The clean channel, at the max. setting saturates a bit, but not as much as it does on the crunch channel, which quite reminds an overdriven old vintage amp. Drive channel though, is a more a modern high gain type and it has even slightly more gain then in the previous model The Beast.
Although the Crunch channel is switched from the clean channel, it is not a simple clean boost and actually is a separate channel inside the Clean channel. So it’s using the same knobs, but it’s carefully designed to get good volume and tone balance on both channels, so there’s no need to readjust knobs when switching between clean and crunch. It’s well optimized for various guitar types. The clean channel tone is controlled by a one knob called “character”, used before in The Beast. It doesn’t just simply cut high frequencies, but it’s a complete 3-point tone stack reduced to a single knob. Therefore, it’s possible to get many various tone types in different setting of the knob. The drive channel has a standard 2 point EQ: Bass and Treble. Middle knob is not present on the front panel, but the circuit work as it was one with fixed setting. The “Mid. Switch”, solution taken from Mr. Hector amp, has two positions and makes the Drive channel more versatile, because it changes the way EQ works (mostly in mid. frequencies).
The effects loop equipped with level switch allows to use a regular stomp box (-10dB) as well as professional effect modules (+4dB). Additionally, the Return socket can work as a line input.
Headphones output, as well as balanced line output is equipped with the second version of speaker emulation. Both of them are always active independently, so using line out doesn’t affect the headphones. The signal for the emulation is taken directly after the output transformer, so it maintains the unique tone that comes from a tube power amplifier. The Speaker switch (on the back panel) allows to disconnect all speaker outputs, automatically applying built-in fake load at the same time. Since the speaker emulation is always active, it’s possible to play at home using just headphones enjoying tube sound (silent play/record). The line output is not only balanced, but fully separated from the internal circuit with additional transformer (Di-Box), which prevents any hum to develop.
The combo version uses one Celestion V-TYPE 12” speaker. It has a lot of headroom with its 70W power capacity. This helps the amp to produce distinct and clear powerful sound.
