I do a fair amount of studio work on a few different instruments.
For guitar on commercial sessions I'm requested to go direct thru Amp Farm about 75% of the time. But I lug a '76 Twin w/JBL's and a '63 Bassman just in case the Amp Farm tones ain't happenin' that day. Electric guitars are '77 LP Custom and '95 Tele with Bigsby.
For high-gain and rock needs I used to have a '74 Marshall 100W half-stack, which I just sold (too loud and too big). I need a lower-wattage amp with 2 12's to fill that bill.
Any ideas?
I'd like to add - a friend who owns a studio I work at just bought a new Boogie combo (sorry, no other details) and it blew a trasformer on him pretty quickly. So I wanna stay away from those :>)
thanks heaps,
Drew
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<font size=1>Drew Howard - website - Fessenden D-10 8/8, Fessenden SD-12 5/5 (Ext E9), Magnatone S-8, N400's, BOSS RV-3</font>
For those purposes, I'd take a close look at the Fender Hot Rod DeVille and Blues DeVille, and also similar Peavey small tube amps. There are lots of small 15-50 watt tubers on the market these days that are multi-channels with both clean and dirty tones, multi-watt switches, etc. That is the biggest market out there these days, and there is a plethora of choices. All of them would seem to have enough volume for both 6-string and steel in the studio, and plenty of tonal choices for both. Then there is the vintage market of older Fenders, etc.;, not to mention the boutique amp market. Unless you get overwhelmed by the many viable choices, a small multi-tone studio amp would seem to be the easiest niche to fill these days. It is only for loud live venues without amp mics that you start needing different amps to meet the different tone needs of 6-string and steel.
I have a Blues DeVille, it is a monster but I had to put an Eminence Cannabis Rex (hemp cone) and a set of decent tubes in it to get it to sound like it does. Took a long time to break the speaker in, but it is a killer now. Best amp I have ever had.
Brian Beebe, a fo'bro, is trying to sell a Marshall Bluesbreaker, 2x12 and kicks booty.
Drew,
If you haven't checked out a Vox of some sort, they might be worth a look. I recently bought an AC15 (single twelve) and if you're trying to get that English crunchy/chimey/compressed thing like your Marshall had, it's very nice. Also the clean tone with a Tele is very fat, and punchy... it's a very versatile amp, but it's very un-Fender. I think it's Class A or some sort of pseudo-Class A design.
Best thing is I can run the AC-15 pretty much wide open and still stay in the room with it. I'd try to find one with the blue Vox speaker. They're discontinued, but pop up on ebay fairly often. Not cheap...
An AC30 would also be a suggestion, same sort of tones, although the first reissues didn't have master volume and were pretty loud. The new AC30-CC (China made) are getting pretty good reviews as well. A bunch of Vox (plus other vintage amps) discussion here: http://vintageamps.com/plexiboard/index.php
I just got a Chinese-made AC-30! Too early to talk about some of the reliability/QC issues, but the tone is DEFINITELY there! With a Tele, it's a match made in, well, China and, uh, Japan???
But the amp weighs about 70 pounds. Not exactly a lightweight.
I can relate to what you're saying about the Marshall being too big and loud. I've had lots over the years, and unless I'm on a real big stage, they're too much for me. I'm in the process of selling an 84 50W Marshall JCM 800 2-12 combo with reverb and channel-switching. I thought I'd try yet another one. It sounds great, but even it is too loud to use these days, and it's still too heavy for my tastes. I had a 1-12 JCM 800 50-watt combo several years back - that was pretty good and might be a good choice for what you have in mind.
My steady-state solution to this dilemma for the last 10 years has been to revoice the "Normal" channel of an old Deluxe Reverb to be more Tweed/Marshall-like, add reverb to both channels, and put a switching pot on the tremelo intensity control, which can pull the tremelo out of the circuit (keeping the old parts, of course). This adds a few dB of gain to the amp. Still use 6V6s, and it's perfect for club or studio use, IMO. I know guys who change the transformer and switch to 6L6s. Speaker choice is critical if you want some crunch. I use an equivalent to a Celestion Vintage 30, which stays pretty clean until pushed, then breaks up sweetly. Other English-style speakers might be appropriate for a harder crunch. One could use a Pro Reverb instead if 2-12s and more juice are needed, but nobody tells me my Deluxe is too quiet. If you're really looking for nasty crunch, this won't do it all alone, but with something like a Fulltone overdrive, it can get pretty nasty at will.
Another amp I like is a mid-90s Laney VC-30, with 1-12" speaker. It's not heavy, nor ridiculously loud, and I see used ones for between $300 and 400. Soundwise, it's a cross between an old Marshall/Laney style amp and a Vox AC-30. The preamp is more like a Fender, but the power section uses 4-EL84s in class A. I haven't had it long, so I can't comment on its reliability, which is one of my concerns about modern amps with wave-soldered PC boards.
In a studio situation a THD Univalve would cover all the guitar styles you described . Just change tubes and go from a Deluxe type tone to an AC 30 to Marshallish edge . Highly recommended for guitar and lap steel and I think Dan Tyack uses one for PSG , too.
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Olli Haavisto,
Finland
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Olli Haavisto on 07 October 2005 at 11:55 PM.]</p></FONT>
I've been lusting after an Allen Brown Sugar amp for some time now. Everything I've read on them gives them high marks. It is a little expensive though. You should be able to check them out at their website.
Drew, if you're interested, I've got a Fender Hot Rod Deville, 60W, 2x12's, mint cond, never gigged, no tears, rips or scratches. Includes foot switch, and cover. The amp has approx. 10 hrs of playing time. There's not even a trace of dust on the speakers nor inside the cab.
I'm strictly a steel player and have no need for the amp.
I think it is important that an amp has a great clean tone, and from there, everything else is gravy. My amp of choice is a Super Reverb, although Deluxes and Vibroluxes are certainly acceptable substitutes, but aren't as loud if you need that. They all sound fabulous at low volumes. I never liked Twins much, great bottom end, but they sound too mid-range hollow for my taste. And they are a lot to lug around.
For lead tones I use a Fulltone Fulldrive II and you can dial in any level of overdrive and distortion you want, with the exception of the thick buzzy Boogie settings in vogue with today's wayward youth.
I have an early '67 Super I need to get rid of (I have two) if you are interested.
I concur with Tony Prior, either the Peavey Classic 30 or 50, or the Fender Hot Rod DeVille or Deluxe. I have been playing through a Peavey Classic 30 for around 5 years now and I love the tone it gets as much if not more than a '65 Fender Super Reverb that I have. If you want to spend the big bucks one of those "boutique" amps, I would look into a Matchless, a Dr. Z or a Victoria. You might also want to think about buying a vintage Fender, like a blackface Deluxe or Princeton, it'll keep its value, if not increase in value. You could look at it as an investment. Also, Peavey has a new amp called a Valve King that looks pretty cool.
I bought a Rivera M100 2x12 several months ago. This is a tweakers paradise. It also has a built in power soak setting. It is switchable from 10-100 watts and can be set to pentode or triode. This has the best clean sound of any amp I've ever heard. The overdriven sounds are very, very good. This is not a "plug and play" amp and really requires some effort to really understand all of the options. The effort is worth it.
