What Are Your Favorite Amps To Play?

Thanks Les, I remember you had mentioned these before. I have the Siemens in the 30 and, as you said, they are perfect. I do like the winged C's in there too. I have gone back and forth with both in the 30 and 50.
For some reason I can seem to get the 50 set right or something. I think you had mentioned before, but the 50 doesn't break up as early as the 30. Add that and the fact of the small room I was in didnt help things either.
Once I get set up at my new place I am determined to get it sounding good.
Thanks for the advice which is always welcomed and helpful as usual. Thats why I love this place.
Yup, the larger room should let it open up more. As always, my advice is only what works for me, YMMV. ;)
 
I wouldn’t know how to record a clip. I will try and figure it out. Killer amp thouh
Gh. Very dynamic and cleans up great. Love the power scaling.
 
I wouldn’t know how to record a clip. I will try and figure it out. Killer amp thouh
Gh. Very dynamic and cleans up great. Love the power scaling.
Tag has put up clips with his phone that clearly show how great the amps sound. I know it’s not ideal, but the character of the amp can come through with phone clips.

Meantime, tell me what you like and don’t like about the amp. What makes it great, etc. I’ve heard it’s a “plexi-ish” amp. that with power scaling could be a great combination, since plexi’s need to be jacked up to sound their best.
 
You know.
I think some of you should come over and try a selection of guitars through:
Boogie Mark V
Boogie Mark III
MDT
Kemper (I’m all Britt) probably plugged into my Bassman 4x10

For a decent spread of guitars I’d probably go with:
Santana (duh)
Violin
Dirty 100
Hollow body piezo (piezo through my Fishman SoloPA)
Les Paul’s prototype Les Paul (scary ballsy)
Thorn’s take on a traditional tele
‘56 strat
NF superlight
And for P90, Thorn triple with blend for middle (last only because I forgot I was missing P90s)

Make it a Friday and I’ll order the best pizza in town - so good, he only serves on Friday.
 
Tag has put up clips with his phone that clearly show how great the amps sound. I know it’s not ideal, but the character of the amp can come through with phone clips.

Meantime, tell me what you like and don’t like about the amp. What makes it great, etc. I’ve heard it’s a “plexi-ish” amp. that with power scaling could be a great combination, since plexi’s need to be jacked up to sound their best.
Well I think it is more of a chimney sound then plexi. (I have only heard a plexi never played one). That being said when the boost is kicked in it definitely becomes more aggressive and in your face. Boost ups the volume more than I would like but that can be adjusted with internal trim. Need to do this soon. It cleans up wonderfully. I typically have it set for mild dirt and use the guitar volume to clean things up. Power scaling works wonderfully. I believe suhr has said with it below full it is like a non-MV amp and when up full it is a master volume amp. I typically set power and gain at 3 and it gets a great sound at lower volumes. Set the gain (volume)as desired. Really like this amp. It has taken all the dirt pedals I have tried very well but I typically just use a delay in the loop. Very quiet loop. Hope this helps.
 
I'm probably not alone in saying that from time to time I get into a different amp than my usual go-to, and kind of go down a rabbit hole with it.

Lately it's been my DG30, and that actually started before I got the DGT a couple of weeks ago. I was getting into it with my CU24; for some reason it's a really good match.

The DGT is of course a great pairing with the amp, too, and I'm spending a lot of time familiarizing myself with that guitar, so I guess it makes sense I'm spending even more time with the DG30.

Also getting into the Fillmore quite a bit; it's another fine match for the DGT.
 
