I want a Science Amplifier

[popvulture]

I reeeeeeeally wish there were some way I could try one out... if anyone out there has a Street Sweeper in the central TX area and wouldn't mind me coming over to give it a listen, good god please holler. I'll bring snax and whatever I own that you've been wanting to demo.

That's a long shot but hey, had to put it out there.

Where are Sciences made, anyway?

[whoismarykelly]

Seattle

[mathias]

Where are Sciences made, anyway?

Seattle, WA

[sergiomunoz74]

I have some GAS for a Mother (I've been on a Hiwatt sound kick lately and my latest amp is supposed to be Hiwatt-ish), but I think the Street Sweeper's cleans and dual spring reverb is going to be my jam.

I never liked fender cleans, and reverb tanks make heads crazy heavy. I always opt of shit like that because I always play semi dirty anyway. I'll probably get the effects loop although to be frank I probably won't use it since it will require fixing my pedal board into some new way and drilling more holes into my in/out box

[popvulture]

See, I love Fender cleans... those are my zone. I also love reverb, and especially the real, built-in variety. I have played tanks on certain amps that are lackluster though, for sure... but I must say that the dual verb on the SS is what intrigues me the most. Having two settings of actual tank reverb just sounds like a wonderful idea. BUT... I'm not sure if I'd really love having both of those verbs be spring, as most of the time I have two verbs at an easy stomp away, but one of them's normal-ish spring and the other's usually something like a plate or a bigger/longer hall. That's why I really wish I could play one in person.

My big dilemma is that I love the Fender clean realm as a platform, but my favorite tubes are 6V6. I'm also a huge fan of 6L6s, and I also love the idea of being able to swap out other kinds of tubes very easily with the SS. That said, I'm also looking at a Divided by 13 FTR37, which has great sounding onboard spring verb and runs on 6V6 power. It sounds pretty incredible... the only thing is that I probably wouldn't use the dirty side of it too much—it sounds great, but I usually get gain from pedals and that side of the amp doesn't have verb. I've seen versions built with just the clean side, so if I can order one of those at a lower price than the normal amp config, it'd be a tough decision between that and the Sweeper for me.

[mathias]

Perhaps a Mother with an effects loop, then? You could put your two reverb pedals in the loop.

Amp spring reverb does tend to sound better, to me, than digital reverb units on spring mode. :shrugs:

Also, I'm gonna try not to reply to every single post here. So excited, though!

[whoismarykelly]

See, I love Fender cleans... those are my zone. I also love reverb, and especially the real, built-in variety. I have played tanks on certain amps that are lackluster though, for sure... but I must say that the dual verb on the SS is what intrigues me the most. Having two settings of actual tank reverb just sounds like a wonderful idea. BUT... I'm not sure if I'd really love having both of those verbs be spring, as most of the time I have two verbs at an easy stomp away, but one of them's normal-ish spring and the other's usually something like a plate or a bigger/longer hall. That's why I really wish I could play one in person.

My big dilemma is that I love the Fender clean realm as a platform, but my favorite tubes are 6V6. I'm also a huge fan of 6L6s, and I also love the idea of being able to swap out other kinds of tubes very easily with the SS. That said, I'm also looking at a Divided by 13 FTR37, which has great sounding onboard spring verb and runs on 6V6 power. It sounds pretty incredible... the only thing is that I probably wouldn't use the dirty side of it too much—it sounds great, but I usually get gain from pedals and that side of the amp doesn't have verb. I've seen versions built with just the clean side, so if I can order one of those at a lower price than the normal amp config, it'd be a tough decision between that and the Sweeper for me.

I owned an FTR37 for a while and I found it really woofy and loose so if that's a concern for you the Science would be a better choice.

[popvulture]

Hmmmm that's interesting to know. My one concern playing the FTR was the low end... I didn't find it woofy per se, but it was huge, even with the bass knob very low. I'll definitely take that comment to heart—thank you!

[popvulture]

Perhaps a Mother with an effects loop, then? You could put your two reverb pedals in the loop.

Amp spring reverb does tend to sound better, to me, than digital reverb units on spring mode. :shrugs:

Also, I'm gonna try not to reply to every single post here. So excited, though!

I think if I were to go Science, I'd nearly unquestionably go Street Sweeper. I'm sure the two physical verbs would be wonderful, and I could always add an additional pedal into the mix if I wanted plate or something.

Did you order one?

[whoismarykelly]

Hmmmm that's interesting to know. My one concern playing the FTR was the low end... I didn't find it woofy per se, but it was huge, even with the bass knob very low. I'll definitely take that comment to heart—thank you!

Speakers are a big part of it too. I believe my /13 cab had alnicos in it.

[popvulture]

Yeah I didn't care for the cab. It had I believe a greenback and an alnico blue. Cool speakers and all, but the big thing was that it was open back, which I like a lot of the time, but it really contributed to the excessive rumble in the low end. I'd be using either head through my PPC412 w/ V30s.

[whoismarykelly]

That would be very different then. Im still partial to my Science over the FTR37 for sure.

[popvulture]

Yeah and there's a pretty significant price difference too, unless I could somehow get him to build me one with the aforementioned left side only. Somehow I'd imagine that a custom order like that would probably just end up being the same price.

Given the price and the The easily swappable tube config, the Science is pretty handily winning.

[whoismarykelly]

I think the /13 hype has largely died down which is good. I see them used for reasonable prices nowadays although I don't know if the builds are the same. When I owned one it was an exceedingly expensive head/2x12. Prob $3400 for the set IIRC.

[popvulture]

So general poll/question for anyone who's interested in these amps or owns one: what are your thoughts on 50W vs 100W? It's 100 bucks, so not exactly a huge difference in price...

I figure tighter low end on the 100W, but how strong would that difference be? I won't be playing super loud in a band context, probably more like medium volume, occasionally "normal" loud.

50W could be better because it's A) a little lighter and B) cheaper for a duet of tubes than a quartet, and generally easier to swap out two tubes instead of four.

I guess my main concern is the sound — if I get a 50, I don't want to later wish I got a 100. It's not a loudness issue, more just quality of toanz. Thoughts?

EDIT and I'm asking re: Street Sweeper.