zepelin rasp, to punk, to early thrash when the power tubes are working hard. If you need more you could use a clean boost to push the front end a little harder. However it has plenty gain for all hard rock. There's no muddiness no matter how hard you smack the strings. Again the note separation is nuts. The tone is thick and raunchy. Don't worry about the shared EQ. It works for this amp. The drive works as an extention of the cleans. Chances are if you like the clean settings you'll like the way the drive sounds. The mid pull feature bumps the highs and lows and makes this channel sound more aggressive.

The tube rectifier makes the amp sound more round. The solid state rectifier tightens the low end.

Wear ear plugs, THIS AMP IS LOUD! Don't make the mistake of thinking that because it's 45 watts you can use it in your bedroom. This is for gigs only! And too loud still for most club gigs. Another note: this amp will challenge your playing due to it's ultra tight response. If you screw up everyone within earshot will know it.

I bought it used and haven't had it long... Seems to be built like a tank. I know my Budda cab is. All thinks considered, I'd gig it without a backup...

The company is currently in a transition phase... Jeff Bober, the chief designer, left the company in august, evidently due to disagreement with the new ownership. Previously if you sent an e-mail to any of the Budda guys you'd hear back in 24 hours if not 1 or 2 hours.

If stolen, I'd hunt the thief down and put a thumb screw in each of his fingers and toes... Slowly. Then I'd get another used one... The new ones don't have the rectifier switch. I picked this amp for one reason above all others... Tone. I compared it with diezels, mesas, marshalls, engls and bogners. The others have more gain in most cases, but that's only part of the equation. None of them had the cleans that the Budda has, and the drive is so unique sounding... I wish there was more gain, but that's what my Pod is for...

I'm giving this a 10 cause I feel, as a guitar player, the only "features" you need are a rich, full sounding clean channel and a kick *** high gain channel, which this amp has in spades. It does have a switch to toggle between a solid state rectifier or tube and a great effects loop. Mine was made in early 08 I believe. 45 watts, but this amp is loud enough for ANY venue. It uses 2 kt66 tubes and three 12ax7 preamp tubes and it has a nifty little fan cooling them.

I use it with a PRS Custom 22 and a 1960A Marshall cab with stock 75 watt Celestions. I play proffesionally in a cover band that goes from Janis Joplin to Disturbed. I'm basically a metalhead at heart. Been playing since '82 so I've seen a boatload of gear come and go. This is the real deal. The clean channel just sounds so full and rich. No harshness or tinnyness. The high gain channel will move your bowels. The attack and definition are superb. Enough gain for metal? Absolutley. And it still retains clarity and all the cut and punch you could want. The shared EQ is no problem on a well designed amp. It's at least twice as loud as my previous amp(Soldano Hot Rod 50 plus) so don't let the 45 watt rating fool you.

Will have to wait and see on this. But, it's got six knobs, how much could go wrong besides the usual tube replacements?

Haven't dealt with them so can't comment.

Like I said, been playing since '82 and I've owned a boatload of stuff, Marshalls(had an original JCM 800), Mesa Boogies, ADA, Carvin(had an original x100b). I traded in a Soldano Hot Rod 50 plus(a great amp that sounded killer and gave me 6 years of trouble free service) to get this. The Superdrive 45 is on another level though. I compared it to a Mesa Roadster but who the hell needs ALL those damn knobs and switches? Seriously, are you gonna go back and adjust all that stuff between every song? That's just what the audience wants to see, a guitar player fiddling with his rig all night. The Budda sounded better anyway, both the clean and dirty channel. I wouldn't hesitate to get another one if I had to.