Product: Sound City L150
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
06/04/2009
at
05:20pm
by
Castrombe
Features
:
8
The particular model i have was apperently made in 1974. I don't think Sound City made this model for very long, and hence they are considered quite rare, though not in a good way. This amp has pretty much all the basics, Hi/Lo gain inputs, Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence on the EQ Section, Clean Volume and "Dirty Volume", which you can switch between via a footswitch (acting like a slight volume boost, making very little difference). Master volume too, but don't let that fool you, crunchy overdrive is almost impossible without going deaf on with this thing.
It's got plenty of options on the back panel too, like line out, 600ohm out. I think this is for headphones maybe?
Sound Quality
:
7
OK, i bought this amp A:) 'cos it was really cheap and B:) '70's Sound City amps have a good reputation. It does REALLY nice clean sounds; very crisp, like a low gain Fender amp. However: IT JUST WILL NOT OVERDRIVE! This thing breaks up at such loud volumes it is completely impractical. You will really need some sort of power soak or decent overdrive pedals to get the best from this amp. I'm not talking metal levels here, even a Stevie-esque crunch only occurs at around 130 db. At high volumes though, it sounds very 'Classic Rock'. As Sound City have a reputation as Hi-Watt by another name, i was really dissapointed by the lack of Gain. I use this amp for recording sometimes but have turn it up and have it in another room. Useless for anything but surf music on it's own (Bring your own reverb).
Reliability
:
6
Yeah, this baby breaks down every 4 years. I've re-valved the power amp section three times. It came with Mullard EL34s in the power amp section and Mullard EL84s in the pre amps. At the time of writing this it has stopped working altogether, due to a broken fuse, but to be honest, it is pretty old so i guess things could be worse.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
OK, i actually quite like this amp (I've had it for 11 years), it is a very valve-y sound but you're seriouisly going to need a decent set of pedals or a power soak if you want anything more than a very crisp, clean tone from it, so definately not a workhorse for all seasons.
