Recommend me a 'clean' head

moog1000

New member
OK, I've now a got a Soldano HR50 XL head (single channel), which gives me excellent cleans and solo tones, but not both at once!

Are there any decent 'clean' sounding heads out there that I can also put an OD peadal through for clean/crunch sounds? What about SS amps, I hear they are sposed to stand up well?

I'm playing sort of soul/blues/rock stuff.
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

How much do you want to spend?

The Mesa F-50 has good cleans and is designed around blues rock.

Plus, channel 2 is capable of going from a good rock distortion to something similar, but a little tamer, than a Rectifier.
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

Fender = Clean! look around and see if you can find a Fender Showman head. It is in essence similar to a twinn in a head configuration! Very cool!! very loud!! very clean!!
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

Bludave said:
Fender = Clean! look around and see if you can find a Fender Showman head. It is in essence similar to a twinn in a head configuration! Very cool!! very loud!! very clean!!

My thoughts exactly...better still, a Showman Reverb. Basically a 70's Fender Twin Reverb in a head.

Lew
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

Are you trying to use a dual head/stereo cab setup? Besides Fender heads, like
an old Showman Reverb or newer Prosonic, you might look into the heads by
Peavey Classic 50 or 100
Hiwatt
Carvin
Sunn

You may be better off getting a combo, so you can use all 4 speakers for your Soldano.
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

For pure cleans, you can't beat Fender. The Peavey Classic 50 head has the best non-Fender clean tone I've ever heard, and you can pick one up on Ebay for less than $350. Unfortunately, Peavey recently discontinued the head version of this amp, as everyone seems to buy only the 410 and 212 combo models.

Ryan
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

The silver faced dual showman was the first amp that came to my mind also.
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

The Hiwatt heads of old have brilliant cleans i think, but ive never heard one personally. I have however had the pleasure of playing through an ENGL Thunder 50 head and its cleans were great, not to mention its gain channel was pretty smokin too! Check one out, they should be quite affordable too.

Also check out the ENGL Screamer 50 as well, i think its built more around gain but its cleans are beautiful as Marin from this forum will tell you and you can hear for yourself from his clips on his soundclick site. Get his track "Jackie Jazz", its done with an ENGL Screamer 50 combo and just sounds magnificent...all clean.

Both the Thunder 50 and Screamer 50 come in a head and combo version...you wont be dissapointed :cool:
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

Wait wait wait wait wait

Back up

Fender Twin in head form?

Why didn't you guys tell me about this sooner?

Now I have to find one and um...buy it.

-X
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

Empty Pockets said:
Wait wait wait wait wait

Back up

Fender Twin in head form?

Why didn't you guys tell me about this sooner?

Now I have to find one and um...buy it.

-X

Luckily, you can find these heads at good prices, since they suffered from
that "Silverface stigma." Collectors don't clamor for them, so you can
get an excellent clean amp head, put some new tubes in it, maybe change a few capacitors in it, and voila....one of the best clean tones out there.
A while back, I actually scored a non reverb Showman in a Pawnshop for
$150, only because the shop owner didn't want to deal with the blown tubes.
I brought it home, retubed it, and sold it for $450.
 
Re: Recommend me a 'clean' head

Gearjoneser said:
Luckily, you can find these heads at good prices, since they suffered from
that "Silverface stigma." Collectors don't clamor for them, so you can
get an excellent clean amp head, put some new tubes in it, maybe change a few capacitors in it, and voila....one of the best clean tones out there.
A while back, I actually scored a non reverb Showman in a Pawnshop for
$150, only because the shop owner didn't want to deal with the blown tubes.
I brought it home, retubed it, and sold it for $450.

Lol...awesome!
 
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