Yet Another "Recommend Me Some Amps" thread

[László]

I'm certainly not completely satisfied, because a wide variety of amps and cabinets might be just as interesting to have as my wide variety of guitars...

I've gone with as few as one amp, and as many as 7 or 8 in my studio over the years. Plus a variety of software and hardware modeling devices. Right now I'm running two amps, the DG30 and the HXDA, and of course a plethora of software stuff that I use for writing mostly on ad projects.

For me, the software modelers are just writing tools unless something really weird is needed on a project, so I won't comment more on that.

And with the disclaimer that everyone's different and has different needs, I'll make a few comments as to where I've been headed over time.

The more amps I have, generally, the more time I utterly waste trying to decide what I'm in the mood to play or record. I wind up spending a lot of time taste testing, and not enough time on the actual work or playing.

For me one great two channel amp has usually been enough, combined with whatever pedals are needed to complete the work at hand.

Right now I have two single channel amps, which amounts to the same thing; I use one for cleaner stuff, and one for dirtier stuff, just as I would a two channel amp. I'm satisfied, happy, and productive this way.

YMMV, of course, but for me paralysis by analysis gets in the way of creativity.

 

[jfb]

Yeah I'm with Les. I heard Chappers say "option paralysis" which I use often. It gets in my way.

 

[Boogie]

+1
Find one thing that lights your fire and run with it. Chances are, there are other aspects that you will love, too.

 

[jfb]

+1
Find one thing that lights your fire and run with it. Chances are, there are other aspects that you will love, too.

I miss your Super Dallas. :biggrin:

 

[aristotle]

Yeah.... Who are these idiots that have more than a couple of amps?

Kidding aside, I'll be the contrarian again. I'm certainly not saying that it's practical to have a bunch of amps, or that it's needed in any way. There is no question that I can do everything that I need to do for both live stuff, and noodling around at home, with...say... a Marshall Vintage Modern, an Exotic BB, an OCD and a TC Flashback. Under $1K all-in.

But I find monkeying around with the spectrum of amps out there way too fun. No option paralysis here. I treat the amps like I do the guitars. I tend to stick with a couple of guitars and a couple of amps for a couple of months, and then rotate to the next. Currently, it's a white DGT, a Firebird, an Archon and a Marshall 6100LE. The Archon is about due to rest some. It's been some time since I've played the Two Rock ODS, so it'll come back for a couple of months....and the Firebird will rest and be replaced by a Les Paul R7. The changeup in tone live really keeps things new and exciting to me.

Not practical, to be sure. But it's fun, and works...

 

[László]

Yeah.... Who are these idiots that have more than a couple of amps?

Kidding aside, I'll be the contrarian again. I'm certainly not saying that it's practical to have a bunch of amps, or that it's needed in any way. There is no question that I can do everything that I need to do for both live stuff, and noodling around at home, with...say... a Marshall Vintage Modern, an Exotic BB, an OCD and a TC Flashback. Under $1K all-in.

But I find monkeying around with the spectrum of amps out there way too fun. No option paralysis here. I treat the amps like I do the guitars. I tend to stick with a couple of guitars and a couple of amps for a couple of months, and then rotate to the next. Currently, it's a white DGT, a Firebird, an Archon and a Marshall 6100LE. The Archon is about due to rest some. It's been some time since I've played the Two Rock ODS, so it'll come back for a couple of months....and the Firebird will rest and be replaced by a Les Paul R7. The changeup in tone live really keeps things new and exciting to me.

Not practical, to be sure. But it's fun, and works...

I hope you noticed that I did say "And with the disclaimer that everyone's different and has different needs..."

It is fun to have a lot of amps and guitars. No question!

Does it enhance one's inspiration and perhaps one's creativity? Maybe for some folks it does! I can only speak for myself as a working, recording musician with "special needs."

Typically, my turnaround time on an ad project, including writing to finished picture, tracking, mixing, and changes per client feedback is two (2) days. That's not a lot of time! So for me to sit around and try to decide between a bunch of guitars and amps is simply out of the question, whether I'd prefer to do that or not.

In my business, I have to make creative decisions and work fast. Just the way it is. And I find that limiting my choices also enhances my musical creativity.

This is something that Jack White has been interviewed about recently; here's a guy who can do whatever he wants, but finds that his creative work is better when he intentionally limits his options. His studio, for example, consists of a limited amount of analog gear and a vintage 8 track tape machine. He says that recording this way forces him to think in certain ways that enhance his creativity. I get that.

