help me pick an amp

[phantasmagorovich]

Damn, I was meaning to write this before I was drunk. Now it will have to work like this. Maybe.

I am looking for an amplifier. And I might need your help. Since i am not really one to watch the market and read eons of backissues of craptalk gearzines I have no idea of what is on the market and where to start looking. I will certainly try amps and stuff but I have never really met a helpful clerk in a guitar store, so I need to have info before I go to the store.

Here's a couple of things I have thought about.

1. Valve. Fact.

2. I need it to be loud enough to be able to play it with a drummer and a whole band. I was thinking of something between 30 and 400 Watts.

3. I have my pedals do the shaping. Basically all I would need is a great clean (that goes loud) and like a knob to adjust the volume. So I was thinking single channel would be nice. Apparently there are next to no single channel amps on the market, so i might compromise on that and get more than one channel and ignore the second channel. Or maybe there is a fantastic use for multi-channel amps that I don't know of..?

4. I like Combos. And while Head and Cab is way more flexible and cooler it is also more costly, which leads us to

5. The less i spend the better.

6. I am a sucker for mojo and cool stuff, so the handwired amp by some mustachioed dude from the welsh hills is a major selling point for me.

7. Bassamp?

I am not yet sure if I won't be able to cope with what I have in the band context. So it might not be such a pressing matter. That means that it is OK if you have an expensive idea. Do keep in mind that I live in Germany. Many stuff isn't available here, so the more exotic and american it will be the less likely i am to find it.
I like the sound of an amp to be what I call analytic. I want to hear the individual strings if possible. I prefer clarity over warmth. "Warmth" is overrated anyway.

[snipelfritz]

Vox AC30

30w. Classic bright-ish tone with decent head-room. It's two channels, but meh. There are options for hand wired versions for a considerable price increase. You really can't go wrong with Vox.

I have the AC15, the 15w cousin to the AC30. I love it, but I am starting to think I'm going to need more wattage for the band I just joined. It also just pooped out on me today and I'm still trying to figure out why. Probably just a fuse issue, but still, Vox's have a pretty clean track record.

[phantasmagorovich]

I thought those guys were loved for how they sound when pushed?

I just did a quick search and found major price differences. ANy opinions on the C2 version of this?

[tchen]

C2 is the latest version and is vastly superior to the other recent CC2 versions.

[phantasmagorovich]

Sweet! That is good to know. I knew there is some version that is no good, but did not know which one. I will definitely try a AC30 C2 tomorrow or on monday.



Fender Blues DeVille, Blues Deluxe?

Laney?

Echolette? Any opinions?

I've also seen a Bassman 100 on ebay. It's dead cheap until now. It ends on sunday evening, comes with the 2x15 cab and is now at 440 Euro w/ shipping.

[univalve]

Ok, probably you should visit me and play and listen to some amps. serious.

Laney: never liked them that much when it comes to details. As i understood your post, this is one major point for you. Last thing i was gasing for was the lion heart. Sounded flat and not powerful to my ears.

Blues Deluxe / Hot Rod Deluxe has an "OK" clean sound for me and is my reference in the guitar stores. It is loud as hell and takes pedals very good. The prices now are almost the double as when it hit the market in 1995 (i paid for mine 1050DM back there). So this would be a good option from my point of view.

Echolette: old stuff. From my experience not that reliable. Sounds quite good though. But colors the sound very much. You have to test this on your own to judge it. I would not go for them...

I'm not that vox lover but i heard good things about the new CC ones. But this should be no problem to test them in stores around here.

Linnemann JTM 45 clone. Sound great, lot of headroom, loves pedals. I would know a shop/guy in FFM that has a combo and is willing to sell it.

Sound City and London City 100 Watt tops from ebay. Might be cheap but often also not that reliable and you have to service them... I got my London City for 300 EUR. 2 weeks later it blew up and it cost me 250 EUR to fix it. But since that is sounding and performing superb...

