Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Peavey

[Guitarjon]

Hey everyone,

I thought it would be a lot of fun to put all my amplifiers together in one video to see how they compare.
Not only to see how they compare but also to just see how they all function in a mix when I have them all dialed in.
There are a bunch of different amps in my collection, Mesa's, various Oranges, a, EVH, a Laney, an ENGL, a Marshall and a Peavey.
Different amps but all mainly 'rock/metal'-type amps I'd say.

So for the first part of each section I'm playing a clean clip with my Tele and then 30 seconds of rock with a humbucker equipped LP style guitar.
For all the clean bits I used the clean channels (when available) and for the dirty parts the drive channels.
No boost pedals or eq pedals etc, just the pure amp tones into my Fractal LB-2 reactive load and into impulse responses.
There's almost no post processing going on aside from HPF's to make a little room for the kick and bass.
That's a very common thing in mixing so that's how we usually hear guitars anyway.
If I felt that a tone could be better, instead of resorting to processing I would go back and tweak the amp and/or IR.

Most of them turned out really well in this mix!
I'll let you guys know what my favorites are soon, but first I'd be very interested to know which ones you thought were best and why!

If you want to skip the sections, don't overlook the timecodes in the description.

[GuitarStv]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

It's a cool demo, but none of the amps were played clean. They all had pretty noticeable fuzziness going on. I'm also kinda sad that you applied high pass filters on everything. I know it's a common technique, but once you EQ something it's hard to get a feel for the original sound.

[Guitarjon]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

It's a cool demo, but none of the amps were played clean. They all had pretty noticeable fuzziness going on. I'm also kinda sad that you applied high pass filters on everything. I know it's a common technique, but once you EQ something it's hard to get a feel for the original sound.

I guess that's just how I like my clean tones, especially with a Tele or Strat.
Broken up just sounds better to me
About the HPF's, guitars don't have use for those frequencies in a mix and since this is a comparison in the mix I took some off under 88/90hz.
Some of the amps were a little too bloated in that area but the HPF didn't make a HUGE difference.
Just enough to make room for the kick and bass.

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Nice idea & well played man ..the amp's/demo sound great, really professionally done demo etc.. but having said that (and this is something I find with a LOT of youtube amp demo's/comparisons) the differences between most of those amps in the mix are a bit too subtle & actually pretty tough to discern especially with gain.

Now, obviously those are vastly different sounding amps you have lined up there, but that really does'nt come across in the mix/demo. Maybe they were all EQ'd really close or mastered in some way? or maybe listening to the same thing played 13 times in a row does tricks on the ears lol..

I did a quicker/more modest comparison (5 amps..mostly lunchboxes) with zero processing/effects (ie no reverb, delay, eq, filters ..nothing..just jamming solo's from the amp to a cheap analog speaker sim pedal to my DAW) & no bass guitar track a while ago and the differences between the amp tones comes across a lot more starkly, though they're laid absolutely bare & don't sound too pretty minus any kind of spit & polish

[Jacew]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Great video. Really like your clean tones! I agree with you that too clean just sounds boring, I think that's quite perfect.

I would also like to hear these without EQ to get better grasp on the differences. They don't differ that obviously processed in to the mix.

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Man, that EVH is sounding fantastic!

Great shootout. Really fun to listen to.

[Guitarjon]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Nice idea & well played man ..the amp's/demo sound great, really professionally done demo etc.. but having said that (and this is something I find with a LOT of youtube amp demo's/comparisons) the differences between most of those amps in the mix are a bit too subtle & actually pretty tough to discern especially with gain.

Now, obviously those are vastly different sounding amps you have lined up there, but that really does'nt come across in the mix/demo. Maybe they were all EQ'd really close or mastered in some way? or maybe listening to the same thing played 13 times in a row does tricks on the ears lol..

I did a quicker/more modest comparison (5 amps..mostly lunchboxes) with zero processing/effects (ie no reverb, delay, eq, filters ..nothing..just jamming solo's from the amp to a cheap analog speaker sim pedal to my DAW) & no bass guitar track a while ago and the differences between the amp tones comes across a lot more starkly, though they're laid absolutely bare & don't sound too pretty minus any kind of spit & polish

Great video. Really like your clean tones! I agree with you that too clean just sounds boring, I think that's quite perfect.

I would also like to hear these without EQ to get better grasp on the differences. They don't differ that obviously processed in to the mix.

Thanks for your comments guys!
No eq was used really aside from the HPF.
When an amp sounded a little off, instead of using eq I would just go back to tweak the amp and IR choice and reamp!

[Archer250]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Good god that's pretty awesome.

I'm really impressed with the ENGL

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

[Guitarjon]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Good god that's pretty awesome.

I'm really impressed with the ENGL

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

Thanks!
That ENGL is so rad indeed!
I only got it like a week ago so I'm still in the honeymoon phase though
Cranking the mids and treble really helped this amp come to life.

[Coma]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Hey OP, any chance of getting a clip of the JR Terror played really, REALLY clean?

[Guitarjon]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Ok, so I thought I'd share my own thoughts now that I've heard what others have had to say about the tones.
It's impossible to pick on favorite, they are my amps after all and I own them all for different reasons.
Some really do stand out and others not so much, so here are my own opinions after creating and listening to the demo's:

-Mark V 35: 9/10

Killer amp but it was a little harder to dial in for me than the rest.
The gain, master and EQ controls are very powerful but the graphic EQ makes it even more versatile.
In my case that meant that I needed time to learn how all the controls react etc.
This amp is fairly new for me so I'm still learning how to dial it in.
Super glad with how it turned out here and other people seem to dig this one!