In fact, I regularly delete all rarely-used plugins from my computer. I don't even want them as options. The last thing I want to do is waste time auditioning, say, compressors or reverbs. I also don't like auditioning amps and guitars while I'm working; it winds up being Taste Fairy** stuff when I'm trying to capture ideas while they're still fresh. I've done that with far less gear than some here routinely use, and it just gets in the way for me. No one hears more than gross differences between guitars and amps once they're recorded and mixed. A guitar/amp combination either sounds great, or it isn't worth laying down. And "sounds great" is the only thing I care about.

So I don't think, "Oh this needs a certain guitar, and a certain amp sound." I tend to instead tell myself, "I want a fat sound here with a lot of grit," or "Something sparkly and clean would be great on this track."

As long as both have great tone, I'm good. And what I've found out over the past 25 years is, so are my clients.

In fact, the only time a client ever said anything about guitar choice was when I did some tracks in Europe for a car company. The client was a guitar enthusiast, and said, "Hey Les, you shoulda used a big ol' Rickenbacker 12 String on this track."

So I pulled my big ol' Rickenbacker 12 String out of its case and said, "You mean like this one? I used it on the track."

Yeah, he didn't have a clue.

I do the same with amps and guitars. If I find something new that works better for me creatively than something I have, well, the thing I have goes. That choice is therefore no longer available, and as a side benefit, doing that really makes me think hard about my creative needs, and it helps pay for the new thing.

My son, who has now worked with famed producers Steve Lillywhite and Flood, tells me that they also embrace a "less is more" philosophy when it comes to auditioning gear (even microphones) and taught him to concentrate on the performances, not the gear.

This isn't to say that I don't want great sounding equipment! I do. But once it's chosen, having one item for a purpose instead of many items is just a better thing -- for me.

YMMV. YMMV. And YMMV.

**The Taste Fairy is like the Tooth Fairy. A mythical being. There is no sexuality comment intended or implied here. I hope I'm making myself clear.

 

[tolm]

I can heartily recommend checking out Tone King. I tried a Sky King (twin channel fender-esque with dual attenuator controls) and a Majesty/Royalist (single channel Marshall-esque with attenuator) recently. Both epic sounding amps - but the Marshall tone was what I was after so went home with the Majesty.

 

[Boogie]

Yeah.... Who are these idiots that have more than a couple of amps?

If I allowed myself he financial latitude, I'd have a bazillion amps. Guitars are covered, mostly, for me, but I get all weak in he knees for a large variety of amps. If I ever sell my business and/or pay off the kids' college expense, I'll need to expand the Boogie Cave. Maybe even something similar you your dojo! :rock:

**The Taste Fairy is like the Tooth Fairy. A mythical being. There is no sexuality comment intended or implied here. I hope I'm making myself clear.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. :biggrin:

 

[László]

Not that there's anything wrong with that. :biggrin:

I feel the same way about having a lot of amps.

 

[László]

Confession: I once had a 400 watt Mesa all tube bass amp with a very heavy duty cab to go with it.

That was a powerful sucker. I played a 35 inch scale length Modulus bass with a graphite neck through it. Sounded divine.

Sold it to raise money for something I also no longer have.

Things come, things go. But I never heard a better bass sound.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Confession: I once had a 400 watt Mesa all tube bass amp with a very heavy duty cab to go with it.

That was a powerful sucker. I played a 35 inch scale length Modulus bass with a graphite neck through it. Sounded divine.

Sold it to raise money for something I also no longer have.

Things come, things go. But I never heard a better bass sound.

I had one of those Boogie Strategy 500 power amps that was just a straight up retardiculous amount of power! Hit a low E string chug and the first ten rows would poop their panties, of course I did too tryin' to lift that stuff. I hear you though, it sounded great... police showed up wherever I plugged in.

 

[shinksma]

The HRDX I have I quite like. It is not everyone's favorite amp, and I understand that - but I think for what I play, and how I play, it suits me just fine. And with the extension cab it seems to really have a nice sound now.

The reason I started this thread was because I was (and will continue to be) suspicious that there are other great tones out there for me to find, especially something "tighter" and more "modern" (whatever that may mean to any particular individual). I think something like the Archon or a Mesa/Boogie Double/Triple Rec would fill that void, but I'm OK waiting a while - I've had lots of other toys to buy recently (including that extension cab), plus a few other more annoying and unplanned expenses.

