NGD 408 goodness, amp?

[nflea7]

Hello All, long time PRS user, not a frequent forum member. Last PRS owned was a 06 20th CU24 artist with a mind blowing blue quilt. I'm a major quilt junkie, got a new one to be delivered any time now, can't wait. From the pics, it has a dragon scales look to it with the Jade green color. This is my first 408, read and heard many good things. Its a 10 top with solid East Indian Rosewood neck.

My second topic is amp. I currently have a Mesa TA30, love the clean hate the lead channel. Looking for more high gain. Maybe an Archon? I see a lot of really good lower wattage amps around. I need a very good vox ish clean with a mesa dual style lead channel. I play in a cover band mostly and want that modern push. I played a Line 6 DT 212 this past weekend that sounded surprisingly good. Its useful to have a full fat tone at low volumes, we keep our stage volume quite low so that kinda rules out most 50/100w heads that you have to drive the tubes hard to get in the sweet spot for me. I also prefer only lugging one combo instead of a head cab setup. Thoughts? Budget 800 - 1500

And so now that it is glorious NGD a pic:

 

[vox801]

checkout a Mesa RectoVerb

Hello All, long time PRS user, not a frequent forum member. Last PRS owned was a 06 20th CU24 artist with a mind blowing blue quilt. I'm a major quilt junkie, got a new one to be delivered any time now, can't wait. From the pics, it has a dragon scales look to it with the Jade green color. This is my first 408, read and heard many good things. Its a 10 top with solid East Indian Rosewood neck.

My second topic is amp. I currently have a Mesa TA30, love the clean hate the lead channel. Looking for more high gain. Maybe an Archon? I see a lot of really good lower wattage amps around. I need a very good vox ish clean with a mesa dual style lead channel. I play in a cover band mostly and want that modern push. I played a Line 6 DT 212 this past weekend that sounded surprisingly good. Its useful to have a full fat tone at low volumes, we keep our stage volume quite low so that kinda rules out most 50/100w heads that you have to drive the tubes hard to get in the sweet spot for me. I also prefer only lugging one combo instead of a head cab setup. Thoughts? Budget 800 - 1500

 

[Egads]

Check out the low power Archon or wait to see if Mesa does a combo Mark V/25.

The other option is a great single channel amp and pedals for the higher gain stuff. I have a Sweet 16+ (a 40 watt version of the 16 watt Sweet 16), and it sounds great clean--more mids than a typical Fender clean combo, and lots of complexity when it breaks up--and takes pedals extremely well.

 

[vchizzle]

Well, it might be tough finding a Vox clean with a Mesa high gain. I find the 100 watt Archon clean to lean more to Fender side of cleans. However, I found the Archon 25 combo to sound a little more British overall. To the point where I thought it had EL-84 tubes(I didn't remember it used 5881 when I played it). Maybe that's your ticket? I love boosting my Archon clean with a Xotic AC Booster for a Voxy type crunch. It sounds awesome.

 

[sleary]

I had a mesa boogie rectro verb 25 and it had gain but I wasn't a fan. I traded in for an orange th 30. More gain then I need and the clean channel is usuable for sure.

 

[nflea7]

I had a Vox NT2 combo and the cleans were sik, but the rest of it was just ok. I've been thinking of trying the lunchbox route. The Night Train heads are popping up pretty cheap around where I live, might be worth getting that and a cab, then getting a high gain lunchbox head and just run 1 cab, us a A/B box or Headbone

 

[Deleted member 2284]

Kemper profiling amplifier and a powered FRFR speaker, maybe?

Or maybe the kemper variant with built-in power amp and a regular cab?

(Although none of these are in combo format, obviously)

 

[AP515]

IMO you need to find an EL34 equipped amp, not an EL84 one. Then you will get the crystal cleans and some real dirt. Marshall got that right. PRS makes a couple...

 

[nflea7]

I have a guy who will trade his Single Rec and Genz G-Flex 2x12 for my TA. His single rec has new el34's and was re-biased. I can't find much on how that would sound.

