My New Lightweight Setup + Milkman The Amp Review

TeleMaster · August 2023

After leaving my frankly, dull, toxic and dysfunctional generic pop/rock covers band I started a new venture with an old bassist friend of mine and found a great singer who is really into Americana etc and we decided to start a band in that direction. I then found a good drummer and away we go!

My setup for years has been a humbucker equipped guitar into a Friedman BE-50 into a Zilla cab with neo creambacks. But having very recently had my third back operation I've decided to lighten everything, and after a lot of reading and messing about with lacklustre cheaper options (Boss Katana), and some lacklustre more expensive options (Blackstar St James) I've gone ampless, kind of. It really is a big decision for us guitarists to lose our trusty amps, and go lighter but I've been trying many solutions in the last few months and this is the best one I've found so I thought I'd do a little review of everything.

As this new band is more Americana, Blues and roots I needed to think about the sound and also, I needed to somehow bring the weight down. I spoke to my mate Chris @nero1701 who has a Milkman The Amp and it sound like the perfect option on paper, like a Deluxe Reverb but it's a pedalboard amp, 100w, with real preamp tubes, headphone out, XLR to FOH and a Class D power amp. It So after watching a few videos I just pulled the trigger and this is my pedal board.

I then needed to think about the cab as the Zilla weighed 20kg and I very nearly bought a Barefaced Cab but it ended up being a grand for a 2x12 and it just felt like it was too much for me even though they weigh about 10kg with neo creambacks in them. @digitalscream recommended a Matrix NL212 and I found one on ebay for £300 so I grabbed it. It weighs 12kg so still super light and looks very cool in black and sounds just like a normal cab so that's perfect!

As there's going to be lots of acoustic guitar playing as well as electric, and as I'm the only guitarist in this band I bought a suspension stand from Thomann for £25 or so for the acoustic so I can start songs in acoustic and then switch to lead and vice versa. But how was I going to do it? I got the guys at Bright Onion Pedals to make me an AB pedal so now I can go from acoustic to electric at the touch of a button and not have to change guitars in some crazy fashion, I can just move the electric to one side while playing the acoustic.

The Milkman sounds great with the volume at 1 o clock, with a kind of somewhat over the edge of breakup but without being in full overdrive territory. It's perfect for most rhythm stuff for this genre and would fit in with most 70's style rock bands. And when I use the acoustic I can just turn the volume down. The cleans are great and the reverb is very nice too and it does get loud.

The complication is that while it has a master, I lose all headroom when it's pushed and if I want a lead boost the Keeley Katana ends up driving the amp into distortion without raising the volume too much. I could use the boost on the amp but I'm a one button kind of guy and I don't like tap dancing, and I use the HXFX as a kind of pedal looper and for all my modulation and drive pedals. I think it sounds good, and I'm past fiddling with dozens of pedals and if the Helix stuff is good enough for my mate John, who is 10x the player I am, it's good enough for me. It controls the Sunset via MIDI and then the Revival Drive and the Katana are in each of the loops and the Freqout is in the output.

The solution to the headroom issue when the amp is pushed would be setting the amp volume at about 4 o clock which is very clean, and then using my overdrive pedals for all my sounds and then I've got bundles of headroom. The Sunset isn't my favourite overdrive pedal but everything sounds decent and MIDI control is just excellent and I wish more pedals had this. The Revival Drive is amazing. I'll figure out the best way to do all of this as I go along.

And then to finish it all off I needed a lighter guitar that suits the look of this band so I got a figured 339, which while I know is more of a modern version of a 335, I think I can get away with it, and it weighs 7lb. I put some discreet locking tuners on it, a String Butler on the Truss Rod cover and it's still only about 7.1lb so that's perfect.

So aside from the guitar (approx 7.1lb), the cab weighs 12kg which for a 2x12 is light, the pedal board weighs 9kg which is somewhat heavy but I've got no amp head and it all goes on a trolley! And most importantly it sounds great!

How did I pay for all all of this? Well, I kind of haven't yet but I've got three guitars for sale in the classifieds so feel free to purchase one, it would really help me out!

