Amps....this just never ends!

[PaulP]

Ok, so here we go. I have had and played through nearly everything most guys coming up in the 80's played through...New/Old Marshalls, Occasional Boogie..MK IV (didn't last long), Old Fender 68 Blackface Bassman (wish had that one back), Carvin, Randall, Koch (not bad), Engle (good also...but), there are certainly more. Of course my tastes and style has certainly evolved as I have gotten older (thank God!) which to some degree makes things a little harder when it comes to equipment.

So let's just say I run from Jimi/Beck to Vai/Satch! So let's just say...eh....'65 to now! lol. Seriously I like to to think of myself as pretty open guy when it comes to what I am interested in playing....no NU Metal or even Metallica, but lets say up to Heavy Rock like say Van Halen/Ozzy! Neil Schon is a very good example of a guy that needs to cover heavy rock to late night blues!

To date I have basically settled on older NMV Marshall/Older speakers (Pre-Rola) and have been able to make that work with the coming of pretty good attenuators. However, my early 70's 50W (100W do sound better to my ear for some reason but ...damn that's a lot of iron! Makes me grin though!:D ) is a rather picky beast. It took me years to figure out one of the most simple things...why does my amp sound so different every time I plug it in? Well did anyone ever measure the actual voltage coming into the house or wherever your plugged in? It can vary a lot! and it seems like the older Marshall's in particular are really sensitive to the variation! Some days it sounds like Angels and others I'm ready to throw it up on Ebay! Seriously!

So....brings me to my issue. I am really looking for a "modern" or new amp that makes me grin! Can I cover everything I want in one package? Prob not but I'm gonna give it a go. I was talked into trying a Diezel Einstein 50 as it was the "more vintagey" of the Diezels and there were lots of guys starting to use them. And truthfully it is much more in that vein than some of the other models, but it's just a bit too modern for my tastes although I have to admit there are some pretty ok tones in there and it certainly is a quality amp. It's just not for me.

Than I got a listen to a John Mayer clip of him just killing this bluesy/Hendrix type thing with Jim Carey doing so artwork or whatever. Short clip but holy mother! It was just this fat clean SRV type tear your head off....just oozed! So now I start looking for Two-Rock Clips and yup...there are some killer sounds to go with a $5500 amp! Yikes! Uh...gulp...please god let there be another way! LOL! Although some of the smaller amps they make might get there I am not sure that if I have to pick one that I could cover the heavier side of things as easily. I have never been a combo guy as they always sounded boxy to me....but never say never!

So now I stumble onto Matchless, Bad Cat, and Divided by 13! Oh geez! I hve been spending the weekend getting "educated" on all this! Plus I have been trying to descramble all the code I keep seeing on here.....JST 13/XX, DC-30, SC-30, C-30, Hot Cat, Cool Cat.........AAHH! I got some catching up to do! So, after "intense" research...vbg...I am getting up to speed a little bit here and seem to gravitate to a few clips I have heard. Mind you I have not yet plugged into any of these amps. I am thinking of driving an hour this afternoon to Doylestown PA to try a few Matchless Amps though!

So it seems my "ear" (I find it very hard to find really good quality clips as most sound horrible to me!) that the Matchless DC/C-30, Matchless Independence (although really don't need that much gain), Matchless clubman/chieftan, Bad Cat Hot Cat 30r, /13 FTR 37, /13 RPB 19/37 have caught my ear. I did recently try a Mesa Mk V as I thought it could be a do it all amp....and maybe it could be but not for me, plus it is freakin loud! Was gonna check out an Electra Dyne because I have heard really good things about that, but also....loud! I know these other amps are loud also....but the Mesa would be very hard to use in a smaller club or at home. At least to their potential.

Ok...so here it comes......what is your experience with any of the amps mentioned (I'm sorta ducking under the bed as I type that questions..lol)? There are some others that I have heard clips from that sounded very nice...Electroplex being one of them, but there really is no way for me to ever get my hands on one to mess with around here. The other part of this equation is that I have been gravitating towards more single coil/p-90 sounds lately. Tele in particular, although I did just order a TA Classic Strat HF2/M1/M1 setup :D. Anyway, got everything but the P-90's covered guitar wise and will be visiting that when funds dictate. It seems my whole amp approach is changing completely because the sound in my head sorta sounds clean....but has a huge low end that you can feel! I described the sound to Roy (when we were talking electronics) as somebody walking up to the Liberty Bell (without the crack...vbg) and hitting it with a huge wooden mallet! So totally clean sounding but gainey I spose. I guess that's why we are always chasing tone as guitar players! We hear stuff in our heads! Uh....no wait....I mean music stuff!:eek:

Oh and as for clean sounds...I tend to like a little bit of dirt in it for the most part. It's just warmer and bigger to me. Loves me that "pushed" clean tone. You now Eddie calls his sound "Brown"....I might call my ideal sound...hmmm..."let's call it Bob"! :eek: LOL! No...really...I would it would be ...."Chewy"....almost slippery. It really is hard to put into words something so subjective, but it certainly doesn't stop us from trying!

