Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

[MetalManiac]

10 Fender Tweed Bassman. Clones don't get it. IDK why. Real Tweed Bassman.
2) Fender Blackface Deluxe Reverb. Thickest , Sweetest , most golden age clean tones of all time ..most natural cleans on earth.
3) Fender Blackface Super Reverb..again, ya can't really commercially clone it.A real Blackface is just that. Huge fat ballsy Blues Rock with in your face presence, yet sweet and tight.
3) Marshall JMP ( mostly cause its a the only Marshall Ive ever played , and one that I won)
4) Vox El84 AMp..and thats just caue I have a good British El84 Carslabro clone. Chime and Glass for dsys!!!
5) Vintage Sunn 1200s or 200S Amp. Big Bold Clean Amp with massive thick organic organic bass response.
6) Ampeg Fliptop B12N amp.(okay..its a bass amp)
7) Mesa Boogie MkIIc SimulclAS( A legend).
8) Hiwatt. I have now expereince with these legendary amps
9) Orange( No expereince)
10) Traynor ( Ive had several of these amps. They just dont sound that great, but they are built like tanklsm, anbd are able to be modified.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

What exactly constitutes "vintage"?

And what's the definition of "greatest"?

Regardless... your list needs more Marshall in it, and perhaps the Fender Twin Reverb (IMO).

 

[AlexR]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Even if you've never played one, leaving a 100W Plexi off your list is just sacrilege.
Vox AC 30TB I'm assuming is what you mean with the one on your list.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Even if you've never played one, leaving a 100W Plexi off your list is just sacrilege.
I knida coverd that in a roundabout way..with the Traynor.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

10 Tweed Deluxe
9 Tweed Bassman
8 Tweed Super
7 Tweed Twin
6 Super Reverb
5 Twin
4 Backface Deluxe
3 AC 30
2 Early Plexiglas
1 AC 15

10 is best to me with 1 lowest to me

 

[TheProphet]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

3) Marshall JMP ( mostly cause its a the only Marshall Ive ever played , and one that I won)
4) Vox El84 AMp..and thats just caue I have a good British El84 Carslabro clone. Chime and Glass for dsys!!!
8) Hiwatt. I have now expereince with these legendary amps
9) Orange( No expereince)
10) Traynor ( Ive had several of these amps. They just dont sound that great, but they are built like tanklsm, anbd are able to be modified.

I look at those and wonder which of those amps are you talking about. Even with JMP's there are a few different models

When somebody does a top ten list for amps vintage or otherwiseit makes sense to list the exact model.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

I don't know enough about amps to do this but there would definitely be a lot of Tweeds, Blackfaces, Marshalls, and Vox ACs.

 

[PVFan]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

I bet a nickel the Guy we all want to hear answer this one won't. I swear to God though, I'll make it a point to own all 10.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

I don't know if I can come with 10 vintage amps that I think are the greatest, but there IS a list... (in no particular order)

Marshall 100 watt plexi
Roland Jazz Chorus
Vox AC 30
Fender Twin
Fender Champ
Fender Bassman
Peavey Mace
Mesa Boogie Mark Series
Supro Thunderbolt
Marshall Bluesbreaker

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Marshall 100 watt plexi
Roland Jazz Chorus
Vox AC 30
Fender Twin
Fender Champ
Fender Bassman
Peavey Mace
Mesa Boogie
Supro Thunderbolt
Marshall Bluesbreaker

I'm not calling you out or anything and I know what these amps are but I don't know why they'd make the list... why in your opinion do they get on here? just curious...

 

[Hellion]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

I'm not calling you out or anything and I know what these amps are but I don't know why they'd make the list... why in your opinion do they get on here? just curious...

Uhm, okay. My viewpoint is likely to be different than a lot of others, but it's mainly about what I associate their tones with...

Marshall 100 watt Plexi...Probably no amp in the world has been more often heralded and associated with a "rock" sound. Everyone seems to have used them at some point in time, albeit with differing results.

