What Are Your Favorite Amps To Play?

Monahan said:
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The dog is clearly thinking, "Dude, for goodness sakes, why are you playing through a transistor amp?"
 
I have to say I made a new discovery with the HDRX20 tonight. I rolled through the beast (Archon) for a week, then the ATMA last week. Back to the HDRX 20 tonight. My pedal board is a constant flux board, with pedals going on and off almost every time I play. I had previously said how great this amp sounded with the Barber Compact Direct Drive, and the Timmy as primary drive pedals. Using that rhythm tone, several other pedals have provided a great solo tone on top of that. The Barber GCX (special edition of the Gain Changer), the Fulldrive 3, and especially the Black Magic Zendrive.

Well tonight, I put my special edition LovedPedal Amp11 on the board. This pedal has an Amp 11 on one side, and an SHO boost on the other. I dialed the Amp11 side for a variety of added gain, mainly from half way up to as much as all the way up. Then I dialed the SHO boost side to give it a kick for solos.

This is the best combination I have tried so far! Lew and I were in discussion about how the HDRX20 seems to need a boost to really make it sing, UNLESS you can turn it up way loud. Trust me, I was over 90dB in the music room and never got past 9:00 on the dial. Lew and I were discussing how it really gets into PI saturation at half or more, but that is WAY too loud for home (and many gigs. This thing is LOUD for a 20 watt amp!) Anyway, the SHO is a KILLER sounding boost. If you haven't tried one, it is unique and very cool. It's also a VERY simple boost pedal. I have one I built years ago. It always comes and goes from my board. It's a great sounding boost. I've also read that the Amp 11 is a very similar circuit to a Timmy. Some of even said that Lovepedal ripped off Paul C and basically cloned it, but added more traditional style bass and treble controls.

Anyway, the Amp11 is magic with the HDRX20! Just makes the amp sing! This post is too long already, but I do run treble gain up full, bass gain at half or so. Treble and mids up full, bass 9:00 or so (has a lot of bass with the Zbest cab!), presence half to 3:00, and master at 9:00 for now. Bright on, high mids on. This thing SCREAMS! Killer tones! Then kick the SHO boost side on for solos and WOW! One pedal from low to mid gain rhythm tones and killer solo tones! Basically, dialed towards that "dimed Plexi" thing but with the volume and bass turned down because it hass too much when you dime those as well, then the Amp11 makes up for having to turn the volume down. Gives that cranked amp/overdriven PI tone, at "reasonable" volumes.

I do wish I could have shared this with Lew. That's the only downer in this story. But it sounded so good tonight I'm considering moving the Bogner.
 
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Monahan said:
After 40-odd years of playing through a lot of different amps, I've settled on two that I simply love-- each for a specific purpose.

First, when I just want to sit down and play for the joy of it, or if I'm out jamming with friends:

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Top favorite is a Boss "Nextone Artist." It's 80 watts (selectable at .5, 40, 80) features a Class AB analog power section that changes the output circuitry and the way in which the preamp and speaker interact with it. It is designed to function independently, or if so desired it can be connected to a computer and tweak all kinds of details using an online editor. After nearly a year, I've yet connected it to a computer; I just plug straight in, tweak the knobs to taste and enjoy. There's a multi-function foot-switch I picked up when I bought the amp, but I've yet to even take that out of the box... which I feel kind of bad about as it wasn't exactly cheap.

For practice sessions, fun with effect chains and recording, my favorite is:

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Another Boss product! This one is a Katana MkII-100 Artist. Different than the normal Katana, this one has a Waza speaker, slightly larger cab, and-- most importantly-- a front facing control panel. As much as I love my Nextone, it was a real PIA not being able to easily access the controls when seated, working in my "studio." Having the controls on the front solved that problem. Having the online editor really opens up the possibilities with this amp, so it feels more like a companion to the Nextone, rather than duplication of effort.

When buying these amps, I intended to get something along the lines of a nice Mesa Boogie, or Fender Deluxe/Super/Twin/etc. All of which I've had before. However, these two fit my specific needs, sound fantastic, weigh significantly less, and are very affordable.

Next time you're out, give one of these two a play through-- they're a lot of fun :)
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I have the 50 MKII that I deep edit with the Librarian app in my phone. It communicates via Bluetooth through my Airstep Kat footswitch. If not for deep editing, it'd been long gone.

A couple tricks I picked up on...

Placing a para-eq post-amp for boost, really wakes it up. Being able to cut/boost frequencies, along with adjusting the Q-curves, gives a world of different colors within the same amp sim. I'd liken it to changing tubes and/or speakers.

Since it only has one BOOST effect, I use one of the FX or MOD effects to put a graphic-eq in front of the BOOST effect as a pre-booster.

But yes...definitely a a lot of fun.
 
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Replying to the old version of this thread rather than this week’s version, just because my other thoughts are here.

