PRS/Amplifier Combinations

[Marty Canaday]

This is my first post on the PRS Forum. I'm looking forward to conversations with you and others.

I recently purchased a PRS S2 Custom 24. I have a Blackstar HT Club 40 MKII amp. I'm considering getting another amp thinking I can get better tone from a different brand amp. I enjoy a clean mellow tone and good distortion and reverb in an amplifier and am looking for a used tube amp in the $400-$500 range.

What amplifier do you use with your PRS guitar, and what amplifiers do you think are most compatible with PRS guitars in terms of good tone?

I realize that tone is in the ear of the hearer, but I would appreciate what PRS guitar/amplifier combinations you have found helpful, as well as any suggestions you have! Thanks for your consideration!

 

[Bill SAS 513]

You can most likely find some decent used tube amps for that money...PRS has a few combos that might fit that bill of you search around...there are usually good deals on some of the cheaper Mesas as well...F-30, Nomad, etc...some of each maker get great crunch, and pretty nice cleans, too. Good luck in your hunt!

 

[László]

what amplifiers do you think are most compatible with PRS guitars in terms of good tone?

I’m something of an amp fan boy, especially PRS’ single channel amps, but it’s my honest belief that any amp that sounds good with your guitar and what you want to accomplish is the “right” amp.

In fact, there may be more than one “right” amp in your arsenal. It’s just such a personal thing, and so production and song-dependent.

And of course, a lot depends on your preferred style of music to play, and how you want to sound. IMHO there are no right or wrong answers, there’s only what’s right for you, as an individual player with unique tastes and skills.

If you’ve got an amp you like, you can’t go wrong. It’s really that simple.

 

[Marty Canaday]

Yes, you are right! I guess I could take my guitar to a music store and play through a bunch of amps to get a sense of what sounds good to me. But, I'm trusting the expertise and experience of those who have gone this route before me in terms of what others think are good combinations. I could do a survey to see what amps most PRSers use. But, I believe the masses won't lead me wrong. Having this knowledge would give me a good starting place to begin looking for an amp. What amp do you use mostly with your PRS guitar(s)?

 

[Marty Canaday]

You can most likely find some decent used tube amps for that money...PRS has a few combos that might fit that bill of you search around...there are usually good deals on some of the cheaper Mesas as well...F-30, Nomad, etc...some of each maker get great crunch, and pretty nice cleans, too. Good luck in your hunt!

Thanks, I haven't given any thought to Mesa amps, but I'll definitely take a look at them.

 

[andy474x]

I don’t own one, but I would have a good look at the Fender Bassbreaker 15. I’ve played them a few times in shops and am always impressed, they remind me a lot of my PRS Custom 50 tonally, which is a good thing. Full bodied cleans, good rock distortion and blues crunch. Also, the new Marshall Origin amps are very interesting, I haven’t played one, but can’t imagine them sounding bad with a PRS, or much else. I had an Egnater Tweaker for a while and got some good tones - I would say the imitation of famous amps fell a little short of authenticity, but coming at it from a standpoint of just using the options to get a good sound, it was a nice amp. Actually, I had the 15 head with a separate cab, different brand with a 1x12, greenback-ish speaker, and the 40 combo, I didn’t care for the speaker or the cabinet of the combo, it sounded boxy.

Of course, you can’t go wrong with a Mesa, as long as you’re aware of what a certain model sounds like and if it matches your desires, the discontinued models pop up used all the time.

If you want to get into a PRS amp, you’ll spend more, but they’re worth it. Great tones, superior build even on the import models, and much better stock tubes than other budget amps. I have a Custom 50, which has been my main amp for a few years now, it has a fantastic clean channel including for use as a pedal platform, the gain channel I can’t say reminds me of any other amp, it is its own thing, somewhere between modern and vintage. And, of course, the big new thing (or should I say small) is the MT15. If you like heavier tones, it’s an unbelievable amp, and quite affordable. You’ll need a cab, and a reverb pedal, but it’s worth it. I’ve found the clean channel to be extremely close to my Custom 50 (that’s high praise), and the gain channel is all the saturated, cascading goodness one could want. Or, if you want a combo, the Archon 25 or 50 are out there too, people are saying very similar to the MT15. I’ve not tried one but they’re a big hit.

 

[gush]

Here's a trick question...........what type of amp do you think you'd want to go with that new core prs?

 

[AP515]

I have heard from many PRS players, that Mesa amps seem to match up well with PRS guitars. I've tried it myself and I agree. It is also true that PRS amps are good companions for PRS guitars. Seems like a no brainer, but it isn't necessarily true.

For me, I have two Mesa's that I think match up very well. A single rec and a Lone Star. Two very different amps and I use them for very different styles. Then I also go with PRS amps for more sonic bliss. Custom 50, the "H" and a SE 50. All sound great IMO.

I can also go the other way. I can tell you what doesn't go well with a PRS guitar IMO. I have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. The clean side does really well with just about anything. The dirt side is lousy with every PRS I put in front of it. I know lots of people say the gain channel on a HRD is lousy no matter what, but I can get something decent out of a Strat on that channel, but not a PRS. Yeah, maybe it's just buckers against single coils, but the PRSi split still don't sound right.

 

[Birdsofprey]

I mostly use PRS's and most of the time its through a Blackstar club 60, single 12. I think I first would like to have more speaker real estate to truly get the clean sound un-cluttered or restrained by having one speaker. (I want to add a 2x12 cab), next I use the clean channel only and color my sound with various eq's or effects if you wish. This is where the experimenting and opinions of others here really helps as you could spend many $$'s and lots of time trying to figure out what you like and don't like. But listening to myself say/type that, that is half the fun.

