Taurus Amplification unveils the Stomp-Head 5.CE (Custom Edition), a three channel amplifier packed in a floor pedal.
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The original release of this amp/pedal was only available via special order, but because of its good reception and positive reviews, the company decided to have it produced for mass consumption.
The Stomp-Head 5.CE is basically a 90W guitar amplifier that you can step on, while still housing the same tone and full set of controls as amp heads and combos. The main advantage of its floorpedal profile, is its portability and convenience, these in turn gives you consistent and reliable tone for your every gig.
Taurus Amplification utilized their MTD (Master Tube Design) technology to miniaturize their amp while still retaining tube like tones. This tech reproduces all the significant features of tubes in solid state all-analog format, delivering warmth and dynamics that you’d normally not expect from a compact amplifier, let a long a floorpedal style one.
The official description says, “The sound characteristics and power of amplifiers based on our MTD technology are equal to the classic tube amps with the same power rating.”
For something so small, this amp comes with three distinct channels that you can conveniently switch via the onboard footswitches. You can switch between Clean, Classic Lead and High Gain Lead which gives you access to everything from vintage jazz/blues clean, to old school overdriven tones, and even modern high-gain tones fit for metal and other modern rock music styles.
Each of the three channels feature independent tone shaping knobs that let you adjust basic EQs that include bass, mids and treble, giving you greater control over the tones that you switch into. Further fine tuning is provided by Mid/Range switches that change the range of the middle frequencies that you can adjust. These are especially useful for adjusting your guitar’s sound to either cut through a band or sit well in the mix, depending on the type of music you’re playing. There’s also a Bright/Dark switch for taming the highs of singlecoil guitars, or adding brightness to humbuckers. If that’s not enough, the pedal has a “Mix” mode where you can have all three channels running and blended to your preference.
For smaller venues and for practice, the Stomp-Head 5.CE has a power selector that lets you switch between 90W or 40W. It comes with built-in smart impedance matching that automatically adjusts to match the speakers that you’re connecting it to, be it a 4, 8 or even 16 ohm cabinets.
With the Line Out feature, this unit can double as a preamp for connecting directly to a PA. It features a built-in speaker simulator that reproduces the sound of a Celestion Vintage 30 cabinet. Just like regular amps, this pedal comes with its own serial effects loop, and it also comes with a nifty boost switch for instant volume adjustments useful for lead breaks. Finally the amp has its own noise gate feature and master volume knob.
Note that while it is meant to be used like an effects pedal, you can also mount the Stomp-Head 5.CE on top of a speaker cabinet, or on a rack, like a regular amplifier head. You can then just connect an external footswitch into the unit for floor control.
The new Taurus Stomp-Head 5.CE is expected to retail for $1,364. For more information and other details, you can visit Taurus Amplification.
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