amp collection growth

[Robert S.]

A couple of years back I was a guitar guy. I think I was up to a dozen guitars including 3 LPs and a PRS CU24, a Tele and a Strat, a Conklin, an Ibanez RG550, an acoustic or two, a bass and a few others laying around but only one amp that I played on and a 6550 loaded 2203 that made fellow guitarists go ohhhhh and ahhhh when they came over. While I have been toying with the idea that another Tele is called for to round out the collection again, amps have been my focus lately.

Not too long ago I converted my Marshall to EL34s and ever since it has been an amp that I really like to play on. The thing is though that it's like having to choose between a really hot girlfriend and a really hot wife. The hot girlfriend (Marshall) is so fun to play with but the really hot wife just came home with a boob job (EL34s in the outer sockets) and now she's even more smokin than ever and now I want to play with her more than ever.

To make matters worse, I picked up a cute little Asian girl (Crate V32 - EL84s) and she just loves toys. I whip out a TS9 on her and stick it in her front end and she just screams but not loud enough to wake the neighbors and the dudes at the bar think she's a hotty. Decisions like these are not easy for an old man to make.

Then I have this old Crate GT80. I don't play with her often and she reminds me of a moped. She can be fun to play with until my friends catch me and then I need to say that SS amps need lovin too. I only payed $49 for her and she's just dandy for my students to play on. I don't mind sharing, afterall it is the 21st century.

My last piece is a mid 50s Supro Thunderbolt. She needs pots and caps (hips and new teeth) as most old girls do and her speaker needs reconed. I hit her too hard one night and locked up her driver and alnico Jensons 15" speakers are hard to come by. I need at least one amp from before 1980 and this was originally my old mans amp so she's been in the family since before I was.

I also have plans to have an EL84 Class A amp ptp amp to be built for my by my amp guy. I have a furnature builder/bass player friend that is going to make a hardwood/wicker cabnet for her so she should be quite the piece when she's done.

I don't know. With the exception of the Crate which isn't really all that I have 3 tube amps that sound killer. The V32 is 30 watts with EL84s, the Marshall is 100 watts with EL34s and the Mesa rack is 180 watts with both EL34s and 6L6s. All 3 of them have fresh tubes and are ready to go. From a recording perspective I have a lot to work with but I can't play them all at once. Well actually I could but the neighbors would completely freak out if I did that!

You can never have too many guitars, but when does an amp collection start getting rediculous? It's a balancing act I guess because my gas list is getting long again and I don't see an end in sight. As it is I still want a control surface for my PT rig, a Presonus 8 channel adat mic pre, another Aphex 207 tube pre, another DBX 166xl and a Rodes K2 for vocals. Lets also not forget the monitors I want for mixing.

I got it bad, and you guys are not helping at all. Good thing my daughter and I like macNcheese. With my luck she'll grow up and want to play the drums.

Freakin GAS.......

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: amp collection growth

With my luck she'll grow up and want to play the drums.

Haha... I was just kidding about that with my drummer. Those guys are set once they find a couple good pieces, but us electric guitar players are constantly looking for different things to enhance our tone. We get tubes, strings, cables, effects, amps, guitars, tuners, bridges, saddles, pedalboards, pickups, speakers, cabinets, etc. and all of them have atleast subtle effects on the finished tone :smack:

I'm becoming more like how you were Robert. I love playing my Bogner Shiva now so my Fender Vibrolux Reverb and Crate V32 Palomino are sitting in the corners. I have a RI '61 Gibson Les Paul/SG Custom, a RI '60 Gibson Les Paul Special DC, a Fender Tele-Sonic, Ovation 1771LX and I still G.A.S. for a goldtop ES-335 or one of the new Lentz guitars. For me, I've found an amp I really connect with and now I just like collecting great guitars.

It's a sickness I tell 'ya :laugh2:

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: amp collection growth

For me it is all amps amps amps... Guitars have really become secondary, I love the ones I have, but really don't seek them out. Me trading my beloved Tokai Tele for an old Kelly head was the clearest message to me yet... The more shades of rock tone IO have the better. I am always switching amps, gigging with a different one, recording with several.... It never ends, nor does my want for vintage heads wane. Outside of actually playing, chasing amps has become my favorite musical pursuit.

 

[tone?]

Re: amp collection growth

For me as i have said recently, i am discovering the lost art of guitar playing again and getting tone from my fingers.

i recently got my USACG super strat made as well as getting a VHT 50/12 pitbull combo.

So i basically have the sound i want, and then some actually if you consider that the amp i got is booteek.

I will make another SuperStrat in a few months but i am ok with what i have now. Maybe get a Delay for the amp to give it more of a wet sound, but i have what i want.

I just want to get back to the day where i got together with my friends and we totally got into playing great guitar.
Now that i am slowly doing this and my calouses on my fingers are getting huge again i am noticing that i am digging my amp and guitar ALOT more than when i first got them.
When i was gassing for my guitar and amp i wasnt playing all that much cause i was constantly dreaming of getting a good sound from them and i wasnt actually playing.

Now i am squeezing tone out of them again and have never felt better.

i personaly couldnt get a bunch of gear and just look at it.
Dont want to make you feel guilty and all. its different for everyone.

I just want to get back into ripping on the guitar.
i remember when i first had an old Peavy 30 watt SS Bandit and my ibanez RoadstarII and a distortion pedal. I had the best time learning how to rip Gary Moore, Halen and Malmsteen licks. That rig i had ( if you can call it a rig) was magical cause i was ripping through it.
I like having few things and really getting into them and squeezing all i can out of them.

