I played a bunch of amps today....

G

Greg_L

Banned
Lemme see if I can remember them all.....

Marshalls....
JCM 2000 DSL 100/DSL100H
JMP-1
JTM-1
JCM 800 2203
JCM 900 DR 4100
JVM 410

Mesa...
Dual Rec
Electro Dyne
Mini Rec
Mark V

Orange...
Tiny Terror
Rockerverb
Dark Terror

Fender....
Bassman 50
Twin Reverb re-issue
Vibrolux


Various other stuff....
EVH 5150III
Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 18
Blackstar HT-5
Egnater Tweaker
Krank 1980
Vox AC30

That's a lot of amps!

Everything was through a Marshall 1960a (Celestion G12T-75), Mesa 4x12 (Vintage 30), Orange 2x12 (Vintage 30) or it was it's own combo.

My top 5 of the day....and this surprised me...and yes I'm biased (no pun intended) and base this on nothing but my opinions...disagree or laugh if you want, I don't care, so fuck you. :D

5) H&K Tubemeister. Just a really cool looking, nice sounding little lunchbox amp with a lot of really great features. I'd be proud to own one of these. One day...

4) Fender Twin. It's a fucking Fender Twin. Can't go wrong. I had a lot of surftastic fun with this amp and a Fender Jaguar.

3) I'm gonna call a tie on this one between the Orange Rockerverb and the Mesa Mark V. The Orange killed through the Vintage 30 cabs. I've never really been a big fan of Orange stuff, but this thing really pleasantly surprised me with it's totally british crunch and nice cleans. Really raw and aggressive. I liked it. Expensive though....as was the Mark V. The Mark V combo pretty much confused me with it's thousands of toggle switches and knobs, but what I did get to hear ranged from really clean to a typical American Mesa crunch. Very articulate and pristine even with moderate gain. Actually, the Orange wins this round because it sounds more british and only has like 4 or 5 knobs compared to the NASA mission control interface that is the Mark V.

2) Marshall JCM 800 2203. This is where my total bias comes in because I'm a Marshall kind of guy and this has always been one of my favorite amps and it was a true joy to crank this thing today with a Les Paul and let it roar. This was a side-by-side input, so it was a late 80's model. Not sure exactly what year, but definitely 86 or later. The early style vertical inputs are more desirable, but this thing sounded fucking awesome to me. Pure unapologetic Marshall roar. It's a one-trick pony but it still does it's trick 25-30 years later better than modern amps do. This thing was loud as holy fuck by 3 on the master vol, and it just got more and more saturated as the dial went up. Total boner.

1) The Marshall DSL's. I played a few of these. The original JCM 2000 DSL's and the new DSL100H. Used DSL's can be had for 5-600 bucks and the new DSL100H is only 800 bucks and sounds incredible. And it's quite versatile for dumb ol Marshall. Is the JVM 410 more versatile? For sure, but it's also 3 times as much money and three times as complicated. The DSL gets really clean, does a "vintage" Marshall crunch reasonably well (not nearly like the JCM 800 though), and it's higher gain channels are really good. And it really sounded great even at very low bedroom volumes. It's tone stayed together loud or quiet. The Lead 1 channel with the gain around 3 or 4 was fucking awesome. The DSL is my new favorite.

Okay that is all. :facepalm: :D
 
The Orange Tiny Terror would be fitting for ya....

I've played the H&K Tubmeister. Cool little amp.

Played a couple of the Blackstars, they're decent.

Never got to play any Mesa's.

Use to own a Marshall JCM 800 2x12 combo, a 50 watter, verticle input jacks, 2 channel. Had it on top of a Marshall JCM 800 4x12 cab. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was trading it away. Loved that amp. Sounded great.

Played some Egnator stuff, decent.

I went with the Carvin V3 when I bought a new amp. I love the sound and versatility. 50 or 100 watts and has a built in power soak. 3 channels (2 are identical but can be set different). Great amp at a price I could afford.
 
