Holy Grail Amplifiers

As a rhythm player, my Custom 50 is an amazing piece of gear. The features cover a wide variety along with my guitar controls.
Right now I'm playing a piece of gear that shall remain nameless, but I can cover a LOT of ground with the Custom 50 with NO pedals other than the switch it came with.
Fantastic.
 
I haven’t a bloody clue! Clearly, as with most things, quality makes a huge difference with amps. However, while I can get really excited about guitars, I can’t muster too much excitement for any amps. Clearly I’m irreparably broken
 
dmatthews said:
As a rhythm player, my Custom 50 is an amazing piece of gear. The features cover a wide variety along with my guitar controls.
Right now I'm playing a piece of gear that shall remain nameless, but I can cover a LOT of ground with the Custom 50 with NO pedals other than the switch it came with.
Fantastic.
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed your performance in Because of Winn-Dixie....
 
11top said:
Paul Smith has a Dumble.
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Not surprised here...With him having, or borrowing some other Company's Holy Grail Guitars to compare/contrast, I'm not surprised he'd have a Dumble once he started into building Amplifiers.

And Les...Great Thread!!!! (You know I was never into amps that much til a couple years ago, after reading a great post by you... (I was stuck on my Roland JC-55 or 77). Now, It's Tubes, only.
 
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TrainWreck Express named "Ingrid"

I got to play through it at the last "PRS Forum Event" before PRS took over and invented the Experience. I've never been plugged into an amp that responded better to my guitar than that one did.
 
My Holy Grail has to be the 18 watt Marshall. It sounds great for Country, Blues and Rock. If you need more volume you just play through two of them.I have had a lot of amps and built quite a few including a Dumble clone, an Express, a Liverpool and a 5e3 Deluxe that I still use and my 18 watt and two 60s ac30s. They all sounded great, I just kept going back to the great 18 watt tone through a Bulldog style speaker. It can be turned up without hurting anybody.
 
The Fuchs ODS-30 is something special. More so through my shop built "Forte" 2 x 12, mismatched speakers. The Mesa Blue Angel (4 x 10) fronted by an Ethos OD is damn near the equivalent.....Sometimes maybe better. That said, i do tend to default to the Swart SST-30, with speakers swapped out to Alnico Creams.
 
dmatthews said:
....but I can cover a LOT of ground with the Custom 50 with NO pedals other than the switch it came with....
Click to expand...

For me, that defines whether or not an amp can hit "Holy Grail" status. I like my amps to provide everything I need without HAVING to add pedals. I have never been a big pedal guy.

I have often thought that having some massive 4-channel MIDI controlled amp would be the "grail" - I mean, 4 channels? You could pretty much do everything there, right? Every time I have tried one some part of it has come off as "too stiff" or lacking an organic feel. But I digress....
 
Mark Ray said:
TrainWreck Express named "Ingrid"

I got to play through it at the last "PRS Forum Event" before PRS took over and invented the Experience. I've never been plugged into an amp that responded better to my guitar than that one did.
Click to expand...

It’s interesting, because one of the nicest amps that ever came through my studio was a Komet that was a Trainwreck circuit authorized by the original builder.

Though it wasn’t quite my taste at the time, it was certainly a lovely amp. My DG30’s tone balance reminds me just a little of one of the Komet models.
 
So in Tim Pierce’s Best Ten Keeper Amps, there is the DG50. It’s kind of a funny thing; he did a video on the Kemper, but...I’m not seeing a Kemper anywhere in sight on the Keeper list.

Maybe I just don’t see well. ;)

Also, a Collection PRS guitar to open the video, and also in the middle.

Still looking for that Kemper. Doesn’t seem to be hooked up to the Kahayan. Gosh I wonder why that is...
Bahaha Hahahaha!!!

 
LSchefman said:
So in Tim Pierce’s Best Ten Keeper Amps, there is the DG50. It’s kind of a funny thing; he did a video on the Kemper, but...I’m not seeing a Kemper anywhere in sight on the Keeper list.

Maybe I just don’t see well. ;)

Also, a Collection PRS guitar to open the video, and also in the middle.

Still looking for that Kemper. Doesn’t seem to be hooked up to the Kahayan. Gosh I wonder why that is...
Bahaha Hahahaha!!!

Click to expand...
Yeah and Pat Martino isn’t using a tube amp in this performance
Your point?? ;)
 
BWV548 said:
Yeah and Pat Martino isn’t using a tube amp in this performance
Your point?? ;)
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Nor is he using an amp that’s pretending to be a tube amp. Jazz is its own (good) thing.

Gotta give Scofield credit for his thing with AC30s and Mesa Mark 1 reissues, though.
 
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LSchefman said:
Nor is he using an amp that’s pretending to be a tube amp. Jazz is its own (good) thing.

Gotta give Scofield credit for his thing with AC30s and Mesa Mark 1 reissues, though.
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Mike Stern is using 2 pretend tube amps. “Jazz is its own thing” is kind of an empty statement. Anything is it’s own thing. Love Scofield’s playing. Probably my favorite living player. Not discussing musicianship. Just being a tube amp skeptic. Not anti tube amp. Not a SS or modeler advocate. Just not yet convinced
 
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LSchefman said:
You know damn well what I meant.
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Actually, I don’t. Understand that I’m not terribly bright.
Did you mean that in jazz “tone” is of lesser importance than the in overly broad category of rock?
Did you mean jazz guitarists practice too much to be bothered by the minutiae of gear?
Is there some sort of unspoken rule, stating that in jazz club, any perceived sins of gear acquisition are forgiven?
Did you mean that because overdrive/clipping etc is relatively rare in most jazz, that we don’t need to engage in tubular talk?
 
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