Black Cat Classic Cat. seriously one great sounding amp with lot of headroom, bass (ultra wide cabinet for a combo) and details of your guitar and your playing

Hayden Mofo. Never heard it live but price and power might be worth trying it...

Bugera V55: try it and ship it back if it does not fit (order at big t )

Shot me a mail if you want to know the FFM contact or sth. else!

[phantasmagorovich]

Any opinions on the Bassman 100? it seems to be an awesome amp and might be just right. From what I've heard so far I've liked silverface better than blackface anyway. Thus I will like it (hopefully) and everyone else will have the costs for modding it to bf specs in mind. But apart from bidding tactics - How is this amp for guitar? Is the cab worth getting at all? According to the dude it's all original. Anything that is a known flaw on these things?

[phantasmagorovich]

Damn, the Bassman already more than I can afford for an impulse buy.

[Holy Schnikes]

Have you tried a Twin Reverb, great clean and loud as you'd ever want. I had an older one that paired great with every pedal I threw at it. Sold it and got a Carr Slant 6V which is the best sounding amp I've ever owned, had to save up for a long time and sell some shit to get that one though.

[masked elwood]

Sold it and got a Carr Slant 6V which is the best sounding amp I've ever owned.

incredible amp!

[Holy Schnikes]

incredible amp!

Thanks! I have the head version paired with OB Carr 2x12 and CB Emperor 2x12, sounds huge and loves pedals, thank god.

[warwick.hoy]

Build yourself a Dumble Clone.

[eatyourguitar]

if your looking for a single channel amp that is 100% clean all the time, just get any jazz/blues amp. fuchs makes some good clean one channel amps but I dont know if they have a dealer in Germany. I really hope that the C2 ac30 is better than the CC2. I was impressed with it for the price. but its got its drawbacks. like build quality, small transformer, cheap Chinese no name speakers. I would probably never buy an open back so I could never buy an ac30 anyway. you can save money by getting a one channel amp vs two channel amp. in general, 6L6 power tubes dont saturate or change the sound that much as compared to an EL34 that will have noticeable power tube saturation when you start pushing them. after swapping mad tubes and playing lots of amps, its my belief that a marshall plexi cranked gets its sound %50 in the preamp and %50 in the EL34. I have tried and tried to get "that" sound in a 6L6 amp but its just not possible no matter what preamp tubes are in it. so thats why I say go 6L6 one channel anything class A. the AC30 is actually not class A when cranked. then it becomes class AB.

[Hybrid]

Sunn.

Sunn Sunn Sunn Sunn Sunn Sunn!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-SUNN-200S-S ... 1095wt_905

OR

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Sunn-Amplif ... 030wt_1139

The Sunn Studio Lead is Solid State.
Any by Solid State, I mean, one of the BEST Solid State heads EVER made.

[phantasmagorovich]

Shipping and customs would probably double the price for a Sunn. They are really freaking rare in Germany, so those pretty much fall into the unobtainium section. I'd love to have one just for the mojo of it, but it's pretty much a lifetime project to find one over here. Well, at least a good one for a decent price.

Fuchs looks awesome. I will have to find a way to try those. I have found a dealer near my place but they only seem to stock the Overdrive Supreme. Guess that one has it's merits elsewhere.

Thanks for the 6L6 tip too. That is some info I can work with. KT tubes are pretty much clean powerhouses too, aren't they? There's this dude in Berlin that builds amps from tubes I have never heard of. Here's the data for one that's for guitar: "2 x 7027, 1 x 5AR4, 1 x 6N7, 1 x 6C5 , 1 x 6J5" I'm like wtf? Are there any Dr Z amps that are great clean? From what I gather from his site most seem to be designed for crunch or oldschool distorted sounds. Maybe the Z28?


So, for now it goes like this:
Try it in a big guitar store:
AC30 C2
Fender Blues Deluxe/Deville
Fender Twin
Hiwatt Custom 50 or 100

Try to locate and play somewhere:
Fuchs Clean Machine
Matamp GT50
Havelstar 7027
Carr Slant 6V