Greatest amp you’ve ever played

[6stringerguy]

Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Fire off on what the best amp you’ve ever played is.
What style you play to give it context is also appreciated
Also was it the best amp you’ve heard outright.

Best amp I’ve played is a tie between an Engl Ironball and Marshall JVM205H
I play Metal as well as clean ambient stuff
The best amp I’ve heard is the Diezel VH4

 

[Thundermtn]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

'60 Les Paul through an early Plexi with an 8X12 cab, the Gibbons tone it made was life altering.

Next would be my J. signature Iceman through a suped up Bogner Uberschall and Uberkab that belonged to Josh Elmore from Cattle Decapitation. Face melting b@dassery, more metal than anything else I've ever heard.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Years ago
I played a Fender Prosonic at a shop
And literally everything I plugged in sounded incredible

Everything

Squires, PRS McCarty, Tele
Budget axes

So musical

 

[PS412]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

ehdwuld is correct. He obviously has fine taste and a fantastic ear.
Probably a spiffy dresser to boot.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

I don’t get out much, but I’ll say Mesa Roadster 2x12 combo. It was the voice of God, Sonny Jesus, and the Virgin Mary all rolled into one.

(Style: clean blues to old-school thrash)

 

[Ascension]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Best cleans a Fender Vibro King. Just jaw dropping tones.
High Gain Soldano SLO at volume for one. The harmonic content the touch sensitivity just TONE!!
Old Marshall JCM 900 SLX I should have bought in a local pawn shop- played a number of those amps but THAT ONE!!!
The one off RED 100 watt Fender Prosonic head I had. A Bruce Zinky maserpiece selling it and other things saved my house but---.

 

[Sirion]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Soldano Hot Rod 50+. I couldn't afford it at the time, unfortunately. That thing was a beast.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

ehdwuld is correct. He obviously has fine taste and a fantastic ear.
Probably a spiffy dresser to boot.

I am , in fact, a very very sexy man

 

[justFred]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

5E3.
Best played or heard...noodle bluesy rockish stuff...

 

[devastone]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

A tie between my old Soldano HR50+ and my rack system with a Kasha Rockmod preamp, those things are awesome. A runner up would be the Randall RM50 head with the Clean and XTC modules, I really liked that amp.

I also had a Mesa Mark IV, a bunch of Marshalls, a ProSonic combo, and some other sweet amps back in the day. Don't even own an amp now.

 

[Blille]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

5E3.
Best played or heard...noodle bluesy rockish stuff...

Same here. I play jazz, classic rock and P&W. Hard to find an amp that can do all well.



Honorable mention: JCM 800 with 4x12. I will never forget the first time I played one as a teenager at a festival.

 

[justFred]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Mesa Roadster 2x12 combo. It was the voice of God, Sonny Jesus, and the Virgin Mary all rolled into one.

(Style: clean blues to old-school thrash)

Awesome amp...but @100+ pounds it should come with a tractor like they used to move the space shuttle around...

 

[6stringerguy]

Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Mesa Roadster 2x12 combo. It was the voice of God, Sonny Jesus, and the Virgin Mary all rolled into one.

(Style: clean blues to old-school thrash)

The main reason I ask is because in a year I’ll be able to upgrade to my amp.
The Roadster Head was among those I was considering.
Alongside that I was considering:
Diezel VH4
Revv Generator 120 MKII
Engl Invader 120 II
Marshall JVM410H
For reference I’m looking at 4 channel amps because I need a clean sound, Heavier Rhythm for Thrash, Heavy Rhythm for Extended range progressive stuff, Liquid like lead channel.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

While I never owned one, I did have the pleasure of playing through a Soldano SLO. It was glorious. I play mostly 70's/80's/90's rock so that amp has the perfect structure for me.

I do have to bring mention to the Marshall JCM 900 MkIII Hi Gain Master Volume amps. I owned a 2100 head for 20 years. A wonderful amp. Single channel with a great sound. These were made before the SL-X.

 

[Old Guy]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

This is going to sound so silly. The first real amp I had was a mid '80s Solid State Fender Princeton Chorus. With red knobs. It was the amp that I really grew with as a player, and used in the band I was in in College. If I'd hear it today, I'm not sure it would sound as good to me, but back then, it was the most amazing thing I had ever heard. Beautiful clean, and the chorus was divine. The crunch channel was just right. Just enough growl for leads and roll the volume back a bit and perfect for the dirtier blues.

Like I said, I'm sure it didn't really sound that great, but to me, with where I was in my musical journey, it was the greatest thing ever. Didn't hurt that I got it used for $150 at the time. It eventually fizzed out, and it wasn't worth it to fix. I still mourn that day.

 

[devastone]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

I do have to bring mention to the Marshall JCM 900 MkIII Hi Gain Master Volume amps. I owned a 2100 head for 20 years. A wonderful amp. Single channel with a great sound. These were made before the SL-X.

I had a 50W version of that, it is a great sounding amp, but no cleans to speak of. I like the Dual Reverb 900s too, they actually have a nice clean channel.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

There was a early 70s silverface Twin that was amazing, but I ain't carrying that around.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

I really really liked the EVH 5150III 50W. Killer amp.

I play metal.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

This is going to sound so silly. The first real amp I had was a mid '80s Solid State Fender Princeton Chorus. With red knobs. It was the amp that I really grew with as a player, and used in the band I was in in College. If I'd hear it today, I'm not sure it would sound as good to me, but back then, it was the most amazing thing I had ever heard. Beautiful clean, and the chorus was divine. The crunch channel was just right. Just enough growl for leads and roll the volume back a bit and perfect for the dirtier blues.

Like I said, I'm sure it didn't really sound that great, but to me, with where I was in my musical journey, it was the greatest thing ever. Didn't hurt that I got it used for $150 at the time. It eventually fizzed out, and it wasn't worth it to fix. I still mourn that day.

I'm kind of in the same boat, but my amp is a Marshall Jubilee 2555. It was my first 'nice' amp, and I bought it for $550 in June of 2001 before the market really went crazy on 80s Marshalls. Since then I've owned and sold both a Soldano and H&K Triamp; I've also played Splawn, Framus, Engl, Diezel, Caswell, CAE, Matchless and most of the Mesa and Bogner lines. Some of those amps were amazing, but none of them did it for me the way my 2555 does. It's taken a bit of a back seat in the last year or so, but that's only because I found a great deal on a Mini Jube head. The sound is remarkably similar even if it doesn't have ALL of the mojo, and the volume is far more manageable. Best of all, it weighs less than half as much.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

Re: Greatest amp you’ve ever played

I had a 50W version of that, it is a great sounding amp, but no cleans to speak of. I like the Dual Reverb 900s too, they actually have a nice clean channel.

The Dual Reverbs with EL-34's sound really good. When they were switched to the 5881's that's when I lost interest in them.

I would run my 2100 with the gain sensitivity either off (couldn't do that on the SL-X) or at half with an overdrive out front for more. I was able to get a "cleanish" tone out of it but I like a little hair on my clean tone. But yeah, sparkly cleans were not it's trick. Balls out Marshall drive is what it was meant for. That's one model I wish Marshall would reissue.