What Are Your Favorite Amps To Play?

Bogner

Redwood Original - Pure Blood
Joined
Jun 20, 2016
Messages
3,701
List your favorite amp(s) to play?

No limit on amount of amps listed.

You like what you like so post up and share why.
 
I love amps and I also love my two Kemper rigs. These are some of my favorites that I really enjoy playing on.

- PRS - Archon - I love the gain and clean channels. At volume it really has a nice heavy gain sound that I like.

- Bogner Überschall - Possibly my all time favorite Gain sound. So unique sounding to me. I sense a little Uber in the Archon as well. ;)

- Bogner XTC Classic - Lovely and versatile amp for all kinds of things. It doesn't excel at the heavies I usually play but is an amazing amp

- Cornford RK 100 - Straight up amp that delivers the Rock and 80's metal tones. Handles a boost well and cleans up nice if needed.

- Diezel VH4 - Another great all around amp covering all kinds of territory. Great loops and tracks like a champ.

- Mako Dorado - Another great amp that is similar to the Uberschall and the Archon. If you combined those two you would have the Dorado.

- Fryette Deliverance 120 - No frills, tight, crisp monster of an amp. Sits well and delivers on the crunch to higher gain spectrum.

- Bogner Helios Eclipse - Fun amp, nice feel. Simple clean and wonderful gain tones. Very versatile!

- Diezel Herbert - Best low volume gain tones in any amp. Amazing power section. Cleans that rival most anything. Rock to Brutal, its aces!

- Wizard Modern Classic - Rock and metal beast. Loud, tight, articulate. Nothing hits the chest harder. At volume it is an experience!!

- Roccaforte HG 100 - Hiwatt like in a way but way more gain. Loud, articulate and built like a tank. Great rock/metal amp and loves boosts.

- Custom Audio OD 100 SE+ - A lead players dream. Fantastic cleans, great crunch and higher gain tones. Rock Royalty IMO.

- Mesa Mark V - A Beast of an amp. Love the gains and cleans. Takes time to learn it but it is all in there. Lifetime amp for me.

- Suhr Scott Henderson Plexi - What else needs to be said, aside from it also having an effects loop. :) 60's, 70's, 80's rock heaven.

- Soldano SLO 100 - Beautiful amp worthy of its praise. I have a double dirty one off that is a lifer for me. Rock Royalty lead players dream.

- Friedman BE-100 - Everything you want from a hotrod Marshall tone and more. Feature rich, great under the fingers. Really fun to play!
 
I love my Cornford Carrera. I'm a bedroom hack so this low powered amp is perfect. Very versatile single channel amp that can do nice cleans and fairly high gain by itself but can easily be pushed further with an overdrive pedal. Can use nearly any output valve with no need to re-bias so many different flavours of sound available.
 
In the early 70's I had a Hiwatt DR 103.
Nothing else I've had has even come close.
It is the amplifier of the Gods.

That being said, my favorite of the ones I still own
is a 1964 BF Fender Deluxe non reverb.
 
Last edited:
The Kemper has seen the most use over past several years, where I focus on Marshall-based profiles from MBritt. But THE amp of amps for me is the PRS Super Dallas. Yes, I still have the MkIII and a couple others, but the SuperD saw several years of gigging. It is resilient, consistent, well built, and has that 3D sound found in many boutique amps (make no mistake, any PRS CAD amp is a handmade boutique amp). The pedalboard of mystical mojo perfection also pushed the amp into its sweet spot, which is the understatement of the year.

Can’t say enough about the older PRS amps. Doug and Jeff are masters of the amp universe and I’m SO fortunate to have experienced their art.
 
I love amps and I also love my two Kemper rigs. These are some of my favorites that I really enjoy playing on.

- PRS - Archon - I love the gain and clean channels. At volume it really has a nice heavy gain sound that I like.

- Bogner Überschall - Possibly my all time favorite Gain sound. So unique sounding to me. I sense a little Uber in the Archon as well. ;)

- Bogner XTC Classic - Lovely and versatile amp for all kinds of things. It doesn't excel at the heavies I usually play but is an amazing amp

- Cornford RK 100 - Straight up amp that delivers the Rock and 80's metal tones. Handles a boost well and cleans up nice if needed.

- Diezel VH4 - Another great all around amp covering all kinds of territory. Great loops and tracks like a champ.

