Four inputs with
varied resistance
Rating:
The high output Les Paul produced
the results you might expect—more gain,
more harmonic content, and more rock ’n’
roll. There’s something very natural about
the pairing of the humbuckers and the
Kendrick. The inputs offered a wealth of
sound options: No. 2 gave me a little more
clarity, while 3 and 4 had a little more push.
Because the Les Paul tended to compress
more, the tones were more mid-centric
but still very bold and clear. Montrose and
Zeppelin tones were easy to access, and it
was a pleasure to pull the reverb back and
hear the resonance of the 150-year old pine
cabinet, and the focus, big bottom, and
screaming highs of the Greenframe speakers.
The Verdict
It’s clear that Weber’s decades of experience
have paid big dividends in the beautifully
designed V-Front. From its custom transformers, caps, and speakers, to its pine cabinetry and a reverb circuit that ranks among
the best spring reverbs I’ve heard, this amp
is a winner. The simple circuitry and use
of individually voiced inputs is a perfect
way to fine-tune the amp for use with any
guitar. More importantly, the V-Front is
a fun amp to play. It doesn’t have a ton of
clean headroom, but it’s remarkably responsive to picking dynamics and control, and
it encourages you to dig in for additional
aggression. Volume-wise, it’s pretty much
the perfect blend of loud bedroom amp and
soundman-friendly club tone. You could
rehearse with a full band and probably not
worry too much about being heard, thanks
to the cabinet design, and that’s a beautiful
thing. Kendrick has indeed found the sweet
spot with the V-Front.
Buy If...
you need impeccable retro tweed
tones with killer reverb.
Skip If...
you need more headroom for clean
sounds, and/or modern appoint-
ments such as channel switching
and effects loops.
Kendrick Amplifiers
Street $2995
kendrick-amplifiers.com
or use a mobile device to download
audio clips of the amp at
CLICKHere…
premierguitar.com/sep2011
