Today’s guest review comes to us from Christian E. – you can find him on Instagram (@chriespiritu) or on his band’s Facebook page (Story Of April).
The AMT Electronics P2 is a guitar preamp in a pedal sized stompbox designed to emulate the tone, gain structure and nuances of the Peavey 5150/6505 amp that we all love. Amazing, right? The pedal is built like a tank: it has a great solid steel chassis and I can assure you that you could throw this thing from the third floor and it’d be still working (but don’t actually do it, okay?). Three different outputs give players and studio engineers the chance to choose between multiple ways of routing the guitar signal: the P2 has a speaker simulated output (to be used when going direct into the PA in a live setting or an audio interface when recording), a preamp output (to be used for routing into a guitar power amp or the return of the effects loop of a guitar head) and a drive output (to be used in front of a combo amp or head going into the clean channel). All these outputs can be used at the same time.
If you’re going to use the speaker simulated or the preamp output, the pedal acts as a two channel preamp that gives the possibility to switch between clean and overdriven sounds via footswitch. The clean channel is actually the same on all the Legend Series II models and produces a nice Fender-esque tone. If you’re using the drive output keep in mind that the used combo or head will play its role in the final sound you’ll get (you can still switch between clean and overdrive channel via footswitch). I personally find myself using more the speaker simulated and preamp outputs because I absolutely love the tones that I get when using these two outputs, the pure sound coming from the pedal is amazing. I don’t use the drive output that often because I find that using and external combo or head colors the tone too much.
The controls on the Legend Amp Series II P2 are pretty straightforward and you’ll get used to them in no time: it has the typical bass, middle and treble knobs as well as three other knobs that control the overdrive level (a master volume for the overdrive channel), overdrive gain (which controls the amount of gain, duh) and a clean level (a master volume for the clean channel). There’s also a clean volume boost switch that can be used only when the pedal is not engaged.
The only major flaw that I’ve found with this pedal is that the EQ controls don’t affect the clean channel but that doesn’t keep me from saying that the P2 is one of the best pieces of gear i’ve ever owned. As a university student I can’t afford a 5150/6505 Peavey amp head and even if I did I wouldn’t be able to use it as I live in an apartment and i’m sure my neighbors would kill me. With the AMT Electronics P2 I have the chance to practice at home connecting it to my audio interface and using headphones. Whenever I rehearse with my band I don’t have to carry a heavy amp head around so this pedal is also a must have for those who don’t want to suffer from back problems (or maybe you’re just lazy, who knows).
The P2 costs about €150 which means roughly $170. The Peavey and EVH heads are all over or close the one grand mark, you do the math. (I’m obviously not taking in consideration the latest Peavey mini heads). I can guarantee that you won’t be making a compromise between sound quality and price. In my opinion the AMT Electronics P2 is the best way to get a 5150/6505 tone in a pedal-sized stompbox.
SPECS:
9-12v DC power negative center (-), adapter or battery
Low power consumption
Small size: 110 x 62 x 58 mm
Bright LED indicator
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