Anyway....Matchless, Bad Cat, Divided by 13..whatever. Let's hear what you guys have to say on the matter! :)

PaulP

[PaulP]

This clip really got my attention....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQqv8PQ2bBg&feature=related

[Babow2]

I totally understand... my head hurts too from all the choices. I do have a suggestion... the new Mesa RA-100. Each channel has a built in attenuator, so you can control the overall volume or drive power amp saturation, without killing people. The clean channel is pretty creamy, probably not as pure as matchless, but very vintage vibey, but can be pushed. The second channel is Marshall esque, with a lower gain control and a higher gain mode. So, you can footswitch between clean/lead and lead channel hi/low. Their concept for the gain was a more vintage marshall vibe on low gain and a modded modern Marshall vige on high gain. Now, mind you, this is Mesa's take on the british sound. Very much in the Electra-Dyne vibe, but with more control among channels. Again, the 4 separate attenuators allow you to get big sound at low volume. It may not be for you, but considering what you described, what you play through, etc... it might be worth a listen. I have really been enjoying mine.

[PaulP]

The ED and the RA-100 are on the list to check out. I have heard some ED clips that sounded pretty good, but not any quality clips of the RA-100. I know Mesa has some up on the web site but I find the factory clips rather grating actually. In fact it seems most clips that are mic'd up tend to be far less representative to what the amp actually sounds like. I much prefer the ones that are of a live band or, believe it or not, of somebody just using a hand held camera of some type. It seems they are far clearer on the gain side of things...unless they overload the mic.

I have a Ho attenuator for the Marshall and that is pretty damn good. Ho is the guy in Canada that actually makes the Ultimate Attenuator for the guy in California that rebrands them. It does work pretty well, but no matter what it does compress things a bit. Just the way it is. So yea, I could look at a high power amp but it really is overkill.

However, certainly worth a look. How come you sold your RA-100?

[PaulP]

Went a played a few Matchless Amps Yesterday. Pretty obvious that these need to be allowed to breath a bit! I played a C-30, a 3015, and a Clubman...all heads. Of the 3, and I didn't spend a ton of time, I like the warmth and voicing of the clubman the best. It is amazing how loud 30W really is! They were plugged into a marshall 4x12 with unknown speakers. It was more of a "fact" finding mission as I didn't have any of my guitars with me. I would like to go back and hear the Clubman and c-30 again with my Ho attenuator. Although, I was told that attenuating a Matchless is not a good thing for the amp! Any thoughts on that?

PaulP

[dannopelli]

Bogner Goldfinger.

Clean channel is like a Shiva. Just luscious. OD channel switchable from Marshall Plexi to Marshall JCM.

The 45 is loud enough for anything too.

They are on TGP for sale from time to time in the high teens to low twos. New kind of pricey. Highly recommend a Bogner 2x12 cab for it.

These videos are all by the same player. His channel has tons of stuff, but I like these because he is using the same guitar in all.

Clean Channel
http://youtu.be/v2PY5sHAMLM

80's Mode (Modern)
http://youtu.be/NT3lUAcozwI

69 Mode (Plexi style)
http://youtu.be/dFxEUN20j6c

Staight out of the box, (My fave comparison video)
http://youtu.be/yaB02M1EqD4

[siv]

My main amp is a Matchless Lightning reverb 112 combo. Not what you're looking for probably, but I've played a bunch of other matchless amps (I've got a good friend with a clubman, and spent some time with a few older DC-30's). They're great amps, very well built and sturdy, and in my opinion sound fantastic. My lightning is 15 watts and I NEVER find myself wanting more volume (though it's not the 'cleanest' amp in the world, but I like my cleans on the edge of dirty so it works for me). The lightning especially really shines with single coils.

That being said, there are tons of great amps out there these days. Lots of builders doing innovative things and getting great sounds out of them. I've decided for now that my amp is my amp - I'm not going to start looking again because I still have things to learn about this amp and I think it sounds fantastic. Play a bunch of amps in your price range and pick the one you like best!

[PaulP]

The Bogner shiva is interesting. I played one years ago my brother in law bought and didn't care for it at the time, but that was a very long time ago and I have heard some terrific clips of the shiva lately. Certainly worth a look...but very very loud! I do remember that.

