Matchless Amps // Does 'Sampson Era' make a difference?
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
- In this video we are comparing two Matchless C-30's. One is a 'Sampson era' S/C-30 from 1994, and the other is a new (2023) H/C-30 with matching 2x12 cab. Does the 'Sampson era' amp sound better?
If you've ever shopped for a Matchless amplifier, you may have run across the term 'Sampson era'. This term refers to the time period that Mark Sampson was at Matchless - from the early to the late 90's.
Sampson co-founded Matchless amplifiers, and the amps built in the early to mid 90's are considered the holy grail of Matchless's. Today, Phil Jameson builds and runs Matchless amps. Jameson was also there building amps in the early to mid 90's. So it begs the question - are 'Sampson era' Matchless amps really better than the newer ones?
Table of contents:
00:00 - Hello and welcome to WT Tone
00:18 - Playing Sample (Bradford's 2023 C-30)
01:00 - Playing Sample (Brian's '94 Sampson era C-30)
01:38 - Ever shopped for a matchless amp?
02:08 - What is 'Sampson era', and who is Mark Sampson?
03:42 - Is Sampson Era better? How we dialed in the amps for comparison
05:34 - Comparison sound samples begins here
05:37 - '94 C-30 through the '94 Cab (12ax7 channel)
05:54 - '23 C-30 through the '94 Cab (12ax7 channel)
06:14 - '94 C-30 through the '94 Cab (EF86 channel)
06:27 - '23 C-30 through the '94 Cab (EF86 channel)
06:42 - '94 C-30 through the 2x12 Cab (12ax7 channel)
06:58 - '23 C-30 through the 2x12 Cab (12ax7 channel)
07:14 - '94 C-30 through the 2x12 Cab (EF86 channel)
07:28 - '23 C-30 through the 2x12 Cab (EF86 channel)
07:42 - Our thoughts on how these two amps compare
After some correspondence with Phil from Matchless, here are a few corrections to this video that we got wrong (or partially wrong):
1. The original Matchless company was founded by Sampson and Rick Perrotta. Much of the magic of the Matchless amp designs is due to Rick. Perrotta is also the co-founder and president of Royer Microphones.
2. Sampson did not start Bad Cat. He joined the company a few years after it was formed.
3. The speakers in the Matchless combos in the early to mid 90's were not G12H30's. They were Vintage 30's. According to Matchless, Celestion lost the secret sauce in the Vintage 30's sometime in the late 90's, which is why Matchless moved to G12H30's. So the speaker in Brian's '94 S/C-30 is actually one of those older Vintage 30's. Matchless then modifies the speaker a bit (removing some of the doping) to make them sound a bit better.
After Bad Cat, Sampson made Star amplifiers and now I believe operates under Sampson Amplification.
But he didnt tell you why the one channel sounded a little different? its likely age of tubes?
I am one of the founders of the original Matchless company and I think I should throw my two cents in on this issue. I'm getting tired of answering emails and hearing all this nonsense about the Sampson era amplifiers. This is pure myth perpetrated by individuals that feel they have a special voodoo amplifier, or by people trying to cash in on the Samson era myth. I can tell you that the amplifiers being built by Matchless today are built to the same standards, use the same high-quality components, the same circuit topographies, and in some ways are improved in the sense of wiring layout making the amplifiers quieter. The original amplifiers were designed and biased around NOS American tubes and those wildly musical Yugoslavian EI EL84's, most of which are unavailable today. The amplifiers are still the same!
If there are subtle differences it can likely be caulked up to aging components, inferior tubes and perhaps speakers to some degree. I have the original Matchless prototypes and a new one, and brother, they are the same damned amp! I make mics now (Royer) and I wonder if anyone will say that the earlier ones are better than the new ones when I'm gone? I sure hope not.
Hi Rick! Thanks for watching and commenting.
I hope that we clearly communicated our main point in this video: that ‘Sampson era’ doesn’t matter.
That Bradford’s brand new C-30 sounds just as good as Brian’s ‘94 C-30, and that Phil even built both of them :)
We are huge fans of Matchless, and of Royer, too! We use a 121 in just about every recorded amp demo we make. Phenomenal sounding microphones.
DC-30 is my backline amp of choice. I’ve probably played 25 all across the country. Both Sampson era and non-Sampson.
I’m convinced that “Sampson-era” is a term created by people who figured out they can get more for their amp if they label it hat way.
I own Friedman, Magnatone, Tone King and Supra amps... been wanting a Matchess for a while.. In two days, my Chieftain 40W 2x12 comes in... I can't wait to A,B,C,D,E them... I talked to Jameson and he said the Sampson era ones are if anything inferior due to improvement made over the years.
