What kind of amp do you dig? (Page 2 of 4)
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Crate and Line 6 are nice amps for Rock and Metal. I had used Randall and Marshall amps for years but nothing compares to a good Crate. Some of the new Line 6 models are very nice as well, I played through several at Guitar Center and they sound good.
I played through an ENGL once and it was miles ahead of anything I had heard before. It was not for sale and I havent been able to find any here in the States. 
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Mesa Boogie .50 Caliber +. I'm of the opinion that 50 watts is plenty of power for an all purpose amp. The only thing I don't like about this thing is the lack of a separate gain control for the lead channel. Makes it hard to get a good clean sound and good distortion without fiddling with knobs whenever you switch channels. If money was no object, I'd have a Mark III. @FrankSquid: I'm coveting that halfback Mesa 412 cab in the pic on the first page..... |
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My all time favorite is my 1967 Blackface Fender Bassman which I am hoping to get back from the shop soon, better than ever with new caps & tubes... In the mean time I will have to keep happy with my 1973 Silverface Bassman 50, my Randall RG80ES (with Crate 4x12 cab), my Epiphone Valve Jr with 1x12 cab or my latest acquisition... a Crate G1600XL with 4x12... which I got yesterday for free off Craigslist. I had to wire a new jack into the cab because it was broken, and the pots in the head need cleaned and the input jacks are flaky and need replaced... but those are simple jobs I can do myself...
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Originally Posted By alc1343: Mesa Blue Angel I cannot play any other amp at this point The Blue Angel is a really awesome amp. To date, the liveliest, most touch-responsive combination of guitar and amp I have personally ever played through was a Blue Angel and the guitar I built for my brother, which is essentially a custom version of a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion. That combination is ALIVE. If expressiveness is what you seek, seek this! A semi-hollowbody with PAF-type pickups through a Blue Angel is magical. Usually I'd say "more gain, please" but in the case of this combination, no, that's not the ticket to a bigger tone. It's fine right where it is, which is at the central point of the range of greatest expressiveness. CJ |
"Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark.
Now they will learn why they fear the night."....Thulsa Doom
"My body is a temple."
"No, it's an amusement park. Have a beer."...Hellboy
Now they will learn why they fear the night."....Thulsa Doom
"My body is a temple."
"No, it's an amusement park. Have a beer."...Hellboy
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I already had mine, I used to play bass guitar. I have the Fender BXR 400 Rack mount with one cabinet. Now that I don't play in a band anymore it's pretty useless. If I turn it up over 1, it will basically blow up my house back to the future style.
I need to sell it. |
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I'd pick either a Soldano SLO 100, or maybe a Bogner Uberschall if I had that kind of coin.
I had a 5150 combo, and that amp kicked some serious ass. I also had a Soldano Hot Rod 50 for a while, and I really liked that amp, too. Right now I'm using a Jet City JCA20H, throughan Avatar 4x12 cab. I put an Ibanez SM7 pedal in front of it, and I'm really digging on it. It comes real close to the Soldano sound, and I can play it at bedroom levels, without an attenuator, and I never lose the gain or tone! Even though it's only 20 watts, it's plenty loud enough to gig with, in smaller venues. I also have a line 6 Spider IV head, and since I got the Jet City Head, it hasn't even been plugged in. I finally gave up on Solid State, and went back to all tubes. The Line 6 doesn't even come close in tone, and I even downloaded all the patches for it, too. |
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Originally Posted By GI-45: I'm currently lusting after this: http://www.the-music-store.com/store/images/products_mesaboogie/mbex5502-12front.jpg All I got right now is this: http://www.piersantelli.it/uploaded_images/peavey-737072.jpg Used to own this: http://www.reconbyfire.net/reports/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/vs100r.jpg If you're looking for something that sounds better than the Blazer, go try out one of those little Peavey Vypyrs. That's what I have (15 watt) for a knock around crapper practice amp & it sounds surprisingly good. Although the speaker is starting to fart out from being pushed too hard.  |
"The thing that separates the American Christian from every other person on earth is the fact that he would rather die on his feet, than live on his knees!" - George Washington
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My favorite amp is actually a grey '98 Peavey Classic 30 with JJ tubes and 1x12 extension cab. Combined with my various P-90 equipped guitars it has the perfect punchy crunch that is both thick and well defined. The sound is somewhere between the Youngs' tone on Back in Black and Tim Sult's tone on Clutch's Robot Hive/Exodous.
