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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello everyone!

Since people ask here the same question on a regular basis, "What amp should I buy?" or "Any amp suggestions?" or one of its infinite variants, I though it might be neat to compile a "Jemsite guide to amps" sort of a thing. I scribbled down quickly something off my memory, feel free to add to it. Maybe someone (Glen, myself, anyone?) could, after the 100+ posts :roll: , compile & edit the text to be the first source of info for the player in search of a new amp. Then make it sticky or whatnot, I guess it might save some server space or something. Or just close it down and let it drift into oblivion. :wink:

The point is not to make some brand stand out, but to bring out the good qualities of any amp known to public. Your cup of tea may not be the one for the rest of us, so please try to be objective, so this project will not start to resemble something like Harmony Central at its worst.

Here we go then. Many manufacturers (like Budda, Cornford) and loads of info are still missing, so like said, go on and add your knowledge. Maybe a reference list of distinct amp tones on recordings might be useful as well.

The Jemsite guide to guitar amps

This article of reference was put together by jemsite members in order to help you to choose the very amp for you and your needs. It is by no means endorsed by any company, but based on the subjective experiences and opinions of individuals involved in guitar playing.
If you are in search of a new amp and wish to get some suggestions, please refer to this article and the manufacturers' web sites, and then please do a site search before posting a new thread. Thank you and happy hunting!

Line6 www.line6.com

Flextone, POD Pro XT, Vetta
- Versatile, non-tube amps with efx. Should give enough gain without an OD pedal (depending of the model of course) for metal stuff as well. Models include Fender, Marshall, Soldano, Boogie and Matchless amps. Some people don't like modelling amps because of their "lack of response and feel". Line6 products have found their way into many recording studios, homes and stages around the world, and were a huge factor in the breakthrough of modelling amps during the last few years.

Marshall www.marshallamps.com

JCM 800, JCM 900, DSL, TSL, JMP, 1959, Mode Four
- Marshall has defined the "industry standard" rock sound, the British tone, over its 40 years of history. Their sound is saturated and not so mid-heavy. Marshall users include Zakk Wylde, Slash, Scott Ian, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai, and many others.

- Marshalls do not have the "highest gain around", but seem to excel at "cruch"-type tones. Many players use high-output pickups and an OD pedal to kick the amp to fierce distortion. For heavy rock and metal tones, the JCM 800 is the weapon of choice of many. Arguably the best ones are the 50 & 100w single channel heads from the early '80s. Although lacking in controls and multiple channels, they deliver the thing they're built for: rock tone. Vai's Passion and Warfare was recorded mostly with modified JCM800s. The 1987 Jubilee Series is also worth checking out: They're one of Jim Marshalls favourites, Slash's amp of choice, and Steve Morse has sang praises for the 2550 head, which he has used extensively for recording. JCM800s are still available for reasonable prices in the second hand market, as are the Jubilees. The JCM900s are used by many metal players.

- The most sought-after Marshalls are the vintage ones made in the '60s and '70s. They have been used by Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen to create legendary tones. The old ones are not high gain amps, and were ofter modified by skilful amp techs for more preamp gain. But as with all Marshalls, the tone gets very impressive at loud (most would say ridiculously loud) volumes; responsive, dynamic & huge. Only the 1959 Reissue is currently in production, and the prices for vintage amps are sky high. The JMP amp made in late '70s to 1983 can still be found at somewhat affordable prices, and is the poor man's ticket to vintage vibe without a second mortgage.

- The newer Marshalls like DSL (Dual Super Lead), TSL (triple-) and Mode Four offer more channels and versatility. Marshalls are ofter dissed for lacking a good clean sound, but these multi-channel amps also deliver those goods for the players who need best of the both worlds. DSL, TSL and Mode Four also deliver very high gain sounds suitable for soaring leads and metal music.

MESA/Boogie www.mesaboogie.com

Mark IIC+, Mark III, Mark IV, Dual & Triple Rectifiers, Caliber series, Nomad

- Mesa was started by Randall Smith as small amp shop which modifier small Fender combos for more gain. Soon the word spread, and with users like Carlos Santana Boogie became one of the big names in the industry. Other Boogie men include John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Metallica, Jerry Cantrell, Andy Timmons, Cannibal Corpse, Helmet, Tool and almost every nu-metal band out there.

- Boogies deliver fierce gain and a good clean sound. They are versatile amps, and you can get plenty of tones by tweaking and using your guitar controls. Although Mesas are based on Fender designs, they have a distinctive voice of their own; a slightly darker, less fuzzy and more focused in the midrange than Marshalls, known widely as the "Califonia sound". Many players prefer Mesa especially for lead work.