The Goldfinger is something I have no heard in person. I really should go check it. Not that it matters but I do think it's a goofy looking think though!:p Most definitely came from the man of a thousands hats! (the guy reminds of the "Mad Hatter" character that Johnny Dep played in Alice in Wonderland!)

The Matchless Lightning really seems to have so very cool sounds...as do some of the other similiar 15W amps. I was offered this afternoon a possible trade for a Bad Cat Hot Cat R 15W combo with a head shell to convert it over to just a head. I have heard really good things about it and I do know how loud 15W is! My only concern is that in a live situation that 15W would run out of headroom. I really enjoy that "edge of breakup" sound as well. And I prefer a "little dirt" with my cleans. Just have a listen to the C-30 clip I posted in one o the earlier posts...awesome!

So Siv, you really think the little 15w has enough headroom to get away with playing say...Little Wing in a band situation?

[kevin h]

I've been playing a ÷13 JRT9/15 since 2004 and I couldn't be happier with it.

I set it fairly clean and use a pedal or pedals for overdrive tones.

One thing I love about it is how consistant it sounds from one venue to the next.

I've played a few of Fred's other models, but not the FTR or BPR that you are interested in. I'm thinking of trying a BPR myself.

I bought my ÷13 amp without ever trying one, based on hearing a couple of live shows where guys were using them and on the recommendation of a friend of mine that is an LA session player who was using one. I don't like buying for gear without trying it, but in this case, it worked out.

[curtisjames]

From what your describing, look into an amp with el84's, with EF86 in the pre amp section. most people because of a very strong marketing focal point don't ever even consider how versatile the Dr Z StangRay is. Depending on the speaker and cab choice....this is a monster of an amp than covers exactly what you've described. You also can purchase the head alone. although it seems most marry them with a Zbest cab, I swear by Two Rocks (John Mayer) Signature Series, oval ported cabs. I play through a 1x12 and a 2x12. You owe it to yourself. Crazy rock tones naturally break up and out from 12:00 and up and accepts pedals like they are naturally a part of this amp. Most play em through Dr Z's cabs that carry a celestian gold or a pair of blues. But the two rock cabs come with their own set of cones specific to them. The cleans are also, amazing but not as bright as a Matchless or two Rock.....of which I used to own. so much also has to do with your speaker choice. Just consider. The Dr Z amps web site has a few clips of Dave Baker who is an alien as far as I'm concerned. too good. and you tube has a guy playing his PRS through one Titled: DR Z StangRay ((not just for country)) ggillett77

I understand how individualistic and comprehensive the quest for tone is....it can be fun, but also a diversion from of time away from ultimately putting the fingers down on the wire. good luck on your journey.....

[dannopelli]

Hey man. I think I may have been unclear. The Shiva is all wrong. Too powerful.

The Golfinger, (and yes it is friggin ugly but in a Frog-Prince kind of way), I think will do what you want. Plus it has power scaling from 45 down to 9 watts.

I had one of the ORIGINAL Stingray amps, before the name change. Killer amp. With the right pedals in front its amazing too. But it does not do quiet real well. It can do kind of quiet, but it does prefer to breathe. No master volume.

For Dr Z, great cleans come from the Maz 18 and 38. Get one with the power Z-Lite attenuator installed and it could be perfect for everything. Its what I use.

For Marshall sounds from a Z you need a Remedy. It has a half power switch.

I still play Dr Z. But I am thinking of dumping them for the Goldfinger. There is one on TGP right now with a 2x12 cab for $2200. Never thought I'd switch, but after hearing the guitar tones this thing has, I may do the switch.

[Ray K.]

From what your describing, look into an amp with el84's, with EF86 in the pre amp section.Dr. Z...yes!

But, let me throw another wrench in the works. I've been highly impressed with the Gabriel V18 (head). the Bright channel is EF86 driven and the Normal channel is 12AX7 driven. The power section is all EL84's and tube rectified.

The Bright channel can be as clean/chimey as you like or all out. Yes, on the Vox-ish side, if you like or you can dial it out with the front Cut control and the rear Contour control. The Normal channel is straight up Marshall in nature.

Use an A/B box if you want to channel switch, but personally I find both channels sound really great. I'm using the bright channel with pedals, set cleanish, just at breakup. Nothing in the Normal channel and I channel switch.

I find the 18 watts plenty loud, but Gabby builds a 33 watt version if you prefer.

Good luck!

Ray K.

