The Jemsite guide to amps

[pete944]

I gotta give a plug to the Vox Valvetronix amps. I tried one out and was blown away. I started selling off my rack gear and bought the AD120VTH head. I'm running it through a Marshall 4x12 cabinet wired in stereo. I can dial in any sound I need from an acoustic sim that sounds very real to very high gain leads. It does Marshall, Mesa, Soldano, and Dumble sounds quite well. The built in effects sound good too. It uses a 12AX7 into a dummy load to give a real tube feel. Unlike the Line 6 stuff, this one sounds and reacts like a tube amp and gets even better when you crank it up.

[red5]

Wasn't Passion and Warfare recorded with a modded 1971 Marshall not a modded JCM 800?

[Safe Keeping]

The greatest sounding Amps are the very old pre 67 Marshall JTM45's. the sweetest sounding and flexible amp ever. very clean and Bluesy one minute and then drive it up to become an untameable beast, unless your name ends in Hendrix!

[Ozzdoc]

Line 6 flextone 2's kick ass..dont need a pedal or nothing, i love mine! Nice sick ass distortion and the modeling is actually really amazing, has gate , Fx, all you need! The only pedal you need is the channel switcher! It's the best ab thats not a stack that ive tried ( other combo amps just suck, you cant get a nice tone)

[j.arledge]

Originally Posted by pete944

I gotta give a plug to the Vox Valvetronix amps. I tried one out and was blown away. I started selling off my rack gear and bought the AD120VTH head. I'm running it through a Marshall 4x12 cabinet wired in stereo. I can dial in any sound I need from an acoustic sim that sounds very real to very high gain leads. It does Marshall, Mesa, Soldano, and Dumble sounds quite well. The built in effects sound good too. It uses a 12AX7 into a dummy load to give a real tube feel. Unlike the Line 6 stuff, this one sounds and reacts like a tube amp and gets even better when you crank it up.

i had the vox 60 watt version head and it was not a good amp, it had good effects and stuff but it didn't have good gain on any setting and was extermly nosie. I sent it back the next day . I may have had a bad one but i was sure put off to the vox valvetronics series after that. It is british made but all the setting had the british sound which was annoying at the least.

peavey by far to me has the best amps out. the 6505 perviously know as the 5150 is used by many metal and hard core guys, the xxx is used by many rock/metal guys and is extermly versital. The jsx, well you know who that one is used by .

I myself am going to buy a peavey xxx or 5150/6505 . To be honest with you i have yet to play the 5150, i only have one music store in town and they dont carry them but i will be able to play one shortly . The xxx on the other hand, i have played extensivly at my local store, it is one of the best amps around. For the price and what your getting you can't beat them. You want a soild amp head that is reliable and has power plus guts peavey is the only way to go.

[bonehead189]

What's your opinion on the Spider II series. (Combo's not the head.) I was comparing it to a Vox Valvetronix and didn't know which one had better value. I was leaning towards the Spider II, but WOW the combo with an attiTUBE! Do guys know? If so post info on it here: http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showth...3&page=1&pp=15

[guitarshredder7]

this help me alot with pretty much every amp question i had, especcially with the tubes you described and im glad you mentioned the preamp tubes.

[MichaelStevensG]

The Roland amps are amazing. I love the Roland MicroCube and Roland Cube 60.

[Trepan]

I was wondering if anyone's used say a JEM or Universe series guitar with a Crate Blue Voodoo 120 watt stack?

I'm thinking about getting a Universe guitar but am not 100% certain of the amp yet. I haven't found anything about Crate on this thread, so was just curious

[RockeyRaccoon89]

I actually use that exact setup, Crate BV120 half stack with a jem (77fp) I do like the sound i get with it... the jems bridge pickup makes the amp scream at a certain volume (around 3) which is pretty loud, but I guess the pickup is too hot... but overall the distortion can be made creamy or shreddy, and the clean aint bad either... good thing is, you can make the clean incredibly loud and it wont break up... Im thinking that since I have a ME50 I mite have been better off with some kind of marshall jcm half stack or a plexi half stack because of the unmatchable clean combined with good effects... but overall, youd save a couple hundred by getting the blue voodoo instead and it sounds pretty good... if its even an option for you, and you are on somewhat of a budget, id suggest the blue voodoo...