-EVH 5150 III EL34 50W: 8.5/10

Super nice thick roar with a pretty tight low-end without sounding smaller.
Really love how it sounds.
Don't have a lot to comment on this one other than that it's awesome

-Mesa Recto: 9/10

I just love that big fluffy Recto sound, I just have a weakness for those amps and their conic characteristics that some people find to be 'flaws'.
I dig the fuzzy top end and loose low end, just makes them sound bigger and more tube-y.
One of my favorites for sure.

-Laney Ironheart 60: 9.2/10

This amp REALLY surprised me.
I've had it for a while but I hadn't taken much time yet to record a proper demo.
I was really surprised at how good it sounded when I got it dialed in.
Enabling the boost really help the amount of gain and tightness that I needed.
There is some obvious compression going on with the gain channels but with how I have the boost set I REALLY love the gain sounds of this amp.
Nice and open while retaining a very solid low end.

-ENGL Fireball 100: 9/10

I only got this amp a few or two ago but I am in love!
I figured out that cranking the mids and treble controls while backing off the presence control really brings the guitar forward in a nice way.
Still need to experiment more with this one but I'm super happy so far.

-Marshall DSL 50: 8/10

Very good Marshall sound and I am very happy with this amp, especially for the cleans.
In general I like pretty 'modern' guitar tones (from the 90s on) and I got this Marshall to use for tracks that require more traditional sounds.
I still think it did great in this test.
Very Marshally indeed, but not as huge or solid sounding as some of the others.

-Peavey 6505 MH: 8.5/10

Great clarity with tight low-end.
Don't have a whole lot to say about this one but I love what it does.
The mids are pretty sweet on this one, can highly recommend it for metal players.

-Orange OR15: 9/10

I am a sucker for that Orange sound and this amp really delivers on that front! Plus, it looks really cool!
Versatile amp with a great sound.
This one has a slightly tighter low end than some of the others.

-Orange Dual Terror: 9/10

Super impressed with the bigness of this one.
I had made a full video in 4 styles already prior to this one and then I already discovered that this amp does that Orange sound we love so well!
Not the most high gain amp but a great and versatile amp!

-Orange Dark Terror: 6.5/10

Definitely my least favorite of the bunch.
I like mids that are present and kind of forward but this amp is pretty scooped in the upper mid departement.
I need to make a dedicated song with this amp, just to kind of find out where the mood of this amp takes me.
It will probably be something doomy!
I can see why they call this the 'Dark' Terror.
I definitely don't think it's bad, the others just do more for me...

-Orange Jim Root: 8.5/10

This amp definitely sounds kinda like the OR15 but the distortion is a bit more 'smeared' out and because of this the amp sounds slightly darker and less open.
Definitely not a bad thing! Just slightly different
I was really suprised by the clean tones though and overall I think it fit into the mix quite well!
Great little amp!

-Orange Rocker 15: 8.7/10

This one really surprised me as I also hadn't really made a proper demo video for it.
Aside from the Brent Hinds it's the amp with the least amount of gain but I really appreciate how big it sounds and how the mids fit the mix.
A very great rock amp that will probably work amazingly well with boost pedals.

-Orange Brent Hinds: 7/10

It's a cool amp but it just never gets gainy enough for me.
Perhaps it's more vintage sounding than the others.
I think this amp is great for sort of 70's rock so if you're into that you might love this amp.
I bet it works well with pedals too!

If you guys have any questions about the amps, feel free to ask 'em here!

[Noisembryo]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

You made this amps sound 90% similar and didn't highlight specifics about each. Marshall doesn't sound like Mesa but from this video it's hard to tell difference between the two. If I was new to the field and stumbled upon your video I'd get the impression that there's little difference between them and just opt for the cheapest one.

[Adieu]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

Mark V rocks...

ALL the oranges suck in a really obnoxious can't-quite-place-it headachy way...

and everything else sounds the same, except the Marshall (slightly worse) and Laney (slightly better)

Kinda confused about the IR stuff at the bottom

And the backing track was unnecessary and counterproductive



PS all those oranges REALLY REALLY REALLY SUCK, despite the glaringly obvious attempt to make an orange commercial

[Guitarjon]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

I was surprised to see that a couple of people said that the amps 'all sound the same'.
I absolutely don't agree but I guess I can see where they are coming from.
After all, it's the same performance each time (but reamped) with the same player, guitar and pickups.
And each time the amp is played in the same context, so the same song.
I wanted to make each amp work in the setting of the mix, to me that was the most interesting way to test the amps.

Anyway, a member of Gearslutz put together a clip of the isolated distorted parts for a quick and direct dry comparison:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=13833493&postcount=15

I can hear clear differences between the amps!
But we should always take into account that the player, pickups and guitar play a HUGE part in a guitar tone!
If you still can't hear the differences, than perhaps your ears are more finetuned to listen to the sound of the performance/guitar rather than the amp/cab part of the tone.
Nothing wrong with that!

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Epic tube amp comparison! 13 amps! Mesa, ENGL, EVH, Orange, Marshall, Laney & Pea

I love those palm-mutes on the EVH. Extremely razor tight. Almost as if the amp was boosted. I don't hear that quality in the other amps. Not that the others sound bad, though.Maybe I'm listening to the tones too much from a metal perspective?