I almost blew my ears, playing it full-on. Its important to note that I CAN play it full on in my small bedroom. So that should tell you something about the loudness level of this amp. With the special pots we are using there is actually control at the beginning of the sweep as opposed to going from 0 to almost immediately full on, like with Mark Miller's new Fender amp. These pots are actually useable and the power rating is also very useable for most situations. The day I will play on large stages or outside coliseums is the day I will get a stack. I think I will give oral pleasure to Paris Hilton sooner than the day that will happen. So its important to have an amp you can fully utilize for what you are doing, the right amp for the right player. Since this amp was created for me, its definitely the right amp for me.

I believe and have been told by the Phantom that one of the two Hussy amps I just received has more gain and breaks up sooner. This is just because the variation between one 12AX7 tube in the preamp section. You can get some tubes within the same model, that are higher gain than others. Sinde with this amp I want it to distort as soon as possible, a higher gain tube in that position is just perfect. The Hussy was designed to start to break up from around 12 o'clock of the volume setting. Then it just gets meaner from there. Think of Jimmy Page on "How The West Was Won" in terms of gain and tone color.

There is also a lot of tonal control from the High, Mid, Bass and Presence knobs and the two tone-shaping mini switches in the back. There is a lot there if you want to play with it. Or you can just leave everything at 12 o'clock and crank it. Or better yet, crank every knob to 11 and you are done, there is your live sound. Its an amp you can fiddle with if you want or you don't have to if you don't want to. I am not implying that this amp has a lot of sounds. It does not. It only has one sound but its a good one.

Why the two channels with their individual input jacks and volume knobs? Channel 1 is called the "Marshal" side and Channel 2 is the "Fender" side. This is not really to imply that is sounds like a Marshall, even though that is irrelevant because early Marshalls were simply based on Fender circuits. The one mod that Marshall did do early on is to remove the bass-boost part from the Fender circuit because they got complaints about muddiness when playing full- on with humbuckers. Fender normally had their regular channels with a bass boost, Marshall removed this. The result is that at lower volumes Channel 1 (Marshall) sounds a bit thinner with less bass and Channel 2 (Fender) is thicker with more bass. Channel 2 with the bass boost is fine at lower volumes, where you need more bass but as you turn it up, get more distortion and want more clarity, you no longer need all that bass and Channel 1 (Marshall) is more appropriate and more defined at higher gain settings.

Its actually cool about the two input jacks (the two channels). They share the same tone section but have separate volume knobs. You can also think of it as Channel 1 being "Normal" and Channel 2 contains a "Bass Boost". Now, don't start thinking its a blatant difference, it is not. The difference between the two channels is subtle but it comes in handy. At lower volumes you would want to use channel 2 but if you crank it with humbuckers, you would want to use channel 1, which does not have the bass boost, hence it stays more defined when cranked. Apparently Marshall made this mod from their original Fender design early on because they were getting complaints about muddiness with humbuckers when cranked.

In terms of what the distortion tone sounds like, the distortion of the Hussy is virtually identical to the sound of the Z pedal. So you can choose to play with the Zpedal at lower volume or simply use no pedal at all when cranking it past 12 o'clock. So the Z pedal is definitely a part of the Z amp system and they go together like twins. Its a must to have the Zpedal if you play this amp.

Just think about it. With the Zpedal, in effect you are adding 2 more channels. Pedal Distortion and Pedal Boost. The amp is controlled by the volume knob for the amount of volume and distortion you get but if you also add the Zpedal, you can add the distortion from the Zpedal and blend it with the amp distortion. Then you can also add the Boost from the Zpedal and use the Zpedal boost with the Zpedal distortion or without it. Remember these are all variations of the same sound. You are only playing with the volume, the distortion level and the EQ of the sound.

This speaker cab is a 1 x 12 and has a Celestian Greenback and the other following Hussy has the same cab with a Vintage 30.

The Hussy is a head + cab configuration with NO reverb.

Front Panel   (from L-R)

Input 1,   Input 2,   Volume 1,   Volume 2,   Bass,   Mid,   Treble,   Presence,   Standby,   On/Off,   Pilot Light

Rear Panel   (from L-R)

8 ohm output jack,   Treble Shift,   Slope Resistor