the evil twin

[big jimmy]

who's got one, how do you like the 25 watt feature? they seem reasonably priced. whats 1 in good condition worth?

[BB]

Originally Posted by big jimmy

who's got one, how do you like the 25 watt feature? they seem reasonably priced. whats 1 in good condition worth?

My good friend has an EVIL TWINS amps he picked up used ( prisite condition though ) around 5-6 years ago for $400.00. I really have no idea what they go for however.

I had heard nothing but negative reports regarding these amps. If my buddy had asked my opinion before he bought it, I'm sure I would have told him to steer clear. He didn't though and now he has a reliable, LOUD and fairly toneful amp. He's gigged with it ever since and has yet to change tubes! In all honesty, he probably does not know he has to change the tubes once in a while! Great player, but when we used to gig together, i had to change his string if he broke one on stage since it would take so much time for him to do it.

Anyway...back to the amp. Even with the low power feature engaged, it is an extreamly loud amp. The clean tone is pretty darn good. Others may find the overdrive tone to their liking, but it seems harsh and cold to my ears. Maybe a tube upgrade and bias would help. This is the only evil twin I've had personal contact with, so all thoughts and opinions are based on that fact.

[Dacious]

Mostly they seem reliable, which is just as well - I changed two pots on one for a friend. To change two pots on an 'old' Fender is about a ten minute job.

To change them on an 'Evil Twin' is about a three hour job, because to get to the pots you have to undo about 20 nuts holding all the pots to the control panel, manouvre the whole PCB containing all the pots out - which is a thin, narrow strip of fibreglass, flexing the whole time and an absolute mongrel to refit due to the confined space and ribbon cables. The pots are all small PCB mounts - at least they are not plastic.

It took about 30 minutes to unsolder the pots from the board (one was a pull-boost with six traces IIRC) without scorching the traces. All the time the board is flexing and I'm thinking - don't break any traces, don't break any traces.

As for sound? Compared to an early 70's Silverface Twin, nasally, cold and thin IMO. Not to say terrible, just not as nice. There are a lot of circuit changes which dampen response.

We played with bias and I couldn't really hear much of an improvement. The best sound came from running it on the internal speakers (4ohm) but setting the impedance selector to 8 ohms. I would not run my amp that way for long periods.