Best amps ever made

[ELVIS]

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Lay.. nee..

I hate it when people say Ozzy could never sing...Especially Dio...

That performance nor this one is are hardly examples of Ozzy's best vocals, but the vibe of each clip is pure magic...puts chills on me...

And check out the bass during the solo...

[ELVIS]

As far as amps, I really like my Fender Deluxes, which I bought three of. Two have vintage 30's in them, but they really shine through a Marshall cab with greenbacks. They actually sound like a warm Super Lead...but I don't plug straight into them...I wonder what a modded one would sound like...

But the best stock amp I ever plugged into is a Fender Super Sonic...

[Gringo]

Nothing beats my Laney GH50L!
I once in a while try out other tube-heads, but no amps get even close to my Laney... It suits my style perfectly! People laugh when they see my Laney on stage- but when i crank the monster up no one laughs anymore.
:-)

[GAR]

Hiwatt DR201, the 200 watter.. it had the best, most perfect guitar string tone ever.

I was going over one at Route66 Guitars in Pasadena years and years ago, Scott and I were looking at this thing wondering "wtf is it?" because there was no badge and no panel, it was bare.

All it said on the back was a tag "Hylite electronics" but wow.. I to this day still haven't heard such a pure amp..

I would like a DR201 for its clean channel, but would add a dirty to it. Maybe they could do it at Fryette

[Diamondjimi]

Nothing beats my Laney GH50L!
I once in a while try out other tube-heads, but no amps get even close to my Laney... It suits my style perfectly! People laugh when they see my Laney on stage- but when i crank the monster up no one laughs anymore.
:-)

Laney's kick major ass,no doubt...

Gringo, how the fuck are ya?

Hiwatt DR201, the 200 watter.. it had the best, most perfect guitar string tone ever.

I was going over one at Route66 Guitars in Pasadena years and years ago, Scott and I were looking at this thing wondering "wtf is it?" because there was no badge and no panel, it was bare.

All it said on the back was a tag "Hylite electronics" but wow.. I to this day still haven't heard such a pure amp..

I would like a DR201 for its clean channel, but would add a dirty to it. Maybe they could do it at Fryette

Who is Scott? Your John!?

[GAR]

Who is Scott? Your John!?

Clamp the urethra, textpisser.

Scott was the owner of Route 66, he was a legendary vintage dealer before the trend started.

That's the shop that had Ian Hunter's two H guitars on consignment for alotta money..

[GAR]

The vintage dealers are guys that, even if you can't afford their stuff, you need to develop relationships with them because sooner or later they find the buried treasures that turn up from time to time, as they themselves maintain relations with the players .. and when the rare stuff turns up you dreamed of having as a kid floats to the surface, it usually flows thru them.

Who wouldn't want the bragging rights to a Black Sabbath or Big Brother, or Jethro Tull Laney head? They change hands over the years..

How about a Jimi Hendrix Experience 4x12 cabinet with "J. H. EXP" spray logoed on the backboard, perhaps previously owned by Billy Cox or something with documentation like a handwritten bill of sale?

Or, like the thread we had awhile back, about the doctor EVH sent a new Wolfgang guitar to?

If you can't use a guitar or amp, or it doesn't sound good you cut it loose..

[Nitro Express]

Fender Dual Showman. Great for bass or guitar.

Peavey Penta. Nobody talks about this amp but it's very versatile.

5150 II. With a good set of tubes, a propper bias, and a good speaker cab, this amp can go from clean to warm, to rip your head off. Most people don't know how to EQ these heads or run them with a cold bias or the wrong cab. They are finicky but get eveything right and they are a great amp. Better than the 5150 III in my oppinion.

Kustom Double Cross. One of the best high gain amps for the price on the market.

[Diamondjimi]

Clamp the urethra, textpisser.

Eat a gun ,Nutlump !

[ZahZoo]

Of the amps I've owned over the years the best were...

'65 Silvertone model 1485 - 120W with 6 10" speakers. Broke a 10'x6' picture window behind us doing a Hendrix like feedback at house warming party in 74.

'64 Fender Deluxe Reverb

'64 Fender Bassman - Still have the blonde cabinet with one of the 2 original 12" Jensens in it.

Sure wish I'd held onto those amps...

[ELVIS]

The vintage dealers are guys that, even if you can't afford their stuff, you need to develop relationships with them because sooner or later they find the buried treasures that turn up from time to time, as they themselves maintain relations with the players .. and when the rare stuff turns up you dreamed of having as a kid floats to the surface, it usually flows thru them.

Yeah, but ebay kind of put a stop to that...

I had a 69 PARK that I sold years ago for the same $400 I paid for it...maybe it was $600 I got, it made me sick when I watched one like it go for nearly $4000 on ebay...

But it had some traces of white spray paint on the top that someone had tried to remove, so somebody had it...

There's a pic of Sabbath with Tony Iommi standing in front of six of them floating around the internet...

But that amp was neat. It had a quartet of KT88's and was rated at 150 watts. It also had four tubes in the preamp section. I want to say that one was a 12AT7 and I put a 12AX7 in it but it was still very clean...and the chassis was aluminum with beautiful welds in the sides and corners. It looked like it was military grade...