Anyway, thanks for reading and if you've got back problems maybe try a pedal board amp like this one out, they do sound great.

Jonathanthomas83 · August 2023

That's an awesome board! I'm curious about the Milkman. I'm after a clean platform for a few pedals.

gatheredinsong · August 2023

As a fellow Amp 100 user and fan of americana I reckon this looks like a good path you've gone down.

I'm a little surprised by your headroom issue. Am I interpreting correctly that you are using the katana in combination with the Sunset and/or Revival Drive? Is the Katana before or after the other drive pedals in the signal path?

Does the katana sound that different to using the inbuilt boost on the Amp in terms of the distortion level it takes you to?

nero1701 · August 2023

I'm famous

digitalscream · August 2023

Glad to see that you like the cab - if there was any prospect of me gigging, I'd have kept mine. They really are astonishingly good, and they make you wonder why you ever spent years lugging massive hunks of wood and magnets around.

TeleMaster · August 2023

gatheredinsong said:

As a fellow Amp 100 user and fan of americana I reckon this looks like a good path you've gone down.

I'm a little surprised by your headroom issue. Am I interpreting correctly that you are using the katana in combination with the Sunset and/or Revival Drive? Is the Katana before or after the other drive pedals in the signal path?

Does the katana sound that different to using the inbuilt boost on the Amp in terms of the distortion level it takes you to?

No, so when I use it with pedals and set the Milkman clean it's fine. If I want to use the natural preamp distortion by pushing the volume (not master) then any volume I end up hitting the front with just becomes more overdrive, even though I can still raise the master.

I use the Keeley Katana because it's in the loop of the HXFX and I can hit one button on it to turn on delay, boost etc. If I use the boost on the Milkman I have to hit two buttons, and that's too much tap dancing for me lol.

gatheredinsong · August 2023

TeleMaster said:

gatheredinsong said:

As a fellow Amp 100 user and fan of americana I reckon this looks like a good path you've gone down.

I'm a little surprised by your headroom issue. Am I interpreting correctly that you are using the katana in combination with the Sunset and/or Revival Drive? Is the Katana before or after the other drive pedals in the signal path?

Does the katana sound that different to using the inbuilt boost on the Amp in terms of the distortion level it takes you to?

No, so when I use it with pedals and set the Milkman clean it's fine. If I want to use the natural preamp distortion by pushing the volume (not master) then any volume I end up hitting the front with just becomes more overdrive, even though I can still raise the master.

I use the Keeley Katana because it's in the loop of the HXFX and I can hit one button on it to turn on delay, boost etc. If I use the boost on the Milkman I have to hit two buttons, and that's too much tap dancing for me lol.

Ah, I see what you mean and understand wanting to keep the stomping simple. I tend to keep the volume (not master) knob on the amp fairly low because I do like access to a clean sound and rely on drive and fuzz pedals in front. I'm not sure what to suggest. Perhaps you could try an EQ pedal in place of the katana and play with frequencies rather than a pure volume boost? Or alternatively look at starting with your lead tone and trying to work backwards, potentially using the Sunset and/or Revival Drive as 'underdrives'?

Hope you can figure it out as it looks like a great set up otherwise

TeleMaster · August 2023

gatheredinsong said:

TeleMaster said:

gatheredinsong said:

As a fellow Amp 100 user and fan of americana I reckon this looks like a good path you've gone down.

I'm a little surprised by your headroom issue. Am I interpreting correctly that you are using the katana in combination with the Sunset and/or Revival Drive? Is the Katana before or after the other drive pedals in the signal path?

Does the katana sound that different to using the inbuilt boost on the Amp in terms of the distortion level it takes you to?

No, so when I use it with pedals and set the Milkman clean it's fine. If I want to use the natural preamp distortion by pushing the volume (not master) then any volume I end up hitting the front with just becomes more overdrive, even though I can still raise the master.

I use the Keeley Katana because it's in the loop of the HXFX and I can hit one button on it to turn on delay, boost etc. If I use the boost on the Milkman I have to hit two buttons, and that's too much tap dancing for me lol.

