One Guitar vs 53 Amps (MT15 & Archon 50 included)

[Guitarjon]

Every once in a while as my amp collection grows, I like to do something a little crazy.... In this past year I got a Gibson Les Paul Custom. It's probably my favorite guitar! I basically wanted to hear how this guitar sounds through my entire amp collection. No clean tones, just one high gain tone per amp as that is what interests me the most. Some riffs, some licks, just a little minute long song with varied playing.

We've got amps from the following brands: ENGL, Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Orange, EVH, Peavey, Friedman, PRS, Victory, Hughes & Kettner, Laney, Blackstar, Randall, Wangs and Tech 21. Most of them do high gain but I've also included the more vintage voiced ones, just with a more crunchy tone.

No pedals were used and no post-eq aside from a little low cut at 80 hz to make room for the kick and bass. There is still plenty of low end information to hear how chunky the amps sound. I think the Les Paul sounds great and it's a guitar that just really works well with any amp basically. There are some amps in here that don't sound amazing but they are still fun pieces to have in the collection

I would love to know which ones of these amps stood out to you guys. Which ones did you really like? Where any of the amps surprising in any way? Here's the video:

Here's a list of ALL the included amps:

ENGL Fireball 100 E635
Orange Rockerverb 50 MKIII
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head
Marshall DSL20HR
Victory Super Kraken VX100 (Rabea Massaad)
Friedman JJ JR (JJ Junior, Jerry Cantrell)
Orange Tiny Terror
Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister Deluxe 40
Wangs HD-15
Marshall JVM410H
Peavey 6505
ENGL Ironball S.E. E606SE (Special Edition)
Orange Brent Hinds Terror (Mastodon)
BluGuitar Amp1 Iridium Edition
Orange Micro Dark
Marshall JCM 800 Studio SC20H
PRS Archon 50
EVH 5150 III LBX 1
Peavey 6505 MH Mini Amp
Orange Rocker 30
Mesa Boogie Mark V 35
Marshall JCM 2000 DSL50
Laney Ironheart 60 IRT60H
Randall Diavlo 100 RD100H
Orange Jim Root Terror (Slipknot)
Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200
Victory Kraken V4 Guitar Amp
BluGuitar Amp1 Mercury Edition
Marshall Mini Silver Jubilee 2525H
ENGL Powerball II E645/2
Orange Dual Terror DT30H
PRS MT15 (Mark Tremonti)
Blackstar HT Club 50 MKII
Wangs 2204 HW Handwired
Peavey Invective 120 (Misha Mansoor)
Laney IRT Studio
Orange TH30 (TH30H Thunder)
Marshall DSL100HR
Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
EVH 5150 III 50W EL34
Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier 25
Orange Rocker 15 Terror
ENGL Fireball 25 E633
Wangs 1987HW Handwired
Peavey Invective MH Mini Head
Orange OR15
Marshall Studio Vintage SV20H (Mini Plexi)
Orange Dark Terror
Orange AD30
Marshall JMP-1 Preamp (Into DSL50)
Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Modern
Orange Micro Terror
Tech 21 Sansamp PL-1 Paul Landers (Rammstein)

 

[RickP]

That’s a very entertaining way of hearing the differences between amps. I have a suggestion for your collection, especially going loud into a speaker cab: the PRS Blistertone. It was made for that style of music, and doesn’t crater under the heavy load of bottom end. If you can find one, I think you’d like it Better yet, buy two, send me one, and we can do a double test!

Never hurts to try…

 

[Guitarjon]

That’s a very entertaining way of hearing the differences between amps. I have a suggestion for your collection, especially going loud into a speaker cab: the PRS Blistertone. It was made for that style of music, and doesn’t crater under the heavy load of bottom end. Better yet, buy two, send me one, and we can do a double test!

Never hurts to try…

Haha, I'll keep it in mind!

 

[László]

You're a terrific player.

The differences between these amps are a bit muddled by the amount of gain.

Not saying you should play with less gain, that's a creative choice, but...after listening to the first handful, my ears got a little fatigued, and it all devolved into an agglomeration of guzz-guzz-guzz with the unique qualities of each amp obscured.

Of COURSE there are differences between the amps, but so many at once...I dunno how useful that is. Still I give you props for giving it a go!

 

[jxe]

You're a terrific player.

The differences between these amps are a bit muddled by the amount of gain.

Not saying you should play with less gain, that's a creative choice, but...after listening to the first handful, my ears got a little fatigued, and it all devolved into an agglomeration of guzz-guzz-guzz with the unique qualities of each amp obscured.

Of COURSE there are differences between the amps, but so many at once...I dunno how useful that is. Still I give you props for giving it a go!

it's called a 'praise and worship' tone.

 

[WEDGE]

I love high gain amp videos, I keep trying to spin the gain knob through my iPad…..

I am about a third of the way through and it is amazing how much alike they all sound so far When recorded. Either you do like I do and tune them all to the voice in your head, or they really do sound similar. I bet the feel under you fingers and the thump in the room are much different for you Though.

Which ‘felt’ the best?

 

[DISTORT6]

it's called a 'praise and worship' tone.

