Versitile Tube Amps That Are Super Clean

[vxboogie]

Musicman, as mentioned above.

I have a HD130 and I've always said it sounds better than any Twin I've ever played (eh, about 3? ) through a open-back 2x12".

It's 4x 6L6 with a 12AX7 inverter and an S/S pre.

I am currently using it for bass in my little combo, but used it for years for recording clean guitar sounds.

+1 on the MM HD130 - my main amp for many years. Very clean and powerful. I didn't like the way the pre broke up(probably due to being SS) and always used a pedal for distortion.

[Bro Shark]

The classic Hiwatts have tons of headroom. I haven't tried/heard any of the modern remakes.

[kayagum]

if you can find a Sovtek MIG50- they're fun and clean. If you want clean with guts, try a MIG60 (love mine). You want skate punk loud, go for a MIG 100.

[witchfeet]

Late 70s silverface Ultralinear 120w Twin Reverb. If you can get this thing to break up I feel sorry for your ears.

[kensink]

My two cents: The Ampeg V4 amp I have sounds really great and can get pretty darn loud before breaking up with guitar. It gets nastier a lot sooner with the bass guitar however. I modified mine to run on 6550 tubes instead of the more expensive 7027s and that gave it more headroom as well.
They made a 2x12 combo version of the amp(the VT22) but I haven't heard it and cannot comment.

[norton]

Hiwatt and amps like them are clean and punchy across the entire voice range of the guitar. Dropping in a low gain 12au7 etc into the first and even across the preamp section can really clean an amp up. The amp will sound and react differently too...but it's worth a try.

Your choice of speaker is probably going to have as much if not more influence on how your amp behaves. Clean or dirty.

Find an amp that you like the features of and the overall vibe of how it plays, then start playing with speakers. Seriously, you can radically alter the breakup characteristics...the volume, and even shift the tonal center around. All by mucking around with speakers. Like a huge cumbersome high pass/notch filter.
Fun. I want more speakers.

[KennyLusk]

It's important also to consider the volume level you need, which will dictate how many watts we're talking about. How big of an amp does this need to be? You know?

I always got amazing tones from a Tubester CS-1 in front of a Fender Princeton Chorus. Wow! Talk about clean, beautiful, Fender clean chime!

I also never understood why the Carvin tube amps weren't more popular. A guitarist I played with had a 50 watt Carvin Nomad that sounded fantastic to me. In the studio and live, both. Beefy and clean. Nothing super special of course, just a great little workhorse amp that had good tone. Reliable construction. Quality.

My Vox Cambridge Twin has great clean tone but it's hybrid. The power section is transistor. Still, plug a Gibby into it and it's magic.

[0xeneye]

WHy not just get a run of the mill amp and bias cold? Set volume at 2 or 3.

[norton]

I dunno, cold biasing an amp kinda chokes the life out of the signal. maybe that's only at the extremes ?

[mechanicalmastering]

I dunno, cold biasing an amp kinda chokes the life out of the signal. maybe that's only at the extremes ?

Agreed, guess I'm trying to find a good compromise. I'd make the switch to solid-state but I just cannot get past how directional they project, a good tube amp just seems to fill the room, and I feel that there is just a lot more harmonic information in general. As a mastering engineer, I'm reeeeally trying to avoid sharp, unattractive icepick-type frequencies, and I feel that most SS amps seem to possess that in abundance.

[norton]

What are you looking at amp- wise?

i hear you... speakers i think will be one of the keys to happiness.

one of the smoothest affordable speakers out there is the eminence cannabis rex.
it's slow to breakup ridiculously efficient (loud) and will melt nearly all ice picks.

All the desirable characteristics of the mojo hemp speakers, without the ridiculous price tag.

[mrc]

I have one of the early Silverface Vibrolux Reverb, lovely sound, but a lot of amp for most clubs... 3 seems to be about as much as I want onstage. Definitely need pedals.

[vvv]

I just won a used Trademark 10 (the Sansamp thing) on Evilbog - I'll letcha's know.

[Rosy]

I may be echoing someone above as I just skimmed everything after the first few responses.
70's master volume dial Fender Twin Reverbs were Fenders answer to trying to get a "cleaner" fender sound as they thought at the time the market wanted that. You can still find them in good shape for under $600. I had one with orange JBLs that sounded great with pedals but the clean sound is harsh on my ears. I prefere the blackface twins and these days just small Fender amps turned way up....for the opposite of clean. I no longer use pedals.

The other amp that comes to mind is the Mesa Boogie Lonestar Classic 2x12. With the switch at 100W and the thingy on the back set to transformer and not to tube rectifier it is loud, clean, and endless tone. Lots of good usable options on this amp.

I'm using a Victoria Regal II for most everything these days but keep a Vintage Sound Amp Co Twin Reverb ready to go for cleaner 60's sounding guitar and for electric piano and combo organs.

[digitaldrummer]

for low to medium volume recording I like my Egnater Tweaker 112 (15W) - it does clean or dirty and anywhere in between pretty well. takes a re-amp pretty well too.

Mike