“I have tried most of Pritchard’s different cabinets and own the 1x12 TB (Tunnel Back™). My favorite was the 1x15 TB which uses an Eminence Legend 151, probably the best 15 in production (or out of production) that I’ve heard. The Pritchard in that cab can do absolutely everything without the slightest compromise. My 1x12 TB is about 35 lbs and perfectly portable. It’s speaker is a custom version of a Legend V12. Even if you think you may not like the V12, in this amp and cab it is incredible (Even ask David Barber about the V12). But it does lack a little of the sparkle available in other cabs and speakers. It tends to make a 1x12 TB sound like a 4x12 closed back. Basically anyone who likes closed back cabs already wouldn’t think the Pritchard 1x12 TB lacks necessary sparkle. I didn’t care as much for the Pritchard 1x12 closed back, even though it sounds great for thick crunch tones, just because it doesn’t sound as good with clean tones, and Pritchard amps, to me, is all about tons of great tones without compromise to any of them. The 4x10 TB is absolutely killer for blues and everything unless you want to do palm mute high gain riffs on the low E string, which I do.

“The M (Marshall voice) is my favorite, and my standard starting tone. I can max the boost and get an old vintage Metallica tone (but remember, this is a non-master volume amp!) and then roll down my guitar volume and get such sweet and harmonically rich clean tones. It is unbelievable the range of tones that stay great just by guitar volume knob. EVH rolled down his guitar volume for his cleans, but they weren’t anywhere near this good with the same technique. You can get great EVH tones here as well, I’d say closer to VH 1&2 than EVH got with Peavey and Soldano amps. The F voice gets from BF to tweed Fender tones just by how you set the volume and midrange controls, and gets them both quite convincingly, though you can’t set the bass very high or it is capable of farting out, just like vintage Fenders, because the F voice is designed to replicate their circuits that closely. I stick to the old magic sixes trick and it is not a problem. The S voice is sort of a extra-harmonically rich twin, but not quite blackface or tweed. I use it for Steve Howe of Yes type stuff and it works great. Others use it for jazz, but I won’t pretend to be able to play jazz.

“I also like the H voice. Initially this was designed to be a type of high gain voice, as it has the designed tonal effect of running 2 Marshall preamps in a row. However, it effectively makes a high frequency emphasis and at clean settings has this great almost lo-fi EQing to it that immediately brought to mind Pink Floyd’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I loved that tone, but had to look up what amp Barrett used. So turns out, the Pritchard can sound like a great Selmer Treble & Bass, and this is a cool tone to have, for those of you who know that album. In fact, I’m not sure of another current production amp that can get that tone. The V voice is fun, but at least with my 1x12 and current 12, it can’t sound like a vintage AC30 through Celestion Blues. A friend did bring over his Hellhound one time, which he used to get the “Voxiest” sound he could afford. He set the Hellhound up to his stage settings and volume, and then we set the Pritchard up to match the Hellhound, and did so, so closely that he couldn’t tell which was which, then we tweeked the Pritchard a little and made it so much better than the Hellhound for the tone he was trying to get.

“I also use the L voice to get smooth or aggressive sustaining high gain tones from Vai to Dream Theater, but this (remember the Satori is a non-master volume amp) still has slightly less bite than Dream Theater/Petrucci uses. Believe it or not, after 2 years I still haven’t used the other voices much. There’s just so much to try on the voices I focus on. I’ve heard other people experiment with the other voices for their styles and sound unbelievable. I’ve still only tried just a few pedals, but hardly ever. I’ve just been going direct to amp. (Oh and the direct out from the amp to a board or PA is so good it isn’t funny, and my V-stack Classic (to be sold) isn’t even in the same ballpark for DI.) The Pritchard has both serial and parallel FX loops, and I still haven’t bothered to try them. The reverb is good and useful, though I’ve probably heard a few better as I like ‘em springy. Supposedly Eric Pritchard currently has his amps where you can have the reverb only on one channel and switching channels could turn it off automatically for your gain channel if you so want. That’s cool because the 2 button pedal is only for channel switching and for the boost on each channel, but I think my older amp doesn’t have that option.