[PaulP]

Well dont get me wrong...I am not afraid of a high powered amp, just has to be a way to use it. In many situations a smaller low wattage amp can suffice and may even be preferred. I am still gonna look at the Electra Dyne/RA-100 as well. The Goldfinger certainly seems very impressive....both 90 and 45 versions! I would love to be able to demo the Mojave stuff as well. The scorpion seems like one hell of an amp. The past few days I have been really on the matchless/badcat trail. It's hard because I just cant go out and play these things. I have heard some smokin clips though! I am gonna work with my Marshall as well...thinking it could use some quality tubes/biasing.

However, still kinda open and have been receiving some interesting trade offers via the gear page....anybody familiar with a Snider 484? Seemed interesting but I have no shot of playing one...EVER! LOL! Unless of course I find somebody locally......

[guitarzan]

Some great amps you've listed! I sent a pm with info on the Electroplex.

Matchless is on my list of "someday" amps. You also might look into TopHat Amps. They have been around for about 15 years and consistently turn out some amazing products.

[dannopelli]

Some great amps you've listed! I sent a pm with info on the Electroplex.

Matchless is on my list of "someday" amps. You also might look into TopHat Amps. They have been around for about 15 years and consistently turn out some amazing products.

Oh don't listen to Corey, don't pay attention to this clip here, where you see how great the tone he gets out of that amp. How even when he is just noodling he sounds killer. Really there are other examples you can listen to. Really don't pay any attention...

(Hopefully all y'all get that was a joke. Really Corey knows tone better than most..)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8tmtwjSKePk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/8tmtwjSKePk

[PaulP]

Yup saw all this vids a long time ago! The man can play! I think his demo vids are some of the very best out there and he manages to make the amps sound good! It is amazing how many demo vids, including from the manufactures themselves, sound horrid! Yet some sound great....

PaulP

[guitarzan]

Yup saw all this vids a long time ago! The man can play! I think his demo vids are some of the very best out there and he manages to make the amps sound good! It is amazing how many demo vids, including from the manufactures themselves, sound horrid! Yet some sound great....

PaulP

Y'all are gonna make me blush. :o

More vids coming this week. MojoHand just sent over the One Ton Bee Fuzz as well as their Bluebonnet Overdrive.

[PaulP]

sounds like more toyzzzzzzzz!:D

[Kid Metric]

Egnater Mod 50. It does it all.

[PaulP]

Ok...update tonight on the amp thing! I have been dragging my feet on this amp deal but decided to play around with my 73 50W marshall a little more yesterday. Well it started to do some funny things that kinda made me start thinking about tubes....it would sorta loose gain at times. Was just weird. So a friend who used to repair amps stopped over this morning and we got to talking about it and ended up pulling it out of the case to have a look. When it was out of the case it because very obvious that one of the tubes was consistently "blueing" and now we could see that it was getting a hot spot on the plate. basically the tube was on its way out (just some cheap rubby tubs). So on my way back from work a I stopped over at the amp guy I have used before and picked up some Electro Harmonics 6ca7 EL34's. All I can say is that I am stunned at the difference. And my dealer has a set of NOS tubes that I almost went with but I still wanted to the curiosity but held off despite they are a good deal!

So bottom line...the Marshall sounds great! I cant believe the difference in that head! So we'll see...gotta kinda live with it for a while but so far so good!

PaulP

[okstrat]

Kemper profiling amp. I love mine and I have several vintage and rare tube amps to choose from.

[pneil]

Fractal axe-fx. Brought my amp buying to a standstill. Still have several models I haven't really tried.

[Big Harry]

I am with okstrat in this :) , there was no better time for guitarists than now....

Sold out all (except one) of my amps , and now I am enjoying treasure of more than 1,600 (yes , one thousand six hundredths ) different amp/profiles/cabs .
Some of those amps cannot be purchased in flash anymore , one can find just a few left on this World...

My sound becomes 100% professional , and I even managed to have a "better" ( I like it more) sound than some of my guitar idols ... unbelievable !:cool:

I am playing it through PC monitors, through PA monitors and through my 50W hand wired amp and Mesa 2x12 cab .

My DT and Bulldog have absolutely organic, natural sound through Kemper , it is awesome how can I switch from say Two Rocks , via Little Rebel , through Matchless , / by 13, any Fender,Koch, Elmwood,Carr Rambler , Vox , DR Z , Carrol Ann , all the way to Laney, Cornford, Bogner, Mesa or Siggi Mehl or Golub Marshall ,.. you name it .... :eek: .
All of those amps can be accommodated by 200 or so different cabs ..... madness...
Dynamic of Kemper is the best thing here .
Using just volume pot IN ONE PROFILE , I can go from clean to brown, from crunch to high gaIN , with even more dynamic control than I can have with real thing .
Pick attack response is the second best thing with Kemper !


