Ok- I got the other Scumback and put it in my Avatar 2 x 12. Here's my "review."
A caveat- I would bet that most people on this forum are better guitar players than me. That's ok- I can place decent rhythm, melodic leads and get better all the time. I could probably improve with a few lessons, but half the enjoyment for me is teaching myself.
Also- the only thing I have to compare it to is a 4 x 12 with V30s in it.
Finally, believe it or not, I am a pretty decent writer and do so a lot for work. Having said that I probably could not write for a guitar magazine because I'm betting the right words will escape me in trying to capture what I'm hearing.
So take this review with a grain of salt.
I put in 2 Scumback M75 65 watters.
And the short version is I really like what I hear. The tone seems a bit darker or "bassier" to me, but in a very satisfying way. It seems when I hit a chord there is this rumbly crunch I was not hearing with the V30s, almost like I can hear the strings vibrate. In addition, it seems, whether the guitar volume is down or up I can hear almost a clean sound for each string even though it's crunchy. I guess that would be articulation.
My Les Paul is pretty bright and I only recently discovered that I should roll off the treble and presence to get the tone I'm looking for(use the eq- a novel thought!
), and even though I tweaked the eq, I eventually came back to the same settings I had with the V30s.
Are they worth the 320 bucks I spent? I can't answer that. I would not have bought them had I not had some ebay and birthday money. I'm that there are speakers out there that I would be just as happy with.
But I'd read good things about Scumbacks, and armed with some cash, decided to try them out.
Are the differences I'm hearing a 2 x 12 versus a 4 x 12? Possibly. I can't really compare.
But right now, I'm very happy with them. The crunch I get is very appealing and and when I throw on a tube screamer I dig the very juicy crunch.
On the low range clean it seems very chimey, but again a bit darker than the V30s, which I really like.
So far, I'm much happier with these than the V30's.
One other thing I'll mention is that someone on another post mentioned the guy was an ass over the phone. I don't doubt it, but my experience is just the opposite. Jim was super quick to answer e-mail- usually within 20 minutes. I had several questions and he was very patient with my "noob-ness."
He did screw the order up, as you can see in the post above. He initially only sent one. When I e-mailed him, he called literally within 2 minutes of hitting send, admitted he screwed up royally and got the other one out asap.
If you got the money (it grows on trees right?)- try them out!