Best amps ever made

[Igosplut]

AND again, you know this - how? Ah, that silly Googlethingy.

I guess GARgle showed you fuckers, Huh????

[Hardrock69]

Distortion pedals should be irrelevant.

You ARE irrelevant, Garfuckle.

AND again, you know this - how? Ah, that silly Googlethingy.

It is common knowledge, loser. I have been aware of this for at least 30 years. Any musician who knows anything about Marshalls knows this.

Once again you have demonstrated your stupidity. But that is par for the course. Garfuckle owning himself. Always and forever.

[jhale667]

AND again, you know this - how? Ah, that silly Googlethingy.

Anyone who knows anything about Marshall history knows that without Google, dumbass...EXCEPT YOU. Try to keep in mind just because that's YOUR primary crutch doesn't mean it is for everyone else.

All that time in the library, and you've never even bothered to crack open a book...

[GAR]

It seems to me, that most answers here reflect those amps in personal possesion of the poster and I don't think it's fair.

I like some amps I have, but they are hotrods and require special maintenance. So they are not the "best amps ever made" in fact, neither of the two I'm thinking of have much resemblance electrically to their clones back in the day they were produced.

The answers I'm most interested in, are those makes that have fewer numbers.. less production, you know the secret silver bullet amp you never thought sounded any good.

Anyone?? Somebody here has got to have had an uncle or somebody that played and you thought gee I never thought those sounded anything great...

[Nitro Express]

Just for grins and giggles, anyone play on the Line 6 Spider Valve? I don't know exactly what the tubes in that do..... At any rate, I'll say this for a Laney, I wasn't exactly teaching this kid, but I would jam with him and show him scales and what not and he had this old 50 watt Laney that was killer. But the guy hated it because he couldn't get a good sound out of it. I lowered his bass from 10 to about 7.5, mid from 9 to 4, and raised the treble from like 2 to 6.5 and he decided it sounded great. To bad too, as far as amps I've owned and played that my friends owned, that was the best sound I've ever got just from the amp. And by contrast, the worst I'd ever played... or let me rephrase that, the most disappointed I've ever been is with a 5150 II. I don't know if someone had some different tubes in there, but it sounded like crap no matter how I EQed it. Probably why Ed's tone sounded like an electric ham sandwich on the VH3 tour.

I guess that's my point here, no matter what amp I play through, I need something else to make it just right. Whether that be various stomp boxes, or a digitech pedal (Rp-12 was the best), or whatever, the amp by its own has never been enough for me.

I guess to play ball and actually answer the question, I'd tow the party line here and say either a JCM 900, or a Vox AC30 (which I recently have come to appreciate.)

5150 II amps sound like complete shit through the wrong cabinet or if any of the knobs are tweaked wrong. Presence and Resonance do more on these amps. Good pre amp tubes are a must and changing these; especially, the first one makes a HUGE difference. If you want a warmer sound you need to run the bias voltage higher. Peavey runs their amps cold at the factory. Most people buy the 5150 II/6505+ amps for high gain and a colder bias makes the power tubes last longer and the amp more reliable.

With everything tweaked right the amp can sound great and very warm on the crunch setting. It works great with the EVH phase 90 and Flanger and I can get the classic brown sound. Marshall cabs are better for this by the way.

[Nitro Express]

Funny, he claims to know everything, yet does not know the first Marshall amps were based on a Fender Bassman circuit. Guess he had a hard time with Google.

Which reminds me to add the JTM 45 to the list. The original marshall and a great rythum and blues amp. A little different vibe than the Fender Bassman due to the British components and closed 4x12 speaker. Add a good fuzz and it will get the job done. Cleans up nice with the volume knob. Cranked it sounds more honky than a Super Lead but with a good fuzz it's a nice rig. I have the reissue version of this amp.

[Nitro Express]

Just a reminder, man....you mean "pedal". Peddling is when someone is trying to foist something off on, or sell something to people.
At least you can say you met him! How fucking cool is that!

In the late 70s when I was in the US Army, I would go to the base recreation centers, and check out a guitar and amp and take it off to some room to make an ungodly sound. Most of the guitars were either Fender Mustangs or Musicmasters, or cheap Japanese electric guitars. Once in a great while (if you were lucky) you would find a rec center that would have a Fender Telecaster. When I got to Ft. Lewis, Washington and got in my first real rock band in 1978, a friend of mine told me in awe how McChord AFB (just north of Ft. Lewis) had nothing but brand-new Stratocasters.

