Author Topic: Good clean amp (Read 20207 times)

Henk · « **Reply #75 on:** January 18, 2008, 04:27:20 PM »

Quote from: _tom_

edit - just listening to Pestilence now, not a bad tone but really thin, typical thrash style sound though. Listen to the You Could be Mine cover in the link in my sig, I love the recorded tone I got for rock, slightly fizzy/high gain (master was only on 1, which is still too loud for playing at home for more than 10 minutes) but I like it :)

IMVHO trying to get a big fat distortion tone out of the usual vintage-y Marshall kind of amp results in a pit full of poo, youll be better off with a modern amp then IMO. Ive played metal on my marshall, but allways just used the clean channel with a nice pile of stacked drive stages.

Your rock tone is very close to a 90's heavy metal tone IMO, heavy metal has a bit more compressed/sustained/boosted highs i think though. I dont think you would get that kind of saturation out of a 15w head.

Just try some lower amps settings, maybe it will sound a bit thinner but i highly doubt it will sound very bad all off a sudden.

_tom_ · « **Reply #76 on:** January 18, 2008, 04:31:55 PM »

The only thing is with the master under 1 its really fizzy and thin, not pushing the speakers enough I guess. Same happened when using a hotplate with the GH, though the Hotplate did wonders for my HRDx. Maybe with a 1x12 itd be a bit better though.

Henk · « **Reply #77 on:** January 18, 2008, 07:04:06 PM »

Im kind off getting confused here, so you have a gh 50 or 100L? And using a 2x12 with the channel vol crancked and the master on 1 it is too loud?

If your folks are that strict about noise i would definately take the rig to uni, i make more noise than that acoustically :lol:

In general i fill the house up to a nice 'shopping mall' background volume, which is pretty much cranked halfway, or play at loud TV volume at which i sit in front of the amp.

Anyway, i dont crank the channel volume, i only push the preamp into sounding like it. Master is pretty much at 2-3 (8-9 oclock) then, same as the channel vol.

I also dont mind the sound being a bit thinner, it just is like that and i know what it sounds like when cranked anyway so.....

The 2205 is a very good recording volume amp though, sounds strange maybe but it is.

If you have the 100w version you can simply take it down to 50 watts which would make some difference.

_tom_ · « **Reply #78 on:** January 18, 2008, 07:10:57 PM »

Sorry, I have a GH50L and a 2x12 with G12Hs in it. It has controls for preamp gain and an overall master volume. Above 1 its way too loud for home use, my parents just tolerate it but can tell its annoying :lol: Dont think I am going to be getting a new amp now anyway, as I'm likely to be buying twinfans Pearl LP copy, unless someone else beats me to it :)

Henk · « **Reply #79 on:** January 18, 2008, 07:45:52 PM »

Ah ok, i couldnt care less if my parents found my playing annoying actually :oops:

Anyway, now im pretty sure you must join a band, even if its only to crank that amp!

I think i know what it is, if you put a 50w head trough 60w worth speakers you are driving them really hard, my bluesbreaker combo is also louder then my JCM rig at the same volume. Im not sure but thats the only thing i can think of.

_tom_ · « **Reply #80 on:** January 18, 2008, 08:23:46 PM »

Yeah, thats probably it. Even playing in the old cover band, the loudest it needed to be was master on 2, so its not like I'm ever running it on 10 to push the speakers all the way. Still trying to find some people to play with, no luck so far :(

btw, I finally found a really good Minimat clip - http://www.matamp.co.nz/audio/minimat/6V6-MiniMat.mp3

Thats with a G12H as well, there are clips of it on that site with a Celestion Hot-100 and they suck. Theres a clip of it through a G12M25 and its not bad, but much thinner than the G12H. The dirty tone halfway through sounds awesome for ACDC type stuff :D I understand they're making a new minimat, sounds interesting :)

kellar · « **Reply #81 on:** January 18, 2008, 10:21:15 PM »

Check out the Epiphone Valve Junior, stack version(not the combo). 5 watt tube that sounds nice clean at low volumes but can also get damn loud. I have it and love it. There are also about a million mod packages out there for it, it will give you something to do if you feel like changing something. Very affordable for a tube amp.