I used it for Bass with the big Peavey cabinet with 2x18 BW's, two 10's and a horn...and wheels. It sounded like an Ampeg setup but brighter, even with the horn turned down...

[ELVIS]

Here's the pic in tiny form...stupid google...

It's four, not six, but that's the exact amp...



This is probably the 75 watt version as it's not as wide. Mine was 29 inches wide with an offset handle so you could carry it level, unlike a Marshall...and it was deeper too. It fit perfectly on top of a slanted cabinet.



But I needed money and I chose to sell the Park over my '69 Super Bass which I still have.

[indeedido]

Here is one on the bay

1969 Park 75 ( Marshall Plexi ) dead mint UNREAL - eBay (item 270387449165 end time May-15-09 06:52:21 PDT)

[redfire]

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.)

[BrownSound1]

JCM 900? Are you kidding? Man, I think those could be some of the worst Marshalls ever made.

[al3d]

JCM 900? Are you kidding? Man, I think those could be some of the worst Marshalls ever made.

NOt realy true..the first 2 years they used the JCM800 circuit with some mods..those were awsome. when they total redesigned it and added reverbrs, 2 channels, etc etc..they went downhill.

[indeedido]

I don't appreciate the JCM 900 series either. I also can't stand the 5150 II. The eq section in that amp is weak. You can turn any one of the controls from 3 to 9 and you won't hear a change. I bought one as soon as they came out. Thought it would be like the original but with separate eq sections so I sold mine before the II came in. I got it home and threw up.

[BrownSound1]

The JCM 900s I remember used diode clipping for that big gain they kept harping about. Sounded like total ass. I'm not a big fan of master volume amps to begin with, and to use diode clipping in one is just plain wrong. Hell, just use a stompbox.

[redfire]

The JCM 900s I remember used diode clipping for that big gain they kept harping about. Sounded like total ass. I'm not a big fan of master volume amps to begin with, and to use diode clipping in one is just plain wrong. Hell, just use a stompbox.

See, and that's prolly why I like it. I played basic Marshalls when I first started (since I'm not a pro, I wasn't going to spend more than $500.00) so I learned to balance a channel volume, gain and the master volume to get what I wanted.

[GAR]

I dumped some stuff in the last year of this thread, but kept two JCM800's: the 50 and the 100.

Not that they were fantastic amps, but the mods were from xlnt engineers who knew the math.

I've tried the Laney 50 and 100s, very very good and get the deep Diezel tone for a third of the price.

But the Diezel amps are rediculously good and are really special, I'll probably wind up with one eventually.

I do like the online demo's of the Mesa mk 5, but I really don't like the whole "crammed in a breadbox" thing, they way they package the mk series heads. I like having space for my big fat stubby fingers to roll the knobs without dinking the knob next to it. Maybe if they widened out their shit chassis or something, but for under 2K they're priced right at the Laney VH100 range, and the Laney's only a two channel amp. Mk5 is three.

[Blackflag]

In your opinion what are the best guitar amps ever made?

Mesa Blue Angel.

End of thread.

[kentuckyklira]

Bogner Ecstacy

Diezel VH4S

[kentuckyklira]

For clean tones ----> (vintage) Fender Deluxe Reverb

Overdrive----> various Marshalls (if the AMP is having a good night)

For all around ---> the new Traynor combos

Roland Jazz Chorus 120 for cleans! Can´t get any better!

[GAR]

I had a JC120 head version, was very happy with it.

One of the most oft-recorded and underrated amps ever.

[Hardrock69]

Marshall 100-watt Super Lead Plexi for dirty
1950s Fender Twin for clean.

A close second for the dirty would be 50-watt JCM800.

My head is a JMP 100-watt MK II Super Lead, and I love it. It gets the true Marshall tone I dreamed of having for my whole life.

[GAR]

You probably like cold oatmeal too.

Unmodded JMP's aint that great at all.

[Hardrock69]

YOU GODDAMNABLE FUCK!
Where in the FUCK did I say anything about my amp being stock or modded?!?!?!?!?

SHUT THE FUCK UP, LOSER!

Nice thinking from the fucking retard asshole with the plywood copy of a Charvel!

Unmodded JMPs may not be that great to YOU, GARFUCKLE, but your opinion is not worth the crap that comes out of your dog's ass after you spent the night fucking it!!

In fact, just about everything anyone posts in this fucking thread is something you do not like, are disgusted by, or you hate.

GO FUCK YOURSELF IN THE ASS WITH A RUSTY POST-HOLE DIGGER!!!
SIDEWAYS!

[Blackflag]

Look like somebody got offended...

[Hardrock69]

Garfuckle is always offended by people who actually own guitars, amps, and HIM.

You shut the fuck up also. Garfuckle is angry because you took his cock of your mouth, loser.

[Blackflag]

I love how 1) you have a tantrum like a child, right before 2) creppy homosexual defensive accusations. Such a predictable pattern.