Roland Jazz Chorus...Widely used by loads of musicians for their clean, almost pristine, voicing. Hey, Andy Summers used them for a time, plus they kinda have an analog chorus effect that just sounds cool.

Vox AC 30....A great amplifier that, while revered as a class A amplifer, really isn't, but still sounds a lot like one! Brian May used them in addition to a load of punk rock acts in the 80s.

Fender Twin....To me, this amp epitomizes a true "country" sound. Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant used them, as did Albert Lee, Don Rich and a plethora of other country musicians.

Fender Champ... The simplest and least powerful of all of Fender's early amplifiers, it was a true class A and I think, because of the power rating, they were easy to use in the studio. Those early Champs were screamers!

Fender Bassman....There aren't a lot of amps that can be used both as a guitar amp AND a bass amp. They're severely underpowered for use live as a bass amp, but they still reproduce the tones beautifully, and they provide boatloads of warm analog crunch for a guitar.

Peavey Mace....Lynyrd Skynyrd live back in the 70s. Six 6L6s instead of the standard four ensured that volume wasn't an issue. Now, note that I didn't say that they sounded great, but they were kind of a forerunner in some of the modern amp designs.

Mesa Boogie Mark I-V .... The Mark series had cascading preamp stages which allowed you to overdrive the succeeding preamp, and you could achieve a wonderful singing tone at speaking volume if you just wanted to practice softly. They were also damned loud!

Supro Thunderbolt.... I mention this amp because reputedly, Jimmy Page used it routinely. They were known for a huge sounding voice, loads of bottom end and crunch. Listen to Zep's "Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid" and you can get an idea of that tone...again, supposedly...

Marshall Bluesbreaker .... I just think they're a nice sounding bluesy alternative to the 100W Plexi without the hernia that goes along with toting them....

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Peavey Mace....Lynyrd Skynyrd live back in the 70s. Six 6L6s instead of the standard four ensured that volume wasn't an issue. Now, note that I didn't say that they sounded great, but they were kind of a forerunner in some of the modern amp designs.

Supro Thunderbolt.... I mention this amp because reputedly, Jimmy Page used it routinely. They were known for a huge sounding voice, loads of bottom end and crunch. Listen to Zep's "Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid" and you can get an idea of that tone...again, supposedly...

These are the 2 amps I was wondering about... I guess I understand about the Mace but I thought they found out Jimmy didn't use a Thunderbolt on LZI?

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Hiwatt should probably be listed a lot more.

Marshall Bluesbreaker .... I just think they're a nice sounding bluesy alternative to the 100W Plexi without the hernia that goes along with toting them....

A BB could possibly cause more hernias than a 1/2 stack being a 2x12 combo. I know Twins are about the worst amps to transport. At least with a 1/2 stack you have a seperate head and can get help with the cab.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

This is just another list thread.

Making a list of this sort is fairly pointless unless you also state why you rate a particular make or model. Is the list one of amps that you personally enjoy or of amps that have (supposedly) appeared on significant recordings or at significant concerts?

e.g. OP entry #8 "HiWatt - I have no experience with these". In which case, how can you possibly rate them?

IMO, one of the most important vintage amplifiers to have appeared both on stage and on historic recordings is the Leslie rotary speaker. A huge number of classics tracks would have been ****ed without this monolithic piece of furniture.

For the record, I have never played through a Leslie but I have had to help shift one. Does that count?

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

uh... dumble???

 

[Kam]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Line 6 Spider.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Line 6 Spider.

Now, you really are extracting the micturation.

 

[Kam]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Now, you really are extracting the micturation.

You takin' the piss outta me for my lack of vocabulary??

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

Plexi
Plexi
Plexi
Plexi
AC30
Plexi
5E3
Blackface Everything
Plexi
JCM 800

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Rank the 10 greatest Vintage Amps of All Time (in your humble opinion)

hmm.

No Ampeg anywhere = thread fail. More classic jazz records were made with an Ampeg Gemini ll than you'd think. Ampeg Jets are kick ass low wattage amps.

The whole goddam amp world doens't rest at Fender/VOX/Marshall's feet.