What Are Your Favorite Amps To Play?

Since when does need ever come into this equation? ;)

The Quick Rod was one I let go. Very stiff and bland to me. The newer ones are much better. I love my Shiva KT88 w/reverb. Cool amp!
That's interesting. One band I used to go so in small venues where I could stand 15 feet in front of the amp for the whole show, sounded fantastic with that amp. Detuned Les Paul into the gain channel of that amp, jacked up pretty good, and it sounded fantastic!
 
Honestly, nobody made or even asked me to sell off all the amps I had a couple years ago, but I don't turn them up enough to warrant having 10-15 high powered tube amps. 90% of my playing is after my wife goes to bed, so it's lower volume playing with my modeler.

I had a Mark V, Mark V25, Mini Recto, Vox AC30hw2x (the hand wired version with two Blue's) Trans Atlantic 30 and 15, and several other amps. And as much as I loved some of them, once I got the Archon I had to force myself to turn on the others. I just wasn't playing them.

So, my only possible itches now are the lifelong one for an SLO, and some kind of Bogner (love the KT88 Shiva I heard clips of, or of course an 101B or such) or some form of modified Marshall (Splawn, maybe even a Ceriatone) and the one I forgot above, a Louis Electric Cobra (true clone of Tag's Dumble #183) That thing is crazy good! I'm not even a big D fan but that amp sounds so incredible it might be my first choice of something to add. Truly one of the best amps I've ever heard. If I were one of you "unlimited funds and space" guys, that is THE VERY FIRST amp I'd be chasing down.
The Archon is a heck of an amp. You can't go wrong with the original ones. ;)

You had a nice little stash going......quitter. ;)

If you are going to have a few amps and you play with any level of gain you need an SLO just because. Great amp and a lot of fun to play but it does need some volume to get all the goods from it.
 
That's interesting. One band I used to go so in small venues where I could stand 15 feet in front of the amp for the whole show, sounded fantastic with that amp. Detuned Les Paul into the gain channel of that amp, jacked up pretty good, and it sounded fantastic!
Was this a Quick Rod or a Shiva?
 
Was this a Quick Rod or a Shiva?
Quick Rod. Full stack sometimes, half stack sometimes, all Splawn cabs.

One time their van broke down on the way to a show and he borrowed a Dual Recto from one of the other bands. Obviously a very different sound, but that Quick Rod had the gut punch of a recto, with a “high gain Marshall“ flavor.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Quick Rod. Full stack sometimes, halve stack sometimes, all Splawn cabs.

One time their van broke down on the way to a show and he borrowed a Dual Recto from one of the other bands. Obviously a very different sound, but that Quick Rod had the gut punch of a recto, with a “high gain Marshall“ flavor.
I think the newer ones sound better. Mine was from back in the day when they first came out and were all the rage. I found it stiff and sterile compared to my other amps and it was difficult to play in comparison. I hated the feel of it. I have the bases covered very well regarding what that amp does but I would be open to playing/trying another one.
 
Interesting discussion!

Allow me to preface my remarks...if I'm not using an amp on paying projects, it can't stay. My studio requires constant re-investment to stay competitive, and it's silly for me to hang onto unused gear, when I can put the sale proceeds into something needed for the next gig. There's ALWAYS something needed. It's just hard to predict exactly what that is until the gig comes in! :oops:

One might ask, why after all these years do I sometimes get an amp that seems to not work out on projects? Sometimes I play through an amp, and it's all wonderful in the store, and the demos kill, but in the heat of a session, with a client breathing down my neck, and a deadline where I have to get a sound quickly, some amps make things easy for me, while others cause frustration. I don't know for sure until I use something under pressure.

So plenty of great amps for other folks just don't cut the mustard here for quirky, individualistic reasons that are hard to explain.

Also, I'm mostly a humbucker player; it's that or P-90s whenever I play. I've been playing since 1967, and I've never liked playing Fenders with those kinds of single coils. If someone wants a Fender type of track, I hire someone who does that. If someone wants metal shredding, I hire someone for that, too. So I don't need amps that do metal, nor do I need amps that sound best with a Strat or Tele.

