One of five new guitar and bass amps available, Clean Machine II is the latest 50-watt guitar amp head built on Fuchs' standard ODS chassis. It is a "clean pedal platform amp" ready for any effect pedal by providing plenty of noise-free clean headroom, high dynamic range with good touch sensitivity and responsiveness. It is a single-channel amp without a master volume and comes with an effects loop capable of either series or parallel operation using a pedal or line level effects unit. All required Level controls and Send/Return jacks are accessible on the rear panel along with separate 4, 8, and 16-ohm speaker jacks. It uses two 6L6s power tubes with a quiet, DC-powered fan blowing air across them.
The front panel control panel is recessed under the "brow" of the top of the amp cabinet and there is a three-position Brite switch next to the guitar jack, an effective Deep switch that's awesome for single-coil pickups, and an effective three-position EQ switch for many tone shapes!
I thought the built-in Spin-Semiconductor 16-bit digital reverb sounded superb and was excellent for Surf and Jazzier guitar sounds. The reverb is completely adjustable using Level, Delay, Dimension, and Damping controls. Finally, the Accent control provides just the right presence bump!
I had four different guitar players ranging from session pros to beginners try the Clean Machine II starting with an Avatar open-back cab with a single 12-inch Hellatone speaker inside and also a 2 X 12 open-back Two-Rock cabinet. All my players were unanimous and agreed that this amp has the perfect power range for playing on small stages, intimate clubs and of course any recording studio! Both single-coil pickups (Telecaster) and humbuckers (Les Paul) guitars sounded awesome with tones ranging from Mayer-style clean tones to over-top-thrashed sounds.
The Fuchs Audio Technology Clean Machine II sells for $2,695MAP.
fuchsaudiotechnology.com/product/clean-machine/clean-machine-ii