I can't stand the oversaturated mush distortion typical of most high gain amps. 
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"The boy is my world. If he is not the Word of God, then God never spoke."
I only got to play with a MESA (Road King) once, and it was beautiful  I really wish they would get a deal with Guitar Center or Sam Ash. I would really love to be able to see which MESA flavor I like best for future purchasing reference. |
Shooting stuff is fun...
Thank you to whom ever gifted me a membership : )
Thank you to whom ever gifted me a membership : )
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Well, my favorite amps that I've used for guitar have been my ADA MP-1 preamp with a VHT 2/50/2 power amp along with an Avatar Vintage 2x12 with G12T75s. Man that thing had TONE. I had to sell the VHT though and I really regret it now. Best pic I have of it.  Would really come in handy now. The neighbors have a live band playing across the street and it sounds like they're playing in the room next door. |
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Originally Posted By triburst1: My favorite amp is actually a grey '98 Peavey Classic 30 with JJ tubes and 1x12 extension cab. Combined with my various P-90 equipped guitars it has the perfect punchy crunch that is both thick and well defined. The sound is somewhere between the Youngs' tone on Back in Black and Tim Sult's tone on Clutch's Robot Hive/Exodous. I can't stand the oversaturated mush distortion typical of most high gain amps. Can you give an example of such an amp so that I can understand the precise nature of your insanity? All the amps I like the best have warmth and clarity even at extreme overdrive saturation levels. You would not call them mushy nor would you call them harsh. |
"Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark.
Now they will learn why they fear the night."....Thulsa Doom
"My body is a temple."
"No, it's an amusement park. Have a beer."...Hellboy
Now they will learn why they fear the night."....Thulsa Doom
"My body is a temple."
"No, it's an amusement park. Have a beer."...Hellboy
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Fender - great but too clean...had a silverface Pro Reverb.
Marshall - Nice but not for me Mesa - had a combo but sounded too boxy even with ext. Cabs. Peavey classics - low dollars but a great value. Then I heard a Rivera ... holy crap. It has a fender clean and a marshall dirt Channel. Bought a used el-34 powered R55 and haven't looked back. The clean has a regular mode And a mode that overdrives the power section only for a dimed blackface sound. The drive channel has a standard plexi-mode and a gain boosted shred mode. All for $650. |
| Low watt Fenders. 5E3s and whatnot. Big power British amps with EL34s. |
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good...do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting is rewarded. Do not ask, 'Who is destroying the world?' You are." - Ayn Rand
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My favorite amp is my Mesa/Boogie F-30 combo. I play in a hard rock band and the tone this thing has is fantastic. I also have a Peavey Valveking 100 for bigger gigs. It sounds pretty good but it doesn't have nearly the same depth in the crunch as the Mesa.
Dream amp for me would be a Bogner Uberschall or Ecstasy or an Engl Fireball. |
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Over the years I've had so many amps & guitars it's almost confusing. Some that I regret ever having and some that I could kick myself for getting rid of.
A few years back I decided to start building kit tube amps and found that by tweaking and/or modding them for the voicing that I was after in conjunction with my go to guitars. My current set-up consists of an 5F1 Champ and a highly modded Epiphone Valve Junior (Marshall cloned), both of the 5-watt flavor. I run them both through an ABY switcher pedal with great results. I mostly play Blues and this combination gives me a lot of tone variance. One nice thing that I like is that these little 5 watters will go from sweet clean to mean when pushed hard. They are small but are loud enough to cut through when playing out. |
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Originally Posted By FrankSquid:
I like them all! 
My son has added a few amps to the collection. http://media.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=5648 Fender Bassman 100- an incredible guitar head. Marshall 1960a cab Fender Hot Rod Deville 410- my sons amp. the band yells at him when the master vol is over 2! Great Fender sound out of a new production amp. Line6 Spider 50w- Don't tell anybody but this thing is more fun then a drunk prom date!
