Holy Grail Amplifiers

[Big Mike]

OK Grail Amps.
Several catagories for me.

Amp i'm most likely to Shank a fool or part with a slightly used kidney for:
David Grissom's "Liberty Lunch" marshall. That recording is still teh greatest tone I've ever heard. Letter to LA's extended solo is a lesson in perfection in taste, touch and tone.

Favorite Marshall flavor amp I"ve ever played (vintage style M Grail) My 50 watt lead spec build with the GT350 Logo. second amp I ever built, spent hours tuning and learning. Beat out some real ones and some small builder clones head to head, and is 'home' for me. Esp. loaded with NOS glass running through Scumbacks. Desert Island amp. I do have a master on it.

Favorite Cathode Bias 'chimey' grail. Greer Thunderchief. Essentially a evolution of a AC30 running a quad of 6v6's or you could pull all those and use 2 EL34's. AMAZING amp I had to sadly part with at a bad time. Close second. (Super close) is my Cam18. 18 watts of Chimey beauty with a great drive character.

Favorite do it all amp: (Don't own, would love to) Redplate Magica. (Or Magica T). Blackface (or Tweed with the T) Cleans, Plexi mid gain, and modded 800 gain in one amp. Killer loop, great master, the whole package. Could I only have 1 amp, and had to sell everything else, that would be my choice.

Favorite 'rock' amp. Marshall Jubilee. Good clean, great leads and crunch, killer all around marshall. From slash to bonamassa, will even do EJ 100# Violin tone. Great loop.

I have fond FOND memories of a Vox AC30 with blues running through an attenuator that was glorious.

Park 75...everything I love about a bass spec marshall but bigger. Mitch is bringing his A game with these.

Had I only one amp eveer, it's that GT350 badged build.
Were I buying now, and I could only have one amp (no building it) probably a germino LV55 or Park 75. That would do it


Possible attainable grail? 72 Marshall 50 watt Lead spec...old glass, original with Rosemary sig on the inspection tag. Red tolex. Had I 5-7 K for an original amp. and the place to crank it?


Clear as mud?

 

[Big Mike]

I’m never going to say that Boogie amps aren’t awesome.

My heart still hurts a bit about trading away my Mk V.

Never can make them work for me.
Would love a MK1 reissue..or a Blue angel. but not enough to sell anything.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

My heart still hurts a bit about trading away my Mk V.

TBH, I miss mine sometimes too. But not for long. Yes, there are some things it does that the Archon won't. But the opposite is true as well, and it's SO easy to make sound great. With the Archon, all you have to do for great tone is turn it on. No matter where the dials are, it sounds great.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Favorite do it all amp: (Don't own, would love to) Redplate Magica. (Or Magica T). Blackface (or Tweed with the T) Cleans, Plexi mid gain, and modded 800 gain in one amp. Killer loop, great master, the whole package. Could I only have 1 amp, and had to sell everything else, that would be my choice.

That and a couple models of Splawn are the only real "I'd like to try because I might want to buy" amps for me right now. Thank goodness I can't find one to try...

 

[Texas_minor_blues]

So just 2 amps here at Casa Minor Blues a Bogner 25th Anniv and a Matchless Lightning 15. Since the Matchless came into the house the Bogner has just been taking space. So I guess for me the Matchless is a little holy grail amp. I really should do something about finding a nice heavy sounding amp but I am also lazy and yeah

 

[jak3af3r]

Stern isn't someone I hold up as having great 'tone' either. Amazing player.

The Stern tone isn't for everyone. I can attest after seeing him do a clinic and play with Brent Mason, his live tone is leaps and bounds better than any of his albums. For the record, Stern had 2 Fender Twins and Mason had 2 Fender Super Reverbs

 

[sergiodeblanc]

TBH, I miss mine sometimes too. But not for long. Yes, there are some times it does that the Archon won't. But the opposite is true as well, and it's SO easy to make sound great. With the Archon, all you have to do for great tone is turn it on. No matter where the dials are, it sounds great.

I just could not stop messing with the V. I had no willpower, if I could have just covered up 2/3rds of the controls and only used the clean channel I’m positive I’d still be rocking it.

 

[Big Mike]

The Stern tone isn't for everyone. I can attest after seeing him do a clinic and play with Brent Mason, his live tone is leaps and bounds better than any of his albums. For the record, Stern had 2 Fender Twins and Mason had 2 Fender Super Reverbs

Yeah he's better live. I thought Leni (stern) had far better tone honestly.

 

[Big Mike]

I just could not stop messing with the V. I had no willpower, if I could have just covered up 2/3rds of the controls and only used the clean channel I’m positive I’d still be rocking it.

Pretty much why I abandon channel switchers besides the jubilee, which I don't switch. LOL

 

[László]

I’m never going to say that Boogie amps aren’t awesome.

This is just my opinion, take it for what it’s worth — Mesa has figured out how to create a tone that compresses just the right amount to sustain a solo without too much effort.

As you know, I currently have two Mesas, and while they’re not the most “complex” tone generators on the planet, they’re very easy to work with to dial in a really good, musical sound quickly, in the studio or on a stage.

