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.
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.
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.
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.