S
soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
After trading posts with a guy making his own cabs, he has my interest in "personalized" amps peaked more than ever! So.....let's assume that I go the "raw driver plus gutted cab" route and put together my own combination of (probably Weber 12 inch Blue Dogs) speakers plus amp.
After doing searches on the popular forums, I think most of them I cannot rely on for unbiased amp info, since they are heavily overrun with metal heads and death rockers. (No offense, I just want to avoid heads made for heavy metal specifically) With that in mind, where or what would people suggest looking at first as far as reliable, well built amp heads (I'll provide my own open back 2x12 speaker cab) that have great basic tones for classic rock styles. Not necessarily huge watts, anything between 50 to 100w is more than enough, but more along the lines of "works better after falling off a semi and rolling down the mountain" type of amp...... Built like a tank, sounds like Stevie Ray!
I dont do heavy metal or grundge, and I dont use pedals. I play an American made Strat with Fender Noiseless pickups and Super Slinkys, and I like to crank the amp while leaving the guitar knobs at about 50%. I only need an amp to make 4 or 5 great tones (clean fast rhythm, chunky gritty rhythm, clean punchy lead, gritty blues lead, some occasional searing bluesrock/jazzrock leads). Foot switchable would be nice! I have found that I prefer a tube sound over any solid state sound. I consider myself to be recovering from deep and severe solid state abuse.
The thing that stands out in memory is reading several posts about some guy who makes amps, I think his last name is actually the brand name, and people absolutely rave about them. I would gladly try one! But I'm open to all suggestions that go beyond the ordinary GC offerings or the profit oriented music store brands like Marshall, Fender, Peavey, Crate, Line 6, Orange, etc. I already have an old 1968 Fender Champ (sentimental value), old Peavey Studio Chorus 70 (acceptable as a window rattler), new Vox AD50VT (love this one!), and a new little ss Traynor TRM40 practice amp (love this one too!). I've gotten rid of and disavowed all association with Marshall, Line 6, Lab Series, Orange, Crate, Acoustic, Ampeg, new Peavey, and a few others along the way.
What does that leave? The less well known stuff is not out of the question, as long as there are no issues with service or disappearing support.
Thanks in advance for any tips! - SC
After doing searches on the popular forums, I think most of them I cannot rely on for unbiased amp info, since they are heavily overrun with metal heads and death rockers. (No offense, I just want to avoid heads made for heavy metal specifically) With that in mind, where or what would people suggest looking at first as far as reliable, well built amp heads (I'll provide my own open back 2x12 speaker cab) that have great basic tones for classic rock styles. Not necessarily huge watts, anything between 50 to 100w is more than enough, but more along the lines of "works better after falling off a semi and rolling down the mountain" type of amp...... Built like a tank, sounds like Stevie Ray!
I dont do heavy metal or grundge, and I dont use pedals. I play an American made Strat with Fender Noiseless pickups and Super Slinkys, and I like to crank the amp while leaving the guitar knobs at about 50%. I only need an amp to make 4 or 5 great tones (clean fast rhythm, chunky gritty rhythm, clean punchy lead, gritty blues lead, some occasional searing bluesrock/jazzrock leads). Foot switchable would be nice! I have found that I prefer a tube sound over any solid state sound. I consider myself to be recovering from deep and severe solid state abuse.
The thing that stands out in memory is reading several posts about some guy who makes amps, I think his last name is actually the brand name, and people absolutely rave about them. I would gladly try one! But I'm open to all suggestions that go beyond the ordinary GC offerings or the profit oriented music store brands like Marshall, Fender, Peavey, Crate, Line 6, Orange, etc. I already have an old 1968 Fender Champ (sentimental value), old Peavey Studio Chorus 70 (acceptable as a window rattler), new Vox AD50VT (love this one!), and a new little ss Traynor TRM40 practice amp (love this one too!). I've gotten rid of and disavowed all association with Marshall, Line 6, Lab Series, Orange, Crate, Acoustic, Ampeg, new Peavey, and a few others along the way.
What does that leave? The less well known stuff is not out of the question, as long as there are no issues with service or disappearing support.
Thanks in advance for any tips! - SC