After a few years of using the Fractal Matchbox C-30 amp for my Sunday patches, I jumped from my AX8 to a Matchless Lightning and a few pedals. I loved having a modeler but I'm definitely happy I made the leap!
Do you leave it at church or transport it every week?
Great to see you guys together again! Great comparison. What would be nice to see and hear would be a side by side comparison and discussion of several of the most popular amps for P&W. Maybe Vox, Fender and Matchless etc all together to really learn the differences in sound in the different amp families. I think a lot of players with modelers really don’t know what the differences are between the amps. Thanks. Keep the info and new presets coming. Appreciate all you guys do. You tube would not be the same without y’all.
This was shot back in June 🙃
Love it, thanks for doing this, guys!
It's a good day when you guys release a video on this channel!
Thanks! Needs to happen more often :)
Tubes are gonna be a pretty huge variable here.
Phil Jamison is amazing!!!!! Thank you Phil!!!!!
After being lucky enough to play a few Sampson era dc30s as well as my newer dc30 I realized the difference between the eras are sooo minimal. There’s as much of a difference between one Sampson era dc30 to the next Sampson era amp as there is to the newer one. All excellently built amps and you can’t really go wrong either way!
I’ve played a lot of amps over the years and I think Matchless are probably the best in the world, I’m particularly fond of the EL34 Chieftain- very special amp. Great shootout 👍
In this comparison I like the new one. The 2023 has way more life. I have a 2012 HC-30 and an OG cab. Beyond.
Different? sure. but I think you’d be hard pressed to find two amps that sound identical even from the same “era”. Bottom line is I don’t think one is objectively “better” than the other.
My HC-30 is from 2007, I believe. I have the matching 2x12 cab and I’ve been running a celestion Alnico Ruby and an Alnico Gold in that cab for a couple of years now and I absolutely love it!
I recall a video of Phil talking about the difference and I believe he sighted the age of the transformer being the reason for any tonal difference.
My favorite sound out of the ones demoed was the '23 through the '94 cab on the 12ax7 channel. That's where I noticed the most difference in tone. Seemed almost identical on the EF86 channel. Both are mint!
fab playing fellas!
🙏🏻 thank you! Huge fan of your channel, btw. I’m about to buy an Independence based on Paul’s tone 👌🏻
@@wttone Ooh nice one. Funny enough I’ve just sold mine. I’m sure I’ll miss it.
Ok, here is what I think. The '94 amp sounds like it needs a power filter cap replacement. The 2023 amp sounded fresh, and tight. The '94 has a slightly duller sound to my ears. I am familiar with this dynamic because I work on my own amps. I had some amps that I liked the sound of, but the caps were very old. So I swapped them out and wow! They were much more in your face and tight - not necessarily what I was going for. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the new amp sounded considerably louder and tighter to my ears, and I think the power supply filter caps are the difference (along with preamp tub age). Great comparison! It gives me a lot less hesitation buying a newer one. Thank you!
OG Matchless speaker was a modified V30 and Greenback. I could be wrong, but I believe they went to the G12H30 when the V30 production was moved to China. That old V30 is one of my favorite speakers. The new with creams sounds amazing tho…
This is GOOD!
If you put 2 Sampson era amps side by side.... chances are you'll get a slight difference in both of them. However in this comparison, I did hear a slight difference in the gain, bottom and top end with the Sampson. Both amps had their own character and both are superb. Going through a band mix, both of them would be killer. I probably would prefer the newer Matchless because it's focussed more on the mids and had just enough crunch to kick in a pedal over the top. Nice demo guys.
Could literally just be down to the 12ax7 preamp tube honestly, I've heard that level of difference in swapping in a few in V1 of my '64 AC30
Guys!!! I have several sampson era and modern Matchless amps. You really can’t do this fairly without matching the tubes. Vintage tubes make everything better. My 2002, 2020, 2021, and 2023 sound 99.9% the same as my 1993 and 1996 when identical tubes are used. Long-mesh plate Mullard EF86 is magic. Amperex in V1 , Mullard in V2, and Telefunken Ribbed in P.I. Is the sauce!!!
Telefunken EL84 or Mullards for power, and YES a Mullard rectifier puts the mids forward in a good way.
Lastly, the early 90s speakers were Vintage 30s… you can confirm on the printed code on the cone.
If you will do this test again, I will lend you the tubes….
fair point but i'd argue that the lower the volume, the less a factor the power tubes are making on the tone.
