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Liverpool, Blonde or California


CoqBelliqueux

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The first 2 are used, so cheaper, but I was looking for the California. I'm looking for a clean sound and some breakup as well as a smooth lead sound. I've watched videos and read reviews, and the first two seem to sound better for clean and raunchy, but I'm afraid I'd miss having the Mesa gain when I feel meaner.

 

Help. :facepalm:

 

 

You boxes suck. :mad:

sansamp-character-series.jpg

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I have the California pedal. IMO it does clean and slight overdrive very well, but the high gain sounds are not to my liking at all. It can do a nice Santana lead sound with my PRS SE Custom, but it just doesn't sound right for high gain crunch sounds.

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Don't rely on a pedal for Mesa rec style sounds, you're better off just getting a Mesa for that. The Liverpool should work well for that clean, fat breakup that you're talking about.



I felt like one of the Character pedals could be enough for my needs, but no. Close, though. thanks
I was thinking more tight Petrucci sounds, my Hot British into the Champ is super cool for Marshall stuff, but Radial doesn't make a Mesa tone. :thu:
I'd never buy a 100w amp again, even if I buy a house one day.

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Somebody on TGP linked to a video where they ran the US Steel pretty clean, and it sounded pretty good. It was actually at about 40% gain, so there was some breakup, but I feel like it has the capacity to still do clean.

 

Having not played them, I'm still torn between the California and the Liverpool. I don't have much interest in the Fender dirt sound, but the Vox clean sound is very interesting to me (I prefer bright tones). Also, I was pretty impressed with the California's range from the videos I've seen.

 

Friday I plan to drive two hours to the nearest Tech 21 dealer and sit down with the four originals- British, Blonde, Liverpool, and Cali- to see which one I want to buy and run direct. I'll report back on my findings.

 

EDIT: What do you think are the odds that they'll pull a Line 6 and just put them all into one box for $250? :D

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I felt like one of the Character pedals could be enough for my needs, but no. Close, though. thanks

I was thinking more tight Petrucci sounds, my Hot British into the Champ is super cool for Marshall stuff, but Radial doesn't make a Mesa tone.
:thu:
I'd never buy a 100w amp again, even if I buy a house one day.



Um if you're hellbound on getting a pedal that can create Mesa tones, AMT's Legend Series might be a good springboard. Check out the AMT R-1 Rectifier

http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/amt/legendamp/rectifier

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Friday I plan to drive two hours to the nearest Tech 21 dealer and sit down with the four originals- British, Blonde, Liverpool, and Cali- to see which one I want to buy and run direct. I'll report back on my findings.



For me, the Blonde and Liverpool really seem to stand out, the California kinda ok but the British sounds very fake to my ears. If you like Marshall, try the Hot British, it was only 30$ more at the store. Only does distortion though.

Have fun and post back here in my thread, I'm curious. :thu:

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I've played through a Liverpool.

First, it's not a stompbox but a flavored DI, so don't expect to punch in and out for solos.
Second, as an "amp" it only has one channel at a time; there's no way to switch from "clean" to "Brian May" on the fly except getting on your knees and fiddling about.
Third, as an "amp" it replaces the 50 lbs you're carrying with a 3 lb substitute. It takes pedals like an amp does, so what do you use now to get those sounds?
Fourth, all that said it sounds pretty good.

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For me, the Blonde and Liverpool really seem to stand out, the California kinda ok but the British sounds very fake to my ears. If you like Marshall, try the Hot British, it was only 30$ more at the store. Only does distortion though.


Have fun and post back here in my thread, I'm curious.
:thu:



The Blonde just never tickled my fancy. It seems to have nice cleans as expected, and even a nice creamy edge of breakup tone... but the full distortion isn't very interesting to my ears. Yes, I plan to use it with pedals out front, but if I shell out $150 on this box, I want to make sure I can use it 20 ways or more. :)

Everything will depend on the play test, especially since I've armed myself with a lot of information. When I first played the M13, I didn't like it at all, but then I spent a little more time with the M9 and came around a bit. Finally, after gaining a little knowledge, I sat down with the M13 in the store, dialed in some cool tones, and ended up walking out with the M9 in hand. From what I understand, these pedals just need a lot of tweaking. I'll have to make sure I can run them into a PA or keyboard amp... not a guitar amp (or even an effects loop return).

