[Harp-L] Mini Meteor Amp

[john kuzloski <jkuzloski@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am fortunate to have received Scott's new mini-Meteor about a week ago.  I did post a few words over on the Weber harp board because the subject came up, and I just realized that I haven't said anything yet over here on Harp-L.  This is mostly a cut/paste/edit of what I posted over there.  I have not gigged with it yet (next weekend), so consider this "first impressions" rather than a thorough review.
   
  The amp rocks!  It's explosive, like a Champ-On-Steroids -- it has that aggressive overdrive but of course is much louder than a Champ and much richer sounding (not nasal) -- 2 power tubes: 6V6s or 6L6s (the "6L6"s that came with mine are Tung Sol RI 5881's, which sound great , btw) -- speakers are 1x10" and 2x8" (the 8" are custom made by Weber and are different from each other -- I feel like I can really perceive the richness that the 3 different speakers create) -- and the "meatier" channel (that lets you turn up the bass volume via the "meat" knob -- my bandmates liked that knob label!) offers even more tonal variation.  It sounds great at lower volumes by turning up the tone and presence knobs. 
  
I mentioned to Scott that it reminded me of a motorcycle I had years ago -- a Kawasaki 350, 2 cycle, 3 cylinder, that wanted to jump off the ground everytime I gave it some gas! It happens to look beautiful, too -- I got mine in red with the almost white grill that you can see on some of the amps on Scott's website (I believe it's meteoramps.com)
   
  The amp has a hot rod personality regardless of the power tubes. The 6V6 setup is grittier, but the 6L6 is also very edgy and aggressive -- also louder of course (but being cathode biased, it's not as loud as a fixed bias, dual 6L6 such as a Bassman). All 3 speakers are alnico contributing to that overall personality. I expect the separate biasing for the different power tubes (controlled by the user via a toggle switch) also contributes to that consistent personality.  I have been using a Shure 533 rather than hot and dirty CR/CMs with this amp -- it sounds great with CR/CMs, but personally I wouldn't want to play that gritty all night -- that's a very subjective thing, but maybe it gives you an idea of the amp's personality (with most other amps, for example, my Princeton Reverb, I would play all night with a CR/CM).  And this opinion could change -- we'll see.
   
  Hmmmm...what else?  Controls are on top, facing front; tubes/transformers on bottom.  I have replaced the 3 12AY7s and the 5AR4/GZ34 with old stock tubes, but the amp sounded great "out of the box."  
   
    I do find that the amp really grabs my attention -- I play a little riff and then find myself saying out loud "Whew! This amp is HOT!" 

  
Hopefully more Mini owners will post soon -- I know how subjective all this can be -- it would be good to hear a range of impressions. 

  Unfortunately Scott's website still has only the Mini's big brother -- but Scott is working on production (and I'd rather have my Mini than have his website updated!). 
   
  I hope these first impressions have been helpful.
  --John K.
   
   

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