Ridiculous Amps!

Ridiculous Amps!

  • Bad Cat Hot Cat 100

    Votes: 12 7.5%

  • Bogner Ecstasy 101

    Votes: 46 28.8%

  • Budda Superdrive 80

    Votes: 6 3.8%

  • Fuchs ODS 100

    Votes: 11 6.9%

  • Hughes & Kettner Triam Mk II

    Votes: 10 6.3%

  • Koch Multitone 100 H

    Votes: 2 1.3%

  • Matchless Superchief

    Votes: 13 8.1%

  • Mesa/Boogie Lonestar

    Votes: 13 8.1%

  • Mesa/Boogie Road King

    Votes: 29 18.1%

  • Rivera Knucklehead

    Votes: 18 11.3%
  • Total voters
    160
Benjy_26

Benjy_26

25's Nemesis
Hey all. :)

I have finally decided to button down and save up for a whole year so that I can buy a new amp. I'm willing to spend up to $3,500 on a head or a combo. Since I will be spending rediculous money (hence the thread title)


I wanted to see what y'all thought would be good. Feel free to suggest something that isn't listed.

I want something around 100 watts (for clean headroom), a beutiful clean and at least one very good OD channel.

BTW, I play everything from clean country styles to STP style grind. :burnout:
 
Last edited:
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

My personla choice would be a Mesa/ Dual Recitfier with fitting cabs. But a lIne 6 Vetta II is cool too if you have no prob mit modelers.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

If you ever listen to me, listen to me now. Buy a Custom Audio Amplifiers OD-100. People have been digging it a lot more than even the Bogner Ecstasy amps. The cleans are like the best Blackface Fender you've ever heard, the overdrive has a sweet vintage Marshall and the lead tone is out of this world. Mike Landau and Scott Henderson are two famous players that use this amp.

It's not cheap (they are sold new for $3000), but if you don't want to compromise a single thing, it will deliver. If I can't find a way to get a good lead out of my Fargen Epic 30 DC, I will sell it and put cash towards buying either one of those monsters or something lower wattage (which will be coming out later this year).

If you need versatility and 100w, that's really the best amp I can think of, honestly.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

From the styles you mentioned, I'm not sure the Fuchs would be a good fit. They're very Dumble-ish, a sound I usually think of for modern jazz and fusion guys like Scott Lerner.

I would add the VHT Pitbull to that list, might be worth checking out. Also maybe a Mesa Mk IV.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

the_Chris said:
If you ever listen to me, listen to me now. Buy a Custom Audio Amplifiers OD-100.
Click to expand...


I have heard some remarkable things about those amps. I'd love to give one a test drive.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

Loserchief said:
My personla choice would be a Mesa/ Dual Recitfier with fitting cabs. But a lIne 6 Vetta II is cool too if you have no prob mit modelers.
Click to expand...


I'm a tube snob, so the Vetta probably won't "feel" the way I want it to. I tried the Dual Recto's, but the seemed a bit over the top in the lead channels.

I love my V-Twin though. :wink:
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

the_Chris said:
If you ever listen to me, listen to me now. Buy a Custom Audio Amplifiers OD-100. People have been digging it a lot more than even the Bogner Ecstasy amps. The cleans are like the best Blackface Fender you've ever heard, the overdrive has a sweet vintage Marshall and the lead tone is out of this world. Mike Landau and Scott Henderson are two famous players that use this amp.

It's not cheap (they are sold new for $3000), but if you don't want to compromise a single thing, it will deliver. If I can't find a way to get a good lead out of my Fargen Epic 30 DC, I will sell it and put cash towards buying either one of those monsters or something lower wattage (which will be coming out later this year).

If you need versatility and 100w, that's really the best amp I can think of, honestly.
Click to expand...


Link, please. :32:
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

ENGL Special Edition. That thing has got more versatilly than anything out there. I know a guy who has owned one for over a year and still says he keeps finding new great tones out of that thing. The clean ups are amazing and there's gain on tap and almost every sound available. It also looks amazing and it does every sound it does well.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

Benjy, really it comes down to what types of flavors you want out of your amp. You were smart enough to save your cash and spend it once, knowing you'll never have to spend it again.