I've just dug out my single ended hand wired cornford Carrera. Put it on the floor and plugged straight into it. Just amp, no effects or pedals. Haven't done that in years. More recently I've got a ported cab and a bluguitar amp 1 and a whole bunch of drive pedals and preamps as well as a line 6 DT50 head. They all sound great and are mostly analogue (apart from the Digital front end of the DT50) and I've enjoyed using overdrives, boosts, fuzzes and distortions. But it was real refreshing to just put a combo on the floor and plug straight in and have pure valve power. I think it's an amp that sounds best at lower volumes so great for quiet jamming along to backing tracks without annoying the house
 
I have a Silverface Vibrolux Reverb, a Custom Vibrolux Reverb and a Supro Keeley Custom 12. It would be really tough to say which one I prefer. The SFVR sounds best with single coil pickups; no great surprise there. The Supro sounds excellent with humbuckers. The Custom Vibrolux breaks up quicker than the SFVR, so I use it at home, even though it is 40 watts vs 35 for the SFVR. The Supro has “only” 25 watts but it can keep up with both of them.
 
1) Archon 100: great cleans and a fantastic lead channel. Love that the gain channel can do a nice crunch all the way to a nice metal gain. Just a great all around versatile amp. A keeper.
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2) HX/DA 30W: I think enough has been said about these. Great amp. Awesome plexi tones and love being able to change the brightness and gain thru the hxda switches. A keeper.
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3) HX/DA 50W: Very similar to the 30w but a little more bottom end. Surprisingly, I am having a tough time bonding with it. Still need to try some different settings and speakers.
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4) Peavey XXX 100w: total gain monster. Removes paint from the walls. I was shocked at a great clean channel too. Good pedal platform. Great 80's and 90's tone.
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5) Peavey Rockmaster 120w: A gift from my best friend, bandmate and best man who sadly passed a few years back. Very sentimental with this one, tried to give it to his son after his passing but his son wasnt too interested so I kept it. Good old rock machine. LOUD! Got some great marshally/plexi tones. I dont play it too often.
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6) Mesa mini recto 25w: Great little amp. Good tones over both channels of 10 and 25 watts. Its got nice clean and pushed side (switch) and a vintage and modern switch for some food versatility. Its a loud little sucker. Good Mesa tones, but I am not going to say this sounds just like a recto because it doesn't, but it does the mesa tone pretty well regardless. Been using this one for the last 5 months while selling our place and moving.
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7) Fender Sidekick Reverb 35: great little fender. Solid state with spring reverb. Fun little amp with some great fender tones.
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Still looking for a Mike built Soldano, (may just pick up a new BAD one for now) and maybe a Friedman down the road.
Just purchased a new place in Arizona and waiting to close in 2 weeks. I've got a nice shop out back with A/C and plenty of room that I can set up in. Been bedroom playing for the last 6 years and looking forward to being able to crack open the volumes again.

This is a great spectrum of amps. is there a general consensus on the HDXA 50 vs 30? More 30 or 50 lovers here?

sorry for the slight hijack.
 
is there a general consensus on the HDXA 50 vs 30? More 30 or 50 lovers here?
I have a 30W currently, and started with a 50W.

Both are equally great, if slightly different.

Let me start by putting one thing to rest: The 50 is only marginally louder than the 30. The master volume is absolutely up to the task with either amp. I wouldn't decide based on the idea that you're going to hear a volume difference, because the difference is very small.

As I understand it, the amps are identical except for the B-Rails. I wish I could explain how a B-Rail works, or even what it is, but I have no idea, it's simply what Doug Sewell told me. I'm parroting it back as if I know what I'm talking about.

However, I can describe the main tone difference between the two: The 30W is a little leaner in the lower midrange and bass, the 50W is a little fatter. Or, put another way, the 50W tends to be warmer (overused word, I know, but it's the only one that describes what I'm hearing that I can think of).

The amp to get depends on how you feel about fatter or leaner low mids and bass. I kinda wanted leaner because of the way my room sounds, so I switched when the 30W came out (all of my gigs are studio sessions).

If I played out, I'd probably want the 50W because it's closer to the Duane Allman tone that made me buy the amp in the first place. So it's definitely horses for courses as far as I'm concerned, though we're talking about very small degrees.

Something to keep in mind is that both amps' low ends are tweakable. You can make either amp leaner with, for example, NOS Siemens EL34s, or fatter with tubes like JJ EL34s. Hand wired amps like these are very revealing of the differences between tubes. That's a good thing because you can get the tone you want very easily just by swapping tubes.
 
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