Scott Henderson Discussion

[jason3000]

Hey Scott,

Sorry if this has been covered before. I was wondering your thoughts on the suhr bella. I'm used to playing some vintage blackface fenders...I'm not generally into modern sounding amps, as they often tend to either sound too hi fi for my taste, or just "not right" if that makes sense. Do you love this amp and think for someone who's into vintage blackfaces it could be an upgrade?

Also, have you ever compared it to other boutique amps such as two rocks, tone kings, etc...

[Scott Henderson]

I love the Bella, but it's not versatile like a master volume amp. Even if you're using a pedal, a vintage amp isn't going to sing unless you get the volume knob up to it's sweet spot. If your band is playing softer than that, you won't have enough gain. Flip side, I tried to use it on one of my gigs and it wasn't loud enough. I need a 100 watt master volume amp, because my band's dynamics go from very soft to pretty loud, and I need any degree of gain at any volume. The Bella is a great sounding amp, but volume wise it needs to fit the gig.

I haven't heard the other amps you mentioned, but it sounds better than my modded Bandmaster.

[jason3000]

Thanks Scott! Just curious do you like the Suhr Bella more than the Hot Rod Deluxe? I see you really like the Hot Rod Deluxe, so just curious if you've compared the 2.

[Scott Henderson]

I like the Bella much more than the HRD for tone, but sometimes I need to use the HRD on softer gigs because the Bella isn't a master volume amp.

[jason3000]

Thanks Scott. One quick follow up question...couldn't you use the Suhr Bella the same way as you use the Hot Rod with cranking the clean channel and bringing down the volume through the effects loop with a volume pedal?

Thought I heard you talking about this with the hot rod deluxe, so wondering why you couldn't do the same trick for the bella for softer gigs?

[Scott Henderson]

That's a great question - one that I asked John. He said the FX loop in the Bella is different from the HRD. A volume control in the FX loop of the HRD will lower the master volume and not affect the gain very much. A volume control in the FX loop of the Bella lowers both volume and gain, because of the loop's position within the amp. Several Dumble amps have FX loops, and work the same way as the Bella. I guess those amps are built in a more vintage fashion and the loops aren't the same as in modern amps.

[jason3000]

Great to know. Thanks Scott!!