I was a bit hesitant about buying this, Class D, very inexpensive :S But Im glad I did...
Where to start.. Class D amps.. So amp's come in basically 3 types, Tube, Solid State, and Class D. Tube amps have that nice warm tone and gorgeous sounding harmonic distortion, breakup and compression, plus there loud for the watts, but unfortunately cost a fortune. Solid State amps tend to just have raw power and balls once you get up there in the watts, but sound a bit sterile compared to tubes. Class D or digital amps always sound incredibly detailed but cold and sterile to my ears, they tend to put out what you put in without warming anything up or rounding off the bad edges. Also 200 Watts Class D is volume wise about the same as a 30-50 watt tube amp. But as this was for a second guitar rig using some preamps, a G Major FX and a Harley Benton 2x12 Vintage Cab I already owned I didn't want to be shelling out $600-$1000+ on a tube amp, well not at the moment.
Initially I had some problems dialing in a good tone, I think the amp probably needed some run in time to take out a little new amp harshness, and while it didnt sound like a cheap $200 combo when I had a solid state preamp hooked up it, it wasn't doing it for me it tone wise. Solid State preamp and Class D power amp, probably not a good way to go :(
Next up I hooked up a 20 year old Digitech tube preamp, with a bit of EQ tweaking and a OCD clone as a boost I was happily rocking out thinking this sounds pretty good.
Then 2 days ago the AMT SS-10 I ordered turned up. OMG, chimey cleans, gorgeous slight blues breakup, and the crunch / high gain have a great tube compression, and it sounds almost as if there's some power tube breakup and sag going on in the tone. I was in guitar nirvana gurning away like an idiot. After I finished playing Van Halen's "Panama" solo I thought "damn my playing doesn't usually sound that good".
So there you go.. Class D... **** in = **** out, great tone in will equal great tone out. Very transparent and it's not going to hide or warm anything up.
A couple of other things...
* I did A/B it against a blackstar HT5 power stage a few weeks back and the HT5 sounded flat and muddy in comparison.
* It's not hugely loud. I dont know if it would run stereo 4x12 cabs at gig volume, but in bridged mode it should be fine for a single 4x12.
* What's with the dodgy cheap knobs Thomann? It feels like they are glued on too :(
* The tone pot values are a bit too sensitive as well, 10 to 2 o'clock is about all that's usable.
* If you're thinking about getting one of these.. I did try running the 2x12 cab in stereo , but I was getting some weird phase cancellation, probably due to stereo FX.
* Very light.
* Runs cold.
* If you have a high end ( or new model ) modeler this would probably work very well to, unfortunately I don't have any good modeling gear anymore to test with.
I was planing on replacing this with a 20 Watt tube amp when I had the cash, but if my feelings about the ATM don't change, and I don't end up putting the AMT in my main rig, I don't think I'll bother... Great inexpensive power amp if you have a good front end \m/
