Goblin Update

[daddyelmis]

curious to hear from Bill, Lee, Phaeton and other Goblin owners who now have had their amps for a few weeks on how it's going.

 

I believe I'm over my initial "new gear syndrome" and have come to believe the Goblin is pretty much the amp I've been after, combining many great tones and features, and falling short in some areas.

 

The Good

 

This amp just sounds really, really good overall. I find I play the "U.S." setting most often, and seem to have the least use for the "UK" settting. The "Lo-Fi" get occassional use, but that tone sounds so much like my Pro Jr. that I'd rather use the PJ (because it does that sound better than the Goblin).

 

The tone controls on this amp are more responsive than other amps I've owned, and they can really give you a lot a variation within one set of basic parameters (i.e., setup the factory recommended BF tone and the tone controls really let you move that basic tone set around to your liking). The amp is also very responsive to what guitar you're using -- which is good and bad in that you really have to keep in mind what's going to happen when you strap on the 'bucker equipped LP from teh P90 or Strat. Lastly, the 5/15 switch is like having a built in attenuator -- does really affect volume that much (not much dB difference between 5 and 15 watts) but you can "crank" at 5 without damage. I find I set up my tone at 15 then drop to 5 with the band (I mic the amp, and it loves being mic'd into the PA).

 

The size of this amp is wonderful, if a bit "underwhemlming." It's roughly the size of a flight attendant carry-on suitcase. Now, for me that's a huge benefit (I'm getting long in the tooth and lugging big amps long ago lost its appeal). But it clearly lacks the testosterone "wow" of a 4x10 or 4x12.

 

The Bad:

 

Presumably this amp was designed primarily as a recording amp, so it has nothing in the way of footswitchable variation. I use it for live work as we rarely recored (demos to get gigs only). As has been noted in many places, it would be great to have the Schizo settings footswitchable. Might be nice to have the 5/15 footswitchable, but I don't know that I would use that too much. Also, because this is a low powered amp, the "clean" tone is there but not a Twin-type clean (at least I haven't really found that). It will get a DRRI type clean, and certainly much, much cleaner than my PJ will get. I have not yet run an extension cab, but that may also get more clean out of the amp.

 

My conclusion is that for 5.5 bills this may be the best deal going for a high quality, great sounding, versatile amp. Not sure it would carry without mic'g in a hard rockin' band, but that's never been my problem. I've been using lower powered amps with attenuators for a number of years to get "my tone" at manageable levels. The Goblin gets me there all by its lonesome.

 

I did try a 12ay7 in v1 to see what that would do for tone, and it didn't sound good to my ears. I also tried some GT 12ax7-M's I had lying about, they were good but not as good as the stock EH's. Myles was correct, I believe, that the factory tubes are just about perfect for this amp.

 

Would love to hear other opinions, pro's and con's.

[tchipman]

I'd like to AB it against the Carvin V16

[Lee Flier]

I agree with your comments pretty much daddyelmis, except that I do use the UK setting quite a lot! And of course, I don't care about the testosterone factor.

 

And yeah it would be nice to have the Schizo settings footswitchable... that's about the only thing that I could wish for and Reverend apparently has no plans to do it, they say it would be extremely complex. But... I can live without it. I've already gotten used to going back and flipping the switch between songs.

[EchoGecko]

SPAM!!!

 

Reverend Goblin 5/15

 

I ordered both the Reverend Kingsnake and the Goblin because I live nowhere near a dealer, and I wanted to be able to hear both of them side by side. It was a tough decision, but I've decided to go with the Kingsnake.

 

I just received both amps on Wednesday night (02/09/05) and the Goblin has only been played a total of about three hours by myself and was never played before I received it. Obviously it is in perfect condition. Keep in mind the waiting list is very long for one of these and you probably won't be able to get one from Reverend until April at the earliest.

 

$575 + shipping (about $25, probably less)

 

Serious inquiries PM me.

[daddyelmis]

I retract my former statment on the UK setting. Rehearsing today and for fun we ran through Hard To Handle (Black Crowes version). Wasn't getting quite the "crush" out of the US setting. Reached back during the second verse and click into UK . . . Oh my.

 

Come solo time it was . . . perfect. So now I've found a zone for the UK setting. Yee haw.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

I've been both on the road in a production capacity and moving, so I've had mine packed away. I'll still say that it does not compare to the THD in over-all sound quality. Nonetheless, I have absolutely no complaints. (I mean, it's kinda lame to complain about the lack of a feature, when you knew that the feature was not there before you bought the amp. So I don't really have a complaint about the lack of a footswitch, in spite of the obvious usefulness and desirability of such a perk. I agree with everyone who wishes it were there.)

 

The new space is underway, the Goblin is still in it's shipping box, the first load of guitars moved a couple of days ago, and I hope to get the rest to the new space when I get back to town next week.

 

Bill