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Just for reference, how I would describe my sound:

The highs to be chimey bell-like highs, think of Ride, and the lead melody lines of My Bloody Valentine. A song called 'Sunshine Smile' by Adorable has my personal favourite bell like guitar line, or my fave guitar line period (the one in the chorus not the intro). Pinnacle of Trance Rock. But with enough reverb and pitch effects with some OP pedals, turns into pseudo-vocals.

The lows with reverb to become unpicked and become cello-like tones, bowed. Do me a favour and listen to 'Today' by Ride in full volume with headphones. Just beautiful beautiful bass tone.

The mids to turn into drones but also add to the pseudo-vocal sounds. John Cale on the first VU album.

So, really Im looking for an amp that has an immaculate clean sound, ULTIMATE HEADROOM. No single ounce of compression coming in or what have you, or breakup, or whatever. Loudness, expressiveness of the highly differing frequency range being used. Gotta maintain both the highs and the lows. The thing is, I also do like sometimes pretending Im in a post-hardcore / skramz band cos tbh, thats what I'd like to be but just can't be bothered to get good in that genre. Nowhere near talented enough. But I guess I can achieve this with a nice OD/preamp/fuzz pedals but the Marshall's were all over this scene so its a bit romantic that way if I were to choose a Marshall.

So I've narrowed it down to the following list but feel free to recommend something I may have missed. Now please don't recommend a Fender Twin Reverb since its not 100w or a head (atleast in production), or the Roland JC120 . Half power is also a bonus but not a dealbreaker. Now some of these amps are more known for crunch sounds but I've heard they can do great cleans and/or I've personally remember playing one and liking the sound. Also, I want the amp to be in production instead of having to buy it second hand.

-Orange Rockerverb 100 MKIII
-Marshall JVM410H
-Marshall DSL100H
-Marshall JCM800 2203 [EDIT: yeah knew this wasn't gonna be valid option cos the clean sounds are on the same channel as the crunch due one channel setup)
-Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100
-Sound City Master One Hundred
-Ampeg V-4B
-BOSS Katana 100 [EDIT: meant the Boss Waza head]
-Blackstar Artisan 100

My on the face thoughts. The current amp I have is the Orange Crush, and I love the clean channel on it I naturally think the Rockerverb, which the Crush from my knowledge is the solid state version of it, must have a good clean channel as well. I feel like Hiwatt is gonna win out cos its always been known as the clean loud amp, but Hiwatt is such a lame company. But aren't the Sound City's pretty much the same amp? Clean and loud. I hate being affected by branding but can't help it. The Marshall JCM800 reissue I've heard have clean sounds, but its one channel, and Im worried I wont feel free to mess about with the controls to make sure it doesn't go into crunch territory so I'll just be left with one setting. So I think if it is a Marshall, it'd between the JVM and DSL, so then the question becomes, which one has the better tone? I've heard a lot about people using Ampeg V-4B as a guitar amp though its traditionally a bass amp, and that is clean and loud. And ngl, Ampeg is like the coolest company ever. The BOSS Katana is so cheap OMG, and isn't the clean channel based on the Roland JC? And I've heard the Blackstar Artisan is a great clean amp.

EDIT: Accidently mixed up that the Katana was the Waza Craft amp and its nowhere near cheap

what is possibly lame about Hiwatt??

I haven't tried all of these but I do have a couple of thoughts.

The JCM800 is a great amp but it is definitely not clean enough for what you're asking for.

Not tried the 100 but I have tried the 30w orange rocker and it isn't necessarily what I'd call pristine cleans either. Maybe the 100W has significantly more headroom

It might be worth checking out the Quilter 101 and 201. I have a 201 and it is certainly LOUD and CLEAN. Great amps plus they're super portable which is nice.

I would say that Ampeg. Consider the Mesa Prodigy Bass but you might need a bigger cab.

What kind of pickups are you using?

I had a v4 with 6550s and that had some more headroom to it.

The new Sound City Amps are done by Steve Fryette who is awesome when it comes to amps.

Would check that out and also the Hiwatt.

An 800 won’t stay clean enough for you, but a Plexi probably will. The DSL and JVM aren’t worth looking at for what you’re doing. Rockerverbs don’t stay clean so scratch that one. HiWatt to me sounds like what you’re describing? I’ve owned several V4’a and even well taken care of they break up pretty quick.

