Greetings, this is my first post and I'm not sure if I can ask this here so please excuse me if I'm in error. I just bought a 2011 JA-15 used with the 53/10 pickups. I'm not crazy about the sound through my Valvetrain Bennington Reverb which is a 20 watt blackface recreation. Of course I'm looking at a clear, clean sound that accentuates the guitar and pickups sound quality. Any thoughts? Thanks in adance.
Help Chosing An Amp
- Thread starter Paul Rask
- Start date
andy474x
Knows the Drill
Sweet 16 or Sweet 16 plus?
andy474x
Knows the Drill
15-ish watts is such a great output for an amp, amps that size can get a decent tone at manageable volumes but also put out enough sound to play with a drummer. Plus 6v6's are pretty cool. That amp is on my list, along with the HXDA per Les' rave reviews.
I have spent my entire adult life designing complex systems. Most projects fail or suffer major budget overruns because of the customer's inability to clearly articulate what they want until fairly late in the game. The same thing can be said about an amp purchase. I have seen guys burn through money on this site and others because they did not sit down and think about where the gear that they already owned came up short before making an expensive purchase.
I know a lot about tube amps. However, I would never recommend an amp without sitting down and watching the OP play because no two people approach the instrument from the same direction. One person's clean is another person's sterile. For example, I find the Sweet 16 to be a rather bland sounding amp. To me, it's the melba toast of the Maryland-made PRS amp line. However, there are other guitarists who love the amp. I also find the Custom 50 to be an extremely tight-feeling amp that lacks character. However, there is little doubt in my mind that the amp appeals to many guitarists.
Honestly, I've done some mighty complex things in my life. You'd be very surprised. But this isn't a big million/billion dollar problem that needs solving. You're overthinking a simple thing.
A guy doesn't like his amp with his new guitar, and wants some suggestions about what to listen to or try out.
It's not a complex system that needs analysis. It's all in the gut. You like it, or not. Simple stuff. Like deciding whether you like green suits or blue suits better. You don't have to articulate the reasons you don't like green suits. Go look at yourself in blue suits and see how that works out. If it doesn't work out, try gray, or brown, or black.
Hopefully this process occurs before you buy a suit, right?
First of all, you're most likely not going to get the OP to play for you on the internet. And even if you did, you'd still only be making a guess.
Despite what you think you know, and it is very impressive that you can rig up light bulbs into a footswitch, you can never get into another person's head. That's why you can't solve his problem by talking about what he doesn't like. Nor can you solve it by watching and listening to him play. He's the only one that can solve it. He needs to go play some amps.
But you can suggest a few things to listen to, that's pretty harmless. It's up to the OP at that point to do his homework, listen to, and play through the gear.
It ain't a differential diagnosis, where you ask questions and run tests to eliminate the various diseases and symptoms until you find the scientific answer. There isn't a scientific answer.
There's only an artistic one.
Neither you nor I nor anyone else can make that artistic choice for someone. You can't even effectively do it after you've hashed it all out and watched someone play. Any recommendation can be no more than, "try this one out" because the decision is THAT personal.
I said I thought that the Sweet 16 is impressive. I listened to it, and it sounded good. That's all that's necessary for me to decide whether I liked it. But that was hardly a recommendation for someone to buy it.
As to expertise, mine is artistic, not technical. As you know, my recording and production work involving guitar amplifiers does wind up on TV and radio quite regularly, I'm an experienced producer...so my opinion might be interesting to the Great Unwashed who just want a few suggestions. But I can't put a lightbulb in a footswitch, and I'd rather buy a new power brick for my pedals than mod the old one.
You can be a guy's best friend, you can know everything about him. If he says he wants to get married, you can introduce him to some women. But you can't choose his wife.
Same with amps. And instruments!
Gosh. Different people have different taste! Big insight, there.
Don't take this personally, but yours kind of sucks. Melba toast is GREAT stuff. Perfect with cheese. Amazing with caviar. In fact, done correctly - and most of what you see in grocery stores is an abomination that should be put up against the wall and shot for calling itself melba toast - it is a gourmet delight.
Oh, I'm kidding about your taste. Sorta. No really, I'm kidding.
But I'd never let you pick out an amp for me.
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I think I hit a nerve here....one of you wanted to know what amps I have used in the past. The ones I had that I liked best to okay in order were a Genz Benz Black Pearl, Carr Rambler, Burriss Royal Bluesman and a Fender Deluxe Reverb. The guitars I used were a PRS CE22, and the I still own....an old telecaster, a Rick 12 and my 1983 Ibanez Artist AM-50. The Ibanez and the Valvetrain amp are headed for Ebay. I love the Ibanez but don't need it now that I have the JA-15. You guys/ladies will laugh but I'm mostly an acoustic player and I'm 100% satisfied with my 3 Taylor guitars and my AER Domino amp. When I play electric it's low level Rock, mostly rythym. I also have a Fender Super Champ X2 head that I play through a Burriss cab with a Warehouse Reaper 30 speaker. I absolutely love that cab and it sounds pretty good with the Champ just not ideal. You know how it is. Does all that help?
I'm in the process of choosing a new amp as well. For me it's important to figure out which direction I want to go with my sound. Who or what do I want to sound like? What amp/equipment is necessary to get that sound?
I just took another listen to the online clips at the PRS site of Sweet 16 and thought it sounded really nice! I thought I remember it sounding a bit boxy but in these demos I didn't get that sense. However, online demos are often very deceiving I've found and it's always best to play the amp. Even then the room can throw a curve!