Players I hire generally work out of their own studios now, or in studios in whatever city they're in, they rarely come to my place. However, lots of people have brought their gear into my studios in the past. I've never felt the need to have every kind of thing here, just the stuff I need for my own tracks.

Past Favorites:

I had a bunch of Two-Rocks - I'll admit to serial buying and selling, but the T-Rs were all fantastic, and were my only studio amps for 11 years. A good run! I sounded exactly the way I wanted to sound with those amps. I could get lots of different tones, they were flexible, and I felt in control when playing through them.

My favorite T-Rs were the Onyx and subsequent Onyx Signature variants (there were a few), but I also had a couple of their more Dumble style Custom Reverb and Reverb Artist Signature amps that were awesome sounding.

If you can imagine a professional studio where one single brand amp was used on every project - well, that would be my studio from 2003-2014. When I had them, I only had one amp in the studio at a time for most of those years. They did a LOT more than just the Dumble thing, especially the Onyx variants which were true two-channel amps.

However, in 2014 my mind was utterly blown by the HXDA, which leads me to my present rig.

Current Favorites:

After nearly 8 years, I'm still nuts about the HXDA. I can do an awful lot of things with that amp, and it's wonderfully responsive. We all know what it does, so I won't belabor it. I generally set it up warmer and with less gain than most players. As great as my T-Rs were at that 'edge of breakup' thing, the HXDA gave me a gear boner the instant I heard it. Never lets me down.

The DG30 is the most uniquely characterful, colorful amp I have ever owned, and I mean that as a high compliment. Nothing else does what it does. It's also the "fastest" amp I have - it's ready for that next note attack without a lot of mush or hangover from the previous note. I run it cleaner and leaner than Grissom does. It blends very well with the HXDA when I want a tune to be supported by amps that sound different, which would be an awful lot of my tracks, but it has a unique clean sound that I use frequently.

I have a Mesa Lone Star that was originally bought because I needed a 100 Watt clean amp (yes, actual need 'cause I had certain projects).

However, the Lone Star was not a favorite until I re-tubed it with NOS RCA and GE tubes. Once I did that, it was transformed and came to life. It went from 'it's OK' to 'wow, this is a really good amp', and whenever someone else might use a Twin or a Super, I use the Lone Star. I don't try to make it sound like a Fender, though. I like Mesa's midrange-rich clean tone. I think it works better for me with humbuckers than my old Fenders did.

I didn't mess with the Fillmore 50 I got a couple of years back for very long before guessing that it might benefit from NOS tubes like the Lone Star. So it's stocked with NOS GE. It's a great-sounding amp. Instead of a Fillmore cab, I ordered a California Tweed 212 with Jensen Alnico Blackbirds; I like these speakers better for the work I do with it. I get asked to do 'Tweed' sounding tracks often enough that it's become a go-to for certain things, but I also like it when it's switched into a gain mode. Some tracks simply sound great with a Mesa style overdrive.
 
Last edited:
I have a Mesa Lone Star that was originally bought because I needed a 100 Watt clean amp (yes, actual need 'cause I had certain projects).

However, the Lone Star was not a favorite until I re-tubed it with NOS RCA and GE tubes. Once I did that, it was transformed and came to life. It went from 'it's OK' to 'wow, this is a really good amp', and whenever someone else might use a Twin or a Super, I use the Lone Star. I don't try to make it sound like a Fender, though. I like Mesa's midrange-rich clean tone. I think it works better for me with humbuckers than my old Fenders did.

I didn't mess with the Fillmore 50 I got a couple of years back for very long before guessing that it might benefit from NOS tubes like the Lone Star. So it's stocked with NOS GE. It's a great-sounding amp. Instead of a Fillmore cab, I ordered a California Tweed 212 with Jensen Alnico Blackbirds; I like these speakers better for the work I do with it. I get asked to do 'Tweed' sounding tracks often enough that it's become a go-to for certain things, but I also like it when it's switched into a gain mode. Some tracks simply sound great with a Mesa style overdrive.

