Hi,
Here is the review of the extensive testing which took place on Saturday evening.
We (A good friend and even a far better guitar player and my self were the testing crew)
We used 5 different guitars and also tried 2 basses.
1st guitar: Ibanez Artist Semi acoustic, Build around early 80s. 2 Humbuckers:
The secret star of the test. When I plugged in for the first time, I had the feeling that the guitar was breathing. The amp and the guitar were falling in Love immediately. We both agreed that this guitar was the highlight of the test. The attack and response when playing were just outstanding. We could dial sounds from pure Jazz to Heavyrock with out any problems. The Lightning produces always a very strong and direct sound, never queasy. If you own a Lightning, try a semi acoustic, I think its worth it.
2nd guitar: Roland GR303, used usually with the GR300, 2 Humbuckers :
This is a quiet unusual one. She is heavy as a rock has a neck thru body construction and is not easy to play. But I seldom heard a tone that is that thick and powerful. With this one and a Lightning you end up playing like Carlos Santana. Apart from a very nice clean sound with was round and very rich, we mamaged after a short while of turning the controls around to get a endless sustain which put every Boogie to shame. As long as you touch the sides the tone was standing without ever fading away. It was almost like playing cello. My friend who played two different Boogies (Mark1 and DC-3) in his musical career, was more than imprested.
3rd guitar: Steinberger Spirtit Pro, very handy guitar for a fair Price 2 Humbuckers / 1 Single Coil:
This was surprisingly the disappointment of the bunch. This guitar is very easy to play and give a very wide range of sounds with the modern multieffekts (Korg, Zoom etc). So we were surprised when we started to play. The sound was dull, very sludgy. We couldn’t get this one to sound decent in any way. In our view it’s simply that this guitar has no body and the pickups are somehow on the cheap side. The Lightning showed without any mercy that this guitar is not made to be played life, it is for practicing at home with earphones. To sound a guitar needs body and wood. The Lightning loves guitars with a good body and shows you without any doubt when a guitar is lacking in themes of pickups and/or building.
4th guitar: Harley Benton HBT2000, build in Vietnam, Telecaster but with a neck thru body construction. 2 singlecoils:
This guitar is a steal for what it does. Its costs here 200 € and put most even 6 times more expensive Telecasters copies or even the originals to shame. We started to playing around, added a little reverb and a very soft chorus and it sounds like heaven. The Lightning produced a bright, sparkling sound, with out any dead spots. My friend was playing a tune where he constantly changed from deep sounding chords to very bright arpeggios and the sounds were rolling thru the room as if there were alive. After that we started to get dirty and ended up with a sound that reassembled the sound Jimmy Page used on the first LedZep LP. If you ever wanted to play ‘Communication Breakdown’, ‘Dazed and Confused’ or even ‘How many more Times’ and sound like Jimmy himself then this guitar and a Lightning will do it.
5th Ibanez Icemann IC300, build 1982, 2 Humbuckers. This guitar is loud and powerfull. Plug it into a Lightning and you are ready to rock. It sounds like a LesPaul with lots of extra treble. The Lightning is capable to produce these extra trebles without ever sounding annoying. Just one tune on the guitar control and you can change from dark to screaming bright. The tone is very lively and so much fun to play that we decided to start some recordings in the near future.
Many words for a thing you should hear, I know, but I will do some recordings in the near future, so I hope I can provide a few clips.
The overall comments from my co-tester:
This amp is like a mirror; you get up in the morning and take a look. And there is nothing which will hide anything you see. This amp is brutal honest about the quality of your guitar and you’re playing. If the guitar is bad it will sound bad. If you play not straight to the point everybody will hear it, there is no hiding and no sugar-coating. But the sound is amazing. The amp produces crispy heights and dark rolling sound without any delays. The attack is the fastest every experienced. Just look at the strings and the tone is right there.
And now the pics:
![Image](http://jpe-online.com/Image_div/Li2.jpg)
Here is our test stack with two of our favorites.
![Image](http://jpe-online.com/Image_div/Li3.jpg)
A closeup of the 'monster'. I didnt focus on look that much...
![Image](http://jpe-online.com/Image_div/Li4.jpg)
Here are the guts. You see the power-section is seperated from the rest. I will be glad to answer any question about it.
Keep on rocking.
Peter