What Are Your Favorite Amps To Play?

[Deleted member 5962]

The wheels help on Mesas, and lord knows, I use them whenever moving them becomes necessary; but over even short runs, on fairly rough ground (festivals, anyone?), and without the benefit of a road crew, you're still risking killing your health.

I told this here before but not as a brag. LOL When I bought my 2x12 Mesa vertical recto cab, I wheeled it to the front of the store, but the parking lot was black top up close, then gravel out where I parked. So I grabbed the two side handles and carried it out to the car. My buddy who sold it to me, opens the front door as I am walking across the parking lot with it, and yells "that what the wheels are for!" I yelled back "can't wheel it through the gravel." I just didn't want the wheels all scratched up and covered with gravel dirt before I ever got it home. It wasn't bad with the handles on each side.

My other two 2x12 cabs are the yen and yang of 2x's. My PRS pine only has one handle, top middle, and yet it's easy to carry because it is THE lightest 2x12 I've ever seen. My Zbest can be set vertically, or horizontally, and has one handle on "top" of each of those orientations. And that sucker is HEAVY for a 2x12! Heavier than the Mesa, and only one handle usable. I was initially going to drop two EM12s or Warehouse 12Ls in it, but after getting it, NO WAY. Maybe one, but no way I'm putting two in there. LOL When I bought it (of Craigs List) the guy who sold it to me was early 30s, and he joked that he had someone help him put it in his car. When I went to lift it out of his and into mine, he asked if I needed help and since there is only one handle, there's not much way for the other guy to help unless you just carry it from each end on the bottom, and after looking, that wouldn't allow me to really get it into my car easily, so I just picked it up and put in in there. That said, without a cart, I wouldn't tote that thing around to gigs. Unlike a 4x that might be heavier but has two handles, that is a LOT to handle with only one handle. But, it's a beast of a cab sound wise also. Dr. Z cut 19 lbs of the weight of the newer ones, starting a couple years go, by switching woods. Z said he did it because so many people loved the cab but complained about the weight. LOL

 

[dmatthews]

If the real one sounds better than this, then you want one...

 

[Bogner]

If the real one sounds better than this, then you want one...

How does that one sound?

 

[Wyzard]

I had a pair of super-lightweight figured pine cabs made for me by a friend some years back: they've got interchangeable baffles for 1x12, 2x12, 1x15 and 4x10. Wonderful sounding and great-looking too.

So, what did I do with them?

I put some of the heaviest speakers I have inside, of course. Until I sold them off, I had four 1980s JBL 10s in one of them; an EVM12L/Fane Crescendo (wired entirely separately) went into the other. Next up to go into cab #1 is a 15-inch EV I got recently, and cab #2 will get whatever alnico I manage to pick up next.

The Crescendo is - without a doubt - the single most articulate speaker I've ever owned: so I've given it another (marine ply) Cornell cab all to itself. It's running off of my Electra-Dyne right now; and while sounding very bright, it also is the best that amp has ever performed at low volume.

 

[dmatthews]

How does that one sound?

Kinda stuck on it right now.
Fab brights and clarity.
Great grit.
Just swapped between Silver Sky, 594 Soapy, and 594 Hollowbody playing the same riff (Last Dance with Mary Jane).
Of the three, the Soapy kills it with the Hollow right behind. SS sounds good but bright. That of course can be fixed.

 

[dmatthews]

Here's a guy that knows how to play...

 

[Deleted member 5962]

The Crescendo is - without a doubt - the single most articulate speaker I've ever owned: so I've given it another (marine ply) Cornell cab all to itself. It's running off of my Electra-Dyne right now; and while sounding very bright, it also is the best that amp has ever performed at low volume.

That amp is known for two things. 1 - Sounding GREAT 2 - Needing to be LOUD to do so.

 

[Wyzard]

That goes for the Crescendo too, really.

That's why I was surprised that the Crescendo and ED combination sounded even half-decent at lower volumes; let alone as good as it actually does, with an S-type, and on the bridge pickup too


I'm not in the least put out with endless unlikely pairings of amp and speaker, just for sh.. and giggles - after all, that's what I've been doing on and off for over forty years....... and because you just never know how it'll turn out.

 

[Bogner]

Here's a guy that knows how to play...

That was nice!

 

[DISTORT6]

I love your no-compromise attitude!

I completely share your belief, in spite of the fact that merely lifting some of my cabs in inch off the ground is a life-threatening experience for me now.

But what's the point of not being dead if you can't really feel alive??

EDIT: Wait, I just heard from my cardiologist, who said, "Dead men can't play guitar."

Yes I did reply, "How do you know that? Ever been dead??"

I'll grant you, I don't believe in the supernatural, or in afterlife, or in reincarnation.

But it seems I ought to reserve the right to wait and see!

"Les, you'll be going straight to hell, and they'll hand you an accordion."

"I love the accordion."

"Then they'll give you a guitar."

"I love playing guitar."

"How about ukulele?"

"I'm good with it."

"Oud?"

"I can learn."

"Drums."