Fuchs is more geared towards jazz, fusion and blues styles than rock and roll. ENGL is quality high gain stuff. Diezel is another brand that does insane high gain.

You mentioned Stone Temple Pilots and when I think of them, I think of Marshall-esque type stuff. I know they used Demeter amps, but I feel the cleans aren't good enough to make someone settle down with it (much the same way I feel about the XTC).

I was disappointed with the Bad Cat Hot Cat and while the cleans and overdrive were good, they weren't amazing like the boutique price shows. I didn't like the way the overdrive channel was voiced, it was higher gain and rawer than what I'm used to.

The Triamp Mk II is a great amp, but not worth the price that new ones go for. It can do a variety of things well, but the "response" wasn't quite there. That's where I feel the CAA OD-100 is different, you can get some great tones, and the feel and response of each is amazing.

I've never liked Koch's voicings myself.

The Matchless Superchief is a great amp (Matchless does some of the best cleans around), but I wouldn't call them rock and roll amps either.

Budda's have a nice fat smooth overdrive, but the cleans aren't the greatest in the world.

Rivera's are good amps, but they do approximations of your favorite tones, I wouldn't say they nail them or do anything that interesting. Way too many knobs and switches on there too, I've always felt that the best amps are ones that don't have millions of options messing with the circuit. That's also why I think Dr. Z amps have such great tone, they're pretty simple ;)

The Road King was a disappointment. With some tweaking I could get the amp to sound decent, but for 2 grand, the amp should shine (and well, it doesn't). The Lone Star has some pretty sweet cleans, but the overdrive was voiced for high gain and wasn't near as impressive as the cleans.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

BTW, the Koch and HK Triamp toneflavor are those you either hate or love. They are very versatile amps but I know a good amount of people who were kind of disappointed with the Triamp's tone. The Multitone sounded good to me, with that kind of cash you might wanna look into the Powertone II, imagine a Multitone with more high gain versatilly and more gain :) while still sounding good at bedroom volumes.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

If it were me and I had that much money to spend on an amp? I'd look for a Fender Tone Master head and cabinet. Heck, you could probably find the reverb tank to go with it.
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

Butch Snyder said:
If it were me and I had that much money to spend on an amp? I'd look for a Fender Tone Master head and cabinet. Heck, you could probably find the reverb tank to go with it.
Click to expand...

Jonny Lang would agree with you ;)
 
Re: Ridiculous Amps!

Wow, lots of great suggestions.

chris, never seen these CAE products before and I'm a Gear Page Amp Forum total ho. How did I miss these guys?

That being said,

I'd seriously look at a Matchless Chieftain. The one that Gearjoneser has is an outstanding amp. But, I'm not sure it's going to fill the bill for overall cleans.

Along the lines of the Fuchs, you owe it to yourself to at least take a look at the Two Rock stuff. Best cleans I've ever heard, even compared the totallly excellent Brunos, with a sweet overdrive Dumble channel. Total dumble clone. Listen to John Mayer's stuff on that Crossroads CD to get a feel for what it's capable of. My Custom Reverb is only 50 watts, so it might not be enough for you, but unless you're gigging a really big hall, I'm not sure you'll need more than 50 watts in this particular amp. I"m not sure if it's all Two rocks, but the CR uses a solid state rectifier. That pumps up the output just a bit and yet, they managed to capture all the "sag" you could possibly want. Joe and Bill must have those damn elves imprisoned up at their faciility. Just magic amps all the way around.

Most folks would say the Two Rocks and the Fuchs are in the same sonic landscape. The Fuchs gets some negative pub about its circuit boards, but I don't think that should be a factor. They are thick and high quality. Not prone to deforming or having traces break. Excellent rugged reputation just like the Two Rocks.

Getting the drive you need along with super cleans (ones that you can stay a life time with) is a tough choice. The TR was an easy choice for me, but truth be told, I favor the cleans over the drive, yet the OD stuff is excellent. I'm just not a huge OD kind of guy.
 
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