PRS HXDA EL34 30-watt 1x12" Tube Combo Amp - Paisley and Black Gold with EL34's Reviews
The PRS HXDA Custom 30 1 x 12" 30-watt combo amplifier is a flexible guitar amp with unique character. Based on the esteemed PRS 25th Anniversary amp - a British-inspired amp with gobs of tonal flexibility - the HXDA Custom adds three switches to control brightness and gain. This gives you even more power to shape your sound. You get control over bass gain in addition to master gain. Tweak them both to dial up everything from bright and sparkly to crunchy and raw. Get the sound and responsiveness of a prized amp from the '70s, plus modern reliability, with PRS's HXDA Custom 30 30-watt combo amplifier.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Twist A Knob
Wow. Initially I really didn't know how to work this amp out of the gate because it's not a normal amp with either two channels or a single-channel amp with a gain and master.
I started with a Cu24 with 85/15's because I thought I would head in a "vintage" direction. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to get a pleasing sound, but holy crap, when I did it was glorious. WOW. The gain on this is freaking outstanding. So far I'd only put the Cu24 and DGT through it. I strongly favor the HX gain, and regardless of any other setting I can adapt to it. I haven't gotten the hang of the DA gain yet but the DGT seems to like it better. Additionally, I'm only digging the humbucking bridge pickup through it which is not abnormal for me.
What I found most interesting is how tight the amp is, and I don't mean compressed, I mean how responsive it is to my playing. And the amp forced me to change how I played for the better. I'm not a good player to start with but I noticed that it was not very forgiving of "spongey" playing, as if the amp was calling me out when I half-a**** a chord fingering.
I find all the HX settings pleasing to my ear and my style of playing, but I find that I prefer HX/DA/DA. Flipping the other two switches just allows me to go "once step further", but I'm learning to dial it back and edit, edit, edit so that the compression is less.
Working through more of my guitar collection with the HX gain, anything with humbuckers is an absolute joy through this amp; it really is. Obviously some of my guitars are more pleasing than others but I can make all of them sound workable and that says a lot.
Bass gain? What the heck is that? Oh, mama, hear what that just did to my sound. How neat.
I find that the EQ subtracts in such a way that it doesn't suck all the life out of a sound, fascinating.
There is a "presence" knob? Oh, how wonderful because I've always loved having them on amps, but I find that I don't use much of it on this amp because there are so many other wonderful ways to construct a sound.
The DA gain was a challenge at first because I didn't know what to do with it but now I'm getting the hang of it. I can't approach it thinking "where is that distortion i'm used to hearing?", rather, I just have the let the DA be what it is and adapt to it. I've found that if I keep twisting knobs I will find something interesting and adapt my playing accordingly. What works for some guitars and pickup selections doesn't work for all, but mostly by rolling off the bass and bass gain I get into territory that I can handle.
All in all this is such a great amp with so many possibilities. If you don't like what you hear then just twist a knob and you will find something else.