"A man has his limits."

Bagpipes, Les. They’ll hand you bagpipes.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Interested to hear more about your amps. Especially the Monza, and Maz and why you like the Bad Cat better. I have the Zbest cab, (nicknamed ZBeast! Because it is. And yes, it’s heavy. It’s basically a 2x12 Thiele cab. So yeah, it’s a monster for a 2x

Well, the Cleans are always awesome on the 2 Dr Z's...and the Monza has a great clean BITE!!! Its an older, NON-Master head, but its so frickin full.
The Maz 18 Jr NR has a great classic crunch in it, but again, also cleans up great.
The Bad Cat is just the latest and greatest...give it a couple weeks, but its crunch is just "tight" enough. (Hope this makes sense!)

Edit: And my 2X12 is the Z-Best HEAVY cabinet.

 

[László]

That amp is known for two things. 1 - Sounding GREAT 2 - Needing to be LOUD to do so.

Doesn't need to be all that loud at all. I've found the secret is carefully dialing it in. Unless you're needed teeny tiny whisper quiet sound, it sounds good at moderate volume.

 

[László]

Here's a guy that knows how to play...

That's not even remotely close to my DG30. Sounds more like a JCM Marshall or something. Not saying it sounds bad, but no, not a DG30 tone.

Maybe it's the speaker cab, the mic, or the settings they used to profile the amp, but...that special vocal formant quality of the DG30 is missing completely.

Sorry guys, that's a miss, not a hit.

 

[László]

Bagpipes, Les. They’ll hand you bagpipes.

I'm ready to learn the entire repertoire.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

That's not even remotely close to my DG30. Sounds more like a JCM Marshall or something. Not saying it sounds bad, but no, not a DG30 tone.

Maybe it's the speaker cab, the mic, or the settings they used to profile the amp, but...that special vocal formant quality of the DG30 is missing completely.

Sorry guys, that's a miss, not a hit.

Maybe ours were broken?

 

[dmatthews]

That's not even remotely close to my DG30. Sounds more like a JCM Marshall or something. Not saying it sounds bad, but no, not a DG30 tone.

Maybe it's the speaker cab, the mic, or the settings they used to profile the amp, but...that special vocal formant quality of the DG30 is missing completely.

Sorry guys, that's a miss, not a hit.

That's the thing about profiles.
It encompasses the particular settings, the mic, the placement, the cab/speaker etc. as you say. It would be glorious fun to profile your setup!

 

[László]

That's the thing about profiles.
It encompasses the particular settings, the mic, the placement, the cab/speaker etc. as you say. It would be glorious fun to profile your setup!

I'd love that!

Couldn't be all that complicated, right? And I have some nice mics to do it with.

 

[dmatthews]

I'd love that!

Couldn't be all that complicated, right? And I have some nice mics to do it with.

I'm sure you are perfectly setup right now.
Would just need to plug guitar into Kemper, plug Kemper direct out to DG30 guitar input, plug mic into Kemper return input.
Monitor with headphones or studio monitors.
What fun!
My bet is it would sound awesome.

 

[Wyzard]

Doesn't need to be all that loud at all. I've found the secret is carefully dialing it in. Unless you're needed teeny tiny whisper quiet sound, it sounds good at moderate volume.

I'm beginning to think this is true, having thought the opposite for as long as I've had the amp..... which is coming up for the three-year mark! It just seemed an accepted fact, though I might be prepared to challenge this "conventional wisdom" now too.

I reckon that the great sound I've been experiencing lately with mine has been as much about re-thinking how to eq and set the amp's various levels, as it is about the speaker pairing (and the KOT V4 I've also stuck in front of it). Using the very bright Fane speaker made me more conscious of setup than I had been in the past - I used to mainly just plug and play, and not get too tied up in fine-tuning it, relying instead on the amp's muscle to carry the day.

I'd also not given the ED as many playing hours as it clearly deserves, as I've usually just defaulted to my Two Rock or Boogie Mk-series amps. My setup skills on it haven't been very finely tuned as a result - my loss, it turns out, as the ED is an even more capable amp than I'd previously believed. It's a lot of fun, but it's also good for fine singing lead lines as well, as I've currently got it configured.

Plus: I've had an even better day with it today. That's after plugging its own Black Shadow back in, and running it in parallel with the Crescendo on the 4-ohm setting.

A FTT Ambi-Space (currently on its own in the loop) is working pretty well too. I may also try a Lehle Sunday Driver in front of the FTT, just to see if it makes any further difference.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Doesn't need to be all that loud at all. I've found the secret is carefully dialing it in. Unless you're needed teeny tiny whisper quiet sound, it sounds good at moderate volume.

The ElectraDyne? One of my local music shop guys has one and said even in his big basement he can rarely turn it up to where it sounds great. He brought it in the store once and let me listen to it, but it was in a small practice room. It was way over saturating the room before it sounded good and then it sounded really good but was WAY too loud in there. But, I didn't mess with it much. Just listened a few minutes with a nice Les Paul straight in, then a strat.