1 riff, 22 amps!

[Guitarjon]

Man, this one was fun!

The idea here was to take one of my favorite guitars, create a cool riff (which turned into a bunch of riffs) and reamp it through all my tube amp heads as well as 3 of the most popular amp modelers. A Lot of these amps turned out super nice! Some of the best ones were a little surprising to me actually (the JMP1 being one of them) but I expect the results to be different for everyone.

There are amps in this from the following brands: Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Orange, EVH, Peavey, Hughes & Kettner, PRS and Laney. These amp modeling platforms are also included as a bonus: Axe Fx III, Helix and TH-U Slate edition.

Of course I would love to know which ones you guys preferred! So far everyone has had a different opinion which is pretty interesting to me!

Check it out:

Here's a quick follow up video I did for the folks who couldn't hear a difference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNhQpw9Jd1I

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

I like the Dark Terror most at the moment. The other amps just don't present the whole package of saturated but clear, full but tight and punchy like it does, IMO. The Tiny Terror and Dual Terror sounded great also, in part because they weren't as saturated as the other amps, and that gave them a great presence in the mix.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Ok, I did a blind test of every amp through reference monitors... In the future it would be cool if you audibly called out the generic # of the amp before you play but not the name of the amp so blind tests are easier.

So here are my absolute blind test results with some of my blind test notes before i knew the amp

First, there were only 3 amps I didn't think ok or good.

Amps I hated:
Hughes and Kettner GD40 thin
Laney IRT -no separation in notes a little muddy
Orange Dark Terror or Rocker 15 -not sure which because my notes were confusing on this -one of those is the worst sounding amp of all

Amps that were OK/good but didn't really move the meter either way for me
EVH 5150 LBX III good but pinny mids not like the other 5150
Mesa Dual Recto -Sound a little thin -Although single notes were good
ENGL Fireball 100 aggressive sound but single notes lacked
Marshall JMP1 Papery mids -this would be good for a second guitar on a track.
Helix Native meh not very distinct
TH-U ok. but nothing superlative
Orange DT -average good
Orange TT -average good
Orange Jim Root -good but dark and muddy

Amps that were pretty damn good
PRS Mt15 all around good
Mesa Mini 25 smooth and balanced.
Laney Ironheart 60 Dark distinct and tight sounding
ENGL Iron -Smooth sound
Orange Brent Hinds -Distinct voicing -better than other terrors after I found out which were terrors
AXE FX -!!!! WHat? why did I have to admit this? sounds great.
Orange OR15 -good but bright

Favorites
Those Peavey 6505 dammit. both were great and Marshally. smaller one single notes were pronounced
Mesa Boogie Mark 5 -too compressed for me personally, but big full sound
EVH 5150 -big bold sound.
Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 Best amp overall -balance, distinct, clarity, and big Marshally

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Need some Ampeg stuff or Hiwatt to really round out the lineup.

 

[80's_Metal]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

I liked the jcm, the 6505+, and the little el34 5150 the most

Only ones I didn't like we're the Laney and the tiny Mesa of all things

 

[Guitarjon]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

I like the Dark Terror most at the moment. The other amps just don't present the whole package of saturated but clear, full but tight and punchy like it does, IMO. The Tiny Terror and Dual Terror sounded great also, in part because they weren't as saturated as the other amps, and that gave them a great presence in the mix.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's interesting because I do love the Tiny and Dual Terrors but the Dark Terror is my least favorite amp. I'm actually selling it this weekend. Now, a lot of people seem to dig that amp a lot so I guess it's just not my thing.

Ok, I did a blind test of every amp through reference monitors... In the future it would be cool if you audibly called out the generic # of the amp before you play but not the name of the amp so blind tests are easier.

So here are my absolute blind test results with some of my blind test notes before i knew the amp

First, there were only 3 amps I didn't think ok or good.

Amps I hated:
Hughes and Kettner GD40 thin
Laney IRT -no separation in notes a little muddy
Orange Dark Terror or Rocker 15 -not sure which because my notes were confusing on this -one of those is the worst sounding amp of all

Amps that were OK/good but didn't really move the meter either way for me
EVH 5150 LBX III good but pinny mids not like the other 5150
Mesa Dual Recto -Sound a little thin -Although single notes were good
ENGL Fireball 100 aggressive sound but single notes lacked
Marshall JMP1 Papery mids -this would be good for a second guitar on a track.
Helix Native meh not very distinct
TH-U ok. but nothing superlative
Orange DT -average good
Orange TT -average good
Orange Jim Root -good but dark and muddy