1965 Fender Princeton amp. The bell-like tone that comes out of this amp is heart warming. Crate G-60- bought it new over 25 years ago, my first amp. Has NEVER failed me yet! Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier solo 50. Sweet tone when playing clean and balls to the wall when cranked. Mesa Boogie 412 cab- Has a 1/2 open back with 2, 90w black shadow speakers showing. I've heard that the sealed 1/2 of the cab has celestion speakers. IDK. Missing- Marshall 50w 900- This 900 was retubed and biased for EL34s. Plugging the LesPaul into this is great! Not my style but you have to love the sound. 
If I had to pick ONLY one to stay....The Boogie single rec would be it! Uhhhm.....Frank....those Mesa and Marshall half stacks look verrrrrrry familiar
Hope you are enjoying them  (I still havent gone through all the ammo.
Let me knowif you ever want to part with that Solor 50 head....I may just want it back some day 
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We are who we decide to be
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Originally Posted By DuraToTheMax:
I like old Matchless. Ditto...If I could afford one , that's what I'd be playing through. Best sounding amp I ever heard. I recently sold my Boogie Nomad and went back to Marshall....1987x Plexi through a 1960 slant. |
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For a little while now I've been rocking a Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro with a time based effects unit (Peavey Deltafex Twin) and an Alesis DEQ230 digital EQ in the loop. Driving a QSC MX1500A with the attenuators backed off to about -10 dB to keep the power level down to something the speakers can tolerate. I'm running a pair of reissue Greenbacks in a 2x12 Avatar cab. I never thought I'd like a digital modelling amp very much, but the Behringer delivers some hellacious tones if you take the time to tweak all the settings, which I will do and have done. I'm also having a hell of a time playing with Guitar Rig 5, on a fast PC with a Soundblaster ExtremeGamer (ASIO enabled) soundcard for low latency. There's a huge pile of tones to choose from. I recommend you try this program out. You can run it for free in demo mode, which limits you to half hour sessions. After that, you have to exit and restart the program to keep playing. CJ |
"Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark.
Now they will learn why they fear the night."....Thulsa Doom
"How are your eyes adjusting to light? It must have been dark under that rock. "..Mosin_nagant
Snow Minion
Now they will learn why they fear the night."....Thulsa Doom
"How are your eyes adjusting to light? It must have been dark under that rock. "..Mosin_nagant
Snow Minion
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Yeah I know..Crate I thought the same thing until I heard it and played through it. I've had one since 1993 and hope to buy a couple more. I also play through a
Crate Gunnison acoustic amp. The acoustic amp does a good job, but there are others that I liked better. I just couldn't afford them. 
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But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.
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Originally Posted By larkinmusic:
Yeah I know..Crate I thought the same thing until I heard it and played through it. I've had one since 1993 and hope to buy a couple more. I also play through a
Crate Gunnison acoustic amp. The acoustic amp does a good job, but there are others that I liked better. I just couldn't afford them. http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/larkintulsa/p1_uihy2dxed_so.jpg I always like the sound of the Crate Palomino V32 guitar combo amps |
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I had it once: the Roland AC100. Heavy...
Ran my Taylor thru one for several years before trying a smaller and but more powerful Fishman Acoustic Performer Pro. One time I had someone tell me the guitar sounded so full they thought I had 8 channels with the Roland.
If I still played out I'd be looking hard for an acoustic amp that has the portability of my Ultrasound but the tone of the AC-100. I'd like to try my current but sparsely used rig through one again if I could find it. As far as electrics: A friend of mine had a Line 6 AX2 2x12 and a Parker Fly and whatever settings he arrived at just sounded rich and ready to cut through whatever else was on stage. |
Ever notice the sound of a gun being charged is the universal language of dominance?
God bless America.
God bless America.
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I'm not a very sophisticated electric guitar player. I've had exactly one amp, and it's a Raven.
The tone seems harsh sometimes. Don't quite know how else to describe it, but while you can push it and make noise, it's hard to push it and make music. I went looking for something better, and have been drooling ever since whenever I see or think about a Fender Blues Jr. Huge step up in price and tone. Compared to some of y'all's rigs, it ain't much to have as a dream amp, but since my guitar dreams are usually about expensive acoustics, it'll do. |
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I mainly run a Bogner Shiva in to a Bogner 2x12 wanted one for ten years and finally got it.
