What Are Your Favorite Amps To Play?

[jxe]

roland jc-120 because means you’re in a goth wave band.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Custom 50 fan #2 here!

I'd probably still have my Custom 50 if my multi-meter hadn't gone bad. The guy I sold it to said the bias was way off and it sounded MUCH better once he adjusted it. And I liked it a lot anyway, but felt it might be too close the the Archon to keep both. In hind site, the clean channels are very different and I should have kept it. Traded it for the ATMA, so I did OK, but it will always haunt me that he made a point to tell me how much better it sounded once he adjusted the bias.

 

[dmatthews]

I'd probably still have my Custom 50 if my multi-meter hadn't gone bad. They guy I sold it to said the bias was way off and it sounded MUCH better once he adjusted it. And I liked it a lot anyway, but felt it might be too close the the Archon to keep both. In hind site, the clean channels are very different and I should have kept it. Traded it for the ATMA, so I did OK, but it will always haunt me that he made a point to tell me how much better it sounded once he adjusted the bias.

Yeah, I've never played an Archon, but I imagine the lead/dirty channel is fairly different from the C50.
The clean channel is a treat, and I love the versatility of the 2 different boosts.
Lovely amp.
Atma would be cool too though.

 

[Wyzard]

My Two Rock Akoya. It puts me in a great frame of mind for any style of music that I cover - from prog to Americana, by way of fusion and '80s rock.

The nearest other amps I've got for simply "plugging in and getting on" would be the King Snake, Coli IIB or Electra-Dyne. All my other amps require some specific mind-set (especially the other, older Two Rocks) before engaging.

The Akoya, however, is simply the easiest of them all, with the best bounce factor, and at pretty much any volume.

 

[darkbluemurder]

My favorite amp is one I built myself. For the tech freaks it has:

- 2 EL34 tubes, fixed bias (like Marshall 50W amps)
- 2 1/2 12AX7 preamp tubes
- 1/2 12AX7 plus 1 12AU7 for the split load/concertina phase inverter
- James tonestack (similar to what Ampeg used) plus a Framus type midrange control
- two gain stages before the tone stack (like Marshall, Hiwatt, Vox)

This amp is a loud clean monster, equally suited for guitar and bass and takes pedals like a champ.

 

[ruger9]

With my DGT, it's definitely the dirty channel of my Bad Cat Hot Cat. Grissom all day!

 

[11top]

What Mesa's do you have?

Mark Five:35



2x12 (pair of verticals)



and

2x12

 

[Bogner]

Mark Five:35



2x12 (pair of verticals)



and

2x12

Those are beauties!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I’ve always been a Mesa guy (except for a few year period where I transitioned from rack stuff and bought trash, and then got a DG30).

I dunno why, but I continuously skipped over the MkIV until I bought JFB’s MkV. I fought so hard to love that amp but struggled with the lead channel, I was getting close to happy with the MkIV mode, so when I moved the V I knew my next Mesa was gonna be a IV.

I finally traded for a IVa where the previous owner tweaked it over the years: new speaker, 6L6 and EL34’s, and some tube rolling. And BOOM! It’s perfect.

I’m almost never tweaking an amp that is renowned for needing constant tweaking.

I love the reverb, the clean channel, the loop! (First time I’ve ever said that) and the silent defeat thing is great for piping outta the amp and into IR/cabinet emulation for direct recording.

I feel stupid. All these years what I really wanted was right in front of me.

 

[Bogner]

I’ve always been a Mesa guy (except for a few year period where I transitioned from rack stuff and bought trash, and then got a DG30).

I dunno why, but I continuously skipped over the MkIV until I bought JFB’s MkV. I fought so hard to love that amp but struggled with the lead channel, I was getting close to happy with the MkIV mode, so when I moved the V I knew my next Mesa was gonna be a IV.

I finally traded for a IVa where the previous owner tweaked it over the years: new speaker, 6L6 and EL34’s, and some tube rolling. And BOOM! It’s perfect.

I’m almost never tweaking an amp that is renowned for needing constant tweaking.

I love the reverb, the clean channel, the loop! (First time I’ve ever said that) and the silent defeat thing is great for piping outta the amp and into IR/cabinet emulation for direct recording.

I feel stupid. All these years what I really wanted was right in front of me.

At least you found it!!!

 

[veinbuster]

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?

