20-Year Quest for the Best Low-Volume Amp

[dpaterson]

Re: 20-Year Quest for the Best Low-Volume Amp

And then there are these:

https://marshall.com/marshall-amps/products/amps/studio

Only found out about them today.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: 20-Year Quest for the Best Low-Volume Amp

And then there are these:

https://marshall.com/marshall-amps/products/amps/studio

Only found out about them today.

Even the 5W settings would be too loud for what I think the thread starter was going for. he's had a whole list of medium to high end 5-25W tube amps.
There's maybe some one watt tube amps that would do what he wants but why... The champion 20 is awesome and it doesn't care how low you go in volume. You can get the exploding Champ tone and talk over it. For about $100. It is probably dollar for dollar the most useful amp I've ever owned. Other amps I have do certain things sometimes much much better but were 8-10x the price and don't do those things till they're loud AF.
Caveat: before I blew out my attenuator I gotta say... Dummy load and line out into a DAW was pretty freaking amazing. The upper harmonics are much richer on a tube amp, there's no getting around that. once things are mixed and produced into a song though it's much harder to tell the champion 20 is different, and it is way more a plug and play affair. And none of my amps are a 5f1 which the Champ 20 is really good at emulating out of the box.

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[dpaterson]

Re: 20-Year Quest for the Best Low-Volume Amp

Hi.

Must say that my first reaction (yesterday) was to ditch my hoard of CODE amps. (3 x 25 and 2 x 50) and replace with 2 x SC20H heads and 2 x SC212 cabs. But I've spent a great deal of time looking at / listening to all of these new demo. recordings being created and I'm not hearing "it" (you know the proverbial "it"??? LOL!!!). Could be that because they're so new the recordings are being made with little to no tweaking and finessing of tone. I'm not hearing the traditional (normal) JCM 800 "thunder" anyway (and I've spent a LONG time perfecting this very sound on my CODE amps.). And yeh: most of the recordings are being made with the amps. straight up i.e. with no effects (and I can understand the reasoning behind this of course). Given the price of these things I reckon I'd be better off waiting for a while unfortunately. At least until I can physically demo. them when they (finally) do arrive here. I'd like to hear the following setup and then I'd be able to decide:

Jackson (Alder/Basswood body with Maple neck and fretboard)->SD Invader (bridge)->Compressor->EQ->Overdrive->SC20H->Effects Loop->Delay->Reverb->SC20212 (all of which I have of course but if anybody has a similar type setup and has one of these amps. then how about a demo.???).

Also be keen to hear what the direct out out sounds like through my PA system of course (CODE line-out doesn't do it for me so I've always just micd. the amps. up if needed). And, of course, what it would sound like direct into my DAW with Celestion cab. IRs. (although none of this would be a deal breaker i.e. I still prefer micing. up no matter what).

And then of course there's the POSSIBLE "teething problems" that may crop up (the DSL40 range comes vividly to mind here!!!).

 

[FuseG4]

Re: 20-Year Quest for the Best Low-Volume Amp

A heavy sound with a jcm800 is often a result of the cabinet, followed by the mix, technique, and guitar and pickups. and a couple of the clips I heard of the new studio series have been through 1x12 which is a lot less oomph than 412.
But remember traditionally it's not the heaviest sounding amp and the 20 would probably lack a little bass depth compared to a 50 or 100W. The Marshall 800 sound is midrange focused by nature though anyways, and in classic studio recordings you have all sorts of production techniques shaping things. Mic choice, cab/speaker, mic placement, the room, and very important is the bass player working with your riffs for a huge sound. By itself the jcm800 sound I find not very heavy in the bass depth, I find that you gotta dial back the bass, let the bass player have that area, and then you get a very tight cutting sound that rides perfectly on top of the bass guitar and kick drum. The three together put the heavy feel into riffs.
I haven't tried the code amps out, but if you have a sound dialed in that you like that has a lot of tweaks then I would say yeah don't change that until you've found wether or not the studio classic gets it for you.
For what it's worth, in the studio classic thread, cynical posted a clip of his new studio classic and it sounded like the real thing and was what I expected to hear. And it wasn't a real "huge" sound by modern standards. But it was alive with mids and instantly took me back to 80s metal records.
I dunno. Everyone likes different stuff so you're right to want to try them out first.

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[dpaterson]

Re: 20-Year Quest for the Best Low-Volume Amp

Hi.

Thanks very much for the detailed response. Much appreciated.

Your description(s) are exactly what I'm NOT (yet) hearing on these recordings and are 100% accurate. And I also agree 100% with your take on the settings when it comes to a JCM 800 (had one many MANY years ago i.e. in a previous lifetime!!! LOL!!!).

I suppose and to be fair: comparing the CODE range to these new Studio things is not comparing like with like let's face it. This new Studio range is ostensibly just smaller versions of the bigger "real deals" whereas some consider the CODE range nothing more than practice amps. (or "toys"). I don't agree (obviously) but then again it's taken me almost two years to get my desired tone out of these things but I am, however, extremely happy with them after all is said and done. So there's quite an investment in time on my part (not to mention months of frustration of course!!! LOL!!!). Still: be nice to own real and proper valves again (which are "controllable" and not lethal weapons like their "big brothers") but I'm gonna have to be real honest with myself when the time comes as to exactly WHY I want them!!! And of course the cost is something to be considered. At almost $2 000 USD per "unit" (head and cab.) (for a 25W amp.???): well that's quite a few more Jackson Dinky's (or a Jackson USA Select Soloist) with Invaders!!! LOL!!!

Anyways. Thanks again.

P.S.

That's exactly where I need to be (am) i.e. "80's metal records"!!! LOL!!! So all good. Either way.

 

[Jacew]

Re: 20-Year Quest for the Best Low-Volume Amp

Thing is: If you go for SS amp, wattage becomes meaningless. You can use just about whatever, including pedals, to get the tone you want and the amp sounds the same regardless of how you push it.

There is plenty of great sounding SS amps on their own. Just note you can ignore the wattage ratings with those.

If you want the sound resembling bigger amp, speakers play a big role with that. You don't necessarliy need 12". There are just as good smaller alternatives, but you need a good cab to get the tone out of them as well. And rare small practice amps have that.

That's why I think small head and small cab are almost always the best low volume option.