Wednesday, July 28, 2010

COMPARISON: Mission Chicago Amp vs. Sonny Jr. Cruncher

I was listening to samples of the Sonny Jr. Cruncher amp at his website, and I was struck by how different it sounds than the Mission Chicago amp. Check it out:

Here is an audio link to “Sonny Jr. Presents the Cruncher”

Now listen to the Mission Chicago Amp

The difference is startling, eh? I applied NO effects or EQ to either recording, just edited for brevity and normalized the levels.

-The SJ Cruncher is rather bright while the Chicago is deep.
-The SJ Cruncher sounds horn-like.
-Those thunderous fat chords on the Chicago amp will jiggle your liver.
-The Chicago amp seems louder, with bigger tone and more flexibility.

And… the Chicago amp costs about $500 less than the SJ Cruncher.

You can set the Chicago amp up to sound bright like the SJ Cruncher if you want to. There are a lots of audio and video samples at the Mission Harp Amps website.
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 29, 2010 at 12:23 PM

    I think these clips are more fair comparison wise:

    http://www.sonnyjr.com/sounds/christoredento.mp3

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqDtRWo1aq0

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  2. Rick DavisJuly 29, 2010 at 12:40 PM

    Anon, the Cruncher audio I used in the comparison is from the second link you posted. So, I'm happy you feel I made a fair comparison.

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  3. Johnny B.July 30, 2010 at 7:40 AM

    Great tone, Rick! Who is that playing? Is it you?

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  4. Rick DavisJuly 30, 2010 at 9:33 AM

    Johnny- LOL! No, that is 14-year old Nic "Cottonseed" Clark. The kid is way better than I'll ever be. Check this out: He's been playing for 2 years. Already an official Hohner endorser; been on stage with most of the living legends of blues harp.

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  5. Ron ArnoldJuly 31, 2010 at 2:45 PM

    Nic really sounds great and so does the amp. I like the speaker efficiency comparison. It's easy to overlook. I am currently using two 12 inch jensens with only 94db sensitivity making it around a 97db pair. Some live sound guys will maintain a 6 db increase when paired...i will stick with the conservative 3db and be glad if it's more. When you are running a valve junior like I am, two 102 db 12s with a combined 105db would make a noticable difference on stage at jam night and 108 db would double the volume of my rig if the cabinet DID give me the 6db increase. I'd probably still need to be mic'd the way these guitar guys are around here, but if I had the money I'd be upgrading speakers.

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  6. Ron ArnoldJuly 31, 2010 at 2:52 PM

    Okay, I just listened to the clips. I really don't see how anyone can deny the warmth of the CHigago over the cruncher. For crying out loud, my valve junior with the two 12s is deeper than the cruncher clip with my new jt30 roadhouse mic and a couple of simple, reversible mods inside the shell. I'm no Nic clark either.

    http://www.toofiles.com/en/oip/audios/mp3/jt30valvejuniormic.html

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  7. Rick DavisDecember 16, 2010 at 3:34 PM

    Ron, nice tone on this clip.

    ReplyDelete