TheVHT is the best ive tried. As the cab arrived within a day or so before the amp, its actually a combination of both thats changed.
When I first used the Art I thought it sounded great. I could pretty much nail my old amp tones, and I was a bit believer in the little SS amp. Thing is after 14 months of tweeking, fine tuning and learning the Axe, I started to feel something wasnt quite right.
I suppose it was down to getting pickier and pickier, the way you can with all the parameters in the axe. Just getting the last 1% was getting difficult.
I tried the power section of a friend orange amo, and the gainy tones just were more satisfying, and the cleaner ones more lively. I tried a used Marshall 9100 which had the same results. I felt maybe the week link was the art. Compared to the £1500 Axe, my PRSs and my old £1800 VHT, the little £200 amp was never going to be the same quality.
I tried some high Quality SS amps too. The Lab Gruppens were great. Much better than the Art. I didnt try them back to back with a tube power amp though. I was waiting to try a powersoft as a 1U option when I got the chance of the VHT. Ive always liked there equipment and the thing was both the Labs and Powersofts were around £900. A VHT 2:50:2 is normally £1250 over hear so the SS amps seemed good. The only other option was £800 for a Marshall 9100. Thats 3U though so really too big. When I had the chance of the VHT - ch was ex-Demo, for £650 i jumped at it.
i can say I have not made a bad choice. I love it. I run it clean, dont let it start to really work, and keep the Power sims On. Sounds stunning. Just more body without the slight mid/flubbyness of the Art. More sparkle in the highs and more open in the mids. Its actually not as loud as the Art SLA-1 bridged, but still plenty loud enough.