I didn’t want to post in that thread that my tone is the antithesis of what they go for.
Kinda like I P&W for the other side.

 

[Johnny Rigs]

Of COURSE there are differences between the amps, but so many at once...I dunno how useful that is. Still I give you props for giving it a go!

Jon has done similar videos before. Really like his playing. I agree that listening to 50 different high gain examples is a bit fatiguing in one go. I can’t do it myself, and I like high gain tones. But I don’t think of these videos as really having that as the main purpose, actually. More like a library video, where viewers who are curious to compare Amp A and with Amp B can likely find both, and using the same performance, which is very helpful. That’s partly why the timecode links are there.

So I generally only watch these when I have two or three amps in mind that I’m curious to listen to, and I skip to those parts.

 

[bodia]

I didn’t want to post in that thread that my tone is the antithesis of what they go for.
Kinda like I P&W for the other side.

Bwahahahahahahaha!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I didn’t want to post in that thread that my tone is the antithesis of what they go for.
Kinda like I P&W for the other side.

So is mine. I never go for that "wash of verb and delay" stuff. Even if I'm doing a P&W song at church I use a Dumble model for smooth OD tones and a boosted Plexi model for mid gain stuff. Clean Twin with verb for the clean stuff and occasional Deluxe model for a bit dirtier cleans.

I used the Dumble preset I created for several years, but have preferred the Plexi preset lately. Responds well to picking dynamics and can easily be boosted to more singing sustain tones.

 

[László]

I used the Dumble preset I created for several years, but have preferred the Plexi preset lately. Responds well to picking dynamics and can easily be boosted to more singing sustain tones.

By a semi-interesting coincidence, my HXDA replaced a Two-Rock Custom Reverb Signature, (i.e., a very fine Plexi style amp took over in my studio from a very fine Dumble style amp) in 2014.

There's something about that Plexi tone that suits my playing extremely well, and as a bonus, the HXDA is every bit as responsive to picking and controls as the TR, which is itself a very touch-sensitive amp.

This isn't to say the Two-Rock is a slouch in any way; it's a fabulous amp. It's great when there are stellar amps to choose from, but I've stuck with the HXDA for a long time!

"Time to make another change, Les."

"Nope."

 

[gemyneye]

I, too, have to say when it comes to distorted tones from the amp, they all sounded very similar. I have only been able to try different amps through my Kemper, but without a doubt my favorite and if I had room, I'd get one, is the Dividedby13 LDW 17/39. Love, love, love that amp.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

By a semi-interesting coincidence, my HXDA replaced a Two-Rock Custom Reverb Signature, (i.e., a very fine Plexi style amp took over in my studio from a very fine Dumble style amp) in 2014.

There's something about that Plexi tone that suits my playing extremely well, and as a bonus, the HXDA is every bit as responsive to picking and controls as the TR, which is itself a very touch-sensitive amp.

This isn't to say the Two-Rock is a slouch in any way; it's a fabulous amp. It's great when there are stellar amps to choose from, but I've stuck with the HXDA for a long time!

"Time to make another change, Les.
"Nope."

As you know, I chased an HX/DA for a couple years, and had a couple very near misses. Then the “covid market” prices hit and I stopped trying. It’s not that I can’t afford it, but they got really hard to find which made even inflated prices going up even more.

I’m “hoping” the HRDX 20 will be close enough….

 

[László]

As you know, I chased an HX/DA for a couple years, and had a couple very near misses. Then the “covid market” prices hit and I stopped trying. It’s not that I can’t afford it, but they got really hard to find which made even inflated prices going up even more.

I’m “hoping” the HRDX 20 will be close enough….

Based on what I've heard so far, the HDRX 20 sounds great, but it's markedly different from the HXDA, no doubt because Hendrix had the original Plexi it was based on highly modded.

That isn't a bad thing, of course, and it's why at some point I'll get myself the 50W version. But as far as I can tell, they're going to do different types of tones.

HDRX will give you "None More Hendrix," but I haven't heard it sound anything like the Allman "Live at the Fillmore," sound. Since that's my favorite thing about the HXDA, and the initial reason I bought the amp, it's a keeper for that reason alone.

By the same token, the HXDA will get you close to that Hendrix live tone, but the HRDX takes it all the way. So there are good reasons to go either way on this, depending on what you want the amp to do.

I don't play in Hendrix' style, plus I prefer humbuckers and P90s, so if I had to choose between the two amps, I'd definitely go with the HXDA. However, that's not to imply one's "better" than the other, just my own preference.

As a side note, my favorite Two-Rocks were the Onyx series I had. They could get Dumble-ish plus pretty close to what the HXDA can do, which is probably why I bought the original and every successive version of that amp (I think there were four versions) - it just got better and better. Then I got a little nuts and sold the last one to get a Custom Reverb Signature v2, which I liked, but wasn't as crazy about. When I decided to go with another Onyx, I found out they discontinued it.

That's when I discovered the HXDA. For my needs, it's the perfect amp. Doesn't mean that it would be anyone else's perfect amp. However, it's nice to have different choices, too.