- The Mark series is the first one by Mesa. Mark I and Mark II have more "vintagey" vibe, but Mark IIC+ is a great tool for rock, and is the weapon of choice of John Petrucci's. Too bad Mark IIC+ amps are very sought after and thus very expensive. Mark III has a reputation of a solid rock amp, and was used along the Caliber .50 amps by Metallica in the '80s. The Mark III's got three channels, but common eq, so getting the sounds you want requires some tweaking. Mark IV is a favourite of many, has knobs to spare and is very versatile amp, being able to cover anything from a jazz gig to a headbanging festival. Mark IV and Mark I reissue are still in production.

- The Rectifier series are at their best in heavy rock and metal music, and are mostly responsible for the nu-metal sound. Rectos deliver massive gain with good crunch, and enough power and definition to cut through any loud band. The clean channel of the Rectifier amps isn't that applauded, but if you go for a Recto you probably won't need it anyway.

- Nomad series amps have three channels with separate eqs, and are loved by many for their many options.

Carvin Legacy www.carvin.com

- The Legacy was designed after the needs of Steve Vai, and is his main amp. It's got a very pronounced midrange and is great for lead playing. With 100 watts of power, it won't get lost in the mix either. Some feel it hasn't got enough gain for heavy rock playing and decide to beef up things a bit with an OD pedal. The amp's got rave reviews all over the world, and is quite affordable as well.

Peavey 5150 www.peavey.com

- The Peavey 5150 was designed with Eddie Van Halen. The amp delivers loads of gain, and has been widely accepted among hard rock and metal players, such as Steve Morse, Carcass and Devin Townsend, as well as EVH himself of course. An upgrade of 5150, the 5150 II, has been released as well, but still many prefer the vibe of the original design.

Rivera www.rivera.com

R-series, M-series, Sedona etc.

- Rivera amps are designed by Paul Rivera, who designed amps for Fender, among others, before starting his own company. The idea of dual-channel Riveras is to have a Fender-like clean channel and a Marshall-like distortion channel. Riveras are known to be versatile and well made. They deliver anything from jazz to metal, thus becoming favourites of many studios players and performers. Users include Mike Keneally, David Torn, Head & Munky of Korn, Steve Lukather, Ani DiFranco and Chris Duarte.

Bogner www.bogneramplification.com

Shiva, Ecstacy, Uberschall

- Bogner amps are designed by Reinholdt Bogner, who started out as an amp tech modifying Marshalls for big names on the West Coast. Bogners are known for their great tone, versatility and power (not to mention a discouraging price tag). The Bogner Ecstacy was Steve Vai's amp of choice for the Alien Love Secrets album, give it a listen and you'll get the idea. The Uberschall is designed for playing loud metal music with detuned or six string guitars. It delivers an insane growl and massive bottom end thump, and is considered the ultimate metal amp of all times by many hard-boiled headbangers.

Soldano www.soldano.com

- The Soldanos are children of Michael Soldano, and are great rock machines. The quality of these amps is very good, and they are used by various artists ranging from Nuno Bettencourt and Steve Vai to Mark Knopfler and Loud Reed.

Laney www.laney.co.uk

- Solid British amps for the musician on budget (hey, that's almost all of us, right? :wink: ). Endorsers include Paul Gilbert, Tony Iommi and Mattias Eklundh. Especially their 15 and 30 watt, EL84-based combos have been reported to deliver serious tone for the buck.

continued...
 
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#27 ·
Jem7RB MK said:
http://www.engl-amps.com/engl-amps/ for ENGL amplification,most people whom have played through them love em,those that have'nt seem to dismiss them as cheap mesa copie's :roll:

For what it's worth,i'd have prefered a Cornford or Tri-amp,but budget allowed me to get My ENGL,and i have not been dissapointed once,an by jesus for a 50 watter is frickin loud :)

Rob
ENGL is better than Mesa any day IMO

Another thing regarding amps never believe brand names or magazine articles. Some amps (not metioning names) have too much hype. When cheaper amps are just as good. :twisted:
 
#28 ·
#29 ·
freak said:
Jem7RB MK said:
http://www.engl-amps.com/engl-amps/ for ENGL amplification,most people whom have played through them love em,those that have'nt seem to dismiss them as cheap mesa copie's :roll:

For what it's worth,i'd have prefered a Cornford or Tri-amp,but budget allowed me to get My ENGL,and i have not been dissapointed once,an by jesus for a 50 watter is frickin loud :)

Rob
ENGL is better than Mesa any day IMO

Another thing regarding amps never believe brand names or magazine articles. Some amps (not metioning names) have too much hype. When cheaper amps are just as good. :twisted:
That's a gross generalization. For some things Mesa Mark line of amps blows away everything else. They have certain "note afterburn" which all other amps don't have. And believe it or not, Mesa Rectifiers are internally almost identical to Soldano SLO amps (only in high gain channel, though) which are regarded as the best by some folks. Converting one into another is 1 hour of work for someone with soldering skills.
 