 

[Mbroadster]

+1 on Mesa with a PRS. (Currently using a CE 24/S2 CU 24 through a Mesa TC-50)

 

[C&M Music - Lafayette]

As I have said before... PRS and Mesa Boogie go together like peanut butter and jelly. I think you might want to try a Mesa Mark 25 or 35. Lots of delicious tones covering several of the mesa amp circuits. The PRS Sonzera amps are very very underated unfortunately. They sound great delivering clean tones, crunch and my favorite, creamy tones as I call them. My personal amp of choice is my Mesa King Snake. I also have a Blues Jr. I think every guitar player should have a Blues Jr.

A PRS Sonzera and eventually a JMOD will be in my future. If you just want to get it right straight up. Suck it up and by the JMOD! You wont regret it.

 

[Song]

What amplifier do you use with your PRS guitar, and what amplifiers do you think are most compatible with PRS guitars in terms of good tone?

Congratulations on your new guitar!
My main amps are a Mesa Rosette and a Quilter MicroPro-Mach 2 8" combo with a 12" HD extension in stereo through a Specular Tempus.
I fingerstyle and sing love songs like Enya music with a hollowbody 12 string.
These are not tube amps but they are American made and I have up to 500 watts and various DIs so I can easily plug up powered sound systems.
Some might think that these amps are incompatible with each other but they sound awesome to me.
Good luck and enjoy the search for your system.

 

[veinbuster]

I mostly play through my Boogies: Mark III and Mark V, but as I think about it I can’t really come up with an amp PRS didn’t sound good through.
I’ve really liked a few Bogners. Tone King was killer. Bad Cat was fun. A handful of Fenders and Marshalls. My needs are simple I guess.

 

[Lister]

A couple of questions:
What specifically is it about the Blackstar tone you don't like? Could different effect pedals and different tubes change tone and would it be more cost effective than a new amp?(Not that I'm trying to discourage buying a new amp, been there, done that! ) If I remember, the Blackstar uses 12AX7's in the preamp section and EL34's in the power...What about using a lower gain value tube like a 5751*, or a 12AT7* to smooth out distortion? Also, have you or your tech checked the bias***? Just a couple of ideas to try changing tone before you buy a new amp...

*Link to 12AX7 substitution chart: http://cydathria.com/fdm/12AX7_sub.html

***Standard disclaimer about working on an amp with lethal voltages if you don't know what yer doin', zzzap, buzzz, you're dead type stuff-seriously.***

As for me, man tone is so personal and subjective...but, the one amp that I really didn't like with either of my PRS's was a Vox AC10. There just wasn't enough headroom for decent cleans, IMO, and I wasn't crazy about the distortion either when playing a PRS. Now, I thought it sounded great with a LP or SG, but I wound up trading it for a heavily modded Blues Jr. and couldn't be happier. Like I said though, tone is so personal that I'm sure there are those running PRS's through an AC10 and loving the tone, it just wasn't for me.

 

[Rider1260]

I have a Mesa MK V , PRS H , Roland Cube 15 , my former main amp was a Mesa MKIIb.
I have also had a Marshall TSL , Egnater Tweaker 15 and played thru various Fender , Marshall , Bogner, Orange,PRS amps.
I have heard some nice tones on pretty much anything I have plugged a PRS Guitar thru
I believe you can find a PRS H or C or a smaller Archon for the $$$ you are looking to spend all would sound killer.
Best of luck in your tone search.

 

[HANGAR18]

Do everything you can to get a Sonzera. If that doesn't work (make it work) then look for a PRS SE 50 or an Egnater amp. The two PRS tube amps I have are really expensive.

 

[László]

I mostly play through my Boogies: Mark III and Mark V, but as I think about it I can’t really come up with an amp PRS didn’t sound good through.
I’ve really liked a few Bogners. Tone King was killer. Bad Cat was fun. A handful of Fenders and Marshalls. My needs are simple I guess.

You’re so right, it’s hard to find a bad match for a PRS.

Like you, I’ve used Mesas, Bogners, Bad Cat, Two Rocks, and PRS amps in my studio with my PRSes, and other amps at other studios.

Honestly, they all sounded just great, just a matter of getting the sound you’re after in your head. Each amp responds differently to a guitar.

This may be heresy, but I think a great amp sounds like a great amp regardless of what guitar you use. The only question is whether a great guitar like a PRS sounds even better with your favorite amp. For me they do, but there are an awful lot of great choices out there.

I love my single channel PRS amps; they’re now my first choice.

 

[Song]

Here's 1400 more ideas between 400-500 $
https://reverb.com/marketplace/amps/guitar-combos?price_min=400&price_max=500

 

[Boogie]

My namesake amps were my 2nd run at finding “my” amp tone. The first stab at it was a bit of a failure since I followed the lead of others that didn’t really know what they were doing either, with Fender big iron amps. Bouncing between vintage and modern voicings was what I needed but didn’t have the vocabulary 30 years ago. Now, those abilities are commonplace. The only advice I have is to not abandon what you already have to fund the next purchase. Save up and keep what you already like. If you hated it you would have dumped it long ago. So when you pine for what you used to get from your old rig, you only have to plug in. Mesa/Boogie has the vintage/modern thing as well as anyone and my PRS single channel amp is big box of magic. Having both available makes almost anything possible and that’s a great feeling.

 

[garrett]

I always go back to my original issue Fender Blues Deluxe. I put a WGS Reaper HP speaker in it a couple years ago. It's a solid base for clean tones and it takes pedals very well, so I use stomp boxes for all my gain. It does have a drive channel, but there isn't much gain. It can work as a nice solo/boost channel, though. Great amp for anything from playing at home to medium sized gigs.