Beats the heck out of me which version it is. All I cared about was that I liked it. Bought new in ‘89. Has a walnut cabinet and cane front. As you can tell, I’m quite superficial.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Beats the heck out of me which version it is. All I cared about was that I liked it. Bought new in ‘89. Has a walnut cabinet and cane front. As you can tell, I’m quite superficial.

Do you have any pictures of the back? There are some very significant changes, model to model, in the III's. Just curious which one you have.

 

[Bogner]

Beats the heck out of me which version it is. All I cared about was that I liked it. Bought new in ‘89. Has a walnut cabinet and cane front. As you can tell, I’m quite superficial.

On the back of the chassis you most likely have a colored mark or line in the top left corner. Red, green, black, etc and that marking will help signify/clarify which model you have.

 

[Wyzard]

Bought new in ‘89.

A brand-new MkIII in '89 would quite likely be either the last of the blue stripes, or an early-ish example of a green stripe. That's not to say it couldn't have been an older one - it would just depend on how fast the store was clearing stock of the MkIIIs it was receiving.

The blue was the most aggressive MkIII they'd ever made, with Doug West asking for more and more gain to be shovelled through the preamp circuit (which came largely in the form of extra treble), and Mike Bendinelli doing his best to make it happen, IIRC.

The green, which came out at some point in '89, was different in that it was wired in pentode mode for the "Simul" part of the circuit. Prior to this iteration, the MkIIIs had all been wired in triode mode on the outside sockets.

Some have claimed that the green ran a little less gain through the preamp than the blue did; though in my personal experience, having owned five blue stripes and two greens, it was pretty marginal whether you'd call it less gainy.

 

[jxe]

A brand-new MkIII in '89 would quite likely be either the last of the blue stripes, or an early-ish example of a green stripe. That's not to say it couldn't have been an older one - it would just depend on how fast the store was clearing stock of the MkIIIs it was receiving.

The blue was the most aggressive MkIII they'd ever made, with Doug West asking for more and more gain to be shovelled through the preamp circuit (which came largely in the form of extra treble), and Mike Bendinelli doing his best to make it happen, IIRC.

The green, which came out at some point in '89, was different in that it was wired in pentode mode for the "Simul" part of the circuit. Prior to this iteration, the MkIIIs had all been wired in triode mode on the outside sockets.

Some have claimed that the green ran a little less gain through the preamp than the blue did; though in my personal experience, having owned five blue stripes and two greens, it was pretty marginal whether you'd call it less gainy.

seven mkiiis? that is some churn.

 

[Bogner]

seven mkiiis? that is some churn.

Sounds like good living to me!

 

[Wyzard]

seven mkiiis? that is some churn.

It gets worse.....

I also had a black dot/X, which came with the same (export) transformer as my HRGX MkIIC+s. The black was the one I kept long after I sold off all my other MkIIIs, since it came closest to what I liked about my MkIIs. It also would have made a useful donor if anything had gone wrong with my IIC+s.......... fortunately, that was never necessary.

As well as the MkIIIs, I've had/still have examples of nearly all versions of the MkII from A to C+. To which you can add MkI RI, MkIV(A and B) and King Snake; also Studio, Quad, and TriAxis pre's, as well as 50/50, 295, and 395 power amps.


Yes sir, I can Boogie!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

On the back of the chassis you most likely have a colored mark or line in the top left corner. Red, green, black, etc and that marking will help signify/clarify which model you have.

I was going to explain all that after I saw which one he had. Don't be stealin' my thunder here!

 

[Bogner]

It gets worse.....

I also had a black dot/X, which came with the same (export) transformer as my HRGX MkIIC+s. The black was the one I kept long after I sold off all my other MkIIIs, since it came closest to what I liked about my MkIIs. It also would have made a useful donor if anything had gone wrong with my IIC+s.......... fortunately, that was never necessary.

As well as the MkIIIs, I've had/still have examples of nearly all versions of the MkII from A to C+. To which you can add MkI RI, MkIV(A and B) and King Snake; also Studio, Quad, and TriAxis pre's, as well as 50/50, 295, and 395 power amps.


Yes sir, I can Boogie!

I really regret selling my Tri-Axis / 295 rig and my Mark IV(B)

 

[Wyzard]

The TriAxis (non-"phat mod") is a wonderful sounding piece of gear; but as you may know, it comes with a potential major downside.

Mine is suffering from the front panel membrane issue....... so, until we get a fix, it's sitting in a box.