The Jemsite guide to amps

[dot-dot-dot]

Might I suggest adding Cornell - www.dc-developments.com - Denis is one of the tru British valve gurus...

[Ferrous Lepidoptera]

Did I just miss it, or did Mr. Orange and everyone else, fail to mention Orange amps? Maybe they just go without saying...

Not that I know anything about them, just struck me as funny.

[ukwan]

For me the ENGL tone is absolutly amazing!! no way is this amp a cheap Mesa copy. it's a totally different animal... imagine the presence of a Marshall with the balls and smoothness of a Mesa.

[power freak]

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

[Drew]

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

[muddeone]

Anyone have thoughts on RIVERA amps?

[Mr Orange]

Please refer to page one or take it from me:

Got a '94 Rivera Hundred Duo Twelve. Love it. Have had Mesas, Marshalls, Fenders... the Rivera is a keeper. Tone, versatility, bells & whistles... you name it.

[muddeone]

Originally Posted by Mr Orange

Please refer to page one or take it from me:


Got a '94 Rivera Hundred Duo Twelve. Love it. Have had Mesas, Marshalls, Fenders... the Rivera is a keeper. Tone, versatility, bells & whistles... you name it.

I have a 2002 Rivera Hundred Duo Twelve as well a keeper!

[BeastofLove]

Got a Rivera M60 4x10 combo... amazing tone, flexible as hell, massive sound. Definately a keeper!! Would highly reccomend them to anybody.

-Ben

[muddeone]

how about an

Soldano Atomic 16




anyone? thoughts GENERALLY on Soldano as well?

Thanks!

[vai n maiden]

Originally Posted by ukwan

For me the ENGL tone is absolutly amazing!! no way is this amp a cheap Mesa copy. it's a totally different animal... imagine the presence of a Marshall with the balls and smoothness of a Mesa.

Damn right, I for one really don't like Rectos but adore my ENGL.

Really screamy tough tone with bags of gain, doesn't get fizzy or muddy at all, really defined, giving pure violence with a hint of clarity.

[jay ratkowski]

Originally Posted by Mr Orange

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...

One time Triamp owner here...

I think H&K (the amp guys) make a pretty nice amp. It is somewhat limited in sounds. You really have to try all of their amps and find the one that has the tone for you, and stay there. Whatever tone the amp gives you is a very nice, well-articulated sound... it is just limited. I think of it as a refined Marshall, with a bit more even of a frequency range. Whereas the Marshalls (to me) have a harsh "V" shape in the EQ band, cutting the mids out pretty dramatically, the H&K's start out a bit more flat. The rest of the tone is pretty similar.

They tried to make a few other amps, like their solid state Vortex series or their modelling amp, which never really caught on. The Vortex amps have a pretty interesting sound, almost Roland sounding clean but with insane solid state distortion. Tried to gear it around electronic music, but I just see it as an even more limited sound.

The Triamp is best thought of as having 3 channels with progressively more gain. There is no true clean channel, kind of like the 5150 (but cleaner than that). The 2nd channel is like a typical Marshall with the gain set to 5 and then channel 3 is all out insano gain.

Can't offer much more than that, I haven't played around with their entire lineup.

[muddeone]

Regarding the H&K Edition TUBE...any thoughts? http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/sc...prod&id=93

I am deciding on the following:

Mark 4 combo for $850.00 out the door (OTD)

a Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket for 450.00 OTD

or a Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 20th Anniversary 375.00 OTD...

....

what would u do?

[Mr Orange]

Please keep your personal quests for amps out of this thread & start a new one insted, OK? No offence.

[muddeone]

Originally Posted by Mr Orange

Please keep your personal quests for amps out of this thread & start a new one insted, OK? No offence.

is thaqt a personal question ? lol