I use Frenzels for a similar purpose but those default are heads. They will make you a cab though.

I love the Today Forever ep, hope you achieve what you are aiming for

Musicman HD130 maybe?
A fender from the ultra-linear era?

We all secretly know the correct answer is Line6 Spider Valve HD100.

coldbrightsunlight wrote:It might be worth checking out the Quilter 101 and 201. I have a 201 and it is certainly LOUD and CLEAN. Great amps plus they're super portable which is nice.

Ultimate headroom for me is always solid state (a la the JC120), but I've sworn off of big tube amps for life at this point, let alone 100W worth of one

Here's a thread from earlier this year with some Katana insights, fwiw

coupleonapkins wrote:

coldbrightsunlight wrote:It might be worth checking out the Quilter 101 and 201. I have a 201 and it is certainly LOUD and CLEAN. Great amps plus they're super portable which is nice.

Ultimate headroom for me is always solid state (

For sure. Have not sworn off big tubes entirely forever but I don't feel I need them

Just a get a science 200 watt mother and dont look back.

coldbrightsunlight wrote: It might be worth checking out the Quilter 101 and 201. I have a 201 and it is certainly LOUD and CLEAN. Great amps plus they're super portable which is nice.

I was coming to this thread to say this. The 101 and it's a shame cause OP just missed a great fucking deal on the Stupid Deal of the day!!!

Sorry @woolworm. Just trying to look out for you. That said, ILF User Ibarakishi plays similar music to what you're describing. He rocks this pedal size power amp, and is very happy with it. It's an ISP STEALTH 180 POWER AMP. Might be a path worth exploring. He got his on a really good deal. You can read his post here.

JCM 800 Superbass Mk 3
Something solid state

Just gotta say real quick, in terms of volume, there is no discernible difference in 80w and 100w.
Granted the amount of available low end and headroom would be increased, but you’d be deaf real quick trying to pick any quantifiable difference at full tilt.
Likewise, the majority of difference you would find would owe more to the topology of the amp than the 20w difference.

Just ask J. Mascis about his Marshall/Marshall/Hiwatt/Twin rig... You’ll have to ask him again though, because odds are, he didn’t hear you the first time.

But a Twin is not a head, and they don’t currently make the Showman anymore, unless you go with a kit clone.
I just don’t want you to pass on a wealth of great gear out there just because you “heard it with your eyes”.
An 80w Twin, or even an Orange OR50 (do they still make these?) would run circles around an AD200 in terms of headroom and non-compressed sparkle.

I wouldn’t roll with a modeling amp like the Katana, either unless you’re ok with all of your tones coming from the amp, because even the cleans are modeled, and they may not respond to your pedals in the same way an OG JC120 would. These are great sounding amps though, and have a ridiculous amount of versatility with all the built in sounds. Bonus points: Alongside the scalable wattage, the Katana head actually has a little speaker built in to use the amp in a quiet/practice capacity.

There are also tons of micro solidstate options out there, like the aforementioned Quilter, as well as the Orange Pedal Baby, and the really cool, impossibly loud Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170 and 700

Me personally, I dig a little sag and bloom with my cleans, and find “bell tones” with a dual rig of a Sovtek Bass Midget and a 63 blonde Bassman. They’re turned up to the point of “saturated but not overdriven” if that makes sense.

But based on what you’ve requested though, Hiwatt/Reeves seems to be your ticket. They’re hatefully loud, and are uncompressed and immediate to the point of being stiff. They’ll make you a better player though... because if you mess up your solo, everyone, including the guys outside the club are gonna know.

And finally... whatever you end up getting, make sure your cab is equipped to handle it! Obviously, it goes without saying not to run a 200w Science Mother into a single 20w alnico 8in, but also, don’t go looking for MASSIVE, UNCOMPROMISING CLEANZZZ and then settle for a sealed 4x12 full of V30s that are purpose built to saturate and compress when pushed. Be on the lookout for a speaker that is high wattage and full range that can handle any signal you pump into it. My vote is the venerable EVM12L, but your ears (and definitely your back) may tell you differently.

Just gotta say real quick...

My apologies for saying this, and then proceeding to do the exact opposite...