Tone heaven - all in all !


Christopher Kemper deserves Nobel Prize for Kemper Profiler Amplifier .

Cheers,
Zoran

[PaulP]

Alright...I wasn't gonna post this because it was only mindless noodling with flubs and no thought at all. I was actually experimenting with my STOCK 73 Marshall/Timmy Pedal/Strymon Timeline (hardly scratched the surface..lol)/THD Hotplate/Stock FSR Fender (gasp) American Standard Ash Tele/...and Secret Ingredient (vbg).....

The vol is just about conversation level..you can hear the pick hitting the strings at times. I will say this....the Marshall is on 9! I only posted here cause its a much smaller audience....and well.....the tone quest is in full swing! lol Oh yea....this was recorded as a goof from my Droid X Phone laying on the sofa next to me....and yea know...playing needs WORK! I get it!!!! lol

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n298/Leardriver/th_MarshallTHDMatrix_zpsdea0cff0.jpg (http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n298/Leardriver/?action=view&current=MarshallTHDMatrix_zpsdea0cff0.mp4)

[PaulP]

OK...the reason I actually posted that mess was to show that its very very possible to harness a Big Block amp to very low volumes and still get complete tube saturation without squashing the tone down to unusable levels. Again....ignore the playing because it was not about that (yea lousy note selection, awkward fingering, and clams galore...whatta want for 2am with no thought, warm up, or effort (<---obligatory excuse ;), but what I really wanted to demo here was that I was SLAVING the Marshall into a Matrix SS Power Amp!

Signal chain: Marshall->THD Hotplate set to "LOAD"->THD Line Out Split (used an old Rapco A/B box cause didn't have a Y chord handy) with Channel A going direct into Matrix Power Amp/Channel B into Strymon Timeline with just a little delay set->Matrix Power Amp Channel A into 4x12 (DRY)/Channel B (Delay) into 2x12 set for wet (not sure if gonna actually do the wet/dry thing...depends).

The Marshall was screamin (Set to 9) and that was a stock American Standard Ash Tele....single coils....sitting 3 ft from Amp and cabs. The level set on the Matrix was basically conversation level meaning I was getting no "air" moving the speakers. The sound actually really sounds just like the Marshall when it is turned up a bit because the speakers play a huge role in tone shaping.

The Matrix Power Amp is amazing! I was demoing this one (GT1000FX) from a friend that got his hands on it and didn't have much time to play with it, but it is transparent. powerful, and light! It weights 6lbs and is 1000W (more like 150w per side at 16ohms I think...gotta check). It's very reasonable considering what Power Amps of this caliber go for (Mesa 2:90/VHT 2150/ Marshall Monobloc/Ect) and being solid state really does not color the tone from the amp at all......very very neutral. I am pretty much sold on the idea of slaving my Marshall or any amp you want to have opened up to get those tubes saturated yet be able to control the levels and make them usable. If you were to use a tube based power amp (even go into the effx loop of another amp bypassing the preamp stage) it tends to lend itself to a bit more compression in the overall tone....someone say Eddie? Vbg....you really do hear that in there to a degree. But I prefer the solid state Power Amp for its flat output. Eddie was is actually using HH V800 SS power amps but they are very $$ and heavy!

The Matrix Power Amps are pretty much designed to be used with a modeling amp such as the Fractal Effx System. Really geared for Guitar, not a PA system so it works very well! So this is my little experiment and I am leaning this way.

It seems a little complicated (it is now because nothing is organized yet) but once all worked out and tidied it shouldn't pose much of an issue at all. I do realize there is added expense here, but I honestly think the results are worth it. I could use a 100w Non Master Volume Head on a church gig....or a small room if I wanted. Course I doubt I would but you really do have ultimate control over the whole thing with the added benefit of being able to run any time based effex (delay/reverb/ect) after the head/amp if no effects loop is available....that has a tremendous impact on the overall sound! Again more cables, but once your setup not bad.

I currently do not have a rack setup at this point (really didn't thing I would ever go back to that) but I might concede to a small one for a Furman/Matrix (single rack space)/Some sort of looper/midi changer (not sure). Even considering putting the few pedals I do have in a rack drawer but dont think I will go that route. Who knows....the tone chasing continues.

Oh yea....I am gonna pick up a smaller combo or something to use as a practice amp. It is impractical to use this sitting down to play at home solo....although fun....all the time. Course we will see.

So this is where the amp thing is at the moment...still looking around. Just discovered the Blackstar Artisan series amps and they look promising! Basically everything is still on the table and seems like I want to go try everything! Lol! Oh well....all part of the trip I spose! Lol!