Good luck and let us know what you end up with and congrats on the JA-15!
I just took another listen to the online clips at the PRS site of Sweet 16 and thought it sounded really nice! I thought I remember it sounding a bit boxy but in these demos I didn't get that sense. However, online demos are often very deceiving I've found and it's always best to play the amp. Even then the room can throw a curve!
Good luck and let us know what you end up with and congrats on the JA-15!
Ninety-nine percent of the non-hybrid tube amps that are currently being manufactured are derived from just a handful of fifties and sixties guitar amp designs.
Carr Rambler (Fender AB763)
Burris Bluesman AC15 (early AC15)
Genz Benz Black Pearl (late model AC30)
Are you looking for the piano-like low-end clarity that you get with your Taylor acoustic guitars? Are you looking for a pre-1965 rock tone?
Since you are mostly a rhythm guitarist, does the feel of an amp mater as much as its tone? One of the major attributes that distinguishes tube amps from solid-state amps is feel. It's relatively easy to approximate the sound of a tube amp using solid-state electronics; however, approximating the feel of a tube amp with solid-state circuitry is an entirely different thing.
Finally, I know that it sounds like a stupid question, but do you approach electric guitar as a louder version of acoustic guitar? My brother-in-law is primarily an acoustic guitarist. He does not change technique when he plays electric guitar.
bluefade
New Member
Take your new guitar to your nearest GUITAR CENTER and plug it into every amp in the place!!!!!!!!!! You should be able to form your own conclusions by then!!!!!! EH?????
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]-[@n$0Ma☩!©
Zombie Zero, DFZ
- Joined
- Aug 1, 1985
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- 7,325
Or Markie's house.
jfb
Plank Owner
I think the Sweet 16 or one of it's mod variants would work well with your JA-15.
Excellent advice!
Playing an amp first is the only way to go.
Listening to clips can give you a basic idea of what you might want to try out, but they can't tell you what the amp feels like to play, how it responds to your individual picking and guitar, or whether it sets up well to your taste. After all, the players in the demos generally set them up. Though one thing that is refreshing about the PRS demos is that Paul really runs through the controls on the amp and guitar, and I've found the PRS clips to give a pretty good ballpark representation of what to expect!
I appreciate all the input and I can see there is great deal of amp knowledge here. The JA-15 does not appear to be your normal PRS guitar with the large hollow body. It's advertised as a jazz guitar which one would expect to be different sounding. My original thought was that this guitar may be better mated to a specific amp type for that clean, warm jazzy tone. I think I could plug my CE22 into any amp for example and it would sound great.
Thanks Em7 for your thoughts....let me start with your last question and try to work backward. I don't approach the electric guitar as a louder version of the acoustic...I feel there is a definate place for both. I did though play my acoustic with pedals for years at gigs mainly through the Deluxe Reverb. The only solid state amp I owned that I liked was an old Roland JC-50. They just seem to be missing something that part tone and yes, part feel. I wouldn't say I'm looking for that trembly pre-1965 rock sound but looking through a set list I see a few tunes from that era. I've got the Rick for the jingle jangle stuff anyway. I'm a huge Neil Young fan but as a rythym guitarist. My Black Pearl had awesome cleans but yet a full, clear, electric, ballsy sound.
I know, I'm going to have to try some of these amps out but I'm guessing I may have to travel a ways.
Thanks Em7 for your thoughts....let me start with your last question and try to work backward. I don't approach the electric guitar as a louder version of the acoustic...I feel there is a definate place for both. I did though play my acoustic with pedals for years at gigs mainly through the Deluxe Reverb. The only solid state amp I owned that I liked was an old Roland JC-50. They just seem to be missing something that part tone and yes, part feel. I wouldn't say I'm looking for that trembly pre-1965 rock sound but looking through a set list I see a few tunes from that era. I've got the Rick for the jingle jangle stuff anyway. I'm a huge Neil Young fan but as a rythym guitarist. My Black Pearl had awesome cleans but yet a full, clear, electric, ballsy sound.
I know, I'm going to have to try some of these amps out but I'm guessing I may have to travel a ways.
pondsnorkeler
HD Softail Slim
It's hard to find a dealer nearby who has many for you to try. My local GC had a Sweet 16 and 30. Both good amps, but neither appealed to me. I bought a used 2 Channel C from a forum member and lucked out because I like it.
PastorDame
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2013
- Messages
- 18
I'm in the same boat: I'm new to the forums, new to PRS ownership (Bernie Marsden SE), and exploring an alternative to my current setup. Right now, I'm running through a Fender Supersonic 112. I love the sound that I'm getting through it, the problem that I have is that the Burn Channel (Overdrive) is incredibly noisy hissing, but when I try to reduce the gain on the channel, the output is just weak... it doesn't have nearly the punch that I love about this amp. Unfortunately, this problem is also impacting the stage volume in the church venues that I'm playing in.
What I'm looking for is an amp which will give me a crisp clean channel as well as a dependable and tonally clear overdrive... a lead boost would be nice as well.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is this simply a problem of wanting too much out of an amp? Would this be an issue that would be solved by switching out tubes in the amp?
Any help or suggestions are welcome!
What I'm looking for is an amp which will give me a crisp clean channel as well as a dependable and tonally clear overdrive... a lead boost would be nice as well.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is this simply a problem of wanting too much out of an amp? Would this be an issue that would be solved by switching out tubes in the amp?
Any help or suggestions are welcome!
