# CAA OD 100 Standard



## Tarl (Feb 4, 2006)

I traded one of my LPs to another forum member for this amp and I thought I would post some impressions. I don't think these amps are too common around these parts. First of all it's a big heavy full sized head. Everything is top notch with big heavy componenets. There are 6 12ax7 tubes and 4 5881 tubes used in this thing....its rated at 100 watts. Good tones are very easy to dial in on this amp but at first I found the OD channel to have a bit of a high end spike in it......I swapped out the stock Sovteks in the channel 2 distortion sockets with a couple of JJ 12ax7s ( my all around fav) and that solved the spike. Also I found 100 watts to be a bit much power for me so I took out 2 of the power tubes to get it down to 50 watts. I also am running it from one of the 8 ohm outputs into a 16 ohm 2 x 12 cab to get the amp to push a little harder. The results are spectacular. The cleans are sparkling and defined....IMHO... blowing most Fenders of any era (that I have heard) away. The dirt channel is a tone monster too with blues, rock and metal just a twist of a dial away. Again very tight and defined with a bit more of a modern tone than I usually have, although she rocks with the classic stuff just fine. Even at 50 watts this is not a bedroom amp. I can get the level to about 3 before it really starts to hurt the old eardrums. The level send control on the effects loop at the back of the amp acts as a master volume when something is plugged into it. I've found that 4 or 5 on this is about the minimum setting for a great tone, 6 is perfect but way too loud and below 4 is very likeable but the tone does suffer a bit but you can get the volume down nicely. As you know the harder the tubes are pushed the better it sounds. Overall I couldn't be happier with this amp. It is truly a professional grade piece of gear and I kinda like the plain workmanlike look of it. The only concern I have is that it may be just too much amp for what I do.....we'll see after a couple of practices.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

I know what you mean about too much amp. My Mann/Garnet is an amazing sounding head, but it is sooo loud that I can't play it much at home and even in practice it is really too loud. I'm looking for an attenuator to solve my issues. Enjoy yours, it looks like a fantastic amplofulofulofu


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

You may wish to search on the Suhr forum, John Suhr has discussed pulling tubes and mismatching the OT. IMHO you may be better off haveing Suhr mod the amp for your needs.

Andy


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

congrats, i've heard of these bad boys


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## Tarl (Feb 4, 2006)

sysexguy said:


> You may wish to search on the Suhr forum, John Suhr has discussed pulling tubes and mismatching the OT. IMHO you may be better off haveing Suhr mod the amp for your needs.
> 
> Andy


That may be an option. I love the sound of this amp so we will see what happens when I play with the rest of the band.


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

Tarl said:


> The level send control on the effects loop at the back of the amp acts as a master volume when something is plugged into it. [/IMG]


by tweaking this and your front panel controls, you can get some decent bedroom/studio volume tones...

I had a CAA OD-50 Classic +.......i miss that amp and I've been thinking of getting another...the clean channel alone is worth the price of the amp.


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