surfnorthwest wrote:AFD equals rock tone nirvana with a Les Paul plus really cool power scaling, VM equals tone nirvana with both a Strat and Les Paul with the benefit of the KT66 sound. There I said it.
Oooh!, almost agree Surf, have you tried a Strat with the AFD? My 57 reissue Strat (i.e low powered / old school pickups) sing through the AFD like no other amp I've had with a nice underlying warmth and fullness without losing the single coil bite.
Agree, both amps are wonderful. I can't wait to try some KT66's in the AFD. The main point I keep coming back to is the power scaling. If Marshall do nothing else to the VM, they need to at least add the power scaling.
surfnorthwest wrote: I was just wonder the texure differences between KT66s & 6550s and the overall crunch.
I am about the last person on this board is amp technical but I have ears. The gain structure (voice) of the AFD when I heard it in person was very different then the VM, harsher in a good way I guess. I wouldn't say it had more gain but it had a lot of it and sounded very good if you like that hotrod 800 sound. 6550 tubes are sweet.
Interesting how we hear thing a little differently. For me the 2 gain modes of the AFD sits between the gain modes of the VM. The big plus of the AFD is how smooth it is through the gain and volume ranges in the amp. The VM to me was way too harsh in the High dynamic range and rather unfriendly with pedals where the Low range was really nice and very pedal friendly.
As I said prior, the one change I would make to a future AFD style amp is to incorporate the Body and Detail of the VM. Effectively both amps are classic rock machines and I wouldn't be surprised to see the best of both incorporated into a single standard range.
Now I have a bit of experience with the AFD, I would love my old VM back to run as my clean amp. The AFD and VM together would be a really nice pairing.
Be good... or be good at it!!!
Martin