I got my Boogie Mark III back from the repair shop (great people to work with) yesterday and played it last night. It didn’t take long to remember how much different the sound can be with a tiny turn of a knob. Going from 2 to 2 1/2 can be huge. No wonder some people found it frustrating. Still, it suits me better than anything else and will almost certainly be the last amp standing...not that I am in any rush to get rid of the others.
 
veinbuster said:
Replying to the old version of this thread rather than this week’s version, just because my other thoughts are here.

I got my Boogie Mark III back from the repair shop (great people to work with) yesterday and played it last night. It didn’t take long to remember how much different the sound can be with a tiny turn of a knob. Going from 2 to 2 1/2 can be huge. No wonder some people found it frustrating. Still, it suits me better than anything else and will almost certainly be the last amp standing...not that I am in any rush to get rid of the others.
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My Mark V was the same way in some modes. The frustrating thing was, if I dialed something I loved and then switched guitars, it wasn't the usual changes you'd make when switching to that guitar... and in many cases, I could not dial in something I loved with that channel and proximity of settings with the new guitar. Or, even with the same guitar it wouldn't sound great the next day...

But, after months of trying, I basically was down to playing 1-2 guitars through it rather than my constant rotation of guitars, just to avoid the hassle.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
My Mark V was the same way in some modes. The frustrating thing was, if I dialed something I loved and then switched guitars, it wasn't the usual changes you'd make when switching to that guitar... and in many cases, I could not dial in something I loved with that channel and proximity of settings with the new guitar. Or, even with the same guitar it wouldn't sound great the next day...

But, after months of trying, I basically was down to playing 1-2 guitars through it rather than my constant rotation of guitars, just to avoid the hassle.
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I pretty much set the Mark III for midnight blues and leave it alone. Les Pauls, 59/09 and Viola love it.
 
veinbuster said:
I pretty much set the Mark III for midnight blues and leave it alone. Les Pauls, 59/09 and Viola love it.
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The V is almost impossible to leave alone. And again , not just because there are SO MANY things it can do, but even if you find one tone you love on one of the three channels, you could hardly even switch guitars without starting over.

I've said this before, but is kind of the point. If I had a set gig with a set sound that was "my sound for that band" that the V did well, I'd have used that one setting and that one guitar for that gig and been happy. But trying to get something great out of all three channels, then switch guitars and start all over again... after a while, it wasn't worth it. It's SO easy with the Archon and my tone is better. But switch guitars, pedals or gain levels or ANYTHING, and quickly and easily dial in something great.
 
Bogner said:
:(
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Don't worry... as the group will attest... I don't make these decisions quickly. I really like the ATMA but as I've said before, it should have been built with less bass. I've considered making that change myself, but am "semi-actively" seeking a bigger glass/iron replacement. I won't move it until I"m sure I have something better to replace it to. I was considering a 20th Anniversary Shiva for a while...

And, I've been watching them lately and it seems they've dropped at least $300 or so in value on the used market recently, but I knew that was coming and hopefully anything I consider in it's place will have dropped as well.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
Don't worry... as the group will attest... I don't make these decisions quickly. I really like the ATMA but as I've said before, it should have been built with less bass. I've considered making that change myself, but am "semi-actively" seeking a bigger glass/iron replacement. I won't move it until I"m sure I have something better to replace it to. I was considering a 20th Anniversary Shiva for a while...

And, I've been watching them lately and it seems they've dropped at least $300 or so in value on the used market recently, but I knew that was coming and hopefully anything I consider in it's place will have dropped as well.
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As Long As You Do A Bogner Out For A Bogner In We Can Remain On Speaking Terms. If Not, I Demand To Speak With Winger! :)
 
Bogner said:
As Long As You Do A Bogner Out For A Bogner In We Can Remain On Speaking Terms. If Not, I Demand To Speak With Winger! :)
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Oh trust me, the classic Bogners have long been on my list, just not wanting to drop $3K on a 20 year old 101B or whatever. Plus, as much as I drool over that sound, I'm leaning more towards an upper mid focus, (boutique higher gain JCM800 type) tone, than the Bogner lower mid focus. And, unfortunately, I'm scaled down from a few years ago so having both is not really an option.
 
Marshall JTM Studio

Fender Chris Stapleton Princeton

Vox Cream Edition AC10

And

I recently bought the Positive Grid Spark Go and it's pretty amazing! Low volume practice amp, you have to use your phone to use 99% of it's features but yeah. Well worth the kidney!

I am in the business for a new tube amp as well, something for a wild card but usuable.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
Don't worry... as the group will attest... I don't make these decisions quickly. I really like the ATMA but as I've said before, it should have been built with less bass. I've considered making that change myself, but am "semi-actively" seeking a bigger glass/iron replacement. I won't move it until I"m sure I have something better to replace it to. I was considering a 20th Anniversary Shiva for a while...

And, I've been watching them lately and it seems they've dropped at least $300 or so in value on the used market recently, but I knew that was coming and hopefully anything I consider in it's place will have dropped as well.
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You should check out the new Soldano….Astro 20
 
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