Alright, spent a couple days with the beast. Here's my opinion. This is one of the greatest amps I've ever played; you cannot build a better amp, only a different amp. This thing is royalty in the tier of Harry joyce Hiwatts and vintage jtm 45 super leads.
What's it sound like to me? Kinda plexi-ish, but massively thick. Definitely has that strong midrange presence, but inherently Orange with gobs of low mids and bass, plus that signature fuzzy overdrive that's love it or hate it. Jimmy page at the 2008 reunion! One of Emsley's sonic signatures in his amps is where he puts the tone stack in relation to the preamp gain stages. This makes the amp very raw and punchy, and less smooth than typical brit amps. Really tightens the low end, though. Bass hits you like a slug to the chest. Compared to the classic OR120s, the AD140 has much less headroom, more punch, and much more gain and compression, though nowhere near the modern lineup. A little too much gain with my paf humbuckered SG, in my opinion, but that's only if you dime the amp across the board. Sounds KILLER with a Tele.
Also, Marty McFly'd myself a little and blew a fuse, because when you dime the gain and master, it idles at about 6-8 amps. Where can I buy 6 amp 5x20mm slo-blo fuses?
Initially toyed with the idea of flipping the amp, but now there's no way I'll ever sell this thing. Just incredibly satisfying to play. I love my OR100, but comparing the tone to this is like apples and... well, you get the jist.
