Product: Custom Audio Electronics OD-100 Classic+
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
06/16/2008
at
11:56am
by
Bman
Features
:
10
Amp was made in 2007. Two channel amp, great Fender clean tones from channel one and hot rodded marshall Plexi tones from channel 2. This model of the OD-100 line has EL34 power tubes and a big old plexi transformer whcih gives it a great 70s/80s marshall feel, only better. There is a boost for the gain channel, which is great for SLO type lead sounds. The + part of this is a gain boost done by Suhr to make the channel boost a bit more forgiving and gainier than the normal Classic. Tube buffered effects loop. Wish you could swith the loop on and off with the footswitch, but that is not a huge deal.
Sound Quality
:
10
Anybody looking in here probably wants a comparison of this amp to the other boutique channel switchers. So I will try to tie that in when discussing the sound.
The clean channel is nearlyas good as it gets, with just a slight bit of mids detected from the EL34 tubes that deepen the sound a bit. Cleans are better than a SLOs, Shiva, XTC, Rivera Tre, etc... as far as Fender cleans. You do get some nice swirl alla Twin and can also get soem chime going like a Vox, but regardless of what cleans you like the clean channel will do loud spanky clean through plexi breakup, and do it all as loud as you could ever need.
The gain channel has a wonderful sweet mid tone to it, very crunchy with the boost off, great for Classic rock and 80s metal, not shred territory at all though. With the boost I can do VH taps easilly, it really has a great bite and yet plays very smooth. Reminds me alot of a Soldano SLO as far as lead tones.
The only negative for me is the bass is a bit looser than I would normally like, you can set the bass tigher with some of the global controls, but then it takes away some magic of the lead tones. But this is a minor point, the amp really has an inspiring gain tone that makes you smile ear to ear when you dial it in. Maybe a better lead tone than an XTC, this amp compares favorably to an XTC Classic. The XTC Classic has 3 channels, and more options, but for $1000 less this OD-100 is a killer amp.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Don't know, but it is built like a tank and the workmanship looks top notch.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No experience with this, which is a good thing.
Overall Rating
:
10
This costs more than a Shiva, less than a SLO, and has the great cleans of the Bogner and the lead tones of the SLO. I guess that makes it a great amp for the money. The Classic option means EL34 tubes instead of 5881s, which give it that Classic rock flavor. The + option really pushes the lead tone where I like it. A great value considering what other amps in this category go for, and if you can get a used one I don't think you will have to worry much about reliability except for tubes.
