Boutique amps

[EasyGo]

Matchless, Bad Cat, and Top Hat with EL84s are all nice for the class A thing. Victoria and Fullertone (saggy) for the tweed.

The tremolo lounge amplist:

Holy crap. Can I come over?

I thought Dave had a long list of amps.

[swingdoc]

Doc,
so does this mean that you're not digging on the Trace-Elliot (or was it the Gibson version) that you got?
or do I smell some bas GAS?

Hey Deaf,
GAS, well actually no. I do like the Velocette, but it is really a much better blues amp. It breaks up pretty early, like around 5 on the volume.
And it doesnt break up gently. Its like....growl...brown smelly smelt fry.
Which is cool if you're playing a shuffle blues, not so hot if your playing My Foolish Heart or Satin Doll in a combo. A bit worse if you're playing a bossa tune. Especially with the big hollowbodies. That distortion gets pretty thick.
So, I hear you all asking...why are you playing on "5" on a combo tune anyway??? Good question. Cause I suck, and like that previous thread, I gotta play very loud. Also, you'd be surprised how loud a horn-section can play. Freakin trumpets anyways....
So, I'm on th search for a cleaner headroom amp. After lookin around, I think I'm gonna go with the R12R Ampeg. For about $400, should probably do just fine. Sure, a Fuch would be nice, but if I'm gonna chow down $3K, its
not gonna be for a guitar amp.
And who pays $3K for a Fuch anyways???

Rodgre, thats one hell of an amp list. Holy crap indeed.
How would anyone know if like, five or so were missing??
got a couple spares you could throw my way?
Chow ya'll,
Mark

[djslayerissick]

Hughes and Kettner

wow. most "beautiful" distortion i've ever heard. played some melodic modern metal (aka deftones, taproot, filter, etc..)


strum a - Asus2sus4 - through a Hughes and Kettner
just awesome - (as in awe-inspiring)

[DeafinONEear]

Mark,
have you thought about using a Princeton, namely AA964 if you don't need the verb all that bad, but want that Tremelo or an AA1164 if you want the verb more and can add an external termelo (I reallyreallyreally like those 90's Dunlop tremelos)? You can usually get those at the same price on eBay.
Or, if you want to go a bit cheaper, there's those silverface with-grill-trim Princetons that were the transitional model (same circut as the black face, just SF housing) that go for about $250-$350 for the tremelo version or about $400 for the reverb unit ($500 if it's in good condition). They've got 6L6's in there and have that ever-so-popular-on-the-threads-lately Fender clean headroom.
Plus, resale values on those things are always stable, so you could get one, try it out, if you don't like it sell it right back for the same price.
They do break up, but not nearly as much, are still small enough to bring to a combo, but powerful enough to keep up.

Oh, and they're really quiet too.

[black mariah]

Just wanted to throw in a mention for the THD Univalve. My former boss brought one into work one day and was jamming out on it. He coaxed all sorts of sounds out of it from Fendery cleans to EVH style 'brown' sound. This was without even changing the tube. They can be had for $650 and are a steal at that price.

[swingdoc]

Deaf,
thanks for the suggestion of the Princeton. I had a ~71-72, which I liked very much. There's something bout the tone of a Fender amp however, that I just dont desire in this jazz / swing thing. Just a bit ...I dunno..edgy..surfy..etc. Im searchin for a clean tighter but rounder fuller.
Ugh words....blah..blah bah....
I gues I'm just a little Fender'd out a little right now.
That THD stuff too, had caught my eye.

If anyone runs across one of these boutique amps in a single 10" or 12" (I guess Id even loook at a 2 - 10") combo for right around $1K...please bring it to my ever waning, attention.
That would be grateful-genic!
Thanks< See ya,
Mark

[Rodgre]

Rodgre, thats one hell of an amp list. Holy crap indeed.
How would anyone know if like, five or so were missing??
got a couple spares you could throw my way?
Chow ya'll,
Mark

Oh, I would know if one of them was MOVED....
We're pretty obsessive about the guitar/amp/pedal collection in the studio. Of course it's great for a guitar player to come in for a session and know that they have access to all that stuff, but it's also great for me, because I never have to settle for guitar players with bad tone. All of the amps, pretty much, are tweaked and tuned and modded to be as good as can be... good tubes, great speakers, even replaced transformers.

We have a lot of extension cabs with all sorts of combinations of speakers too, so there are even more options that way.

We have been doing a boutique shootout this week, comparing a Dr. Z Mazerati to a Cage to a Matchless to a Vox to a Mesa Maverick. We plugged the Cage into a few different cabs with different speakers, or even different size cabs with the same speakers and it's amazing how different it sounded through each of them. The most telling thing was that it sounded best through the Cage 1x12". I think Pete Cage tunes the amp for the specific speakers they're intended to be used with.

Roger

[JES]

I know you guys are talking guitar, but here's a bass story.

There was a 50-watt Matchless bass head at a store in St. Paul, MN years ago. the first time I tried it, I wasn't impressed. A few months later, I tried it again and OH MY GOD IT WAS THE BEST TONE EVER.

I didn't buy it. I'm not even sure I regret not buying it, as the thing was very expensive. But it looked and sounded cool.

Best,
--JES

[clodock]

yeah, I remember that matchless bass amp. It was like a b15, but, well, it's heresy, but, better. If I could go back in time I would sell my soul to get one, it was that good. I also regret not getting fender's rumble bass when it was around, as that sounded incredible as well.

oh well.

I have a victoria victoriette that I love, if your into clean tele's.

[Catoogie]

Princeton's are awesome but not worth the money they're going for today.

[luckybastard]

i have a dr z carmen ghia that i love. only two knobs- volume, tone- but it is the most versatile amp i own, go figure.

[black mariah]

swingdoc: Something to remember is that the THD can take a TON of different tubes. Each one will get you a different sound. Anything from Fender to Vox to... whatever you want, really. If it wasn't wholly inappropriate for the kind of stuff I do (stoner/doom metal) I'd jump on one.

[markpar]

I have a Dr. Z Maz Jr head that really nails the Vox thing. I also have a THD BiValve. That amp is really amazing. You can mix and match power and pre tubes at will. Even mismatched power tubes (e.g. a 6L6 and an EL-84 together) work. It's an extremely versatile amp.

-mark

[DeafinONEear]

Even mismatched power tubes (e.g. a 6L6 and an EL-84 together) work. It's an extremely versatile amp.

-mark

wait... correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't that NOT work? like, aren't you doing harm to the amp like that? I don't see how someone could build a circuit that would be unsucceptible to extreme changes like that...
and don't power tubes work in push/pull? wouldn't a setup like that be totally totally uneven and would wind up doing harm to the tubes?

[markpar]

Yeah, crazy, isn't it? I don't know how they do it, but I'm sure they could explain how they get it to work. And it totally works. No need to re-bias or *anything*. Just plug 'em in and go. You can even remove one of the power tubes and run it at half power with just one.

Here's a pic of the amp (stolen from another site) that shows what tubes you can use: http://www.custom-sounds.com/kuvat/bivalve_powt.jpg

-mark