So I will continue to look around, and maybe someone will want to unload their Archon on Reverb or something for a fair price...

 

[Boogie]

I had one of those Boogie Strategy 500 power amps that was just a straight up retardiculous amount of power! Hit a low E string chug and the first ten rows would poop their panties, of course I did too tryin' to lift that stuff. I hear you though, it sounded great... police showed up wherever I plugged in.

Confessions of a latent bass player...I still have a Crown DC300A that I used to biamp a Gallien-Kreuger old MX series into Guild Hartke aluminum coned 4x10 + 1x15 cabs. Played that for an outdoor festival gig for a performance choral competition (we were the pit band) and though the music was trite and boring, I still remember the huge grin on my face. biggrin: The Mesa gear was only a dream for me.

 

[TroyBaer]

I would say for tube: Hughes & Kettner tubemeister (varying sizes)

I concur. I have two H&Ks, a Triamp Mk. 2 and a Tubemeister 36, and it's kind of amazing how much of the Triamp's huge range is covered by the much less expensive and more portable Tubemeister 36.

 

[László]

Confessions of a latent bass player...I still have a Crown DC300A that I used to biamp a Gallien-Kreuger old MX series into Guild Hartke aluminum coned 4x10 + 1x15 cabs. Played that for an outdoor festival gig for a performance choral competition (we were the pit band) and though the music was trite and boring, I still remember the huge grin on my face. biggrin: The Mesa gear was only a dream for me.

Those old Crown DC300As were also great PA amps, and for a while, they were the darlings of the audiophile community as well (I'm going back to the 70s here).

 

[USMC7312]

Not sure if you are still looking, but a clean amp that you might wish to consider is the Port City Pearl. Brian Wampler recommends this.

 

[shinksma]

Still looking! Although I must admit I am quite happy with the sound out of my HRDX right now. But since I will eventually get something else to expand my horizons, I welcome the suggestion!

 

[shinksma]

Hmm, looking at the Port City webpage, they recommend a $200 power cord upgrade. If that six-feet or so of 12 gauge power cord can make that much of a difference, I better re-wire my whole house, which has dozens of feet of 15-amp 16 gauge wire from the plug back to the main breaker that must be sucking the soul out of not only my amp and guitar sound, but my actual soul too!

Anyone making such recommendations gets chopped off my interest list immediately.

 

[László]

Anyone making such recommendations gets chopped off my interest list immediately.

I've never heard a power cord make a difference, either with my high quality studio monitoring rig or my guitar amps.

Your argument about the Romex type wiring in a house should be correct.

Then again, 100 years ago we learned that gravity bends light, something most folks in physics thought was impossible until 15 years later when they tested the theory by means of observatory photographs of solar eclipses. And that space and time are really space-time. Etc. So I won't entirely close my mind to the possibility that some off-the-wall theory might be true.

I'd be willing to conduct a real-world test of this cord with my own ears -- if the manufacturer would be willing to 100% refund my money if (as I would expect) the only difference between the resulting tones is psychological.

About 20 years ago, my studio tech, an electrical engineer, helped me conduct a test on speaker cables between my high end B&W studio monitors and my Krell power amplifier. We did it as a blind test. I was seated in the sweet spot between the speakers, and was not able to see the cables, that were hidden behind the large monitor stands I was using. He switched cables back and forth, and I wrote down my guesses on a blind A vs. B basis.

The cables were heavy duty Kimber cables vs heavy duty zip wire. Theoretically, I agreed that there should have been no audible difference.

However, to both of our amazement, I was able to correctly identify the A cable and the B cable 9 out of ten times. We repeated the test just to make sure, and the result was the same. Anything over 50% is statistically significant, and this was 9/10. So I used the Kimber in my studio instead of the zip wire.

My tech was so upset with the impossibility of this result, that he wouldn't repeat the test a third time. He stormed around saying something must have been wrong with the test.

My speaker stands were 12 inch diameter ASC tube trap speaker stands. I could not see the cables. Nor could I see my tech working, as he was completely blocked by the large 60 input console I had at the time. To make things even more fair, I swiveled my chair around during the cable changing. The whole comparison was truly a blind comparison.

I will admit that this result should not have been possible. But it really happened.

So to this day I keep an open mind on some of this audiophile tweaky stuff.

However, I will NEVER be convinced that small wooden discs placed around a room can affect the sound. Some of this stuff is truly impossible!

http://www.shunmook.com/text1.htm

 

[shinksma]

Found myself an amp...

Some teasers images first...