I'm a few shipping days away from having my Sweet 16 totally NOS loaded! I did the preamp a few months ago, RCA's mostly with a GE 12ay7 for V1, mostly due to availability on 12ay7's, I was hoping to do all RCA but I can't deny that it sounds darn good anyways. Wasn't able to reasonably attain power tubes, but all the sudden this month Fuzz Audio, which has been my source recently, has a sale on 6v6's, and had a bunch of RCA tubes back in stock. So I have a set of GT's and GTA's on the way! Should be pretty cool. I can't say I hear much difference changing a singular tube from new production to NOS, but the differences compounded noticeably the more tubes I replaced with NOS.
 
I'm a few shipping days away from having my Sweet 16 totally NOS loaded! I did the preamp a few months ago, RCA's mostly with a GE 12ay7 for V1, mostly due to availability on 12ay7's, I was hoping to do all RCA but I can't deny that it sounds darn good anyways. Wasn't able to reasonably attain power tubes, but all the sudden this month Fuzz Audio, which has been my source recently, has a sale on 6v6's, and had a bunch of RCA tubes back in stock. So I have a set of GT's and GTA's on the way! Should be pretty cool. I can't say I hear much difference changing a singular tube from new production to NOS, but the differences compounded noticeably the more tubes I replaced with NOS.
Amazing how tubes can make a difference in some instances and not so much of a difference in others.
 
For years, I played through a Bogner Shiva with 2 Avatar 2x12 V30 speaker cabs. I still have it, but it doesn’t get much attention these days due to Kemper and Headrush.

I also still have some nice amps including Blackstars, Orange Dual Terror, Mesa Boogie, Genz Benz, PRS Custom & Archon, Line 6, Carvin, Port City cabs, BluGuitar…..

I really need to sell some since the modelers sound so good and are so convenient.
 
Last edited:
Amazing how tubes can make a difference in some instances and not so much of a difference in others.
Agree. There's more than one account floating around of some higher end amps sounding as good or better with stock, new, tubes, than with NOS stuff. I've heard that numerous times about certain Dr. Z amps.
 
For years, I played through a Bogner Shiva with 2 Avatar 2x12 V30 speaker cabs. I still have it, but it doesn’t get much attention these days due to Kemper and Headrush.

I also still have some nice amps including Blackstars, Orange Dual Terror, Mesa Boogie, Genz Benz, PRS Custom & Archon, Line 6, Carvin, Port City cabs, BluGuitar…..

I really need to sell some since the modelers sound so good and are so convenient.
Good thing you didn't throw this out there a couple weeks ago... ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Agree. There's more than one account floating around of some higher end amps sounding as good or better with stock, new, tubes, than with NOS stuff. I've heard that numerous times about certain Dr. Z amps.
There is no best anything, all you can act on is what's best for you. 'Best' is subjective.

There are plenty of players who don't need NOS tubes, and moreover, plenty who don't even like what NOS tubes do. Which is perfectly cool!

There's no arguing over artistic choices! There's always a bunch of folks who want precisely what you don't want, when at the same time, you want precisely what they don't want.

That's the way the world has been forever, and it's why there are always opportunities for people who want to do things a different way.

Sometimes tube rolling is more of a tweak than a transformation. Yet sometimes NOS transforms an amp, or solves sonic problems, as it did in the case of my Mesa amps.

Often NOS tubes simply add to my long term satisfaction and enjoyment of an amp. NOS tubes make me want to hang onto my amps instead of getting bored, or dissatisfied, and constantly scouring the earth searching in vain for the next shiny object. I haven't sold an amp in 8 years. That's a record for me. I used to become dissatisfied quickly.

I could explain what I hear in NOS vs New Production that matters to me, but what would be the point? It probably won't matter to someone else.