Anyway, as for the amps, mostly it was cheap piece of shit stuff......the best you could hope to find would be black tolex Kustom II 120-watt 2 X 12 combo amps. In mid-1977, I was at Ft. Jackson, SC. They had these ancient Supro 2 X 12 combo amps...the kind with big white gnurled plastic knobs. I had no effects at the time, certainly the rec centers did not. So the only way to get any kind of distortion was through SHEER VOLUME.

Let me tell you, those Supros were loud as HELL! Amazing tube-driven fire-breathing monsters.

Unfortunately I would only have one cranked up for a few minutes before rec center staff would open the door and yell at me to turn it down! Supros rock! Billy Cox still owns a Supro amp that he and Jimi used to practice through when Jimi was living in Nashville. I can see why Jimmy Page liked the sound of them.

It was very cool to meet Jimmy. He's more refined in an English gentleman sort of way and no pompus attitude to him at all. His eyes would beam and he would smile when we would bring up certain things. He loves talking about gear, rock and roll, and all the rumors. He loves that stuff. It was a lot of fun.

[BrownSound1]

First off congrats to you nitro for meeting Jimmy Page!

Second, who in the fuck doesn't know that the JTM45 is almost IDENTICAL to the Fender Bassman? That's been common knowledge since forever. My sources for this are Jim Marshall and Ken Bran, no Google Fu needed. Perhaps someone should buy the book "The History of Marshall." As many schematics as there are of the Fender Bassman and the JTM45 on the net, you'd think there wouldn't be any question.

[GAR]

First off congrats to you nitro for meeting Jimmy Page!

Second, who in the fuck doesn't know that the JTM45 is almost IDENTICAL to the Fender Bassman? That's been common knowledge since forever.

uh, HELLO McFly.. thanks for stating the obvious!

The Fender Bassman circuit isn't exactly a far stretch from the original General Electric's tube manual recommendations, but what I always found was the really cool comparison is that if you lay the original tweed Bassman 4x10 on it's back and stare at the panel, it isn't a far stretch to imagine where the inspiration for the chassis cutout for the original Marshall head BOX came about.

So even the chassis enclosure is not original to Marshall, either but anyone who's seen and played one knows this from looking at the thing.

[Seshmeister]

In the late 70s when I was in the US Army, I would go to the base recreation centers, and check out a guitar and amp and take it off to some room to make an ungodly sound. Most of the guitars were either Fender Mustangs or Musicmasters, or cheap Japanese electric guitars. Once in a great while (if you were lucky) you would find a rec center that would have a Fender Telecaster. When I got to Ft. Lewis, Washington and got in my first real rock band in 1978, a friend of mine told me in awe how McChord AFB (just north of Ft. Lewis) had nothing but brand-new Stratocasters.

Anyway, as for the amps, mostly it was cheap piece of shit stuff......the best you could hope to find would be black tolex Kustom II 120-watt 2 X 12 combo amps. In mid-1977, I was at Ft. Jackson, SC. They had these ancient Supro 2 X 12 combo amps...the kind with big white gnurled plastic knobs. I had no effects at the time, certainly the rec centers did not. So the only way to get any kind of distortion was through SHEER VOLUME.

Let me tell you, those Supros were loud as HELL! Amazing tube-driven fire-breathing monsters.

And people wonder why the US military spending is through the roof...?

[Seshmeister]

Exactly, exactly.

Hey, here's a Cameron-modded JMP!

Wow I want one of these...

[Hardrock69]

uh, HELLO McFly.. thanks for stating the obvious!

The Fender Bassman circuit isn't exactly a far stretch from the original General Electric's tube manual recommendations, but what I always found was the really cool comparison is that if you lay the original tweed Bassman 4x10 on it's back and stare at the panel, it isn't a far stretch to imagine where the inspiration for the chassis cutout for the original Marshall head BOX came about.

So even the chassis enclosure is not original to Marshall, either but anyone who's seen and played one knows this from looking at the thing.

Except you, loser.

Come on. Try to cover up your previous statements, ignorant Garfuckle.

[GAR]

Wow I want one of these...

I like it too, slightly thinner than my Jackson-mod jcm100 but that's what one would expect from an old JMP - yet people buy one, plug in and are immediately disappointed!

It's like I say, modded amps kick stock amps' ass any day of the WEEK, and this Cameron guy's work sounds like what I'd expect to get back if I sent a 100w top out for engineering.

[Diamondjimi]

I would be inclined to believe that imaginary amps are the best amps ever. But I've never heard one, personally.

I own real amps...