[David McCarroll]

I guess amp tone is a totally subjective thing, so to each their own, but every time I plug into an Engl amp (including the Ritchie Blackmore sig model) all I seem to get is something that sounds like long fingernails being scraped down a blackboard! (sorry Engl fans - just my experience!)

The thread started out very well, but there were a few interesting omissions:

1) VOX - AC30 - the OTHER great British amp - just about any British music not made on a Marshall was made with a Vox AC30 - pure class A tone, a good AC30 is one of the finest sounding amps ever made - Rickenbacker through AC30 was once famously descibed as sounding like "A blizzard of nails"

2) Sunn Amps - recently owned by Fender - almost a boutique amp - plugging in to a Sunn 100 watt tube combo and dialling up a little bit of grit instantly turns you into Kieth Richards at his best - articulate, cryastal clean yet still overdriven sound - maximum yum!

3) While it's probably a bit outside the scope of this post(?) - separate pre-amp and power amp systems.

After playing through Marshalls, Fenders, Hiwatts, Peaveys, Vox's, Carvins etc etc etc, I finally bit the bullet and put down a house deposit sized chunk of money on a Mesa Boogie TriAxis and Stereo 2:90 power amp - the range and quality of tones available with this setup has been just phenomenal - I add a bit of front end limiting, and can dial up humungous clean tones, and just about any overdriven sound imaginable. Version 2 ot the Tri-Axis has been adjusted to add a "rectifier" tone circuit - wow, great, but frankly this beast stands totally on its own, it's not a modelling amp at all, but something capable of belting out just about any tone you can imagine in your head. Oh, did I mention LOUD?

Other combinations I've seen used are Marshall JMP1 preamps into Marshall power amps, Carvin Pre-amps (I owned a Quad-X pre-amp which had some great sounds, but really seemed to be about half of a great idea), VHTs, Soldano-Caswells, etc etc.

Amongst the users of the TriAxis/2:90 setup have been John Petrucci, I think both dudes from Metallica, Andy Summers, Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp - so if the sounds of any of these chaps spin your wheels, it's worth considering such a setup.

In my experience, about 90% of YOUR sound comes from your amp - the best guitar in the world plugged into a 5watt transistor practice amp will sound exactly like a 5watt transistor practice amp! In comparison, an RG350 plugged into a Mark 4 Boogie will sound pretty much like the Hammer of the Gods - so, lesson 1 for new players is, consider spending less on a decent guitar, and put a lot more into a good amp - something like an RG350 (sorry to keep coming back to them, but they are like a rash in Sydney at the moment - and cheap!) is constantly upgradeable - new pickups, action tweaking, fretwork etc etc - but a 5watt transistor practice amp has a very limited upgrade path!

Hope this rant adds to the value of the thread.

David McCarroll
Sydney, Australia

[Gex]

Yeah, I see too many people focused on guitars guitars GUITARS. They'll have 3-4 high end guitars, and a crappy solidstate Crate.

Ive gotten to the point where buying new amps is more fun/exciting than buying new guitars.

[maliciousteve]

Is the Mesa Mark IV really that versatile? i've been contemplating of maybe getting one in the near future but i've never heard one before.

JCM900's are a bit wierd. All models after the 2100 sound crap. But my 900 2100 is one of the best amps i've ever played through (maybe even a bit better than a ENGL Fireball). Pushed with a THD Hotplate, the sound you get is incredible, powerful low end and high end, all notes are clear and audiable even when gain is maxed out and just balls to the wall tone.

[amp up and amplify]

My super cool dad has bought for me (without the mothers permission of course) the 7vwh, which is my dream guitar since i started playing. Being 15 and having tht kinda money spent on me kinda lowers the chances of having £k's worth of amp.
Value for money i was thinking of the Line6 spider 212, just under the £300 mark. Any suggestions on this or any other amp. Cheers guys

[King Knall]

The Spider II isn't bad, but it's a bit too digital. I've got a Spider II 30, and I'm pretty content with it. My next amp will be a Laney TF300 though. I think you can get a Laney TF for just abit more than 300 Pounds.