erdento Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Ok. Well, thanks to everybody who replied to my earlier requests for recommendations on guitar selection. That's taken care of. Now, its on to amp choice. I'm looking for something versatile that will deliver ultra-modern heavy tones but also gorgeous, detailed clean sounds suitable for jazz. It should be useable at low practice levels to avoid angry neighbor syndrome. I haven't heard a modelling amp that is really convincing so it looks like it should be tube. Also, it should be portable. It can be either a combo, head, or rack set up and can consist of a separate pre and power amp. Some of the ideas so far are Marshall TSL(quality seems suspect) and Mesa Recording preamp. Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Basically, you want a "Swiss Army knife" of an amp! Well... I think that you would do well to scope out Rivera amps; Paul Rivera has some real pleasing tones in the separate "Fender-ish" and "Marshall-y" preamp channels on his channel-switching combos, with excellent and useful footswitchable boosts taylored to each channel: a lead gain and level boost for the "Marshall-y" channel, and "Ninja-Boost" giving up stringy, tweedy boil-over on the "Fender-ish" channel. It's like having four channels to switch between. I have played a number of Rivera models, and they are all very well-built, well-designed, good sounding amps. Another good one to look into would be the Carvin Legacy series, their Steve Vai endorsement. I haven't tried a Legacy, but I would expect them to fill your described wants and needs quite well; I do own a little Carvin Vintage 33, and it's everything they advertised it to be. Plus, their customer service is excellent, better than many. Of course, you should also look into various Dr. Z amps, the Victoria Sovereign, and the Bad Cat Hot Cat. And Diezel's four-channel monster is supposed to be pretty versatile; Adam Jones (of Tool) uses a Diezel. Go spend some time on Myles Rose's guitar ampifier blueprinting \'site (Click on the bold type), he's got a very extensive section called "The World's Great Amps" detailing a number of excellent makes and models with lots of links and pics and info. Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillWelcome Home Studios Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Vox has a cute 60 watt modeling amp. Someone brought one into the studio not long ago and we all had a lot of fun with it. Both effects and amp models included. Bill "I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot." Steve Martin Show business: we're all here because we're not all there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanG Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Hi erdento, I have a rivera amp and they are fantastic, I really recommend them. I play jazz and you can get all the sounds from deep-take-yer-head distortion to shimmering clean. I think that all those modeling amps are pretty crappy - in fact the whole digital 'thing' in general (when it comes to preamps). Also look at boogies - I've got a MKIV its heavy but amazing sounding. Studio 22's secondhand are a bargain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillWelcome Home Studios Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 My guitar and amp collection are all vintage, as are most of the mics in my studio. (Most everything is 50s and 60s) I really believe in using the 'right thing'. But for a traveling guy who needs an all-in-one solution, the modeling amps are a reasonable solution. That is why the guy who had it, had it. He is called upon to play a lot of different styles and get a lot of different sounds, and he felt that the amp did it for him. I may dissagree about the sound of modeled gear in a side-by-side comparision to any of my vintage stuff, but I can tell you from experience that in the context of a mix (or of a live gig, with ambient noise and other players) no one is going to hear a difference, or be able to tell that you were playing a Vox modeling amp as opposed to a Brand Whatever amp. It's simnply not going to happen. Bill "I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot." Steve Martin Show business: we're all here because we're not all there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 I have a Marshall TSL-122 2X12 combo. No quality problem, the thing screams. I've managed to get a good range of tones out of it, too...but its best tone is still "Marshall". It's kind of an ungainly beast, not light (which I've come to appreciate following knee surgery)...but if you don't have problems like that, it shouldn't matter. I love it. Hmmm...come to think of it, I think I'll go downstairs right now and bash it around a bit with my Les Paul (evil look)... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicalhair Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 I think the Rivera Fandango will serve you well, check it out. check out some comedy I've done: http://louhasspoken.tumblr.com/ My Unitarian Jihad Name: Brother Broadsword of Enlightened Compassion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Strat Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Good clean and heavy distortion, light weight, and portable. I'm thinking something by Peavey, like maybe the Ultra 212 or similar. Peavey has the most tube-like solid state amps I've ever heard. But, if you're set on tubes, take a look at the JCM 2000 DSL-50 Marshall. That head and a Marshall 2 x 12" cabinet should do quite nicely. There's a lot of amps out there that could do the job, in varying price ranges. The best thing to do is go and play through every amplifier you can get your hands on. BlueStrat a.k.a. "El Guapo" ...Better fuzz through science... http://geocities.com/teleman28056/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erdento Posted January 5, 2004 Author Share Posted January 5, 2004 Caevan O'Shite Hey, great site. I haven't read everything there but lots of good info so far. It seems directed to smaller makers and that's fine. The problem is where to hear this stuff and talk to people who have experience with it. I realize that asking for a recomendation on something as subjective as tone is a bit difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar Geezer Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Just for comparison, sit down and spend a few minutes with a Roland Cube 30. Yes, it's SS and a Modeling Amp, and won't fill All of your needs, but at 30 watts, 20 lbs and about $225 - it's pretty amazing. LynnG Lynn G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave da Dude Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 guitar geezar, Just for comparison, sit down and spend a few minutes with a Roland Cube 30. Yes, it's SS and a Modeling Amp, and won't fill All of your needs, but at 30 watts, 20 lbs and about $225 - it's pretty amazing. Jim Soloway thought very highly of this amp, good enough for me. Also, I played an LP Standard through a Line 6 Flextone II and was pretty impressed by it. BUT, if you're set on tubes, I can't blame you. Dave Gotta' geetar... got the amp. There must be SOMEthing else I... "need". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.