What Are Your Favorite Amps To Play?

GGJJGG said:
This one has an EL84 power tube. There are a couple videos floating around online I think. It should be here tomorrow. As usual, I am in ninja stealth to the basement mode. Else, the wife will make me give one up.
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Give Up The Wife And That Problem Is Solved. If She Is The Subtle Type Just Kindly Tell Her She Sounds Just Like Your Ex Wife When She Says That Kind Of Thing. 😂
 
Bogner said:
Give Up The Wife And That Problem Is Solved. If She Is The Subtle Type Just Kindly Tell Her She Sounds Just Like Your Ex Wife When She Says That Kind Of Thing. 😂
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Lol, when we got married, my wife told me I'm not getting out of this marriage alive. I live in constant terror, she's a nurse and she knows things - not the least of which is where I sleep! OK, kidding about the terror. I just tell her I've had a good life, and ask her to please make it painless, and to make it look like natural causes so that she and the daughter are taken care of.
 
aamefford said:
Lol, when we got married, my wife told me I'm not getting out of this marriage alive. I live in constant terror, she's a nurse and she knows things - not the least of which is where I sleep! OK, kidding about the terror. I just tell her I've had a good life, and ask her to please make it painless, and to make it look like natural causes so that she and the daughter are taken care of.
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I Can See her Being "Compassionate" Enough To Oblige With That Request. :)
 
aamefford said:
Ahhh, you've met her then?;) Yes, very compassionate indeed. The love of my life for 20 plus years. As to gear, we have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy as long as it doesn't affect family finances (much).
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That Sounds Great Until She Meets A Greasy Dude Who Rides A Rat Bike And Calls Himself Gear...LOL.

I Know She Would Never Do Such A Thing But I Had To Humor Myself With My Own Humor. 😂
 
Bogner said:
That Sounds Great Until She Meets A Greasy Dude Who Rides A Rat Bike And Calls Himself Gear...LOL.

I Know She Would Never Do Such A Thing But I Had To Humor Myself With My Own Humor. 😂
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He doesn't sound like her style. Unless he's rich. If he is, I can be bought. Or taken out. Whatever. Anyway, back to amps! Sorry for the derail.
 
So...How About Those Tube Amps? What Are You Playing? What Are You Getting Next? :)
 
Bogner said:
So...How About Those Tube Amps? What Are You Playing? What Are You Getting Next? :)
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Less hurry. I’m playing the little Boss Katana Air EX right now, ‘cause it’s on my dresser and sounds OK. The big Mesa is in the semi inaccessible room right now. That Mesa solves a lot of my needs though - great clean, great crunch, great high gain. I haven’t touched the Kemper in ages. It could be in jeopardy if I find something super interesting. I’m finding less flavors in one box are maybe better for me. What I would take action to acquire? Something small and light, probably a combo. 1x10” would be cool. Well behaved at low volume, so onboard attenuation and a good master. Something that has fenderish cleans to that ragged, ready to explode tweed from Neil Young’s old “Live Rust” album. But at lower volume. A pedal(s) could be part of it. That would be a favorite amp to play for sure. Extra credit - can I get to the live rust tone with the Kemper? (might be best to answer away from an amp thread!)
 
aamefford said:
Less hurry. I’m playing the little Boss Katana Air EX right now, ‘cause it’s on my dresser and sounds OK. The big Mesa is in the semi inaccessible room right now. That Mesa solves a lot of my needs though - great clean, great crunch, great high gain. I haven’t touched the Kemper in ages. It could be in jeopardy if I find something super interesting. I’m finding less flavors in one box are maybe better for me. What I would take action to acquire? Something small and light, probably a combo. 1x10” would be cool. Well behaved at low volume, so onboard attenuation and a good master. Something that has fenderish cleans to that ragged, ready to explode tweed from Neil Young’s old “Live Rust” album. But at lower volume. A pedal(s) could be part of it. That would be a favorite amp to play for sure. Extra credit - can I get to the live rust tone with the Kemper? (might be best to answer away from an amp thread!)
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The Kemper Gives You What You Give It So Of Course You Can Get That Sound. I Would Not Part With The Kemper Or TC-100 Ever As You Have All You Would Ever Need In Them From What I Can Gather. Of Course Need And Want Are Often At Odds With One Another And I Get That.
 