We make the gear Magic not the other way around.

Just thought i would get a bit philosophical on your butts! LOL

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: amp collection growth

I've been very amp centric here lately as well. Guitars are great, but once you cover a certain amount of ground with them, there's nowhere else to go if you only have one amp. Getting more and different amps opens up sonic territory that can't be gained with another guitar. It's really that simple. If the guitars are the legs you walk on, the amp is the ground your legs walk on. Very important to get new ground every once in a while. It spurs practicing and playing better than anything I know of if you make good choices.

 

[tone4days]

Re: amp collection growth

funny, i feel as if my tone quest really has to start down the 'serious' amp path if i am going to make progress ... to get a decent marshall-esque tone and decent fender-ish tone(s?) and figure out what they hell a vox-tone really is and if i even need it .. and then there's the dumble-esque thing to consider (two rock/fuchs) ... and i've kinda really always wanted a mesa boogie road king (or a mk IV ... or both) ... but for me, the fact is that i play in a somehwat crappy classic/dance rock cover band .. i am not gonna lug a few $K worth of amps to bars ... i don't record hardly at all, and my little line6 thing is more than adequate to handle my needs ... so for my situation, my little pos fender ss 1x12 is getting it done (alongside the carvin ag-100 running the synth & piezo)

and guitars are just so fun and different from each other ... i still don't have a ricky 12 or a strat or an LP so my eyes seem to wander to the curvey wooden things instead of the tolex covered rectangular prisms

 

[DesertRose]

Re: amp collection growth

My next collection would be a custom shop LP T.V yellow special

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: amp collection growth

I'm almost done as far as amps go. I'll be getting a SWR California Blonde this week to play acoustic bass on (and to compliment my Strawberry Blonde ), and thanks to you Robert, I am now seriously looking for a clean, used Simul 90. Along with my Bassman head, I'm pretty set up for any situation.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: amp collection growth

You can never have too many guitars, but when does an amp collection start getting rediculous? It's a balancing act I guess because my gas list is getting long again and I don't see an end in sight. As it is I still want a control surface for my PT rig, a Presonus 8 channel adat mic pre, another Aphex 207 tube pre, another DBX 166xl and a Rodes K2 for vocals. Lets also not forget the monitors I want for mixing.

I've known cats that own one guitar, one amp and they gig constantly with both of them. It's all they need or want. A pedal is extravagant for them!

But inherently it comes down to what you need to get the job done.

I own 4 amps; all are VERY different sounding amps. All of them are smaller combos and can be used in msot club situations. They're good for my applications and all of them came to me in a manner that would of been silly for me not to take up the offer.

To me the biggest tragedy is gear that doesn't get used or isn't going to get used. I went through my closet recently and unloaded every rack-mount peice of gear I'd picked up a few years ago. It was apparent I was never going to get around to building a rack-mount rig, so there was no sense in my hanging onto it anymore.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: amp collection growth

I like guitars, but once I bond with them, I don't seek out others very often.
Amps, on the other hand, are something I never stop jonesing for. No matter what's in your signal chain, it's your amp that dictates your overall sound. Normally, I just tell people I've owned a lot of amps, but let me take the opportunity to list as many as I can remember. This should be fun...

Radio Shack practice amp

Peavey - Studio Pro 40, 2 Classic 50's, Classic 100 head, 5150, 60/60 power amp, old mono 600W power amp.

Carvin - SS 2-12 combo, X100B, Belaire 2-12, Legacy combo, DCM 1500 power amp, 15" monitors.

Crate - 12W SS combo in wood crate, 40W SS combo wood crate, KB80 keyboard amp, 40W SS tolex, 100W SS head, Blue Voodoo head.

Fender - Squier SS, Deluxe 85 SS, London Reverb, 2 Super Reverbs, Dual Showman head, Bassman Reissue, Bassman LTD, 2 Hot Rod Devilles, Blues Deville, Concert Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, 63 Reverb.

Marshall - Jubilee 2550, 2555, 2 Jubilee 4-12's, 2 1987X plexis (1 modded), 1959 plexi reissue, 71 modded Superlead, 73 stock Superlead, 71 Superbass, 2205, 2210, 2 2204's, Masterlead 2-12 50W SS, Masterlead 30W SS, JMP-1 preamp, Dual 100 power amp, 3 1960A 4-12s, 1960B 4-12, 1936 2-12 cab.

Mesa - MK II combo, Dual Rectifier head, Tremoverb 2-12 combo, Quad pre, 295 Power amp.

Bogner - Ecstasy 101B, Ecstacy 101B, 2 4-12's, 2-12 large, extra canefront headshell, so I can choose metalfront or cane.

Matchless - 92 DC-30 green, 94 DC-30 gray, 96 Chieftain 2-12 black, 97 Chieftain 2-12 black, Lightning 15, and extra empy combo cab.

Blues Pearl - Shredhead, Bluesmaster head, Brittone 50 plexi clone, Texas Tornado Deluxe copy.

Risson ETA head, Soldano Hot Rod 50, Randall 100W SS head, Randall HD-120 tube hybrid head, Line 6 Flextone head, Line 6 Flextone 2-12 combo, Vox AD60 Valvetronix head, Musicman 150 head, Vox AC-30, Dr Z Rt. 66 head.

There might be more, but that's what I can remember using or buying/selling for profit. It's been fun, but I'm always on the lookout for a great amp for cheap. Play it for a few months and pass it along.........unless it turns out to be devastatingly good.