“The only draw back to the Sword of Satori not already mentioned is that by having 2 non-master volume channels, you have a limit on the relative gain of them. However, you can get a pretty high gain on one channel and a pretty clean tone on the other to be equal volume due to different preamp voicings. Just don’t expect to get the extreme gain and pure clean tones of equal volume that some heavy metal bands use. For that maybe the Pritchard Estoc would work, but I’ve only played one of them just a little bit, not enough to have an opinion on its differences. (I did have a Black Dagger for a couple months before I just HAD to trade up to the Sword of Satori.)

“To compare the Pritchard amp to other SS amps or even digital amps is apples to oranges. I cannot stand any Line 6 product I’ve ever tried, which is all their amps and PODs. I don’t like any Tech 21, which all sound fake. (Perhaps the problem with all of these is I really REALLY want my vintage tones to be absolutely real, and those aren’t 100%, and even 99% is no better then 0% if it can only annoy you.) I like the Lab Series amps only over a very limited range, not when they are pushed into noticeable gain. I haven’t got to try a Pearce or Blue Tone amp yet, but hope to eventually.

“One other thing, cause I’m not sure if it is now standard, or something he just did for mine and on request. But he has a noise gate, even though this amp is not noisier than any other good amp, but originally when he first released the amps, the noise gate would be noticeable if you had the boost on and rolled down your guitar volume “too far” for playing clean and played softly. That problem is completely fixed on mine when I play cleans through the guitar volume knob. If any one buys one, ask him about this. [Carlton’s mod is standard now.]

“Anyway, I hope that other people can test one out thoroughly for themselves. It seems lonely being the only Pritchard owner posting here. I know there were two others, but perhaps their Pritchard amps cured them of the desire to discuss on forms instead of play. (Happy Face) Maybe I’m the oddball Pritchard owner who hasn’t been cured of the Gear Page? Makes me think, although I have only scratched the surface of this amp in explanation....”

“Clean channel, which one is that? (Another Happy Face) I joke because either one could be set up as the clean channel.

“Actually, with the Pritchard layout, I’d say the V (Voxy) voice, H, and A voices can get pretty chimey. Still haven’t got to do a side by side with a Vox or Matchless, but some people consider the Hellhound a somewhat budget boutique amp to get a chimey tone. I had my 1 x 12 TB Pritchard side by side with the Hellhound (with Alltone 1250) and the Pritchard was capable of significantly more chimey tone than that. Also, the M voice can get that 18-watt Marshall chimey sound in the right settings too.

“That said, if you want the most chimey, the 4 x 10 with Alnico 10's or the 1 x 15 TB would work great. (Despite that you wouldn’t think of 15's for that.) The 1 x 12 TB is not bad at all, but I wouldn’t expect it to sound like a Vox through Celestian Blues, but probably a lot like a Vox through Greenbacks. Avoid the closed back combo for the most chime.”

“Can the Sword of Satori pump convincing KT66 or EL34 suonds at various volumes?” “Does the Sword of Satori require miking to sound good?”

Carlton’s reply: “I think the Pritchard amps have a definite ‘raw’ EL34 sound. You know how you can tell the different sweetnesses in the power sections of different amps? I contrast ‘raw’ and ‘refined’ as to the nature of power amps, and both types can be extremely good. If a 100-watt Fuchs has a very refined sounding power amp, and the Tweed Fenders have very raw sounding power amps, then the Pritchard is much closer to Tweed Fender rawness, and similiar to 1960's Marshalls. I’m not as knowledgeable about KT66 amps, as the Rt. 66 is the only such amp I’ve played, but the Pritchard is definitely on the rich end of this type of tone. You can’t get the Pritchard’s sound with just average EL34's even in a very good amp.

“So you can definitely get those vintage 60's Marshall tones at an extreme range of volumes, and is extremely sweet at extreme range of gain settings. All you have to do is set the voice to M, start with the tone knobs at 12 and adjust to need. You don’t have to mike it as it sounds great anywhere from bedroom to outdoor settings and volumes.

“With my SOS [Sword of Satori], I can hang with a Fender Twin in volume or with a Fender Champ, and it comes alive at both volumes.”