For nos tubes amperex bugle boy in V1 or an rca 12ax7?
both are great for V! - RCA will have a more "hi-fi" tone and the Amperex will put a little boost in the upper mids. I usually go with Amperex in V1 and Mullard in V2...
@@darrylweller6143
I know this is a channel primarily focusing on worship guitar tone, but man I would've loved to have heard that Les Paul into those Matchless amps!
Heard more of a difference in the 12ax7 then the ef86. Pretty much identical in channel 2.
I agree though, both sound like the best amps I have heard. Would love to get one if I didn't have a Monarch Reverb Plus on the way.
That was our take-away, too. EF86 channels sounded pretty much exactly the same. 12ax7 was very close, but more different. Which cab did you like best?
And as an owner of a Monarch, you're in for a treat!
@@wttone man, both sounded great for different uses. Might like the 2x12 a little more but it does lose a bit of that top end.
Pots could explain why knobs are in diff locations on each amp for same edge of breakup point.
I have a Sampson era bad cat black cat and it’s awesome!!
What rectifier tube setup are you running in the amps? One gz34 or two 5v4?
I was surprised by the difference between the two! To my ear, the '94 had more low-end, a little more sparkle in the top-end. The new one was more mid-range-y. But both amps did what they did beautifully, Matchless does the 3d sound really well!
I had a MS era and I have a PJ one. It is the same thing.
Yup 👍
They are both awesome. I propose that the slight difference may be transformer related.
I work with Mark Sampsons grandson! Mark is from my hometown in Iowa. He asked Mark if he would build me an amp and he said yes for a $5000 ticket. If I had the $$ I'd certainly be in!
Ummmm, hate to break it to you, but.....
The creambacks will get better and get that chime after they break in. When new, they're a bit stiff. I didn't appreciate them until I heard a Matchless ESD with broken-in speakers.
i notice the same break in time with my alnico blues and alnico golds,but after they break in they are glorious!
Count me in, I have had 3 matchless amps so far… and while I loved my Sampson era… I love my Laurel Canyon reverb as much, but just not as loud as my stolen SC30… but Phil worked on my 93 hc85, but just now has that much more experience. Can’t wait for my new sc30… this time I’m getting with reverb… so… go PHIL… it’s The MatchPhil era
I have a Sampson Era Badcat Cub 2. And a Matchless Avalon
Are you sure it was black sparkle or the fabled Sampson-Era shower curtain?
I have one circa 97 so of course it is worth $11k 😂
Definitely sounds like the Sampson has more chime and a little less push in the mid range. The newer one is more beafy and more mids.
Would like to see a similar comparison with the chieftain. Have always loved that amp and can never decide which of the two I prefer.
You mean C-30 vs Chieftain, or a new Chieftain vs a mid-90’s one.
We can definitely compare the C-30 (and throw a clubman and Laurel Canyon in there too)
@@wttone yes, c-30 vs Chieftain. Would be happy to hear the other matchless amps as well!
@@wttoneyeah do a matchless deathmatch! 😅
On some of the clips, the new amp has more mid range sound to it.
What was the video about
Man the 1x12 sounded great, the 212 was ehh . I’ve got a 2016 matchless hc30 and now I want a 90’s version
Seems like the Sampson era has lower gain and more mid-scoop/bottom+top boost. The new once is more crunchy and midrange driven. Could be tubes.
Did you guys zap it?
One of them: worshiptutorials.com/product/94-match-c30-tone-match-patches-line-6-fractal-kemper-tonex-headrush-prime/
The other one will be coming eventually...
@@wttone Thanks Gang!
C 30 BRIAN CARL PROFILES ARE ALL YOU NEED!!!!
I’d bet money the of caps and tubes are the only difference.
My two cents, Samson is more organic, more real, new one sounds new, plastic like, something like the Beatles VS Oasis
Firsttttt
God has really bless you guys financially, i pray that he does the same for me, i really need it times are really tough for this working musician/husband/father
Wow not a like!! 94 totally
Tried one of these with my Strat....Big disappointment as It sounded muddy ...
Sampson is a crook.
I had both and kept 2022 hc30, for me new is better because Phil changed transformer which is super quite, the old one has some noise.
I had my main amp. A 1993 sc30 was stolen recently, Phil is making me another one. This video is making me feel very comfortable with that… I have a Laurel Canyon and 1993 HC85 and cab too. Matchless are awesome!!
Man I’m sorry to hear that it was stolen. But the new production models are so, so good. I actually just ordered a new amp from Phil as well (Independence 35).
Let’s make ‘Jamison Era Matchless’s’ a thing! 😎