Hah! Good point. I guess my familiarity with (or interest in) Marshall tones stop about then (mine's a 1984). I guess the JVM's and the 2000's have their believers (and the 900SLX too), would those be more "modern" Marshalls? Not that I care ALL that much... :lol:CoG said:+1 on the RA being closer to a JCM800 voicing. I wouldn't say the RA is a "modern" voicing unless you think 1983 is modern.
I've had the chance to play them both. I've got a TA-30, and had a demo from the factory before that for a project we were doing. We recently got a demo RA-100 for another project and I will be keeping that. Different animals completely, in my humble opinion.
First, the EL84 vs. EL34 tubes have a much different vibe (think Vox vs. Marshall as a general starting point).
Cleans- TA30 has the total british Vox vibe going on, especially with the Top Boost. Jangly, edgy, forward. By somparison, the RA clean is very much more "American", very lush, more like a Lonestar or Bogner Shiva. You also don't get the modes like the TA-30.
Gain channel- As others have mentioned the TA-30 has more of a Mesa feel more Plexi at the OD level moving to Mesa gain feel the higher up you go. RA-100 is way more british/Marshall JCM/Electradyne sounding. Big lush and thick. Again, very different.
The RA is a big heavy powerful amp. It is a "BIG" amp that you can make small. The attenuators enable you to change the feel and get power tube saturation at low volume, but it is a big head. The TA-30 is a small machine which can get loud.
the two are very complimentary, in that the sum of them is an awesome combination of possible tones, but I personally feel that they are designed to be different tone machines, with different "sweet spots."
Just one man's humble view.
DWAKO said:I've had the chance to play them both. I've got a TA-30, and had a demo from the factory before that for a project we were doing. We recently got a demo RA-100 for another project and I will be keeping that. Different animals completely, in my humble opinion.
First, the EL84 vs. EL34 tubes have a much different vibe (think Vox vs. Marshall as a general starting point).
Cleans- TA30 has the total british Vox vibe going on, especially with the Top Boost. Jangly, edgy, forward. By somparison, the RA clean is very much more "American", very lush, more like a Lonestar or Bogner Shiva. You also don't get the modes like the TA-30.
Gain channel- As others have mentioned the TA-30 has more of a Mesa feel more Plexi at the OD level moving to Mesa gain feel the higher up you go. RA-100 is way more british/Marshall JCM/Electradyne sounding. Big lush and thick. Again, very different.
The RA is a big heavy powerful amp. It is a "BIG" amp that you can make small. The attenuators enable you to change the feel and get power tube saturation at low volume, but it is a big head. The TA-30 is a small machine which can get loud.
the two are very complimentary, in that the sum of them is an awesome combination of possible tones, but I personally feel that they are designed to be different tone machines, with different "sweet spots."
Just one man's humble view.
Very good description, TA is very "Vox-ey" but can achieve some plexi-like Marshall tones and some Mark-ish type boogie tones. The RA is very comparable to the ED (I've owned an ED), although I prefer the RA given it's tighter low end and it cuts more naturally. It's like having the most transparent clean boost built in house when comparing to the ED. The RA does have a Marshall vibe, but I find it to be less than most people credit it. I still find it to have a lot of boogie qualities, just from a Marshall-esc point of view. Mark Morton of LoG does describe the RA as more modern than the Mark IV/V due to it's more natural low end presence, A lot of that also comes with guitar and pickups as the RA is extremely responsive to what instrument you're using, (like most Mesas). Lower output single coils or PAF style humbuckers will obviously sound more vintage, but Morton's Dominion pickups most-likely turn the RA into a different beast. From my experience and the extensive A/Bing I've done between A Reborn Triple Rectifier, Mark V and RA, the RA seems to be a Recto/Mark blend in terms of high gain. Bigger low end than a Mark, but not as big as the Recto, no sizzle like a recto with a cutting Mark-like midrange. In terms of gain I'm just letting you know not to expect a Marshall, It's still very much a boogie, just with a little Marshall flare. But it terms of cleans, the RA is much more fender like.
Hmmm. Perhaps you might know better. Does it have some Bogner-esque tones to it???
DWAKO said:To me the key is to go easy on the gain and rely on a heavy hand technique to get aggressive rhythm tones.
Taking the gain past the 2 o'clock position on the red channel sacrifices the note definition, for sure. I would rather use the attenuator and/or a heavy picking hand for any extra saturation. 8)
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