- Mako Dorado - Another great amp that is similar to the Uberschall and the Archon. If you combined those two you would have the Dorado.

- Fryette Deliverance 120 - No frills, tight, crisp monster of an amp. Sits well and delivers on the crunch to higher gain spectrum.

- Bogner Helios Eclipse - Fun amp, nice feel. Simple clean and wonderful gain tones. Very versatile!

- Diezel Herbert - Best low volume gain tones in any amp. Amazing power section. Cleans that rival most anything. Rock to Brutal, its aces!

- Wizard Modern Classic - Rock and metal beast. Loud, tight, articulate. Nothing hits the chest harder. At volume it is an experience!!

- Roccaforte HG 100 - Hiwatt like in a way but way more gain. Loud, articulate and built like a tank. Great rock/metal amp and loves boosts.

- Custom Audio OD 100 SE+ - A lead players dream. Fantastic cleans, great crunch and higher gain tones. Rock Royalty IMO.

- Mesa Mark V - A Beast of an amp. Love the gains and cleans. Takes time to learn it but it is all in there. Lifetime amp for me.

- Suhr Scott Henderson Plexi - What else needs to be said, aside from it also having an effects loop. :) 60's, 70's, 80's rock heaven.

- Soldano SLO 100 - Beautiful amp worthy of its praise. I have a double dirty one off that is a lifer for me. Rock Royalty lead players dream.

- Friedman BE-100 - Everything you want from a hotrod Marshall tone and more. Feature rich, great under the fingers. Really fun to play!
Do you have all of those amps?
 
You are preaching to the choir my brother! Can I get an Amen?! ;)
That said, you have at least 4-5 of my bucket list amps on that list. Uber and XTC for sure, SLO most definitely, and maybe the BE100. Those and a Splawn QuickRod would be my "if I had room for all those" purchases.

Edit: MUST add Louis Electric Cobra to this list!!!

Before I got the Archon, I was trying to get an Uber, but got caught up in the "this one kills on the OD channel but the clean channel sucks" vs. "this has the new upgraded clean channel but the gain channel isn't as tight" and all that crap with the different versions. I ALMOST had a trade made for one.

That said, I'm so happy with what I have now, that probably only an HX/DA, QuickRod, certain models of Shiva, and more likely now, one of the new lower watt versions of the SLO (30) or Bogner 3534. I just don't need 100 watt amps.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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.

In the early 70's I had a Hiwatt DR 103.
Nothing else I've had has even come close.
It is the amplifier of the Gods.

That being said, my favorite of the ones I still own
is a 1964 BF Fender Deluxe non reverb.

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.
The Kemper has seen the most use over past several years, where I focus on Marshall-based profiles from MBritt. But THE amp of amps for me is the PRS Super Dallas. Yes, I still have the MkIII and a couple others, but the SuperD saw several years of gigging. It is resilient, consistent, well built, and has that 3D sound found in many boutique amps (make no mistake, any PRS CAD amp is a handmade boutique amp). The pedalboard of mystical mojo perfection also pushed the amp into its sweet spot, which is the understatement of the year.

Can’t say enough about the older PRS amps. Doug and Jeff are masters of the amp universe and I’m SO fortunate to have experienced their art.

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!
 
I went through the amp-go-round for a few years, but never to that degree. I had multiple Mesa's and a few others, that got "cut" when I found the Archon and ATMA. I've been pretty happy with the ATMA for a small amp, but the Archon still rules all for me.
I don't get rid of much. I am not one that has to try everything and ends up buying the same amp 4 times because I didn't give it a fair chance. Some people are like that. I am not one of them. I have been in the game a long time so I grab what I like and roll with it.
 
That said, you have at least 4-5 of my bucket list amps on that list. Uber and XTC for sure, SLO most definitely, and maybe the BE100. Those and a Splawn QuickRod would be my "if I had room for all those" purchases.

Before I got the Archon, I was trying to get an Uber, but got caught up in the "this one kills on the OD channel but the clean channel sucks" vs. "this has the new upgraded clean channel but the gain channel isn't as tight" and all that crap with the different versions. I ALMOST had a trade made for one.

That said, I'm so happy with what I have now, that probably only an HX/DA, QuickRod, certain models of Shiva, and more likely now, one of the new lower watt versions of the SLO (30) or Bogner 3534. I just don't need 100 watt amps.
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!
 
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!
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.
 
Back
Top