Up for a new amp...

[TalismanRich]

I knew I should have grabbed that Variac when they closed up the plant 20 years ago. It's probably either sitting in a pile of junk at the other plant, if it hasn't been 5S's in the ensuing years. It probably got the 6th S... Sh*tcan it.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

Hello...

First off, I'm a home studio guy who records in a DIY home studio...so not playing gigs etc. Anyway, I've had this Fender Super Champ x2 for about 7 years. Nice amp, nice Fender tone and delicious reverb. I think so anyway. The prob is that it's always been very noisy...lots of hum, lots of hiss. I dunno if it's always been a dud or if it's my electrics in my house or if there's a fault with the tubes or whatever. Coz I've never had it looked at and I've never investigated if my house wiring is dodgy in grounding or something if you want to use amps. So there's that. The Super Champ is a dog to record. I need to use plugins to remove hum etc. And it takes pedals like a dog too. No offense to dogs in general. It's just a very, very noisy amp.

So I bought a BOSS Katana 50mkii thinking I'd model my way to amp recording...maybe even run from the out direct to my interface. But the Katana is just massive tweak city. And if you really want to dial in the right sound you've got to USB it to your PC and all that. Additionally, I find the Katana thin or just not the right sound. In terms of hum and hiss I might add, interestingly there's a NS - noise suppression setting deep in the PC user interface. The high gain, crunch, lead sounds come with big hum/ hiss etc (I guess trying to accurately model the real thing? Not sure). But if you correctly dial in the NS the hum/ hiss COMPLETELY disappears. Pretty awesome. That's kind of beside the point but I find it noteworthy that the Katana isn't overwhelmed with hum/ hiss/ noise in my house like my Super Champ is. Different kinds of amps I know...but it makes me wonder if my home wiring is basically OK and it's the Super Champ that's insane.

So anyway, I'm up for a new amp. I don't like the Katana though it's ok. And the Super Champ is just insane. So I was looking into a couple of solid state/ digital modelling amps...the Roland JC40 and the Fender Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb. There's pros and cons of each...(I may be wrong on some of these points)

- The Roland is apparently a genuine "solid state" amp whereas the Tonemaster is a computer
- The Tonemaster is apparently a potential landfill/ dump piece of scrap because it's a computer and if the mobo fails or something out of 2 year warranty down the road servicing and finding parts is problematic.
- The Roland build has longevity because it is genuine solid state and not a modelling computer. It can be serviced/ repaired more readily.
- The Tonemaster has the Fender sound and sweet reverb which I really like
- The Roland has a great pure clean sound but does apparently have a well known hiss. Hiss probably better than hum though.
- The Tonemaster apparently plays really well at low levels...which is good for home recording
- The Roland has the "mid" control...the Tonemaster doesn't.

I would like to get the Tonemaster for the Fender sound, the low level ability and the reverb...but I'm a little put off by the fact that if it fails or goes bad then down the road it's a potential real problem to repair.

What do you guys reckon? Any other options? No more tube amps for me. It must be solid state or digi mod. But yeah, digi mod when parts go bad...might be a problem.

Thank you

I highly recommend that you check out what Nick Greer is making. Greer Amplification makes a fantastic line of point to point hand made amps and pedals. His 3watt Mini Chief is incredible in the studio.

 

[Old Music Guy]

I don't know if I'm adding anything to this conversation...You said the Fender Super Champ was a bear to record. I have a Fender Champion 20 that is SS; Got some effects that I don't love. When I got it I immediately changed out the speaker for a Jensen, Not my fave amp. Very thin.
I have an older (2007??) Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. That's a 40W tube. I love it, but it's a lot of amp. Rarely do I ever get above 2 on the master. The spring reverb is to kill for. It's smashing with my pedal board and the pre-amp send is a good line out.
I also have a JC-120 from the 80s. That unfortunately in now a boat anchor. I'm not a rookie at fixing electronics, but the soldering on this amp was so bad that it essentially impossible to work on. The two things about the JCs is that its cleans are superb, and the chorus, well, there is no better.
Also, 2 Orange amps are in the living room, a regular model and a bass model. There's a lot of bang for the buck there. The bass amp was $200USD open box on Verb. No line out, but I'm sure it will take a mic very well. You could use the headphone jack for a line out if your using headphones.
IMHO, the JC-40 is overpriced, and way too much for a bedroom. However, it does have a line out and it's stereo. $800USD is a lot of ching.