wilco's amps?

[guymanperson]

im looking for an amp that will give me that rich, crashing and open "3-D" type clean-to-crunch sound as well as thoes sqealing "upper-middy" lead tones

prime examples: thats not the issue, casino queen(AM) monday, kingpin, I got you(bieng there)

i know jeff used vox and matchless during the summer teeth tour but any other info on his or jay bennet's gear has been few and far between... the guitar sounds seems fairly consistant on all wilco albums.... on "a ghost is born" i think he might be using a fuzz for some tracks.... but it still sounds familiar

any ideas? do you think an EL84 DrZ amp will get me there? am i making any sense?

[mrfjones]

Re: wilco's amps?

well the last two times i have seen them live the guitars were running though vox heads and cabs. i also hear from an interview that they had an old jcm800 and a fender amp of some kind, all vintage gear really and great tones.

for guitars, they had some jazzmasters, a strat or two, a few different teles and a gibson sg. you look like you are well on your way, but a fuzz and maybe a boost or overdrive pedal of some kind would help. I don't know what pedals they were using but anything you could make some cool sounds with would be fair game as far as i am concerned. I can get some decent wilco sounds from my little setup (it is in my sig)

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: wilco's amps?

I would say Vox or Matchless ...

[guymanperson]

Re: wilco's amps?

well the last two times i have seen them live the guitars were running though vox heads and cabs. i also hear from an interview that they had an old jcm800 and a fender amp of some kind, all vintage gear really and great tones.

for guitars, they had some jazzmasters, a strat or two, a few different teles and a gibson sg. you look like you are well on your way, but a fuzz and maybe a boost or overdrive pedal of some kind would help. I don't know what pedals they were using but anything you could make some cool sounds with would be fair game as far as i am concerned. I can get some decent wilco sounds from my little setup (it is in my sig)

yeah thx, my sigs slightly outdated and incomplete i recently traded the jazzmaster twords an american 50th ann series ash strat with fralin vintage hots.... a fantastic guitar however, im already looking for another jazzmaster. but yeah good advice,i have alot of pedals for dist/fuz/tone shaping that i should try out (full drive, drive train, SE DS-1, 70', turbo rat, big muff) also im probably gonna let the bluesbird go for a p90 LP junior of some type (seeing how jay used an SG jr)

i think if i tried some of thoes with the Z i might get there, problem is its in my bedroom right now and is damn loud, the fender has the "openness" im looking for but its too thin in the mids and has papery highs.... i havent plugged into my hellhound in a while but unless i get an attenuator im pretty sure its too focused and dark to achieve thoes sounds.....

so im probably gona sell the fender and the reverend for a small(er) (read; affordable) class A amp, whats your astroverb sound like, ive never seen one before? these EL84 amps seem to be the secret!

[mrfjones]

Re: wilco's amps?

it is very marshall like. it uses two el84 tubes and just rocks. it is like a plexi with some extra gain, but on a cleaner setting (read as 3-4 on the preamp knob) it is very nice for tone shaping. I can get some really good wilco like sounds out of the soldano and the zvex, more of their current sound as apposed to AM or even summer teeth. for those i can play just straight into the soldano and it gets me close. Check out ebay for a good used astroverb, i couldn't find the combo new anywhere near me so i got a used one, but it is not a class a amp.

tell me about the bluesbird, i may be interested in another one

[guymanperson]

Re: wilco's amps?

cool....gonna check the astroverb out then (STILL WANT MATCHLESS!!!). my bluesbird is black, stock and in pretty good shape it does seem to have alot of tiny pick scuffs in the ryhthem position. has OHSC and key as well as tag..... never done p2p transaction before but id be happy to try it, if your still interested il check my PM's

[mrfjones]

Re: wilco's amps?

check out an old jcm 800 too. for those times when wilco really does get some distortion

[Tweed]

Re: wilco's amps?

You have a Rt. 66 in your bedroom? Yikes, that must hurt I don't know how well that amp would emulate Jay Bennett/Wilco type stuff. That's a real milkshake-thick tone monster. Great amp, but I'm thinking a Dr. Z Maz 38 would be a very good choice. Blackface-meets-AC30 tones, it covers a lot of ground and would do a nice job on the jangly alt-country thing, and it has plenty of heavier crunch if you want it. EL84s have that nice midrange bump for that nice open sound you're talking about. The MAZ 18 would be a nice choice as well (very similar signature as the MAZ 38). I have a MAZ 38 and it is one fine-sounding amp. Having said that, either of those amps is waaay too loud for bedroom playing. Maybe I misread your post, but if you're playing in a small room, I'm sure you realize the problems this presents. Here's an article (maybe you've already read it) that goes into some detail about Bennett's gear: http://archive.guitarplayer.com/arch...ts/wilco.shtml

You'll see that among all the other amps, they included a Line6 Flextone (I think it was a Flextone). I would recommend getting one. They are a lot of fun to play, you get very nice tones at bedroom levels, and you can spend more time playing instead of tweaking and getting frustrated. For small room/small studio playing, these amps make a lot of sense.