[Hardrock69]

No accusations to it. You are a creppy homo-sekshul, cock-breath. Take your mancrush-fantasies to Garfuckle. He will love you all the more for it.

[Blackflag]

No accusations . . . You are a . . .

Very logical.


And your amp is not modded, either.

[GAR]

He's not saying whether he has or has not modded it.

Very telling, because after owning and playing a JMP for a year with rock album classics you start discriminating tone.. or at about age 16 whichever occured first.

Then after the dissatisfaction settles in, you realize "could it be possible so n so didn't use a JMP" even though concert photos show the fancy white logo?

Labels are for jars.. once the circuit board is diddled, it's not really a Marshall anymore is it, and if he had his JMP taken to a proper service guy to increase the gain I think he'd have mentioned it by now.

AND one more thing: purists after the "stock tone" have to be cornered in these type conversations as to what type of tone really is stock on these things, because none.. NO ONE, not a single one, had ever used a stock Marshall. Even when Hendrix or Townsend picked up their amp right off the bench, I bet Ken Bran or whoever the tech was that voiced the early ones, tweaked em from the get go because the only "stock" tone I have ever heard on a Who or Hendrix album were the Fenders.. or Boogies they bought later on.

[GAR]

IMO if you really love your pre-JCM900 and want to invest more than 300 in a new pedal to sound better?

You find a tube jockey who's into guitar first, that can massage another five 12AX7's up in that chassis..

[Nitro Express]

Actually peddles had a lot to do with the tone Hendrix and Townsend got. It had a lot to do with Jimmy Page's sound too. Hendrix used a Fuzz Face. Townsend used a Supra Fuzz, and Page used a Tone Bender. I get a great Hendrix tone running a Fuzz Face through my modded Valve Jr. amp using a 72 Strat with 68 reissue pickups on it. I get lot's of compliments. These old peddles seem to work the best with non master volume amps that are pretty basic. Of course if you crank the amp into clipping your power tubes and speakers become part of the overall thing happening. I've heard good tapes of Jimi playing through Fender amps and most people wouldn't hear the difference. His guitar and peddles had a lot to do with his tone.

[Nitro Express]

Actually when I lived in Salt Lake City I got to meet Jimmy Page at a fundraiser. His wife was raising money for their foundation that helps get Brazilian women out of prostitution. Jimmy was in Salt Lake making an appearance to raise money and I went and got to meet him. He's super nice actually and I got to hear him explain his take on amps and peddles. He said he actually liked smaller amps but had to use big stacks because Bonham was such a heavy drummer. He said the Tone Bender was a big part of his sound. He loved the Supro amp he used on the first album.

[GAR]

.. Jimmy page was really good friends with every good amp tech you read about from back in the day, you've lost the point by bringing in pedals.

We all know the pedals sound kicks in when someone from that time used a Supro, Silvertone or Fender, and they're nice sounds we know.

This thread's about Best Amps Made, and the JMP's that got famously recorded were modded to sound that way - aside from the production we got here in the states.

Different amps: the one on records, and the one you got in a music store. Therefore, the JMP and basically all "steel-paneled" ie nonplexi JMP Marshalls ARE NOT eligible candidates for "Best Amp Made." It's simply not true.

now the point then you bring up, the Fenders.. nobody doubts what a Deluxe or Twin do. Those are def among best amps made.

[Diamondjimi]

and if he had his JMP taken to a proper service guy to increase the gain I think he'd have mentioned it by now.

Excessive gain mods are for HACKS who use it to cover up their sloppy assed playing. (And yeah, I know it helps increase sustain, but so does a good guitar and some old fashiones VOLUME!) I tend to believe you fall into the first category.

This thread's about Best Amps Made, blah, blah, blah.horseshit on a shovel.....

If you were paying attention, HR was stating his opinion of what the best amp is to him ,Dipshit...

You own nothing as far as anyone here has seen. You're nothing but a simple yammering Cliff Clavin, no one cares what you have to say.

[jhale667]

Actually peddles

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peddle?jss=0

Have nothing to do with guitar amps. Killin' me over here. Stop mis-peddling pedals.

There's a long history of amp-snobbery in this thread, especially from GARfail , who ironically in at least 6 years has failed to prove he even owns one. Tone is subjective so it's kind of asinine to sit around pontificating about how one example or the other couldn't possibly get someone a decent tone. But then consider the source.


I personally know people that dig their (un-modified) early JMPs. Some of them use clean boost or overdrive pedals in front of them. If it works for them, rock.

Here's an interesting read about JMPs...which also suggests the use of a hot-plate, btw...very cool for getting old Marshalls to growl at lower volumes, and cooler than excessive preamp gain mods...
http://www.marshallforum.com/marshal...0w-1977-a.html

BS1's love of Plexis is documented...lol I love 'em too. I think we're in agreement Boogies after the MK III were meh, and Rectos are definitely meh IMO, but they're popular amps...but who are we to judge?

But if you wanna talk modified Marshalls...have heard some amazing ones.. like Doug Aldrich's Cameron modded one...holy crap..here's one with a similar mod...

[VanHalenFan5150]

Marshalls for sure! That or Mesa/Boogies!