Countless times I’ve recorded a Mesa and it’s been SO easy to work with.

On the other hand, there are other wonderful amps out there that can get a sound easily, and you’ll never hear me knock the HXDA or DG30, amps that are a little more complex sounding, but also very musical and easy to get a tone with.

We are blessed - blessed I tell you! - to be living in a time when there are so many amazingly good choices. When you buy an amp from a good company, you can pretty much be sure that it’s going to be musically useful.

Yes, there’s junk out there, but the better manufacturers aren’t putting out junk. So there are lots of perfectly viable choices for anyone and everyone.

 

[László]

Never can make them work for me.
Would love a MK1 reissue..or a Blue angel. but not enough to sell anything.

I had a Blue Angel head and a 2x10 cab with Alnico speakers. It was both a great amp and a not-great amp, in the sense that sometimes it was just the ticket, and other times it was way off the mark.

Of all the Mesas I’ve had - 8 or 9 - this one was the most difficult for me to use as an “all-arounder”.

On the other hand, I’ve got a friend who wants to sell me his 1x12 Blue Angel combo, and I’ve thought hard about saying yes (I sold mine long ago)!

 

[Big Mike]

I had a mark III That just vexed me. Would sound completely different from set to set

 

[bodia]

I’m never going to say that Boogie amps aren’t awesome.

My heart still hurts a bit about trading away my Mk V.

Yeah but you love what you got,in return

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I just could not stop messing with the V. I had no willpower, if I could have just covered up 2/3rds of the controls and only used the clean channel I’m positive I’d still be rocking it.

Yeah, you should have heard the Tweed mode at 10 watt setting with the open back cab and Red Fang Alnico. Sounded fantastic and loud enough to shake things off the walls

 

[László]

Tremoverb, Subway Rocket, Bass 400+, Blue Angel. Maverick, Lone Star, Fillmore, MarkV,

Yeah, you should have heard the Tweed mode at 10 watt setting with the open back cab and Red Fang Alnico. Sounded fantastic and loud enough to shake things off the walls

I liked the 10 Watt Tweed mode on my Mark V. Fortunately, the Lone Star that I eventually ended up with has the same 10 Watt mode, and it sounds good with the open back combo cab it came in.

 

[HANGAR18]

When I think of what a Holy Grail should be, it seems to me that such an amp would need to be able to not only do everything that YOU would ever want an amp to do, but it would need to be able to fulfill that same purpose for absolutely anyone else too. And I don't just mean how it sounds either. A Holy Grail amp would not only need to provide you with great tone for any genre of music you would want to play, but it would also need to look good, be loud, transport easily, provide numerous output options, be repairable should anything stop working and even give you the ability to play through it without a cabinet, utilizing a built in cab clone, headphone jack and DI output to a sound board.

Mesa Boogie Mark Five:25

Hard to beat.

 

[Tone-y]

My holy grail amplifier is a Cornford Hellcat head and 2x12 cab. I don't need it, in fact I'd struggle to be able to use it at all at the moment. And it's also too big to practically have around the house. But yet I've always wanted one since I first saw them. I love the Cornford sound and really liked the idea of a British made boutique amp (being British). I was very sad to hear that the company folded; of course that means the amps have limited supply now. If I had the money I'd buy one just to store it whilst I still have the chance.

 

[László]

When I think of what a Holy Grail should be, it seems to me that such an amp would need to be able to not only do everything that YOU would ever want an amp to do, but it would need to be able to fulfill that same purpose for absolutely anyone else too.

I added emphasis on the last part of your definition, which would eliminate just about any amp from contention. No amp can be all things to all people.

If your definition of the holy grail is THE definition, and I’m part of ‘absolutely anyone else’, the Mk V, as cool as it is, doesn’t qualify. I had a 100 Watt version, it was very cool, I loved it, but not my holy grail. So your definition kind of breaks down with just one person, and I’m sure we could line up as many people as there are amp models who’d say their favorite amp was the better choice.

However, the Mark V series are great amps, and certainly can be your holy grail!

 

[László]

My holy grail amplifier is a Cornford Hellcat head and 2x12 cab. I don't need it, in fact I'd struggle to be able to use it at all at the moment. And it's also too big to practically have around the house. But yet I've always wanted one since I first saw them. I love the Cornford sound and really liked the idea of a British made boutique amp (being British). I was very sad to hear that the company folded; of course that means the amps have limited supply now. If I had the money I'd buy one just to store it whilst I still have the chance.

That’s kind of how I feel about the now-discontinued HXDA. However, both the Cornford and the HXDA are amps that are well made and easy to repair, So you may never need a spare.

 

[Tone-y]

That’s kind of how I feel about the now-discontinued HXDA. However, both the Cornford and the HXDA are amps that are well made and easy to repair, So you may never need a spare.

Ha, I haven't got the first one let alone a spare! The truth is I just don't need one. Doesn't stop me wanting it though. I have two Cornford 1x12 combos so that has at least helped a bit. But there's no doubt, if I had the spare cash I'd be trawling eBay.