An interesting post, I have a couple of sizes of the H&K Tubemeister, one of which the tiny 5 watt which can be hooked up to surprisingly large cabs providing the impedance is correct, as with all the range the available headroom is ridiculous. I use the baby one in the studio as they have XLR out for playing their unique tones without always having to use a cab in the small hours. The Auto or switchable heat soak is pretty useful and the rear switch illumination is generally bright enough to remind that the speaker jack has not been plugged in, as that operates automatically over-riding the switch in that situation. I also use orange amps for my bass which do a great job and on the strength of your observations I feel inclined to audition some of the Marshall heads as it's one of those things I've said I'll do but never gotten round to. I need a back up head of intermediate size or a differing tonality option so found your observations useful.

Thanks

Tim
 
Greg,
The biggest Q - did you hit the stores or have friends bring the gear for a test BBQ?
A friend of mine had a Fender twin - it was stolen & he replaced it with an original SANS AMP. I was dumbfounded - he was the ever nagging presence re organic, real, tape based recording etc etc etc.
What a Wally!
Of those things on your list I've only played through the fender twin & the Fender Bassman - but it was a 100 & that was in '86 and that particular head amp was OLD then.
I wasn't into guitar tone so didn't pay much attention so long as it was loud enough.
Does this mean you've a new shopping list?
Tim,
Sounds like you have some excellent gear. I have late onset guitar tone envy!
 
rayc said:
Greg,
The biggest Q - did you hit the stores or have friends bring the gear for a test BBQ?
Click to expand...

The lead guitarist in my band (my friend Chris) and I go on these excursions to the music shops about once a month or so. We start around noon and have a route of shops that we hit and end up for dinner at the baddest pizza joint in the city. He's spent his life worshipping Randy Rhoads and he's a total guitar freak, so once the shop employees hear him play and he starts talking their ears off, they pretty much let us do whatever we want because we're not in there banging out Stairway to Heaven or Slash riffs. We actually try out the stuff with regard to learning the equipment instead of just making noise.

There was one place that got tired of us -the place where we tried out the JCM 800, one of the DSL's, the Rockerverb, and the EVH. It was late in the day and by the time the salesman, an older burnout type guy, realized that we weren't spending one penny in his overpriced shop he pretty much told us to get out. :laughings:
 
Phrasemaker said:
I feel inclined to audition some of the Marshall heads as it's one of those things I've said I'll do but never gotten round to. I need a back up head of intermediate size or a differing tonality option so found your observations useful.

Thanks

Tim
Click to expand...

If you're interested in lower wattage heads and wanna try a Marshall, they came is pretty late to the game, but they've come out with some decent stuff. For their 50th anniversary (or whatever the occasion is) they've come out with one watt versions of their most famous heads - JTM, JMP, JCM 800, DSL, JVM and maybe a few more that I can't remember. They're also stupidly priced. I have to point and laugh at people that buy those things. They're almost as much as the real deal used. In some cases more. But whatever, they're kinda cool. And there's also the Class 5 which is very reasonably priced. They sound okay. I like them but they don't compare to their original big watt counterparts. The Class 5 sounds much better through an extension cab than the combo version IMO. That would be one you might wanna consider. There's also a DSL 15 that I haven't gotten to try yet but it gets great reviews. And there's the DSL 40 combo. You just have to find some and try them. Me personally, I like the big boy amps way better.
 
And keep in mind that in no way am I an authority on anything and I'm little more than a hack player at best. These are just my own closed-minded opinions on the many amps my friend (who can play very well) and I got to finger bang....
 
I've got a rockerverb 50 and tiny terror, and they are super different amps. The rockerverb is amazing, smooth to classic orange crunch/OD. The TT kinda does one thing...a mid heavy, dry 70s tone.

But, I find myself playing through my twin more and more. Just an amazing clean sound.

I'm not a marshall guy at all, but those DSL are sweet!

What guitar(s) did you use? I love the twin with single coils but with HBs it kinda sucks (of course I don't care for HBs anyway).
 
Greg_L said:
It was late in the day and by the time the salesman, an older burnout type guy, realized that we weren't spending one penny in his overpriced shop he pretty much told us to get out. :laughings:
Click to expand...

