Jim Bergantino
Commercial User
Appreciate your post above. But just curious if you had the opportunity to play thru the HP2X.i dunno about all the transformer worship. If you ever play through a genz shuttle or run your bass/guitar through HV 12ax7 based pedal like the Kingsley Maiden pedal, it sounds like a tube amp. Sure, there are nuances of output tube and transformer saturation that are missing but it turns out that that type of distortion is a bit on the grungy side. (Think roots rock).
Everyone's taste is different but for me, the kingsley nails the clean tube sound of a fender or dumble preamp (you can get the pedal in either flavor). And the power tube/transformer distortion sounds gritty to me. I prefer a HV 12ax7 preamp tube for tube tone.
I'm not convinced that just having an output transformer makes this the bee's knees. And it's $1800.