#30 ·
I agree with microdimitry here...I just got done "test-driving" a Mesa Nomad 45 2X12 a couple of hours ago and I am still in shock.

I am a Mesa man through and through, now...a lot of versatility, tons of different sounds, and responsive EQ...all I can ask for.

I have to agree that if you can't get a good tone out of a Mesa, particularly the Nomad, it's your own fault, either you lack articulation, because they are very sensitive, or you just don't have enough patience to spend 5-10 minutes working with an amp.
 
#31 ·
I suggest you get the Nomad and join the club....it is a phenomenal amp, not only in the sheer versatility, but in it's ability to do all of it extremely well. Extremely transparent cleans, great blues tones, and all out punishing recto type crunch...only with more character. Add to that a global master and solo boost controls, what else do you need?

If you get another chance to test drive it, do yourself a favor and plug it into a 4x12....absolutely unreal. It outran my Rivera through my 4x12, but it wasn't a fair fight, I have yet to really dial the Rivera in, just plugged in and went for it.
 
#32 ·
Good stuff up there form the Rivera site on tube descriptions. A couple are missing: 6V6 (Deluxe Reverb, etc.) and EL84 (Vox, etc.). More and more lately I'm interested in smaller amps (that happen to use these tubes), not just because of practicality, but because I love the tone of these valves. :)
Greg

=========================

Couldn't find a good decsription, but here's a start from the Boogie site:

http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/Smith/bad_attitude.html

Selected notes:

"Both tubes have modest power handling capabilities of around 15 watts per pair. Both were widely used in the 1950s and '60s..."

"The 6V6 was widely used by Fender during the '50s and '60s for their low power models...Operating below the distortion threshold, the 6V6 sound is "skinny"-not objectionably thin, but bright nevertheless with bouncy, resilient dynamics. When overdriven, the low order second and third harmonics rise to predominance, obscuring the bright high frequencies and "fattening" the sound in a way which is a trademark of American blues."

"Meanwhile in Europe--particularly in England-during the same period, the EL84 was the power tube of choice in small amplifiers. The sound of this tube is very different from that of the 6V6. The EL84 possesses a glassy brightness whose emphasis is in frequencies higher than the bright zone of the 6V6...an aggressive, snarling bite..."
 
#33 ·
The 84 is a great tube and I agree with you on the penchant for lower wattage amps...the 84's sound fantastic when you punch the crap out of them. The Nomad being all of 45 watts loves to be flogged hard. I also have been finding myself running the Rivera on Triode mode instead of pentode which lowers the overall output dBs allowing for some flogging to take place.

Can't say I was able to do that with my TSL 100 running fulll bore, opening that sucker up was like starting an earthquake, the sheer volume was intolerable. I am contemplated retubing one side of the TBR with 6L6's just for variety...plus I'd love to hear that Rivera clean through a hot pair of 6L6's

Bonus for 84's, they're cheap as all get out.
 
#102 · (Edited)
Well, I'll have to throw VHT into the ring again, absolutely awesome amps, why anyone in the UK would buy a rectifier instead of this I have no idea...


:D
When it comes to VHTs, the Pittbull is a bad mutha. 3 channels, footswitchable graphic eq, half power function, power and gain to spare and tones modern as hell. Suits almost everything. Smokes your average boxes. A buddy's got a 2x12 Pittbull, I've gigged it a couple of times and loved it. Btw, the Pittbull won the 100 W GP combo shootout back in '92. The runner-up was the 30th Anniversary Marshall (yup, the blue one).
I've got an Ultr Lead, with the graphic EQ on it. Seriously smokes, pinpoint precise, and a lead tone that just screams. It's not a dominating amp, but rather one that sits nicely in a growling snarly midrange, with ridiculously tight almost percussive bass response. However, it's not for everyone, and is a seriously dry amp, tight as hell, but whilst still having an organice 3d sounding midrange.
 
#37 ·
If you guys have hand-on experience with these Hughes&Kettners etc, please feel free to share as it's pretty easy for everyone to find all those manufacturer websites...


