Clean Amp Tone via a Pedal?

[theDeepender]

Headroom...period. I’d look at something like the PRS Dallas series or the Fender Twin. You can tweak the preamp tube compliment to lower the gain response, but ultimately, it boils down to the power stage and it’s transformer(s). Once you get the right amp, you’ll instantly know. Good luck!

Fender Twin…
Ah, the memories…

 

[theDeepender]

For me, I like to start with the cleans.....There are a million ways to dirty up a tone. But the clean is the foundation for it all as far as I am concerned. Budgetary constraints always play a factor for me as well. Which can be limiting, but I like to focus on the cleans and pedal up my dirt. That is just me though. The amps that "do it all" tend to be in that ridiculous price range. lol

This^

 

[theDeepender]

This is where I was after playing a Fender Twin II for about 5 years. Got tired of crappy pedals (the mid/late 80s weren’t the golden age of stompboxes) and constantly not being impressed with my tone. That’s when I bought my Mesa/Boogie. It touted 3 channels (that was an amazing feat for the time) and promised to simplify and perfect my sound, which it did. The clean channel is beautiful with tons of headroom, ch2 has great crunch and takes dirt pedals like a champ, and ch3 is pure Boogie with blistering gain. I never played the Twin at a gig again. In fact, it was sold to a Russian collector a few years ago and remains as the only piece of gear (other than pedals) I’ve ever sold. Zero remorse. Moral of the story: if you’re not 120% happy with how you sound, change things up drastically until you are.

Here are a couple of examples of tone settings I’ve used with my Fenders:

First, the Twin II...

Then the Bassman...

Master was usually at about 5, so it was loud!

Taking me back to the ‘70s.
I miss my Fender.

 

[theDeepender]

Ah, but one must enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

After all, Tone wasn’t built in a day!

(You see what I did there. )

Inscrutable

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Fender Twin…
Ah, the memories…

Sold mine... for an amp with "GAIN" (Peavey Backstage 20! SHOOT ME NOW!)

 

[Bogner]

As was said...upping the master volume while also dropping the gain and the individual channel volume will clean things up.

 

[GGJJGG]

I had an Ethos Overdrive pedal, which I liked a lot but ended up selling. As my fellow Michiganian Les said, it is a tone shaper. It does give a good Dumble-esque flavor, but I wouldn't look at using it just "to get" a clean/cleaner tone.

I am by no means a professional musician, but I like the clean tone I can get from the Mesa California Tweed. And I confess to still liking that old Rockman clean sound too.

 

[Goran Lorencin]

I'm impressed by what I read about the PRS amps. I haven't heard one or played through one and would like to do that. I wish I could afford a Mesa Amp. A friend of mine swears by them!

Well ... the MT15 is like a Mesa in a smaller/bit cheaper package, just try it. I know it's meant to be a power amp, but the clean channel is also awesome.

 

[Sybo]

I can get a beautiful clean tone with my MK15. I agree there are a million ways to dirty up a channel..
the MK can also do that well