always loved the way those buddas sounded... though their aesthetic doesn't really match their rambunctious rock 'n' roll sound

I liked my 18, I just wish it was Bigger and louder. I would love to grab a 45

I owned the 30 watt version. Great classic rock tone but that's as far as I could take it without a pedal. It is very reactive to speaker selection. I also had the matching 2 x 12 Budda cab for it. It was a nice combination.
I agree with you 100%. Its crunchy and LOUD. I would say the best way to describe the tone of that amp dimed out and turned up is The Boys are Back in Town.

Well I tried it live for the first time at a buddy's 50th birthday bash/jam at a local bar...
He and I do an AIC Tribute where I usually use an old 5150 60 Combo (converted to a head) through a Marshall 4x12.


I decided to bring the Budda and my 65 Fender Bassman cab w/ Celestion Gold/Weber Blue in it. Pulled two tubes and was running it at 40W @ 16 ohms...


I have to say, it sounds very warm when played on it's own...a bit of the opposite of when you want a great metal tone and start dropping the mids to get there and you get a great metal tone but not usable in a band setting...In this case it sounded studio/bedroom perfect for a rock blues tone but I feared maybe almost too dark to cut through...So I dropped the bass to 0, mid to 3 and treble on 10... in the hopes it would cut through the mix. Well the rich warm tone was all there and still sounded fuller/warmer than I am used to but to my surprise cut through just fine...it was very eye/ear opening...


The second guitarist playing with me had his tried and true fave modded JCM 800 through a 2x12 w/V30s...and we were listening to another two guitarists who were using our rigs playing a set before we went on. They were playing Whipping Post and jeez, I had to go on stage and turn up the guy's volume playing the JCM800...it was probably set lower to start with but was not coming through...it sure sounded thin when it did manage to peek through even after the volume hike...


They finished with The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again and I noticed that no matter what song they did, my new setup sounded right for that band/song???


I don't know if it's the head, cab or the pair that caused it to sound so great...it's the first time I use Alnico speakers live too...I think it all added up to WOW!


Anyways my buddy and I listened quite intently to the guys playing to try and get a real sense of my new Budda and cab setup...(We always share gear/whore stories...) and he kept looking at me with a smile that said "it sounds so f'n awesome...and with eyes that said "geez my JCM800/V30 rig is not even f'n close"


All that to say, I'm pretty impressed and back to a common state of affairs where my rig is obviously way better than I deserve, but I will use it anyways and smile cause tone is in the fingers, but...

Cool! It's always nice when a new rig sounds killer!!!

Is that the one that was floating around on Kijiji for awhile? I had my eye on it, but no cash to spare.

I would love to have a SD 45 or 80. I had an 18, but it wasn't loud enough for playing with a band (IMHO)

Yep... Ben?
I snagged it off of Kijiji...

What's interesting is that I traded an old Kramer F3000 for the cab and it sat around for a while until I got this head...lucky I guess but the head sounds great through just about anything...I think they pair up real nicely and it's easier than lugging a 4x12 everywhere...

Yeah this is Ben.

I ran my SD18 through a H&K 4x12 of Greenbacks for the most part, and that was pretty sweet. Though I would like to have a nice 2x12 around.