Ah, I see what you mean and understand wanting to keep the stomping simple. I tend to keep the volume (not master) knob on the amp fairly low because I do like access to a clean sound and rely on drive and fuzz pedals in front. I'm not sure what to suggest. Perhaps you could try an EQ pedal in place of the katana and play with frequencies rather than a pure volume boost? Or alternatively look at starting with your lead tone and trying to work backwards, potentially using the Sunset and/or Revival Drive as 'underdrives'?

Hope you can figure it out as it looks like a great set up otherwise

Oh yea it's not an issue either way really, it's just I think it does sound great when pushed but I bought it to be a clean platform so anything else is a bonus.

TeleMaster · August 2023

nero1701 said:

I'm famous

Infamy is fame I guess.

TeleMaster · August 2023

Jonathanthomas83 said:

That's an awesome board! I'm curious about the Milkman. I'm after a clean platform for a few pedals.

They are available used pretty regularly and they have lots of different options now. They have the 50w which has trem and a few different reverbs, the 100w with verb and boost, and now they've got a 100w version with stereo outputs for a stereo rig. They're often available used and I think you can get them for around £600-£700. If you want a lightweight rig this and a Matrix 112/212 is a great setup.

stickyfiddle · August 2023

I think the only thing I'd do different is the locking tuners and string butler. Otherwise that all looks like a ace rig

digitalkettle · August 2023

Uh oh....the Milkman amp comes in stereo now too!

Shame it hasn't got an effects loop which stays pretty clean...would solve your headroom/drive/boost issues. Had you considered the DSM/Humboldt Simplifier?

Also, I thought the Freqout was happiest first-in-line?

TeleMaster · August 2023

stickyfiddle said:

I think the only thing I'd do different is the locking tuners and string butler. Otherwise that all looks like a ace rig

Well I want it to stay in tune don't I lol. I've yet to own a Gibson that doesn't have tuning issues when I play them so this works for me. Before you say it, I have had the nut cut properly and I've brought multiple guitars to multiple techs, it's my bend heavy playing style with the inherent issues that Gibsons. have. The tuners are discreet, no big wheel on the back, and the butler is on the truss rod cover so you don't even notice it. Perfect.

TeleMaster · August 2023

digitalkettle said:

Uh oh....the Milkman amp comes in stereo now too!

Shame it hasn't got an effects loop which stays pretty clean...would solve your headroom/drive/boost issues. Had you considered the DSM/Humboldt Simplifier?

Also, I thought the Freqout was happiest first-in-line?

It stays clean and loud, you just need to keep the volume low and the master high. But yea, an effects loop would be good so I could utilise the natural gain but not essential.

The Simplifier I haven't used but the Milkman sounds so good it would have to be absolutely amazing for me abandon it right now.

Yea you're right, the Freqout does go first. Had a brain fart! Although it sounds just like normal feedback where it has been for years lol.

stickyfiddle · August 2023

TeleMaster said:

stickyfiddle said:

I think the only thing I'd do different is the locking tuners and string butler. Otherwise that all looks like a ace rig

Well I want it to stay in tune don't I lol. I've yet to own a Gibson that doesn't have tuning issues when I play them so this works for me. Before you say it, I have had the nut cut properly and I've brought multiple guitars to multiple techs, it's my bend heavy playing style with the inherent issues that Gibsons. have. The tuners are discreet, no big wheel on the back, and the butler is on the truss rod cover so you don't even notice it. Perfect.

#itsthenut :P

TeleMaster · August 2023

stickyfiddle said:

TeleMaster said:

stickyfiddle said:

I think the only thing I'd do different is the locking tuners and string butler. Otherwise that all looks like a ace rig

Well I want it to stay in tune don't I lol. I've yet to own a Gibson that doesn't have tuning issues when I play them so this works for me. Before you say it, I have had the nut cut properly and I've brought multiple guitars to multiple techs, it's my bend heavy playing style with the inherent issues that Gibsons. have. The tuners are discreet, no big wheel on the back, and the butler is on the truss rod cover so you don't even notice it. Perfect.

#itsthenut :P

Yea it is, but I think they'll always have those issues even with a well cut nut especially if you are a heavy player. Anyway, I don't want this to become a Gibson tuning stability thread.

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