 

[AP515]

I have a single rec combo. You will get the high gain covered, the cleans will be more Fender than Vox.

 

[markintime]

Might want to check out a Blackstar HT Club 40 (https://www.blackstaramps.com/products/ht-club40/). Sweetwater has them for $699, and if my recent experience is any indication, you may be able to score it for less.

They have 2 ECC83's and 2 EL34's plus a 12" Celestion. Also, a really neat feature is their ISF (Infinite Shape Feature), it can go from the USA to the UK and anywhere between in seconds.

And it is a combo.

 

[CatStrangler]

I love voxy amps, but to my ears rosewood necks seem to get along with El34s better. Ymmv.

 

[nflea7]

I do like vox cleans, can't stand a driven vox. Love a marshall crunch and a Dual rec modern tone. Also love a Diezel Herbert ch2 but I've got a budget :bawling:

 

[markintime]

Beautiful 408 there! With Brushstroke Birds, no less.

 

[László]

Beautiful guitar! You really scored a nice one, and an unusually pretty one.

The Archon's a great high gain amp. Check out some of the clips that are around, it sounds superb. The Mesa Mark V is another great amp that does lots of things, and it's switchable down to 45 and 10 watts per channel.

My feeling is that the big iron in a bigger amp's transformers provide a different sound for a high gain amp than the weeny transformers in most of the micro-amps. That may be the reason you're not happy with your little Mesa lunchbox. You switch it to the gain channel, and it sounds fizzy or small.

I think that too often people want to have a small, low powered amp that can also do the big, huge, high gain sound and will never get exactly what they're looking for because there's no big iron. Transformers help give an amp solidity and bottom. Even in a recording console and other studio gear, I've learned from many years of experience that good transformers make a significant difference in how things sound.

So you can have the very same preamp as a bigger amp, and get all kinds of distortion, but what's missing is that foundation that a good transformer gives an amp. Bigger really is better when it comes to getting an authentic high gain sound.

I won't rant about modelers because I've already done that. Suffice it to say that if you want to get what you paid for out of that gorgeous guitar, get yourself a nice tube amp.

 

[markie]

Holy Cow .............................................. Sweet Guitar Dude! :rock:

 

[nflea7]

Thats a night pic too, here is one from the store I got it from. Pattern Thin, East Indian Rosewood neck and finger board. 10 top. I think I'm calling it my dragon guitar, the quilt looks like dragon scales... which is a few cents different than the mixolydian scales

 

[nflea7]

LSchefman: the TA30 combo I have isn't tinny or small. It can go up to 45w, 15 and 30 pure class A, but it sounds like a Mark 1 on the highest gain setting. I had my friend play it at a jam and he had it up half way it was loud as F and big beefy Santana tone for days, which is wonderful, just not my thing. I'm going to have to locate a Dual Rectoverb combo and give it a try. I love a 2x12 but don't want to haul a cab that big, but I might. I had a Mark 4 a few months ago with a 2x12 recto cab and I really didn't like that tone at all. I also may give my TA a try with a Bogner red pedal. See if that kicks the clean into where I want the Modern gain to be. I think another issue is the TA is an open back cab and not ported in the front. I've been looking for a back so I can at least partially close it up, maybe get a V Twin pedal or a Throttle Box EQ

 

[CoreyT]

Beautiful new 408 you got there.

I would like to try out the small Archon 25 watt combo if my dealer ever gets one in.
I know you said you wanted a combo too, but I really dig my new Mesa Mark Five 25.
Pair that with one slant Mini Rec cab, and it is pretty light weight.

And there is lots of gain on tap, even on the clean channel on the third setting called crunch.
When you turn up the mid control past noon, it then becomes an extra gain boost, and you can get as much gain as much as the second channel with is the gain channel.

 

[Bluesboy998]

+ 1 I love my mark 25 best amp Ived owned in years and my custom 50 is no sloutch either.