I have a Bad Cat Cub and. Vox Ac30 as spares |
"Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law"..Henry David Thoreau
"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used"...Hunter Thompson
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I've never played through very many different amps. All I've got is a Peavey vypyr 100 (2x12) modeling amp. I've got an older Peavey 10" that I keep at my friends house to play there. I'd love to have a 2x12 or 4x12 setup of super quality though. Not sure what brand. I'm a cheap-ass though. My favorite setup for playing at the moment is a Line6 floor pod hooked up to an old Pioneer stereo system with four 12" house speakers hooked to the A & B outputs and placed all around me. |
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Originally Posted By Quintin:
I'm simple. I've probably had the most fun playing through little Fender Champs and Deluxe Reverb reissues. For something with more girth and gain, I'm a big Orange fan. ETA - Once I get some other fish fried around here, I'm thinking something from one of Arfcom's own - Blaculo and Tungsten Amplification. I just got a deluxe reverb reissue. It sweet, it's perfect for my house with an attenuator. It's my first real amp, other then cheap $50-100 amps |
| My dream amp would be tube with the durability of SS. Able to go from 1 watt to 50 watts with a combo of EL 84-EL34 and 6V6/tubes running a combo AB switchable mode. One 12 inch speaker and the ability to run a cab. 3 channels with separate EQ and volume along with a master volume. Good spring reverb. Not weigh any more than 35 pounds. |
We all fall short of the glory of God... I sure could use a good pair of platform shoes.
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I use high gain cheap tube heads. A B-52AT 100 half stack and a Bugera 333XL infinitum with an eminence 4x12 cab... I originally went into guitar center cash in hand with the intent on leaving with a mesa. Played the 2 mesa's, a JVM, a tsl, and then just on a whim tried the B52... Ended up saving a lot of money. The bugera I have is an exact copy of a Peavy jsx. I like what I have, but will always keep tone chasing... |
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I'm one of those morons that plays guitar mainly through bass amps... mainly Fender Bassman and Traynor YBA-1 amps.
My current two favorite heads are a '67 blackface Bassman and a '71 YBA-1 Bassmaster. Amazing amps for my tone.
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Ezikiel 23: 19-20 (NIV)
Only_The_Tip on World of Tanks.... thanks Obama!
I AM DARREN WILSON
Only_The_Tip on World of Tanks.... thanks Obama!
I AM DARREN WILSON
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Originally Posted By Fairplay:
My dream amp would be tube with the durability of SS. Able to go from 1 watt to 50 watts with a combo of EL 84-EL34 and 6V6/tubes running a combo AB switchable mode. One 12 inch speaker and the ability to run a cab. 3 channels with separate EQ and volume along with a master volume. Good spring reverb. Not weigh any more than 35 pounds. He, He... It will always be a dream. The speaker magnet and the iron in the transformers are 35+ pounds before you add the rest of the chassis, electronics, and cabinet. Otherwise, nice dream.
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My two rigs. Clark Beaufort tweed deluxe clone and Fender Deluxe Reverb head w/cab (1x12). I play mostly straight into the Clark unless I want to play around on the pedalboard. ETA: forgot to answer the OP's question! I'm pretty happy with what I have now. The only amp I'm lusting after these days is a Kingsley Bastion 20. It's small--I might be able to sneak it in without the wife noticing...or not. Wow, just noticed this is a pretty old thread!  |
NRA, GOA (Life), SAF (Life), NYSRPA (Life), SCOPE (Life)
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Originally Posted By 68_Mustang: I always like the sound of the Crate Palomino V32 guitar combo amps Originally Posted By 68_Mustang: Originally Posted By larkinmusic: Yeah I know..Crate I thought the same thing until I heard it and played through it. I've had one since 1993 and hope to buy a couple more. I also play through a Crate Gunnison acoustic amp. The acoustic amp does a good job, but there are others that I liked better. I just couldn't afford them. http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/larkintulsa/p1_uihy2dxed_so.jpg I always like the sound of the Crate Palomino V32 guitar combo amps  |
We all fall short of the glory of God... I sure could use a good pair of platform shoes.