Amps that were pretty damn good
PRS Mt15 all around good
Mesa Mini 25 smooth and balanced.
Laney Ironheart 60 Dark distinct and tight sounding
ENGL Iron -Smooth sound
Orange Brent Hinds -Distinct voicing -better than other terrors after I found out which were terrors
AXE FX -!!!! WHat? why did I have to admit this? sounds great.
Orange OR15 -good but bright

Favorites
Those Peavey 6505 dammit. both were great and Marshally. smaller one single notes were pronounced
Mesa Boogie Mark 5 -too compressed for me personally, but big full sound
EVH 5150 -big bold sound.
Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 Best amp overall -balance, distinct, clarity, and big Marshally

Very cool, thanks so much for that detailed response! You have good ears
I guess to counter, here are some of my favorites:

-Marshall JMP-1. Just love how pronounced the chunky palm muted chords/notes are and I like the fullness of the mids. Reminds me of a Friedman or something.
-Orange Dual Terror. Just has that classic Orange saturation and sits in the mix nicely. The Fat channel is great for that but I also love the TT channel.
-Mark V. It's not as chunky in the lows as most of the others, so it's a tight amp but that's what people love about it. I just dig the fullness of the mids here.

I really enjoyed most of them though but I always have a tough time with the Dark Terror and the Brent Hinds is so different to the rest that it takes a minute to adjust my ears everytime I hear that amp.

Need some Ampeg stuff or Hiwatt to really round out the lineup.

Would love a Hiwatt one day.

I liked the jcm, the 6505+, and the little el34 5150 the most

Only ones I didn't like we're the Laney and the tiny Mesa of all things

So you're a Mesa guy? I loved the mini Recto but it's pretty scooped (as is the Dual) when compared to the other amps.

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Great video!

The DSL surprised me since I've read mixed reviews and haven't played one. Too much presence but really good otherwise. The rest were as I expected (probably because I've watched your other videos).

The two Laney IRTs have a certain grating stiffness to the mids. Not sure how to describe it. I've noticed it in almost every demo I've heard of them.

The Orange Rocker Terror sounds great. I've been thinking about picking one up for awhile. Every demo I've heard of it has impressed me.

The EVHs and Peaveys sound great, as expected.

With such a huge amp collection, which ones do you play the most?

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[Guitarjon]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Great video!

The DSL surprised me since I've read mixed reviews and haven't played one. Too much presence but really good otherwise. The rest were as I expected (probably because I've watched your other videos).

The two Laney IRTs have a certain grating stiffness to the mids. Not sure how to describe it. I've noticed it in almost every demo I've heard of them.

The Orange Rocker Terror sounds great. I've been thinking about picking one up for awhile. Every demo I've heard of it has impressed me.

The EVHs and Peaveys sound great, as expected.

With such a huge amp collection, which ones do you play the most?

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

Thanks!

Perhaps I dialed in a smidge too much presence on the DSL but it sounded good when I was working on it haha.
I know what you mean about the Laney amps but I do dig how they sit in the mix. They have a lot of potential!
Do you mean the Rocker 15 Terror? That one is great. Note that I had the treble control up all the way as the amp is a little less present in the mids than some of the others. Great amp nonetheless!
Agree about the EVH's and Peavey amps Just can't go wrong with either.

Which ones do I play the most? That's hard to say because I don't play through them very often in fact but I know which ones are my current favorites for various reasons. A couple that come to mind are the MT15, Mini Rectifier, Mark V 35, Orange Dual Terror/Jim Root, H&K.....JMP-1.... ******, too many cool amps to choose from.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Ok, I did a blind test of every amp through reference monitors... In the future it would be cool if you audibly called out the generic # of the amp before you play but not the name of the amp so blind tests are easier.

So here are my absolute blind test results with some of my blind test notes before i knew the amp

First, there were only 3 amps I didn't think ok or good.

Amps I hated:
Hughes and Kettner GD40 thin
Laney IRT -no separation in notes a little muddy
Orange Dark Terror or Rocker 15 -not sure which because my notes were confusing on this -one of those is the worst sounding amp of all

Amps that were OK/good but didn't really move the meter either way for me
EVH 5150 LBX III good but pinny mids not like the other 5150
Mesa Dual Recto -Sound a little thin -Although single notes were good
ENGL Fireball 100 aggressive sound but single notes lacked
Marshall JMP1 Papery mids -this would be good for a second guitar on a track.
Helix Native meh not very distinct
TH-U ok. but nothing superlative
Orange DT -average good
Orange TT -average good
Orange Jim Root -good but dark and muddy

Amps that were pretty damn good
PRS Mt15 all around good
Mesa Mini 25 smooth and balanced.
Laney Ironheart 60 Dark distinct and tight sounding
ENGL Iron -Smooth sound
Orange Brent Hinds -Distinct voicing -better than other terrors after I found out which were terrors
AXE FX -!!!! WHat? why did I have to admit this? sounds great.
Orange OR15 -good but bright

