Wow this thread blew up overnight. I think a few of my first comments were worded the wrong way. I like the herbert. I really do, it sounds better than my recto, i was just upset that it wasn't a whole new level above my recto and that's my fault because I hyped the thing up in my head. In response to some of your concerns, i did play the thing pretty damn loud at GC in one of their "loud rooms" and that is definitley where the amps shines and I spent a good 20-30 minutes with it tweaking with the mid-cut and eq. On a side note, I got really pissed when I first looked at the EQ, the gain was cranked on channel three and mids were at 9 o'clock with the mid cut on.