Product: Matamp LX
Price Paid: 936
Submitted
02/26/2007
at
11:08am
by
Chris
Features
:
9
Custom-made in 2006/7
60 watts (clean - capable of 100w when driven hard)
4xEL34 & 3xECC83/12AX7
VOICE (footswitchable)
GAIN
OVERDRIVE (footswitchable)
BASS
MIDDLE
TEXTURE
TREBLE
MASTER 1 & 2 (footswitchable)
FX loop
Half-power switch (60w -> 30w)
4/8/16 ohm
I was looking for a single channel, mid-wattage amp for use with my band in the studio and on stage. I play from clean right through to hi-gain so I needed something that could deliver right through the spectrum.
The amp has everything I need in terms of functionality and delivers enough flexibility to compete with any of the multi-channel amps I've owned in that respect. It's easy to dial in decent sounds and basic enough that you don't get bogged down in EQs, modes and whatnot. Small tweaks of certain dials can really change the sound and feel of the amp and the EQ is great for fine-tuning.
Sound Quality
:
10
Well, I decided to go the custom route after being let down by many off-the-shelf amps that couldn't take enough of a beating for me to rely on them for gigging. I'm glad I did!
VOICE - this is a rotary switch that basically how beefy and thick the sound is. In the far-left position, the sound is gutteral, warm, and very bassy. Each click to the right thins out the sound and there is a noticable volume drop from hard left to right. The footswitch return this dial to the far-left so you can set it for a thinner tone and use it as a boost! Very handy indeed.
GAIN/OVERDRIVE - There's a lot of gain here, but it never really gets mushy or indecipherable. Very raunchy sound. Very thick and warm with a lot of depth and punch. Backing off the volume on the guitar really cleans up the tone and opens the door to some lovely break-up tones for those quieter moments! The sustain is really smooth and very natural-sounding. Backing off the gain can give the sweetest crunch which can get pretty huge coupled with the voice control.
Clean tones are very warm and sweet. Using different pickups can produce some wonderful jangly tones which never turn to that ice-pick treble sound. Coupled with a decent delay or reverb is very rewarding.
EQ - The EQ on this beast works a little different to what I'm used to. Driving the bass hard simultaneously reduces treble frequencies and vice-versa. I could sit and tweak this for hours but it never gives unusable tones. The "middle" and "texture" dials give a lot of control in this respect - the texture works like a contour; turning it to the right reduces mid-frequencis whilst turning to the left lets the whole "Matamp" signal through. This can make the amp take on a very modern tone but in all honesty it loses some of its punch when used on higher gain settings. Very good for getting a lovely scooped clean tone though.
There are two master volumes on this amp which can be switches via the footswitch. This give you the oppotunity of having a volume boost for solos but it can also be handy for dropping the volume out between songs. The amp is still single channel but this feature gives you that little bit more flexibility when using it live.
The amp doesn't give off much noise at all, even when pushed hard. It's easy to get it to feedback and when it does it is very responsive to you position in front of the amp. No horrible squeeling!
The amp works great with humbuckers and mine are setup to split as well and the single-coils work great too.
Fantastic sounds across the board!
Reliability
:
10
So far so good. Matamp have a reputation of building bomb-proof amps and it certainly feels it! The amp weighs quite a bit but its relatively compact so its easier to carry than a lot of other amps.
The construction seems flawless and a quick peek inside the amp will show off the craftsmanship - very tidy indeed!
The guys at the factory are very helpful and friendly and I've heard many a tale of people sending the amps in for tweaks (purely preference) after they get it.
Customer Support
:
10
The nicest bunch of people I've delt with. Very helpful and friendly and they obviously love what they do. There's a warmth in their service that a lot of other companies lack, which means a lot when you're forking out that much cash.
They openly invite people to go to the factory and test the amps and sometimes they actually build them while you're there! That to me is simply incredible and I'm really glad there are still companies like this around.
Overall Rating
:
9
At the moment, I can't imagine needing another amp unless I need a specific amp's sound. The whole buying experience was great, the amp looks and sounds stunning and is definitely built to last. I'd reccommend this amp to anyone. Period. It's flexible enough to be used for a lot of different styles of music and it has a unique tone.
The only thing I'd like is more volume. But then again, don't we all?? This is actually a very good volume for gigging and rehearsals. The last 100w head I had sounded awefull at gigs because unfortunately there are few places that allow you to really crank things up.
Absolutely Marvellous!