Favorites
Those Peavey 6505 dammit. both were great and Marshally. smaller one single notes were pronounced
Mesa Boogie Mark 5 -too compressed for me personally, but big full sound
EVH 5150 -big bold sound.
Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 Best amp overall -balance, distinct, clarity, and big Marshally

Additional commentary:
I think it's important to note the amps I "hated" (too strong of words) would likely easily clean up to my ears with EQ and gain changes more to my tastes, so I feel confident that I would use any one of those live if needed -except maybe the Dark Terror unless that compressed thin tone could be treated -maybe it was a tube.

Also, I do think the JCM2000 is overall the best sounding for at least the settings you had on . if you listen closely to the detail, attack etc -it's a super amp.

Also, I was rating these amps on there "stand alone" qualities -but several of these amps would make amazing complimentary amps for 2 guitars live and 2nd guitar album work because of their more distinct and kind of narrower band voicings. The Laney Ironheart, ENGL fireball, Marshall JMP1 come to mind. That Marshall JMP1 would be great for track doubling or wide pan because of those sort of papery dry mids. - A cool thing to have in the studio.

Axe F/X -damn impressed with the Fractal offering, but judging I have friends that use them on large arena size tours, I guess I should be more awoken to the state of these systems.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Best

• EVH LBX
• Hughes & Ketter Grandmeister (had some sort of harmonic richness the others don't)
• JCM2000 (Tons of crunch)

Worst

• Either 6505 - but esp. the first one, that was very buzzy or something
• Laney Ironheart - mushy
• Marshall JMP-1
• Any Orange Terror - They just got worse as the demo went on IMO, and culminated in the BH Terror. Just sounds weak, indistinct, and harsh all at once. The Rocker 15 was also not good

Most Surprising

• The PRS is not my sound, but it's *a* sound, and did it quite well
• Orange OR15 is the closest to what I actually want an Orange to sound like - but it didn't suit the style being played here

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Very cool vid!

I was really digging the Peavey 6505MH. I felt it had the nicest balance of tightness without being too thin. The Ironball had a nice attack, but it felt kinda a bit too focused compared to the 6505MH. The MH also has a lot less stuffines in the low mids comapared to the EVH's, which actually surprised me. I would've dialed in a bit less mids in the EVH's, personally.

I'm usually a big fan of Rectos, but I didn't quite enjoy what they were doing with this song. The attack (or lack of) was much too round and the palm-mutes were kinda bloated. The EQ shape was nice on the Mini Recto, but the character in the palm-mutes didn't quite convince me. I felt the Oranges were similar in that regard, except they traded the nice low-end chunk of the Rectos for some lower mid cloudiness/stuffiness, which I didn't like.

 

[Guitarjon]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Very cool vid!

I was really digging the Peavey 6505MH. I felt it had the nicest balance of tightness without being too thin. The Ironball had a nice attack, but it felt kinda a bit too focused compared to the 6505MH. The MH also has a lot less stuffines in the low mids comapared to the EVH's, which actually surprised me. I would've dialed in a bit less mids in the EVH's, personally.

I'm usually a big fan of Rectos, but I didn't quite enjoy what they were doing with this song. The attack (or lack of) was much too round and the palm-mutes were kinda bloated. The EQ shape was nice on the Mini Recto, but the character in the palm-mutes didn't quite convince me. I felt the Oranges were similar in that regard, except they traded the nice low-end chunk of the Rectos for some lower mid cloudiness/stuffiness, which I didn't like.

I think I agree with you for the most part! The 6505 MH is a great amp indeed. I love how it sits in the mix! I also agree that for this guitar and song the Recto's weren't amazing but I usually really love how they sound. I guess the pickups on that guitar are pretty scooped so it's making the scooped sound of the Recto's (mostly the Dual) even more scooped. The Mini is amazing though. I'm going to do a full-blown demo of that amp soon. Should be rockin'

 

[Guitarjon]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Best

• EVH LBX
• Hughes & Ketter Grandmeister (had some sort of harmonic richness the others don't)
• JCM2000 (Tons of crunch)

Worst

• Either 6505 - but esp. the first one, that was very buzzy or something
• Laney Ironheart - mushy
• Marshall JMP-1
• Any Orange Terror - They just got worse as the demo went on IMO, and culminated in the BH Terror. Just sounds weak, indistinct, and harsh all at once. The Rocker 15 was also not good

Most Surprising

• The PRS is not my sound, but it's *a* sound, and did it quite well
• Orange OR15 is the closest to what I actually want an Orange to sound like - but it didn't suit the style being played here

Thanks for sharing your observations! The ones you didn't like tend to have a lot of mids, which in this song I personally really dug. I think you prefer tones that are a little bit more scooped?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

I think I agree with you for the most part! The 6505 MH is a great amp indeed. I love how it sits in the mix! I also agree that for this guitar and song the Recto's weren't amazing but I usually really love how they sound. I guess the pickups on that guitar are pretty scooped so it's making the scooped sound of the Recto's (mostly the Dual) even more scooped. The Mini is amazing though. I'm going to do a full-blown demo of that amp soon. Should be rockin'

I would love to watch that demo!