On a side note, it's nice to read other's comments and appreciation for Jay Bennett's work. He is one of those great players who flies under the radar for whatever reason. Great chops, great ears. I think his abilities as a guitarist were under-utilized for the most part with Wilco. Not slammin' Wilco. I love the band, especially the earlier, more rootsy stuff. But Bennett really shines both as guitarist and producer on Steve Pride and His Blood Kins' Pride on Pride as well as the Titanic Love Affair records. It's pre-Uncle Tupelo, pre-Wilco stuff and if you like Bennett, it's worth tracking down. Most of his work with Wilco pales in comparison.

[mrfjones]

Re: wilco's amps?

tweed, i used the article a while ago, and it is great but for anything newer things have changed dramatically. it is really hard to track down wilcos sound because it changes so often. they have all kinds of vintage and new gear and different guitarists that no one especially a college guy like me and guymanperson can possibly keep up with. but it is always fun to try. so my thoughts are to find something that gets close. i would like to add a 59 bassman, tweed deluxe and a vox ac30 to my suggestions but the only one he is likely to be able to afford is the deluxe. Now as for pedals, wow, i know there are overdrives echos delays compressors and fuzz pedals but i still can't find them and having seen them live the last two summers i still have no idea, but for the acoustic parts i have found the right guitar.
A martin 00016 of any kind will get you very close, just strum an a chord like in war on war and you know you have it. i want to know what kind of pickup he uses in that guitar because it sounds great just running straight into the board.

I could only wish to have the gear that tweedy, straight or bennett have, i really wish i knew what it all is/was I think the most important parts to have are an el84 amp, a 6v6 amp and something with el34s for amps. a dual humbucker guitar and a telecaster or two, a small bodied martin and that should cover most of the guitars. a good comp, fuzz and delay should also cover the pedals. but you don't have to use the pedals all that much really.

[mrfjones]

Re: wilco's amps?

one more thing, if you are getting good tones from you Dr.Z get an attenuator so you can still crank it but have some safe bedroom level sounds. THD seems to make one of the best ones out there

[guymanperson]

Re: wilco's amps?

yeah ive been planning on an attenuator for a while and i bet the 66 would get me closer than the fender and reverend ,... getting tired of seeing double though hehe (for sure buying the attenuator). also i do gigs with my band during the summer so im not realy feeling the flextone thing.... so my idea is to sell my other two amps and track down a sweet sounding el84 or el34 combo or head. thoes jcm 800's arent as expensive as i thought they were, why the hell do they sell the riessue for $1600??!! thx for the heads up on the martin btw, ive been considering getting a real acoustic for a long time but the selection was always intimidating

tweed, thx for the posts! i was wondering of you could elaborate on the tone of the MAZ38 vs. the mazerati? or the MAZ38 vs the perscription? keeping in mnid il be using a attenuator

thx for the help guys

[mrfjones]

Re: wilco's amps?

keep checking wilco's website for pics of the gear they use. that has helped me too.

a matchless would still be nice

[Tweed]

Re: wilco's amps?

could elaborate on the tone of the MAZ38 vs. the mazerati? or the MAZ38 vs the perscription? keeping in mnid il be using a attenuator

It's been a long time since I played a Mazerati, so I can't give you a good A/B with the MAZ 38. I've never played the Prescription. I know guys like the Mazerati with single coils. But that's not much to go on. I read raves about the MAZ 38 with singles, and sure enough it is great, but it's equally great with humbuckers, so it's really up to your own ears. I've also played the Rt.66. It's a killer amp, but it's an amp suited to big venues. That's my only b!tch with that amp. An attenuator with that amp just seems so...I dunno...unjust I guess I just don't see that design taking you where you want to go, but that's just my opinion...which isn't worth a whole lot. I have a Trainwreck/Dr. Z attenuator, and it works fine, but keep in mind that you always lose something when you use an attenuator, no matter what make it is. Always. I can tell you that the MAZ 38 has it's own unique voice. But it will remind you of familiar sounds. BF cleans, chimey Vox top end. Drive it a little harder and you get that greasy OD that EL84s are known for. Drive it harder and you get more towards the Plexi end of the spectrum. Not as much compression, but it sounds great. I was surprised at how much bottom the amp had for an EL84 design. It will hit you in the chest if you want it to. The G12H30 and the V30 are perfect with this amp. It also comes as a 1x12, but the 2x12 combo sounds so much nicer, IMO. I can't get a bad sound out of it. Anyway, enough on that.
Something to think about with the Flextone...you could buy one at a GC and have it for 30 days and return it. Spend that time playing with the models and see where it takes you. Most of the models are pretty damned good, and you might get a better idea of what path you want to pursue with an amp. Take it back, and get a Vox, or a tweed or BF Fender, or a Matchless or whatever you feel will work for you. I have a POD, and I let a friend use it for a while so he could take the models for a spin and get a better idea of what he wanted in an amp. He found it to be a great help. Just a suggestion. Good luck in your search

[guymanperson]

Re: wilco's amps?

yeah i forgot to mention i do play gigs with my band during the summer so this isnt just about me sitting in my room... currently the 66 is still too loud to turn up at are smaller venues,... bieng at college right now i primarily play through my pod into my stereo system and it has some cool sounds so i definatley see the usefullness of moddeling