MDT Vs HXDA Quick Comparison

[aristotle]

I escaped the Experience relatively unscathed. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) work was crazy at the end of last week and through the weekend, so I only had a chance to duck out for a few hours (I'm only 20 minutes or so from the factory.) I had my eye on a couple of guitars on Brent's table, but I wandered around for a bit, sat in on a DG demo and I snoozed and loozed...

I also have been wanting to fill out my PRS amps based on how well the MDT has worked out, and the HX/DA has been on my want list. It had the reputation of getting cleaner than the MDT, as well has having a bit of a wider range of tones in it. So, Brent worked up a great price on it and next thing I know, I'm schlepping it over the half-mile walk back to the car. Just got the head, as I already have a PRS 2x12 with V30s, and I gig it through a 4x12 anyway.

After a week or so (including a gig with it later in the day that I picked it up) it's definitely different. Lots of things I could say about it, but it boils down to the following for me. I absolutely like it better than the MDT for gigging. It does go more clean, and it can be used by itself without something else for an entire gig. Tones are fantastic, and I'm still learning to muck with the three different switch settings. Also, I like dialing it in like a 4 hole Marshall. But, for pure tonal bliss at home, the MDT does it better for me.

Anyway, here's a very quick clip where I've tried to set them to what seemed like similar tones at the time (but without the benefit of being able to listen to them back to back like you can do in an edited clip or with an amp switcher.)

[WEDGE]

That shot of your home rig is mental! Love it!

[veinbuster]

That shot of your home rig is mental! Love it!

Agreed.
Bonus that I might have an excuse to get a sibling for my MDT.

[BrianC]

The hxda was the winner IMHO for that song.

Your amps cab and guitar in that shot are out of this world! PRS marketing should use that shot!

[aristotle]

I've been playing around a bit with mixing and matching speakers with these.

Oddly, the V30 PRS 2x12 cab is near the bottom for me (no worries though, my Orange loves that cab.)

My second favorite is through a Marshall 1960AHW (with G12H30's, which have great low-frequency response.)

But really surprising to me, my absolute favorite is through the Celestion T-652 Alnico's (in the Marshall JTM45/100 cabs) Blew me away. I wouldn't have thought that I'd like this pairing since I'd usually associate the Alnico's with more of a JTM45 style amp. Show's what I know...

[Itsacheeseburger]

Loved the demo. I kinda liked the MDT for the first part and the HX/DA for the second half.

Would it be rude to ask for more demos comparing these two amps?

[aristotle]

Ha! Certainly not rude, but probably masochistic!!

Had this one floating around on my hard drive...didn't upload it originally because it's even sloppier than usual. The intent was to show how these two compare set clean. I set them up so that they were close on clean tones (the HX/DA had two out of three set to DA, though I don't remember exactly what was what...) I had the heads switching through a Radial Headbone head switcher into the PRS cab with V30s. This was VERY loud. It may not sound like it since you can hear the clicks of the switching between heads, but I've taken to using two mic's. One at the cab itself, and one about 20 feet away. Unfortunately, I located the room mic next to me, and had it sitting right next to the remote headbone footswitch on a small stand on the floor. Benefit to that though is that it makes it clear when I'm switching heads.

Interesting to note (for me at least) is how differently these two amps take pedals. For any given tone, I can set the amps very similar. If I had to pick a winner, without pedals, I'd give a slight edge to the HX/DA on dirt tones just because there are so many things to tweak to get it where you want it. Set clean though, and with pedals, the advantage goes to the MDT.

Both can be set to give a good clean tone with real gig volumes (you need to make sure that the bright switch on the MDT is off). Both can be set to fantastic gain tones. Variations on the theme I guess, but if I had a gun to my head, I'd go with the MDT. Besides, it matches the cab better Fortunately, I don't have a gun to my head, and I'm happy to have both...

Used a Les Paul R5 (hot mod with wraptail and burstbuckers). The two pedal sections use a Wampler Pinnacle (which I tend to use to get "modern" tones when gigging) and a Fulltone OCD (which I tend to use for crunch tones when gigging). Should be obvious in the video which part is which....

[Twinfan]

Both sound great, but it's the HX/DA for me!

[Fox77]

can I come over and play? Pretty please?

Thanks for the clips, unfortunately I'll have to wait until I get home tonight to listen to them.

[ADD]

The HX/DA is much brighter and cuts better, closer to a Marshall tone. What is the first clip - i've heard it before (it sounds like Led Zep)?