Paul Reed Smith MT15

Hello everyone, welcome back to another edition of the Heartbreaker Guitars Blog and today we are going to discuss one of the most anticipated amps of the year and the talk of Winter NAMM 2018, the Paul Reed Smith MT 15. You might be thinking what is so special about this lunch box sized amp, well it was designed by legendary guitarist and PRS endorser, Mark Tremonti and Paul Reed Smith. Mark Tremonti has been a part of the Paul Reed Smith Family for over 20 years and was only the 2^nd artist after Santana to have a signature guitar made by PRS. This is the 1^st signature amp for Mark who has been a long time Mesa and Bogner amp user and huge amp aficionado. The tones and the versatility of this 2 channel amp are amazing, it is a wonder that Mark and Paul were able to pack so much into this small format head. One of the best features of this bad boy is the price, $649, yeah that isn’t a typo. No one is making an amp with this kind of quality and tones for this price. Here is the mission statement for his first signature amp from the man himself.

“We knew we wanted a low-wattage amp. The challenge was getting a lot of tone and features in a little box. We’re all blown away with how it turned out. It’s going to be great for someone to take it out of the box, set everything to noon, and have it sound great.” – Mark Tremonti

Everyone at Heartbreaker Guitars was blown away by this amp, so let us review the specs and what makes this amp a special little monster.

Starting with the clean channel, Mark was looking for something to give that beautiful bright fender clean sound so he wanted to have a 6L6 power tube section to give plenty of headroom and a nice sparkle without being overly brittle. This makes it great for fingerstyle players and strummers as well. The clean channel has its own volume, bass, middle and treble controls so it doesn’t have to share with lead, giving you more flexibility to dial in your sound no matter if you are looking for that smooth rounded jazz sound or that chimey Twin tone that is great for strumming.  An added bonus on the channel is a boost control, to help dirty up the sound for those blues inspired or vintage rock tones, so it is giving you a 3^rd channel. Oh almost forgot a  little feature they added, when it is on the clean channel the preamp and power tubes are lit up in a cool blue light, making it easy to tell you are on the clean channel

Moving to the lead channel, you will be amazed at how the PRS MT 15 can scream. With 6 x JJ EC83S pre amp tubes on board and 5 gain stages, the MT 15 is capable of any high gain tones that you can imagine. Mark prefers the 6L6 for his lead channels because of the powerful, tight low end and clarity that these tubes lend themselves too, especially in high gain settings. It doesn’t take much for a high gain amp to get mushy and lose articulation when the gain is cranked up, especially if you are playing anything besides a lead. Mark said on the last Alter Bridge album he used this amp primarily for the all tracking duties, replacing some pretty high end and well respected amps. The Lead Channel has its own bass, middle, treble, and gain controls. It shares the presence control with the clean channel.  When the lead channel is selected, the tubes will light up red, so you always have an easy visual cue on what channel is selected.

Lets take a look at the back panel of the Paul Reed Smith MT 15. It has FX Loop, Bias Jacks for adjusting bias without having to open the chassis, and half power switch that takes this from 15 to 7 watts. You will be amazed how loud this amp gets for being only 15 watts.

And don’t forget there is a killer matching cabinet for the PRS MT15, constructed with birch plywood and is loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30, one of the all time greatest guitar speakers.  So these two pieces of Paul Reed Smith mastery make a lethal combo, capable of handling any gig or recording that you throw its way. Heartbreaker Guitars is an authorized Paul Reed Smith Dealer, so call today and place your order.