Henk · « **Reply #82 on:** January 18, 2008, 10:56:36 PM »

Quote from: _tom_

Yeah, thats probably it. Even playing in the old cover band, the loudest it needed to be was master on 2, so its not like I'm ever running it on 10 to push the speakers all the way. Still trying to find some people to play with, no luck so far :(

btw, I finally found a really good Minimat clip - http://www.matamp.co.nz/audio/minimat/6V6-MiniMat.mp3

Thats with a G12H as well, there are clips of it on that site with a Celestion Hot-100 and they suck. Theres a clip of it through a G12M25 and its not bad, but much thinner than the G12H. The dirty tone halfway through sounds awesome for ACDC type stuff :D I understand they're making a new minimat, sounds interesting :)

Just keep looking, will work out fine.....

Well the flat eq isnt the best setting for the greenbacks, but if you ask me the greenback track b!tchsl@ps all the other tracks, just listen to the mellow intro, great expression IMO, but agreed its a matter of taste offcourse.

Anyway, the thing i have against low wattage amps is that a higher wattage amp can do a low W amps sound but a low W amp can never get the saturation and sheer PHAT a high W amp can. That AND the fact that i think playing one amp allmost exclusively generates the best progress, changing gear alot usually didnt help me along at least.

_tom_ · « **Reply #83 on:** January 18, 2008, 11:04:16 PM »

Yeah, true. Like I said, if I'm buying twinfans LP then I wont be getting another amp for some time anyway so this thread is kinda redundant now, other than being a huge discussion about amps which has just given me more gas :lol:

I just remembered I have a Kustom KGA65 solid state amp in the attic actually I might get dad to bring that down for me to have a go on. I remember it sounding allright last time I used it, the clean is way bright but the distortion channel wasnt too bad. Twas just loud enough for playing in a band as well and its light so if I get any band going this will suffice to start with!

Kilby · « **Reply #84 on:** January 19, 2008, 11:19:17 PM »

Just to say that I tried one of those little 5 watt fenders today (the Vibro Champ XD) and it was excellent on the clean(ish) settings, it was very fender.

With a tele it twanged, and with a LP type it was pretty good too. The digital reverb sounded pretty good (not was warm as a spring but nice none the less).

The voicing control for higher gain settings where ok (certainly better than the average line6 sh1t), but nowhere as much fun as the fender tone, just heading into breakup. There is also an excellent compressed country style setting (which surprised me as I usually hate the cliched country tones)

BTW it is more than loud enough.

At 180 quid I liked it, but preferred my Blues Jr a little more than the Champ

Elliot · « **Reply #85 on:** January 19, 2008, 11:33:23 PM »

...but the Blues Junior is a very underrated amp - not really Fender at all in its range.

Kilby - have you done the BillM mods - I finished them today and with an Eminence Texas Heat as a speaker its a killer.

Kilby · « **Reply #86 on:** January 21, 2008, 09:59:44 AM »

Quote from: Elliot

...but the Blues Junior is a very underrated amp - not really Fender at all in its range.

Kilby - have you done the BillM mods - I finished them today and with an Eminence Texas Heat as a speaker its a killer.

It's a totally forgotten amp as far as I am concerned. I once heard the Blues Jr users referred to as the Blues Jr Mafia a few years ago. It gives a great blues tone with my strat (ain't got the strat any more), and gives an amazing light overdrive Beatles tone with the Ric

I havn't modded it yet as the ZVex Nano has almost totally replaced it, though I am looking at a small attenuator to rehabilitate it for home use (as it is loud for home use)

I have was going to do the BillM mods but 3 years in London prevented that, and integration back into family life has removed most of my time for FX & Amp modding (for a while)

Though straight out of the box it does a great job, a valve change (either for more cleans, or more dirt) can delay the day you decide that it really does need a new speaker & some mods.

I was thinking of some of those Webber hemp speakers for it.

fps_dean · « **Reply #87 on:** January 22, 2008, 02:26:38 AM »

I'd go with a Peavey Classic 30, or a Fender Blues Jr.... or maybe an old Fender Champ just for retroness of it, and bonus points for that if you have a friend named Joe whose garage you jam in.

I've played some Les Pauls through Fender Blues Jrs.... great sound.

_tom_ · « **Reply #88 on:** January 22, 2008, 11:23:21 AM »

How loud are the Blues Jrs though?

Tbh right now I'm just thinking about getting a Pod XT or Pocket Pod and putting up with that - have a V-Amp 2 but it no longer stores my presets and I just want a change really, plus Line 6 stuff apparently sounds better.

kellar · « **Reply #89 on:** January 22, 2008, 11:32:40 AM »

The Blues Junior is a 15 watt tube amp and it is pretty damn loud. I have played it quite a few times, lovely sound. I really like it, crisp and clean and not a bad reverb channel. I also like the fat switch, which really thickens up your tone nicely. Good amp for the money.