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Input and footswitch jacks located on the rear panel

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With the boost kicked in and set to high gain, the classic Queen rock tone is there and if you have any Brian May whatsoever in your technique, you'll be able to mimic at least his sound with efficiency. Take the boost out and lower the guitar volume and the tone cleans up whilst remaining fully fat and inspirational.

It's worth mentioning that what Brian calls his own 'signature tone', the crackle and buzz of dirty mains, is well and truly part of the mix too and unless you have your own personal electricity supply, you'll notice this before even playing a note.

Using other guitars, specifically a humbucker-loaded Schecter S-1 30th Anniversary, we still get close to the May tone. With the guitar volume reduced and using a Mexican Standard Fender Strat, a classic sixties tone is quickly apparent too.

However the amplifier doesn't sound any more convincing than when on full whack and maximum boost with our Burns BM; it needs that final push courtesy of two pickups together, in phase and in series, to really shine.

So, given that you really shouldn't lower the output if May's tone is your goal because you lose just too much of the harmonics and articulation, we have to say that the sheer volume - even at 15-watts - is likely to prove impractical for many. You may find that a power attenuator is the only real option in all but the biggest of venues.

This is probably the truest recreation of May's own amps you're likely to get, and it's probably the simplest professional amp we've ever encountered too.

The down side is that this amp is unlikely to appeal to any but the staunchest of May fans and we'd suggest that anyone concerned by the high output should seriously consider their buying choice. The AC30CC, for example, is an excellent reworking of the classic design and is infinitely more controllable; it does a decent May too (with the right guitar and booster in the chain).