If a sales persone ever asks me to leave, I do...and NEVER come back...and make sure everyone I know knows to never come back. All business is customer service!
 
aaronmcoleman said:
I've got a rockerverb 50 and tiny terror, and they are super different amps. The rockerverb is amazing, smooth to classic orange crunch/OD. The TT kinda does one thing...a mid heavy, dry 70s tone.

But, I find myself playing through my twin more and more. Just an amazing clean sound.

I'm not a marshall guy at all, but those DSL are sweet!

What guitar(s) did you use? I love the twin with single coils but with HBs it kinda sucks (of course I don't care for HBs anyway).
Click to expand...
Pretty much everything was done with various humbucking Les Pauls and SG's. Les Paul classics, traditionals, and a few customs. SG standards and P-90 equipped. All higher end Gibsons. No studios or Epis. The only guits I used on the Fender Twin though were Fenders with single coils. The Strat and Tele were pretty standard, and the Jag had some big ol P-90 looking single coils and was by far my fave guitar out of the Fenders.

aaronmcoleman said:
If a sales persone ever asks me to leave, I do...and NEVER come back...and make sure everyone I know knows to never come back. All business is customer service!
Click to expand...

I agree but it was no big deal. This place is well known for it's way high prices but really cool stock. It's not rare to see big names in there occasionally. They have some wild shit in there, and a lot of really nice vintage stuff. It's the only place in this big ol city that I know of that actually has an original Mosrite hanging from the rafters - although it's not for sale. I've been getting kicked out of there for literally decades now. I never buy any big ticket items there, but it's a cool place to go window shopping and ooh and ahh at all the obscure and rare vintage stuff.
 
Rad! Sounds like a fun place to try stuff out.

I love the offset fenders. Jags are amazing, and probably the next guitar I get. My main guitar right now is a Jazzmaster...but I still love teles, and P90 guitars too!

As much as I typically dislike HBs (or actually, typically prefer single coils), a nice Gibson into the rockerverb sounds amazing!
 
I like how you liked the dsl's, I'm definitely getting a 401 now, I just need to wait for a close, good priced one to come on ebay :)
 
aaronmcoleman said:
Rad! Sounds like a fun place to try stuff out.

I love the offset fenders. Jags are amazing, and probably the next guitar I get. My main guitar right now is a Jazzmaster...but I still love teles, and P90 guitars too!

As much as I typically dislike HBs (or actually, typically prefer single coils), a nice Gibson into the rockerverb sounds amazing!
Click to expand...

I like single coils too, but since getting a Les Paul in April, my Strat has been mostly collecting dust. I think I generally lean towards humbuckers, but a single coil rhythm on one side and a humbucker on the other sounds good to me. The way I play rhythm though, a single sounds like a humbucker, and my LP feels and plays about ten billion times better than the strat anyway.
 
ollie99 said:
I like how you liked the dsl's, I'm definitely getting a 401 now, I just need to wait for a close, good priced one to come on ebay :)
Click to expand...

I didn't expect to like them this much. When the DSL first came out in like 1998 or something, I didn't care for them much. And I really didn't like the TSL later on. But I've changed my mind. The DSL is great and if you have a chance to get one, I say do it.
 
I want an 800. There is a king model for sale locally.

I don't have any tribal tattoos though. :(

Really like how they sound though (the 800s in general, I've actually never played the king).
 
Guitargodgt said:
I want an 800. There is a king model for sale locally.

I don't have any tribal tattoos though. :(

Really like how they sound though (the 800s in general, I've actually never played the king).
Click to expand...

I've never played the KK, but I've heard them, and they're nothing like the standard 800's. They're voiced from Marshall with a scooped-ish mid tone. It's like the anti-Marshall. :laughings:
 
Dude, you gotta get some tribals if you wanna be cool in the late 90s to early 2000s! Maybe get a PRS and play wearing just a leather vest and tight pants with your leg up on the monitor during solos..."with arms wide open..."
 
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