software

Well, yesterday i went to one of the local guitar/music stores to give my friend some insight on an acoustic amp he wanted to buy. After a few mins, i couldnt help but grab one of the LTD EC-1000 guitars off the wall and plug it into their XXL half stack. I hadnt played a paul style guitar with REAL EMGs in it, so i was very tempted. After getting them to hook the amp up, i started wailing away on one of its many channels/modes, and i was really blown away by how good it sounded... at low volume. I didnt want to turn it up much for obvious reasons, but since i was sitting directly in front of it that was OK. I didnt play on the clean channel much, but it was fairly good for a SS amp. Overall, it didnt sound great in any way, but maybe that was because of the EMG pickups. The distortion was super crunchy though, and had a nice low end to it. There was no ear piercing treble or such things like with alot of tube amps.

After doodling around for about 15 mins on it, i came to the conclusion that the peavey XXL is the BEST solid state amp i have ever played. I didnt look at the price tag though i totally forgot cause my friend was getting impatient

The ESP was also a great guitar, but i really hated that neck joint. Above the 17th fret or so, i was having to struggle to work my way around it. I guess thats the main reason i like double cut guitars. I didnt care for the neck much either.. was similar to my jackson but a little bit wider. Had excellent sustain though.. was killer. I did like it overall, especially in the sound department; not sure how much the XXL helped that though.

XXL rating- 9 out 10 (10 out of 10 for SS amps)
ESP rating- 8 out of 10 (mainly cause of neck heel)

funny....I played one last week too and thot it was an absolute buzzy flubby mess? I diddled with the controls and gain for a while but couldn't get anything acceptable to my ears out of it.....The little Envoy 110 next to it was warmer and smoother :shrug:

I've played the XXL combo before and really liked it, so I'm hoping there was something wrong with the head I played.

Yea man, there was no flub with this head. It was slightly buzzy but thats just a characteristic of SS amps. It wasnt enough to bother me though.


Originally Posted by JeffBfunny....I played one last week too and thot it was an absolute buzzy flubby mess? I diddled with the controls and gain for a while but couldn't get anything acceptable to my ears out of it.....The little Envoy 110 next to it was warmer and smoother :shrug:

I've played the XXL combo before and really liked it, so I'm hoping there was something wrong with the head I played.

Did you mess with the resonance switch on the back? That's what it's there for.

The XXL is really cool. I'd love to have one!


Originally Posted by mnbaseball91Did you mess with the resonance switch on the back? That's what it's there for.

Yup, know it's there from playing w/ the combo and the BanditII...I had it switched on the tightest setting

I'm a BIG fan of my XXL. I thought I might regret the trade from mesa to peavey, but everytime I play it I'm happy with it.
I have the dampening switch set to LOOSE and the power switch set to 100 WATTS through my Mesa cab w/ 2 90 watt celestions.
My MXR EQ in the effects loop helps a ton! (mainly use it for solos, some real crunchy rhythms too.

I wouldn't turn the gain up all the way on either of the lead channels, it's got plenty of distortion to spare.

Most of the time I don't have mine turned up very loud either, and it rocks!

Rock On!!!

I used to have one and it was an outstanding amp!!! I fooled alot of people with it. They all thought it was a tube amp by the sound!!! The thing with the XXL is that it takes a while to twaek it correctly! The knobs are very touchy on it! I have played alot of tube amps that I think sound worse than this amp!!! The XXL is super versatile also!!!


Originally Posted by theodieThe thing with the XXL is that it takes a while to twaek it correctly!

That's for sure... I found a lot of tones I didn't like, but after enough looking I'm very happy, there is a lot of features on it, most of 'em ya don't need, but I think this amp could work for just about anybody if they take the time to set it up to their liking.

Rock On!

what the XXL taught me: a good amp is a good amp, nevermind if it's not a tube unit...


Originally Posted by bloodswordswhat the XXL taught me: a good amp is a good amp, nevermind if it's not a tube unit...

Word Bro!

Crappy Sound clip with XXL on MySpace (Battle Axes. Death)

Yea i think if i ever want an SS amp, the XXL will definately be remembered, and the first to be looked upon.

The XXL is cool...my buddy has a Peavey Supreme that sounds great too...