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Best sounding amp you ever played?

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Robert

Robert

Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements.
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Camrose, Alberta, Canada - used to be Umea Sweden.
What is the best sounding amp you ever played in your life?

Me, I am not sure. I guess it would be the Vox AC30 Collector's Edition. Man, that was some oomph in that aamph!

Edit: I forgot to mention the Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr I played in Portland, OR. It was stunning. Fantastic clean tone, and it was also possible to get soaring overdrive tones at low volume.
 
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The best I heard was the DR.Z amp (all the models sounded nice) but I haven't really played many expensive amps, I like the expensive Marshall amps :D, by the way Robert I sent you a private messege please check it.
 
Cranium - I just listened to the Carmen Ghia amp from a link off their website. Simple amp with volume and "tone" knob but the tone knob functions as a full range dial in and not like a standard tone knob. I think Robert should post that link and I think he should get one of those. :)
 
If I had $1000's to spend on an amp I would probably get a DR.Z, the mini z 5 watt amp with only 1 volume knob reminds of old "south rock" sound, whatever that means... ;)
 
Fargen MiniPlex... all I can say is that amp is a work of art. And does some amazing marshall plexi sounds, but is much cleaner (at 8-12 watts it should be) than a plexi.
 
A good little amp that produces some awesome tones with a strat is the Hughes and Kettner Edition Tube 20. I got one around the same time as my Valvetronix. The Valvetronix believe it or not, can almost mimic the H & K....probably if I A/B'd them it would be hard to tell the difference. The H & K though is more dynamic than the Vox, but the Vox comes pretty close to emulating a good tube tone.
 
tone2thebone said:
I'm too biased to answer this question cause it will always be the same answer
Click to expand...
Umm . . . OK. And just so you know, I'm too curious to ask what it is. :D

As for the best sounding amp I've ever played - 2005 Marshall 1974X combo. I demo'ed an Epi P-90 Goldtop through one a few months ago, and I gotta' say that it was all there - as in the total package. Clean. Dirty. You name it - it all sounded fabulous. Big, thick, fat, juicy tube tone that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand straight on end. It was so good, you cold almost smell the tone from that amp. Whoa!
 
Fender Vintage 59 reissue amp. It just had that touch. What ever you did came out sounding like it was magic.
 
Fender Blues Jr.. amazing sound!
I have played on a bluesbreaker combo once and let me tell you that it was #€%&//"/#&%€"! insanely great :D

Tone, we all know its that jubilee thing of yours :R
 
Sweet! sounds alright, doesnt it? :)
So Toneman are you on a new marshall shopping quest?
 
tone2thebone said:
Nel - http://youtube.com/watch?v=qvr-MEnARsE
Click to expand...
Thanks for the cool clip links, Tone. Unfortunately, the audio fidelity leaves a lot to be desired as far as to how this amp actually sounds. I think the guy even mentions that he's using a PRS (22-?) guitar, which I think might disguise some of the more agressive OD timbres that are this amp's calling card. Must be those dreamy dove inlays . . . :D Anyways, the 1974X lined-up through a decent Les Paul is about as close to my personal "grail tone" as it gets.

Sadly, at $2,300 bones - it's waaaaaayyyy out of my league. :( Thankfully, my PODxt has a nice 18W Marshall sim - sounds good, too. :)
 
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Nelskie said:
Thankfully, my PODxt has a nice 18W Marshall sim - sounds good, too. :)
Click to expand...

Thats why amp sims are so great, you can get really close to those sought after amps... without selling all guitars in the 1959 wing of your house.
 
SuperSwede said:
Thats why amp sims are so great, you can get really close to those sought after amps... without selling all guitars in the 1959 wing of your house.
Click to expand...
No doubt SS - what would life be w/o amp modeling? Pretty durn dull, if you ask me!
 
For me it would be my Univalve, the most "musical" amp I've ever played... :R

I also played on a Divided by 13 last week and it absolutely blew me away... astonishing sound! :eek:
 
The two coolest sounding amphs I've played on recently was a Crate 50W all tuber with some effects on board, and the Valve Jr. combo. Very tasty tones, warm, and affordable for both amphs.

If I could recreate my most favorite tone, however, it would be my old MIDI rig:

ADA MP1 preamp - distortion and cleans aplenty, and a thick chorus, too!
ART T2 effects preamp - capable of very versatile toneage and effects.
Rocktron HUSH IICX - The gold standard of noise gates for its time.
MosValve power amp - Not a tube in sight, but very clean.
Marshall 4X12 cabinet - big, heavy and bad!

The cool thing is, though, you don't have to spend a fortune on all that stuff. Look at modelers from Line 6, Digitech and Zoom, grab an appropriate clean sounding amph and get to the screaming solos!
 
I haven't had many chances to play with other amps/cabs, but I'm still drooling over the Messa Triple Rectifier (this may be the only topic I haven't posted that under :D ).

Luckily I was able to dial in a pretty good approximation on my RP-80. I have an almost clean tone that breaks up nicely with a little harder attack and a dreamy harmonic-rich distortion with a little slap-back that just kicks when I dig in! :R

Had to crank the bass on my amp up to about 8 to really feel the punch (without being boomy), but it's about as good as it gets for me right now.

My other much used amp sim settings include a Fender deluxe reverb; 59 bassman; Vox AC30 top boost; Marshall 1/2 stack; and Marshall Stack. I can be as clean or dirty as I wanna be!

Some day I'll try out the "real" thing and see how close I actually come to those great tones. (I'm guessing not very - but that's likely more due to the player).
 
Marshall's all new "Super 100 Jimi Hendrix Limited Edition" ( 600pcs worldwide ).

I played this baby last weekend and it was unbelievable!

The clean tone gives you chills and the lead sounds are so sweeeeeet!

This is definitely the best amp I have ever played in my life.
 
I recently retubed my Traynor YCV20WR and I have totally fallen for this amp. Before the retube I would have said that it was completely forgettable and I might have even said that I regretted picking it up, but now it has a tone that can't be beat ...

Just my 2 cents :D
~Nick
 
Welcome, NPauly! Don't forget to post in "The Fret Players" forum so we can give you a proper introduction...

I always wanted to be the first one to say that to a new member.:D

Nice amp, by the way. Can you give us a review on it's tone and what tubes you used to retube it with?
 
I absolutely love my Germino Club 40 - 40 watts of old school Marshall sweetness without the drawbacks. It has killer cleans and a sweet throaty growl when you get on it. Best amp purchase I've ever made. :)


BluesvilleSuperStrat.jpg
 
Best amp I ever played through was one I used to own. A Marshall 1959SLP reissue modded by David Bray with the 'Bray I' mods. Using a Marshall 1960TV cab loaded with Greenbacks with the head was quite an aural experience. Between the PPI master volume and a Hot Plate I used to be able to get some insane overdriven tones at moderate volumes and no tone loss. I miss that amp. The next best thing would be my current 1x12 AmpTramp BF/Plexi combo.

-Peace
-nate
 
Robert said:
Nate, why did you not keep it!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????

Planker, that Germino looks oh so sweet. Does it come in a head version?
Click to expand...

I incurred a lotta debt in my past over gear purchases, so about 8 months ago I sold off a lot of my gear, that being one of the items. Now I use cash, ;)
 

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