When it comes to VHTs, the Pittbull is a bad mutha. 3 channels, footswitchable graphic eq, half power function, power and gain to spare and tones modern as hell. Suits almost everything. Smokes your average boxes. A buddy's got a 2x12 Pittbull, I've gigged it a couple of times and loved it. Btw, the Pittbull won the 100 W GP combo shootout back in '92. The runner-up was the 30th Anniversary Marshall (yup, the blue one).
 
#39 ·
For me it's all about my mesa boogie road king combo. Before I bought it I tried out a marshall tsl122 and considered a legacy but I stumbled onto a road king for $2200 so I jumped on it. I now have just about any tone imaginable at my fingertips in a convenient combo.
 
#40 ·
For me it's all about my mesa boogie road king combo. Before I bought it I tried out a marshall tsl122 and considered a legacy but I stumbled onto a road king for $2200 so I jumped on it. I now have just about any tone imaginable at my fingertips in a convenient combo.
 
#42 ·
a brand I haven't seen on here is Hughes and Kettner, the Triamp and the Duotone are quite nice amps. Too bad the price is pretty much up there with Mesas and such. I myself am looking for a nice 2x12, and so far I've got it down to Peavey, Mesa/Boogie, and possibly Soldano (well, if they make one), oh and possibly Bogner if I can afford it. Used section here I come! Ha ha.
 
#43 ·
heh, my bad, I must have missed the two people who talked about H&K amps. I've played with the original Triamp onstage before, and it was very nice sounding. Unfortunately that was when I had only been playing for about a year, so I wasn't really looking for tone so much as just getting the job done. What I do remember though was that the clean was really pretty (lol, I believe I used a Squier as a backup for my Schecter [which was in drop B] so the clean sounded really bright, but I did get a chance to use my Schecter in standard tuning and it sounded great. Lot's of nice pronounced mids and such but with a nice high end and just enough bass), and the high gain channel was just great. Since I was playing a very heavy song, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was nicely surprised because the distortion doesn't break up when tuned low. Standard it's just all 100% wonderfully crunchy distortion. You can describe the distortion like chunky peanut butter! But yeah..ahem. It's a nice amp. Although I believe that I've changed my mind and feel like saving up a butt-load of money and getting a Bogner Uberschall. Yippee!
 
#45 ·
I have been living with my Mesa Boogie Rect-o-verb 50w head and rectifier 2x12 cab for about three months now, and it inspires me every time that I plug into it. I disagree with whomever commented that Rectos do not deliver the clean goods, as my favorite tone are from the clean to slightly overdriven timbres. I primarily use the clean, raw, and vintage modes, occasionally using the clean/driven for blues, and modern for the recto tones. The presence control really helps to shape the tone, especially setting it optimally for chordal vs. single note lines. I highly reccomend that anyone trying out the amp read the user's manual regarding "correct"usage of the presence knob. I play a 2002 Jem 7 VWH and a '91 Strat Plus with EMG DG20 active pu's through my rig. The first time I heard my strat through the Mesa I knew I had found "it". 8)
 
#49 ·
I would like to add the Koch line of amps, I am really liking these lately. They are "gainy" but not overly saturated if you get what I'm saying? They are compressed a lot as well, very smooth with definition too. My personal favourite is the Twintone, which has very similar features to the Bogner Shiva. There load box is also second to none IMO.

Also Dr. Z are very good, they are using ultra linear designs instead of the regular single ended or push pull approach. It has been used in the hi-fi world for a long time, nobody thought it would work for guitar amps but they were wrong! An ultra linear design attachs the screen grid of the output tube(s) (doesn't apply to triodes) to the same supply as the plate through specail taps on the output transformer. This makes it act like a cross between a triode and pentode: The triode has a lot of second harmonic going on and therfore is "sweet" sounding, the "complaint" is that its not as clear. THe pentode, on the other hand, has clarity but people complain that its not sweet. The ultra linear makes it in between the two! You can vary how much it acts like either tube by putting resitors in the correct places. Back to the tone: They use this design well, you can here the bass a lot better IMO, its not more bass its just deeper bass. These amps however are not high gain, you would need a booster to get a searing metal tone, but if you are going for clean or "progressive" marshall type sounds you could do much worse :wink:
 
#50 ·
One of the best clean tones I've ever had the chance to play was my strat through a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia dricing a 1x12 cab. Neil Zaza describes his Route 66 on the edge of breakup as "like angels flying out of my speakers," and that's pretty much dead-on (incidentally, i'm not 100% sure, but I believe it's the Dr. Z that's responsible for the magority of the slightly overdriven tones on his "Staring at the Sun," and in addition to being an overall kickass guitar album, he dials up some of the best guitar sounds I've ever heard on that one)

-D
 
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