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Ampage Member's Poll

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3/13/2000 8:32 PM

Ampage Member's Poll

Guy, I was just wondering about what all of you thought about amps out there. In terms of overdrive, what is your favorite amp out there? Traits? capable of being smooth, aggressive, touch sensitive, etc. I am curious, because if I told you my choices for STOCK PRODUCTION amps you might laugh... LEt me give you a preview: I played a Marshall Valvestate which sounded remarkably smooth on the OD1 channel... I played the whole night through that channel, for clean, crunch and soloing.

Cheers,

Gil

3/13/2000 8:58 PM

quote:
"Guy, I was just wondering about what all of you thought about amps out there. In terms of overdrive, what is your favorite amp out there? Traits? capable of being smooth, aggressive, touch sensitive, etc"

I don't have "1" Favorite amp, but I'll list mine in order of preference and explain why:

1) early 70's marshall Superlead 100Watt model (running at either 100 or 50 watts). I get the best crunch here, but it can clean up a bit for the southern rock thing, and if goosed you can get some pretty creamy sounds out of it. VERY touch sensitive!!

2) Blues playing: any tweed fender would work wonderfully, and of course, an OLDER Marshall Plexi does it well.

3) Clean: I am partial to the Fender Vibroluxes. When I was going for a 'fender' clean sound, I tried (all silverface, ) a Deluxe, a Vibrolux, a Twin (non-master type), a Super and a Pro. I found the Vibolux had just the right sparkle, and was small enough, light enough to work well. Sure not the bass response of a Twin, but for a good twangy tele sound, the Vibrolux just tends to cut thru a bit better

there are just too many good tube amps out there to hvae them all tho!!

3/13/2000 9:18 PM

I gotta agree with Rebel420 here, too many for "one fav". But if I had one all-time favorite, it would be the '68/'69 Marshall Super Lead, although the early '70s aren't much different. Second choice as favorite (but first choice as personal idea of "best") the blackface Fender Twin Reverb. Second choices would be Fender Bassman or Deluxe (tweeds, both of 'em, not the later versions), or the Marshall JTM 45. Dumbles, etc. just don't quite make the sound I want.
And hey Gil, don't feel bad. I have a friend with a "valvestate" Marshall head that (gulp) sounds fine. Not the sound I want by any means, but just what he wants and he sounds great with it. God help me, I may have to start another thread on amps no one likes... My 4100/JCM 900 has been set up by a total genius amp tech and everybody who has heard it says it sounds incredible. Who are these idiots? Guys who have worked as instrument/sound/video-audio techs or as roadies for pretty much every great musician you can name from the past 30 years or so.
Hi

3/13/2000 11:33 PM

quote:
"And hey Gil, don't feel bad. I have a friend with a "valvestate" Marshall head that (gulp) sounds fine. Not the sound I want by any means, but just what he wants and he sounds great with it."

Thanks, I feel better. It was a funny thing, you know, I went to this rehearsal studio so I always take whatever they have there. This time it was the Valvestate; I had my little pedalboard with me, so I was going to set the amp clean and use my old Bluesbreaker pedal to goose it for lead work. As you'd have it, the pedal wasn't working (it is the second OP amp that blows, I am glad I put a socket in there), so I said heck, I will use the amp's channels.

Of course, the pedal for the thing was nowhere to be found, so I set it on the verge of barking. And I was impressed for the next three hours... somehow that thing sounded just fine!!

Gil

3/13/2000 11:57 PM

It's been my observation that most tone nuances get lost in the mix when playing with a group. To the uninitiated listener (and I put myself in this group) a Valvestate has that "Marshall sound." It may come up short in a head to head comparison with the real thing but with another guitar, bass, and drums blasting away, most listeners (including a lot of guitar players) would say it sounds like a Marshall.

3/14/2000 12:10 AM

quote:
"It's been my observation that most tone nuances get lost in the mix when playing with a group. To the uninitiated listener (and I put myself in this group) a Valvestate has that "Marshall sound." It may come up short in a head to head comparison with the real thing but with another guitar, bass, and drums blasting away, most listeners (including a lot of guitar players) would say it sounds like a Marshall.
"

Oh, I agree 100%. To tell you the truth, it sounds kind of like a Marshall to me, but what really impressed me is how well it responded.

And about sound, I have a friend in Austin who was at the studio where they were mixing down one of Eric Jonhson's CDs. The guy said that in the mix, his tone was that familiar violin sound, but if you muted all other tracks, the sound would be buzzy and raspy. I will believe that... The majority of the gigs I played with my IIC+ Boogie sounded way better that I would have expected that amp to sound like.

Which brings me to the last point. An amp that sounds smooth, creamy, round, brown, etc., at home... will probably get lost in the mix at work. People talk about the clarity of Dumbles, and how piano like they sound, and note definition, etc. How does that translate into sound at home? Bright, bright!

Gil

3/14/2000 3:23 AM
MJ Harnish	People talk about the clarity of Dumbles, and how piano like they sound, and note definition, etc. How does that translate into sound at home? Bright, bright! Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds my Dumble bright. Through my 2x10 it's painful, but through the 2x12 it's better. I'd like to try it with an 12" EV. MJ

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