aamefford said:
That Mesa solves a lot of my needs though - great clean, great crunch, great high gain.
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At some levels, this should be enough for all of us! But it's not always enough. I like more than one "type" of gain tone, and more than one type of rhythm tone and lead tone, etc. But... one amp that had great clean, crunch and gain would have probably kept me happy for most of my life.
aamefford said:
I haven’t touched the Kemper in ages. It could be in jeopardy if I find something super interesting. I’m finding less flavors in one box are maybe better for me.
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Option paralysis is real. I am to the point even with my Atomic AA3 and 12, that I use 3-4 amps almost 95% of the time I turn them on. Once every 6 months I'll go on a tone hunt. But, I know if I got a new IK, Axe or Kemper device, that "tone seeking" stage would start all over again and would last for over a year, which is one reason I hesitate to spend more on digital.
aamefford said:
Something small and light, probably a combo. 1x10” would be cool.
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ha, same here. I've been trying for weeks to buy/trade for a Dr. Z Mini Z that has been listed. And I have a Bogner ATMA which I KNOW sounds great, is small, etc. but... to get a nice 1x10 cab to pair with that is crazy expensive these days. I've bought GOOD 2x12 cabs 10 years ago for what a 1x10 costs now. I'd like a 1x8 and a 1x10, as I could go total Champ vibe but combo for my bluesgrass group with the 8 and get a rockier speaker for the 10. But to buy both of those new, probably $600! I can wait out a Dr. Z combo for not much more than that and get built in power scaling. The little Bogner would kill with a 1x8 and a 1x10 though. You just can't find either one used and for a decent price. I'm actually talking to a friend about building me a couple small pine speaker cabs. A 1x8 open back and a 1x10 convertible closed/open back.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
It does! A "high end Champ" type thing.
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It arrived! Haven’t had much time to play it yet due to it being Halloween. The head and cabinet are small and light and super easy to move. The sound to me is pretty killer. Dimed it is not super loud and just around breakup. An Archer pedal gets some good overdrive out of it. So did a knockoff King of Tone. The two tone knobs are more tone cuts and they work pretty darn well. The overall tone is clear like a DC-30 but more laid back. The volume is perfect for the basement, too. Cant wait to try it more.
 
GGJJGG said:
It arrived! Haven’t had much time to play it yet due to it being Halloween. The head and cabinet are small and light and super easy to move. The sound to me is pretty killer. Dimed it is not super loud and just around breakup. An Archer pedal gets some good overdrive out of it. So did a knockoff King of Tone. The two tone knobs are more tone cuts and they work pretty darn well. The overall tone is clear like a DC-30 but more laid back. The volume is perfect for the basement, too. Cant wait to try it more.
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what cab/speaker did you get?
 
GGJJGG said:
It arrived! Haven’t had much time to play it yet due to it being Halloween. The head and cabinet are small and light and super easy to move. The sound to me is pretty killer. Dimed it is not super loud and just around breakup. An Archer pedal gets some good overdrive out of it. So did a knockoff King of Tone. The two tone knobs are more tone cuts and they work pretty darn well. The overall tone is clear like a DC-30 but more laid back. The volume is perfect for the basement, too. Cant wait to try it more.
Click to expand...
Having a six year old makes amp enjoyment a matter of timing. But I got some more time in and really really like this little amp (and it is little). Controls are super interactive and I found some nice overdrive (and more with a pedal). This is all about the volume (no master vol!!!) at 3:00 and using the guitar volume to get the clean tone. I think this fits that niche for a lot of players who need a little lower volume but want that bigger amp tone. I don’t record but this must sound great when miked well.

Plus Phil Bradford is a super nice guy.
 
I have fallen head over heels in love with my Mk II Archon 50 combo. It’s such an incredible amp, and when dialed in right can really do anything from clean jazz and country on the clean channel to hot blues and classic rock all the way to modern metal core on the dirty channel. I’ve also found I can really open up my options with an over drive pedal, too!
 
Rocked the Bogner ATMA all weekend. I love this little amp. With two channels, and 3 complete voice and gain levels on channel 2, it is VERY versatile little beast. Tone is definitely Bogner DNA, and the power selections give even more flexibility. I've gone a week in mostly the 5 watt mode. Just a rockin little amp!
 
GGJJGG said:
Having a six year old makes amp enjoyment a matter of timing. But I got some more time in and really really like this little amp (and it is little). Controls are super interactive and I found some nice overdrive (and more with a pedal). This is all about the volume (no master vol!!!) at 3:00 and using the guitar volume to get the clean tone. I think this fits that niche for a lot of players who need a little lower volume but want that bigger amp tone. I don’t record but this must sound great when miked well.

Plus Phil Bradford is a super nice guy.
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The Little Walter amps are intriguing.

My current amps are all High Gravity Bobs.
 
Three great amps over the last two days - Fender '65 Showman, Zinky-era Tone-Master, and '74 Hiwatt DR103. Given the low/mid volumes I've been playing at, it's hard to put them in any definitive order.

Peripherals (as usual): Cornish pedals, FTT reverbs; Cornell and Mesa 1x12 cabs, both with Celestion Black Shadow speakers.
 
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