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The Blonde just never tickled my fancy. It seems to have nice cleans as expected, and even a nice creamy edge of breakup tone... but the full distortion isn't very interesting to my ears. Yes, I plan to use it with pedals out front, but if I shell out $150 on this box, I want to make sure I can use it 20 ways or more.
:)

Everything will depend on the play test, especially since I've armed myself with a lot of information. When I first played the M13, I didn't like it at all, but then I spent a little more time with the M9 and came around a bit. Finally, after gaining a little knowledge, I sat down with the M13 in the store, dialed in some cool tones, and ended up walking out with the M9 in hand. From what I understand, these pedals just need a lot of tweaking. I'll have to make sure I can run them into a PA or keyboard amp... not a guitar amp (or even an effects loop return).


The Burger video sounds very nice to me, even the heavy riffing, but I've never had a "real" Fender amp, so I guess I don't really know.

I don't know what the M are. :bor:

These Tech21 are meant to sound better plugged in powered speakers, direct, soundcard, etc... with full frequency speakers, not a guitar amp like I'm intending to use it with. Hope that helps.

I'm sure they'll have a powered speaker or Tech 21 Trademark "amp" thing for trying out the pedals, that way you'll get the most out of it, without any guitar amp coloration. I might go that route myself if I end up liking the sound that much.

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So I sat down with the four originals today. I was very surprised.

 

They set me up with a Roland Cube 80, so I set it to acoustic with a flat EQ and started testing. After an hour, I ended up taking back the two that I thought would be my favorites- the Liverpool and California. I then grabbed my Line 6 M9 to put it in front of the British and Blonde, and ended up walking out with the Blonde.

 

The Liverpool was incredible bright when clean, and its dirt sounded almost identical to my Traynor's dirty channel. The California had the widest range from clean to hi-gain, but it had a definite mid scoop, no matter what the EQ settings. Not unpleasant on either, but not what I was looking for. The British had a really nice breakup, but the Blonde eventually won out with what I considered the most tube-like clean tone and still a great mid- and high-gain tone (plus a different dirt flavor than anything on my board or my amp). It also took pedals best out of the last two.

 

An unexpected bonus- I threw it in the effects loop of my bass amp thinking that the "Bassman" WAS originally a bass amp, and it sounds fantastic! I have a bass gig tonight with my blues rock band, and I think I'll take the Blonde with me instead of my M9. With the character knob turned to the left and gain cranked to the right, it's an interesting synth-like fuzz, just like cranking a Class A tube amp, but without the volume.

 

Regarding the guitar amp thing, it seems to work a lot better in the effects loop believe it or not.

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Super cool, I really like my Liverpool too. Pushing the gain on a low Character setting just gives so much body to the notes without even breaking up. In front of the amp, the more distorted tones do not sound as good, but the Champ is very mellow, so it makes sense.

 

We're both happy, thanks for writing. About the California, how smooth does it sound in moderate gain, like a fat wide Santana, really? It's one sound I can't get with either the Liverpool or the Hot British.

 

Report again after the gig!

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Okay, so I played the gig last night, and things went a little differently than planned. I showed up to the venue and discovered that the stage wasn't big enough to fit my bass amp on there. Thus, I decided to go direct (they had great subs and a soundman who was competent- a great departure for us). I ran bass > Blonde > DI > PA. The sound was fat, articulate, and sounded much better than I usually do when going direct. On lower character settings, the Blonde is pretty boomy, but a little bit of roll off on the bass setting smoothed it out.

 

One thing I forgot to mention in my quick review above- the EQ knobs are exceedingly sensitive. The tiniest turn can rival the entire range of many stompbox or amp EQ knobs. This allows for really extreme modification of tone, but does require some finesse to dial in exactly what you're looking for.

 

All in all, I'm very happy so far, but the REAL test is church tomorrow morning, going direct from my pedalboard into the Blonde and then to the PA.

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All in all, I'm very happy so far, but the REAL test is church tomorrow morning, going direct from my pedalboard into the Blonde and then to the PA.

 

 

Glad it worked out for you on bass last night. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes at your church. They are great pedals! I use the Liverpool direct at my church regularly and am very happy with the sound. I've been tempted to check out the Blonde as well one of these days.

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