Matchless?

Rich Gibson · Post by **Rich Gibson** » 11 Mar 2001 6:57 am

Hi Viz.I have a Matchless Clubman that I often use for guitar & it sounds as good as"they"say it does.I had high hopes for it w/steel guitar but It was not to be.I also tried bypassing the preamp and using my rack set up...no luck.I haven't tried every cabinet and or speaker,but all in all I wouldn't run out and buy one for steel.

Rich Gibson

Tim Rowley · Post by **Tim Rowley** » 11 Mar 2001 10:08 pm

Some of the Matchless amps are straight Class A, some are switchable to the Class AB mode. Class A amps generally sound pretty good on regular electric guitar or with certain brands of lap steels, but it takes a Class AB amp to give the combination of clarity, output, and punch necessary to handle a pedal steel. The Fender Twin Reverbs (and most other Fender amps) are of course Class AB amps and some of them sound pretty dog-gone good with pedal steel! Before you give up on a Matchless, why don't you try one of their twin 12" models with the switch in the Class AB position?

Tim R.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 12 Mar 2001 9:40 am

Viz,

Head into NYC and rent an hour at Ultrasound rehersal studios. You can check out Matchless, VHT, Tophat, Soldano, Fender, Marshall and a pile of other amps in the same room with no problem. Matchless can sound fantastic for steel ! You might need to buffer your output with Matchless because steel pickups will overload the preamp input sometimes.

I've used Matchless amps for recording and I thought they sounded amazing.
( I use a Goodrich super sustain matchbox as a buffer when I use matchless amps)
I currently use VHT gear because I like the sound better than anything else I have ever used. I learned about it at Ultrsound and a few other studios in town.

Check a bunch of gear out and something will jump out and sing for you.

Bob

Rich Gibson · Post by **Rich Gibson** » 13 Mar 2001 5:16 am

Hi Bob.You've inspired me to give my Matchless another shot.What model did you use&w/what speaker(s)&cab(s)?Any other specifics would be interesting..
Thanks
Rich

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 13 Mar 2001 8:51 am

Rich,

I don't know all the model #'s and all that. I used maybe 10 or so different ones. Combos and heads into speaker cabs of different sorts. I don't think too much about what the knobs say when I plug in. I start playing and turn each one all the way up and down to see what they do. Each of them had a real nice sweet spot.

One thing is a couple of them needed a buffer before the input in order to get a clean sound. I use Lawrence 710's and they can overload inputs sometimes.

If your matchless uses EL84's in the power section a pedalsteel will wear them out pretty fast (about 3 or 4 months at 4 hours a day). Matchless runs there power tubes real hard and that combined with all the headroom needed to get clean lows is a big job for those little guys.

Bob

Rich Gibson · Post by **Rich Gibson** » 13 Mar 2001 4:51 pm

Thanks Bob for the info.It got me thinking maybe I hadn't really given it(the Matchless) enough time and effort.Sure enough, I tried using the speaker on my LTD 400 & Oh Baby it was sweet.A little different but very nice.I also used the 2nd input which is padded for hotter pickups(Duh).AT any rate It's The Clubman Model w/EL34's and I used a lexicon mpx-100 in the effects loop.This model was one of their 1st and came head only.I believe I'll try it out next weekend.
Thanks
Rich Gibson

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 13 Mar 2001 11:36 pm

Rich,

That amp may spoil you ! Once you get the feel of a tube power section working for you its real hard to go back. Pay attention to how much tonal variation you can get with just your picking attack once you get that baby humming on a gig. You may want to back off on how much reverb you run with the matchless. Class A amps tend not to need as much, at least to my ear.

Have fun and give us a report !

Bob

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 13 Mar 2001 11:53 pm

Retubbe the Matchless with the new Groove Tubes EL84s, they are really sweet sounding.

I like the sound of EL84s a lot. My second favorite clean amp (a THD prototype) has a pair of EL84s and it is totally amazing (I used it for over half of my CD).

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www.tyacktunes.com

Greg Derksen · Post by **Greg Derksen** » 14 Mar 2001 2:53 pm

I have yet to play a Matchless I didn't like, they are seriously wicked guitar amps,
but why couldn't a Steel work with them, at
least for certain tones.
Anybody ever play a Super Chief? Greg