For sure! I'm happy to share my opinion to anyone who's willing to listen ha. Fully aware we're in nitpicking territory here, but I think these kinds of "first visual impressions" are useful.
If I was to go off first impressions of these pictures:
- Spider Valve looks kind of Bugera-ish. I bit like a mishmash of different designs forged together. Could probably look smarter with some small tweaks but as is, it looks the "cheapest" of the four.
- I'd say the Rev looks more like a Line 6 amp than it does a boutique amp. Probably down to the number of knobs, the fonts, the type of knob used, headphone output on the front panel. Tolex looks nice, but there's a lack of nice flourishes (no piping, plain corner protectors) - very plain/generic/functional in how it looks.
- JJ100 is maybe not my favourite looking Friedman, but it's a good example to use. Headcab looks nicer than the Revv with the rounded corners, gold piping, gold font. Caveman number of knobs makes it more inviting and straightforward to someone who hasn't used one before, and they won't immediately think "digital".
- DT50. Headcab looks great - I love the rolled edges, gold piping, handle, feet. Could just be the image, but the texture of the tolex doesn't quite look as nice as the Friedman or Revv. Not sure it would bother me, but for comparisons sake it looks a bit different. Faceplate is where it looks a like it's another amp that's been placed in a nice head cab. In a lot of ways, it looks better to me than the Revv, but I think it would look even more slick if the faceplate was less congested, if the knobs looked more like what you'd find on an older amp, if the font (and font colour) matched the piping. Cramming the pilot light wherever it'll fit, and using the same style of switch for power/standby/channels/poweramp modes etc doesn't fully vibe with me. Feels a bit like the headcab is an off the shelf one, and the chassis/faceplate have been forced to fit inside it (rather than both being designed together). I could probably forgive most of these faceplate comments if the font and knobs were different, though.
I've been trying to think of what other amps it reminds me of, where it's ALMOST there but something gives it away. Egnater might be a good example - to the average guitarist it might look pretty close to an expensive Bogner or Friedman or Suhr but in person they just feel a little off.
Headcab is OK, is many ways I think the DT50 is nicer, but the Egnater has a few nice cosmetic things. The faceplate looks crap though and drags the aesthetic down to me.
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Strangely I think the Vengeance looks more expensive, albeit less "boutique" - with more controls, having the faceplate take up the full width of the chassis looks like a coherent design choice. The fonts are daft, but as a whole it works. Things are spread out nicely, nice knobs being used, a lot on there but doesn't feel too busy or cramped. Despite both being valve amps, just based on how they look, I'd assume the tweaker is a budget hybrid/digital amp, and the Vengeance is some kind of flagship.
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Gotta say, I think the DT 4x12 cabinet (big badge aside) looks fantastic. The colours work really well, and it's simple/elegant enough that it looks high end (track lock castors AND chunky feet, nice handles all excellent choices). Nitpicking, but big ass Line 6 logos and that amp faceplate distract for me. The Line 6 logo really makes it hard for me not to think Vetta/Flextone/Spider etc too, very hard to do anything about that but it does influence.
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In writing this, I've been trying to think about what it is that makes a good looking amp. I think the more it looks like it was created by a human being pouring their love into it, and less like it got mass produced by a machine, the better. Small bespoke touches (using different types of switches depending on function) is good. Using consistent colours and visuals between faceplate and head cab make it look like no expense was spared and it was all designed together:
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Its also been quite interesting to see how some expensive amps REALLY don't look much like expensive amps to me (Two Rock, Matchless), but also how amps like the Tweaker (or say Albion/Subzero/Harley Benton/Bugera/etc) just instantly look very budget.