 

[Guitarjon]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

I would love to watch that demo!

I can't wait to make it but I need to find some time! Soon though...

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Thanks for sharing your observations! The ones you didn't like tend to have a lot of mids, which in this song I personally really dug. I think you prefer tones that are a little bit more scooped?

I have nothing against mids in real life, but it might be I was interpreting them as ‘harsh’ in those amps. Then again, I liked the sound of the Mesas in the video, which I guess are ‘scooped’ by tradition. I’m probably showing bias toward the DSL; I love my TSL and to me it didn’t sound dissimilar despite what people say. I don’t think anything sounded truly non-professional except possibly a few of the Oranges.

I convinced myself I like Orange, but I’m beginning to wonder if what I like about them is relevant to the products they release of late. I’ve sold both oI had, but still on the lookout for a Crush Pro combo (Doesn’t help that a lot of their amps are priced higher than equivalent amps by other companies.) I might be falling out of love with them, but feel like those sounds (even the ones I didn’t like) would better suit stoner riffs etc.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

I have nothing against mids in real life, but it might be I was interpreting them as ‘harsh’ in those amps. Then again, I liked the sound of the Mesas in the video, which I guess are ‘scooped’ by tradition. I’m probably showing bias toward the DSL; I love my TSL and to me it didn’t sound dissimilar despite what people say. I don’t think anything sounded truly non-professional except possibly a few of the Oranges.

Honestly, of course we are all subject to the exaggerations and diminishing frequencies of the speakers when we listened to the video -before you even factor in preference and your ears and brain -so it's never going to be totally objective anyways. But I'd say I like aggro mids, balance, and distinct voicings -and am not big on more modern scooped tones or super saturated multi stage gain and compression from an amp -but I can appreciate it.

but I have no doubt any of those amps could be voiced to be good and serviceable for most any rock application to most peoples ears. I don't view any of those amps as objectively "bad" -maybe voiced bad for my tastes -but not bad.

We are living in times where even entry level 350 tube combos are pretty killer and 200 Solid state Combos are killer.

It's not like the 80s where the gap between the garage band combo and the Professional stack are night and day apart in tone. They are closer than ever in many ways now IMO

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Cool demo & a great collection of amps!

One's I thought sounded best in this video:

Dark Terror, Dual Terror (might even like this one best.I actually played one at the store a couple of days ago & loved it), Ironball, Fireball & the PRS.. Both Marshalls were pretty good too...

Worst..the Fractal & Helix native..typical flat/plastic modeler tone..wish I could get over it 'cuz I do want to get a modeler for recording :lmao: but everytime I walk into a store to check one out I end up playing a bunch of amp's instead. (Incidently the only modeler I've tried that did'nt have that "modeler' sound/feel was the Yamaha TH100HD ..that thing sounds phenomenal & feels awesome as well..like a real tube amp. Really loved the tones!)

Not really into 6505's/EVH's either..especially the typical flat/compressed tone everyone uses nowadays (though I did think the EVH's sounded better/clearer here especially the LBX) & this video did'nt change that opinion for me.

But nicely done & a good interesting listen :bigthumb:

 

[loziodavid]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Heard the test.
Conclusion: they all sound the same.


My biggest concern is about the technique used for the test. Loadboxes, even the best reactive loadboxes of the market, flatten the tone. This is clear from many Youtube demos, this is what I noticed at a friend's house using a Fryette loadbox and different amps including Soldano, Dr.Z, Orange.
In other word, if you take 10 different amps, put in through a loadbox, add an impulse response and record your signal, you obtain the same sound from all 10 amps.
This is clear through this demo. And no, I didn't hear through my smartphone or laptop speaker. I heard through 2x 6.5" speakers.

The best way to get all the nuances from an amplifier is the traditional mic, in front of a cabinet or into a good isocab.
Using a lodbox, you are playing the loadbox rather than playing the amplifier.

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: 1 riff, 22 amps!

Great work. The DSL sounds ridiculously good, easily the best from the bunch IMO.

Conclusion: they all sound the same.

No, they don't.