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Originally Posted By larkinmusic:
Yeah I know..Crate I thought the same thing until I heard it and played through it. I've had one since 1993 and hope to buy a couple more. I also play through a
Crate Gunnison acoustic amp. The acoustic amp does a good job, but there are others that I liked better. I just couldn't afford them. http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/larkintulsa/p1_uihy2dxed_so.jpg One of my former bandmates had the 20w version - holy balls it was a great sounding amp. I'm gonna buy the next one I see. |
"Start with the chubby girls. You'll want to practice with them first and refine your skills before moving onto the ones who are not guilty."
- GraniteClimber -
- GraniteClimber -
| I love my B-52 AT212 combo. It's been upgraded with Eurotube's full retube kit with 6L6GC power tubes and biased to 45ma. It also has MOD 2 spring long decay reverb tank. |
The more you care about something the deeper the fight will come from within.
You do not fight out of hate, but rather out of the love and compassion you have for those you are trying to protect.
You do not fight out of hate, but rather out of the love and compassion you have for those you are trying to protect.
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Originally Posted By Lympago:
This is always the part I don't understand about these over 100 watt tube amps, is that unless your using it for big shows where you can crank it up hard to heat the tubes up so the tone is fat and juicy, it's serious overkill. Yeh you can use an attenuator to reduce the volume while heating the power tubes up, by your still running a huge rig sucking the power out of your wall socket and skyscrapering your power bill when you could have gotten a sweet 50 head and smoked up pretty much everywhere while getting more than enough volume for just about any normal show. A real big show too will have a good PA anyways and you can mic it for even better stereo volume and sound. Sorry, I don't want to stomp on people's amp dreams, but that's just my two cents on it.
Originally Posted By Lympago:
Originally Posted By cmjohnson:
Originally Posted By Zakk_Wylde_470:
I would do horrible, vile things for a MKIIC+. No doubt. If there's a "classic" Boogie that deserves legendary status, that's the one! 
Personally, the ultimate dream rig I'd love to own, but would never want to move, would be a Mark IIC+ Coliseum series head, (That's the one with three pairs of power tubes, four 6L6s and two EL-34s, or six 6L6s, giving up to 180 watts) with a pair of 4x12s each loaded entirely with EVM-12Ls. And better yet, put them all in hardwood cabinets, I'd prefer curly maple. This would not be a rig that went anywhere. It would just be used to kill small animals with sound. CJ This is always the part I don't understand about these over 100 watt tube amps, is that unless your using it for big shows where you can crank it up hard to heat the tubes up so the tone is fat and juicy, it's serious overkill. Yeh you can use an attenuator to reduce the volume while heating the power tubes up, by your still running a huge rig sucking the power out of your wall socket and skyscrapering your power bill when you could have gotten a sweet 50 head and smoked up pretty much everywhere while getting more than enough volume for just about any normal show. A real big show too will have a good PA anyways and you can mic it for even better stereo volume and sound. Sorry, I don't want to stomp on people's amp dreams, but that's just my two cents on it.
Ever played in a band with a drummer inspired by John Bonham and Neil Pert, who had 11 toms in his 1978 Ludwig cedar shell drum kit - factory made with no bottom heads? A drummer that had his own 24 channel board to mix the shock-mounted 57s in his kit? And a bass player running 800 watts into 2X12 and 2X15 cabs to be heard over the drummer? |
Treason to communism is fidelity to humanity.
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Worked in a music store on Saturdays for a while so I got to try and hear a lot of things.
Best sounding amp I ever heard was a Peavey Triumph into a cheapo Crate 4 X 12. Used by a local band called Jellibred. I got close to the sound with a Peavey Rockmaster pre-amp in front of a Fender M80 stereo chorus head into a Peavey M412 slant cab. I later got a Peavey TubeFex and a Classic 120 power amp, but never had a chance to really figure them out. Worked with a guitar player who had a Hughes and Ketner amp that looked and sounded great. Heard a "Kittyhawk" head in a pawn shop once that sounded great, but they have a poor record for durability. |
Treason to communism is fidelity to humanity.