As mentioned yesterday, Paul Reed Smith’s Experience PRS 2009 open house was held last weekend in Maryland. Among the new offerings were some amazing amps. David Grissom and PRS product specialists were showing the new PRS 30, a 30-watt cathode-biased amp featuring four EL-84 power tubes; this amp is sort of a “British-Invasion” version of the Sweet 16, with lots of chime and spank. It sounded great through both 2×12″ and 1×12″ cabinets. There will also be a combo version of the PRS 30.
PRS also debuted the 1×12″ combo version of the Sweet 16 amplifier, which features identical electronics to the head version of the Sweet 16, in a compact cabinet loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. We heard maestro Mike Ault cranking his 513 guitar through one of these during a clinic with Johnny Hiland, and we were more than impressed with the tone and volume level this amp can generate.
At the amp clinic we attended, we were fortunate enough to witness Dweezil Zappa putting the upcoming 25th Anniversary amp through its paces. Rumor has it that this amp was reverse-engineered from a plexi-fronted amp Paul Smith acquired from a legendary Texas tone-meister who has been known to hear the differences between 9-volt batteries. Truth or rumor? We don’t know, but we DO know that the amp sounded stellar! Dweezil wound it up and graced us with a selection of Van Halen licks that really showed off the amp’s capabilities. We’re excited to learn (and hear) more from this baby!