So I make no apologia for my choices, I'm comfortable with the ones that relate to my tone. But that doesn't make me any more right than anyone else, because we're all different.

If NOS tubes make a positive difference to you in a given amp, great! Keep 'em in there. If not, pull 'em out and use 'em in another amp, or sell 'em.
 
Boogie Mark III - got it over 30 yeas ago and it just the me that was always in my head

Boogie Mark V - it’s basically the Mark I, II and IV I didn’t have space for

Kemper - I only play it on vacations and every time it is a treat to explore. It’s loaded with 1500 or so Britt profiles.

MDT 4x10 - perfect when you just want to be loud and a bit angry
 
For years, I played through a Bogner Shiva with 2 Avatar 2x12 V30 speaker cabs. I still have it, but it doesn’t get much attention these days due to Kemper and Headrush.

I also still have some nice amps including Blackstars, Orange Dual Terror, Mesa Boogie, Genz Benz, PRS Custom & Archon, Line 6, Carvin, Port City cabs, BluGuitar…..

I really need to sell some since the modelers sound so good and are so convenient.
What Mesa's do you have?
 
My favorite is my PRS Custom 50. I’ve done a couple minor tweaks to the preamp to fine tune the frequency response, found just the right tubes, and loaded a matching 2x12 with Alnico Cream/Ruby speakers - and that combination is IT when it comes to open back cabs. It has its own thing going, tremendous cleans but not in a black panel way, dirty channel has a great bite like a vintage Marshall, but with the mids focused slightly lower and not as lean in the deeper lows. It sounds tremendous with humbucker equipped guitars, because it still favors that fatter guitar sound, and has just enough of everything to give me goosebumps.

I also greatly enjoy the Sweet 16, mine is a more recent, limited run from Sweetwater’s Gearfest in ‘20, if memory serves. It’s off the beaten path for me, 6V6’s with a softer clean sound, and a gain structure that has a raw and primitive sound when overdriven. It’s not as forgiving with the expectation to crank the gain control and rock out, as it can get grainy/raspy, but with the right boost and setting the gain control appropriately, it gives up some seriously cool vintage sounds, kind of a tweed or brown panel vibe. Not as robust in the lowest lows due to the smaller iron, etc., but has a fatness in the upper bass/low mids that favors single coils and slightly leaner humbucker guitars really nicely. I love how it has brought me a different, but equally excellent choice of sounds that made me step out of my comfort zone!

Third, I recently got a pretty righteous and unexpected deal on a ‘65 Super Reverb RI, and it’s too early to say much, but it’s just a tremendous sounding amp with anything I throw at it. May explore different speakers someday, but enjoying it as-is for a while.



As much as I’m enjoying the Super, and the unfortunately lean selection of Maryland made PRS amps at the moment, I’ve put some thought into finding a nice vintage Fender. I’ve let some early silverface and black panel non-reverbs pass me by, and I think perhaps that was a mistake. Love the normal channel on the Super, and have plenty in the way of ‘verb and trem pedals, so why not? They go for great prices not being black panel reverb models.


I wasn’t financially able to get into those earlier amps at the time, but could now. Love my Sweet 16, which, although recent, was one of the older designs. Hopefully more of that stuff comes out of Maryland again in the future!
Custom 50 fan #2 here!
 
Boogie Mark III - got it over 30 yeas ago and it just the me that was always in my head
I spent years, convinced that somewhere between the Mark II and III is the sound I want. But buying multiple versions to see if that was correct is a tough task. The Mark V was close for me. Honestly, I just looked at a wall of amps that hardly got turned on and decided it was time to move them unless I was completely in love with them. It was CLOSE on a million different tones, but none of them blew me away like the Archon did. And the constant tweaking trying get "great" and losing "good" sometimes, the very next day without touching any knobs, made me fall even more for the "here are the knobs. Turn them and get exactly what you want today in 15 seconds" function of the Archon.

But I've heard some awefully good tones from various III's and obviously II's. Which version of the III do you have?
 
Back
Top