Screamer 70
SCaRlETT amPlifiERS
Rating:
quickly became my favorite way to run the
Screamer 70.
The Verdict
As its name implies, the Screamer 70
offers a unique blend of some great British
overdrive tones, but it’s not for everyone.
Guitarists who love the wide-open sound
and feel of a cranked Orange Overdrive
120 or an early Marshall JCM800 might
be astounded at how well the compact
Screamer 70 mimics aspects of both models. Other players may be turned off by
the lack of a usable clean channel and the
amp’s aggressive, biting voice. If you’re a
high-gain player and are on the lookout for
a unique-sounding amp, the Screamer 70
should be on your radar.
It might be cliché to compare the nature
of the Screamer 70 to an angry animal, but
that’s really what it reminded me of. The
high-gain tones were straight-up vicious,
and the lower-gain tones weren’t really
that different. The glassy highs and snarling midrange never vanished at lower gain
settings, and the amp’s biting tone stayed
intact throughout the whole range of its
Gain knob. I was able to coax a decent
clean tone out of the amp, but it was difficult to eliminate all the grit, no matter
where I set the controls. Eventually, I had
to back off my guitar’s volume control to
approach a clean sound. This isn’t surprising, though, because Marchman says he
never intended to incorporate clean sounds
in the Screamer 70—he aimed to serve up
the best high-gain tones he could muster. PG color ad- 11.pdf 1 8/2/2010 11:12: 57 AM
you want a lean, massive-sounding
high-gain monster with a bold,
aggressive voice.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you need clean tones or want
features like an effects loop.
Scarlett Amplifiers
Street $1825
scarlettamps.com
or use a mobile
device two read
this QR code
to see a video
of the amp in
action at premierguitar.com/oct2010
CLICKHere…
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