Anyone tried the new Epi Firefly?

They have a pretty good price on those amps and even their tube amps.

They sound nice and make for a good investment for an amp.

Joe

Hey Joe,

Yes I was impressed by their little Valve amps, but even the 5 watter is WAY too loud for me (meaning: for my wife ... :roll: ). I found it tough to get a good crunch at low volume, and I'm not about to splurge on an attenuator for that price amp. Too bad there is no master volume control on them - they'd be much more flexible.

Never heared it, but sounds like your basic 30w transistor amp with little frills. I myself would either go with:

Behringer GM110 ($99)
30W
10" speaker
2 channels, one clean one modeling, three amps, three speakertypes and three gainmopdes to chose.
FX loop, CD input and headphone/line output.
Footswitch included.
Fifty dollars more gets you the GMX version with a mediocre but fun multi-effect built in.

Vox AD15/30VT ($199/$240).
15/30W digital/tube amp. The 30W version has a a know to drive the tube max and keep volume down. (as low as 0.5W if I recall correctly)
Three channels (CH1, CH2, manual)
Whole bunch of models for some amazing sound for this price, best suited for clean till hardrock. Uber Death Killer Metal won't work well.

The behringer sounds pretty decent compared to the tiny MGs and Frontmans out there, and it's so cheap you can get some basic effects with extra some pedals. The Vox sounds better (still the best sound at this price point IMHO0 but is more expansive and the footswitch isn't included.

Thanks Arjen. I'll check out those Behringers too.

I don't really want a ton of effects - I really only use reverb.

Not too wild about the whole modeling thing. I just want a warm tube tone (or at least a "tube-like" tone) at low volume and at low cost. :D

One thing I didn't like about the Vox AD30 I tried is that the volume on the clean amp settings seems so weak compared to the distortion models. I could have a normal conversation over the "boutique clean" amp set to full volume, and it clipped very easily if any gain was applied. Not pretty. Overall the amp needed major EQ tweaking from model to model, and also every time the power soak was adjusted to a new level. I thought it was a pain.

That's one thing I like about this Epi - the simplicity. Just gotta find out how it sounds. :lol:

Hmm, are you sure you used the amp properly. I'm sitting next to my Vox and I can guarantee that you'll not be able to vocally communicate with anyone if I push the volume past 4 (setting the output to 30W). You might want to take a look at the new VR series but I haven't found it here yet. It has the same valvetronix tube circuitry so it might be worth checking out. Basically the AD series without all the models and only reverb left.

Will let you know if I spot the Epi around town. ;)

Hmm, are you sure you used the amp properly.

Yes, the rear output knob was all the way up, volume up, master volume up. The distortion channels were very loud, the blackface was so-so, and the boutique clean was very weak - and surprisingly noisy. Maybe I had a bad one?
You might want to take a look at the new VR series

Hey now that is interesting! 3 channels, a real spring reverb, and a real tube. A little more than the Epi, but I'm going to have to hunt one down for a trial. Hopefully Guitar Center will get these in stock soon - I called, and they have neither the VR nor the Epi, with "sometime soon" as the estimated date. :cry: Thanks for the tip! 8)

I use an attenuator even on the Galaxie 10 and only clip -4 to -8 dB's off it, which allow it to run run harder at a lower volume. When I use it as a single amp its setup like this.

Guitar->eq->amp input->amp output->attenuator->speaker.

If I use it as an extra amp from the rack setup I use a 1 volt out from a racked tube effects processor into a delay->eq->galaxie 10->attenuator->speaker.

Either way its a fantastic sounding little amp, itt-al run with the big dogs.

joe