Duotone vs. Avenger vs. Rev Jr Shootout

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Brandon E.

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May 9, 2007
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I've been reamping today and thought I would share my findings. I'm not a reamping or mixing wizard, I'm just a guitar player, so sorry if you don't like the tones or the mix. The point is to show the differences and similarities between the amps, or maybe even as a testament to how similar they can sound!

The chain was as follows:
Charvel San Dimas w/ JB -> Saffire Pro 40 -> Radial ProRMP -> Maxon OD808 -> Amp -> Marshall MF280A -> Audix i5 -> Saffire Pro 40 -> HPF/LPF and slight EQ of no more than .5db per band.

Only rhythm guitars are reamped.

Soldano Avenger:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3597430/MP3s/Reamps/Avenger Reamp.mp3
Hughes & Kettner Duotone
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3597430/MP3s/Reamps/Duotone Reamp.mp3
Krank Rev Jr 20:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3597430/MP3s/Reamps/Rev Jr Reamp.mp3
 
loving the avenger, really not digging the Duotone at all (there's a weird hole in a very narrow mid band that just makes it sound weird).

cool tones btw (esp. the Avenger)!

thanks for the shootout
 
Thanks for doing this Brandon. I've got to say, the Krank is actually my favorite of these. Not even sure why, it just "speaks" to me a little more. Like Lasse, the Duotone is my least favorite. The Avenger is great and just slightly edged out in favor of the Krank.
 
Personally I like the Avenger best...but a lot of the difference could easily be taken away by the tiniest bit of EQ. I guess what I've learned from this myself is that I need to stop buying amp heads and get more cabs hahahah.
 
I'm surprised at how close the Avenger and Rev Jr. sound. They're not identical, but the Krank is definitely giving that Soldano a run for its money. Both sound great! Not huge on the H&K though.
 
I think my preference for the Rev over the Avenger actually has more to do with the pick attack than the EQ (though, that may play a part too).
 
Well, shit. This has me GASing for a Rev Jr. now. The Soldano is badass too, but with as close as the Rev is in tone I don't think it's worth the price difference. I didn't dislike the Duotone, though, it just didn't work for this style as well as the other two.
 
There is a slight difference in aggressiveness and in-your-face-ness between the Krank and the Avenger (in favour of the latter). May be a stupid question, but are those two absolutely the same level? It may be just that the Avenger has more content in the frequencies that human ears are the most sensitive in, but Avenger seems a bit more louder to me.
Duotone was OKish, but fades in comparison to the other two.

By the way, you're obviously hell of a guitarist! And the song is cool too. The only thing I hate about it is the drums! Man, you really need either a better drum library or better drum programming chops :)
 
The Soldano is a bit fuller in the low-mids, which I must admit I prefer, but the Krank still sounds damn good - do you not have the 50w Pro anymore Brandon? Your comparison clips between it and a bunch of other amps a few months ago sold me on it, and I seem to remember it sounding similar but noticeably better than the 20w version (which as I recall you included in said comparison).

And the Duotone isn't bad, but definitely my least favorite (cuz it's the least tight)
 
Wohma said:
There is a slight difference in aggressiveness and in-your-face-ness between the Krank and the Avenger (in favour of the latter). May be a stupid question, but are those two absolutely the same level? It may be just that the Avenger has more content in the frequencies that human ears are the most sensitive in, but Avenger seems a bit more louder to me.
Duotone was OKish, but fades in comparison to the other two.

By the way, you're obviously hell of a guitarist! And the song is cool too. The only thing I hate about it is the drums! Man, you really need either a better drum library or better drum programming chops :)
Click to expand...

Hahahahah, yeah man I have no idea what I'm doing with drums, I just play guitar. I've honestly never even sat behind a drum kit once in my life.

They're as close in level as I could get them, it might be a little off, or it might be that its just quieter in the mids. (EDIT: For anyone who cares, I did end up raising the Rev Jr by .25db after reading this.) Also it should be noted that any of these clips could have turned out drastically different, or could have been even more similar with a little EQ. The difference is more in the character. Also the Duotone did NOT have the boost switch engaged, which makes a big difference but I thought it sounded TOO tight and kind of messy with it on.

Marcus- Yeah, the Pro 50 is still around, I just didn't see the need to reamp 2 Rev Jrs :p
 
I'm surprised how similar they all sound. The Avenger seems to fit this genre the best. The Duotone is an EL34 amp... basically meant to be a Marshall amp that can still do metal. Okay it wasn't as good for this song as the Avenger but there are many other things the Duotone can do what those other amps can't do. F.ex. the cleans on the Duotone are close to perfection: Basically a 100W Fender Blackface. The Rev Jr was kind of... well a hairy version of the Avenger. Not a tight low end but hairy all around. Hairy being brown sound being a bit noisy I guess.
 
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