What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

[Gearjoneser]

I was thinking about it, and trying to figure out what the very best Marshalls, Mesas, and Fenders are. Of course, it's all subjective, and there's different models for different tones, but if you had to choose 3 Marshalls, 3 Mesas, and 3 Fenders to own for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Mine would be

Marshall 72 100W Superbass, 2550 50W Jubilee, and the limited 92 Anniversary 6100 Blue 3 channel EL-34 high polished brass model. Those heads are soaring over $2000 now, and are the best 30th Ann. models.
I actually found a picture. Note, the brass logo and highpolished front. The regular blue ones had a white plastic logo and brushed gold chassis. Most 30th Ann.'s were plain black.

Mesa Triaxis preamp/2:100 power amp, the new 100W Stiletto EL-34 head, and the 1-12 Subway Rocket w/EL-84's.

Fender Tweed Twin Custom Shop, one of Lew's Tweed Deluxes which have to be sweet, and a mint specimen of 65 Super Reverb.

 

[some_dude]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Marshall - Some old 100w SLP, a JCM800 2203ZW, and a JTM45

Mesa - Recto Pre/2:100, MkIIC+ and a Stilletto.

Fender - Old Bassman, Twin Reverb, and a second Twin Reverb.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Nice. I'm only going to mention amps I've actually owned and used.

I don't have any experience with Mesa Boogies beyond the MK 1. That's the only one I've owned and I didn't like it. I craved one when they first came out but when I finally got one it wasn't the amp for me.

As for Fenders, my faves would be: '66 Deluxe Reverb, '59 Deluxe and....boy, now it gets hard! There's to many good ones. I'll say '66 Vibrolux Reverb w/C10N's. But that's leaving out alot of great Fender Amps including my '51 Super/Dual Professional w/2 P10R's and the '59 Super with 2/P10R's and the '59 Bassman w/4 P10R's.

Marshalls? My favorites that I have owned would be the '67 plexi 50 watt head, '70 1987 50 watt head and '82 JCM 800 50 watt combo amp w/2 12's. I like the 50 watt Marshalls...obviously! (So does Yngwie and Jeff Beck.) I've owned three 100 watt plexi 1959 heads but honestly, they were all to loud for me to really use and enjoy.

I've never tried one, but I hear that the 18 watt Marshall is pretty amazing!

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Fender: real tough, this. I'll go for a tweed champ, a vibro king and a blackface vibroverb. Or a bassbreaker, tweed twin and blackface super. Or...

Mesa: Blue Angel head, Mark 1, and, um, well, plenty of other great amps that aren't to my taste. I hold high hopes for the stilletto, though.

Marshall: 50 watt plexi, Bluesbreaker combo and the new handwired combo.

 

[SHRED RED]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Marshall JCM800 w/1960A cabinet, period.

 

[B2D]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

My picks:

Marshall~
- 70's 50-watt JMP head
- The 1982 JCM800 combo i owned
- 6100 30th anniversary Head

Fender:
- Twin Reverb
- '66 Deluxe Reverb
- 4x10 Bassman

Mesa:
- Stiletto Deuce
- Mk. IIc+
- Maverick 2x12 combo

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Marshall 6100LM 30th Anniversary

Mesa Mark IV

And I haven't played enough Fender's to really say, not really my style either.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Marshall: Super Lead, JCM 800, JTM-45

Fender: Blackface Vibrolux Reverb, '59 Tweed, Blackface Super

Mesa: there are 3 good Mesa amps???? (j/k... )...
Stiletto, Tremoverb, and Triaxis

 

[poopsmith921]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

i really want to get a jcm2000tsl

 

[BluesNRock87]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

slp100, bluesbreaker 2X12 combo, 18watt head

59 bassman, deluxe reverb, champ

 

[dd12939]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

I'm not sure i've played three good amps from each of those...
The three Fenders I've liked the best are the 65 DRRI, a 66 Deluxe, and the Blues Jr.
Marshalls, JCM800 100w RI, JTM45, DSL50
Mesa... Nomad 55, Rectoverb, F-30
and those aren't in order. I need to find some cool shops that have good stuff and that will let me crank the amps a bit. Of all of those amps, the one that I thought held the most promise was the JCM800. The only one I really got to crank was the 66 Deluxe, and that would have been nice to have. It sounded tasty.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

3 Fender amps...My Twin (1696...yes, it's been Black Faced), a 59 Tweed Deluxe, and a Tweede Bassman (I played a 57 this weekend that would do nicely!)

3 Marshalls...early 70's 1987, 4 hole, no master metal front 50 watter, A real 1959 Plexi (I just have to!!!), and a Royal Blue 6100...Im with GJ on this, these are cool amps

Now...I don't care for Mesa amps so I will list 3 other amps I do want...
Park 1210 Rockhead, VHT PitBull, Bogner Uberschall...

But I still need a Vox AC-30, and Orange Overdrive 120, and one of those old funky 2 tone blue Univox amps that used 6550's!!!

 

[mrid]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

I think the best Mesa products are the IIC+/Quad, the Mark III (red, blue, or green stripe), Mark IV, and the Rectoverb/Tremoverb. The best Marshall I've ever played was a Roccaforte-modded 1959SLP.

 

[JeffB]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

I have the most experience with Marshall

Like Lou I prefer the 50 watters. The 1987X is the best one I've owned. Some of the 800's were great, and I really liked the 30th anniversary series. Sad to say I haven't much cared for anything they have made since the 800 series. Dual Reverbs were pretty good.

MESA I have limited experience with as far as owning them goes. I love my F-50. If I could have anything else it would be a MKIV or perhpas a Stilletto. I really liked the LoneStar/LS special and Maverick that I played through as well.

As for Fender. Fave one was def a 59 Bassman. I also really dug the red knob champ (late 80's I guess) my bro had. I played through a Vibro RI that was really nice too, but overall I'd much rather hear someone else through a Fender. Just no personal connection/vibe for me with Fender amps.

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Gearjoneser: I had a 1971 Marshall Super Bass 100w. great amp, just too much for what I needed....too hard to get decent tones out of and couldn't do it at decent volumes even with the master volume.

Anywayz, onto the topic at hand!!

Greatest Fenders: 1959 Fender Bassman, Fender Vibroverb, and Blackface Deluxe Reverb

Greatest Marshalls: JCM 800, Bluesbreaker, and the Jubilee

Greatest Mesa: Rect-o-verb, Maverick, F-50

These are my personal favs of these great amp makers!!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

3 Fender amps...My Twin (1696...yes, it's been Black Faced), a 59 Tweed Deluxe, and a Tweede Bassman (I played a 57 this weekend that would do nicely!)

3 Marshalls...early 70's 1987, 4 hole, no master metal front 50 watter, A real 1959 Plexi (I just have to!!!), and a Royal Blue 6100...Im with GJ on this, these are cool amps

Now...I don't care for Mesa amps so I will list 3 other amps I do want...
Park 1210 Rockhead, VHT PitBull, Bogner Uberschall...

But I still need a Vox AC-30, and Orange Overdrive 120, and one of those old funky 2 tone blue Univox amps that used 6550's!!!

Man...I'd like to hear that Twin from 1696! Must be worth a fortune! Was it windpowered? :laugh2: Lew

 

[Bludave]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

FENDER

1. Fender BF Deluxe Reverb
2. Fender BF Twinn
3. 1957 Low output Tweed Twin
4. BF VIBROLUX

MARSHALL

1. Bluesbreaker
2. JTK 45
3. 50W Plexi

All of these Amps have very different voices. They all are Highly versatile and work well in a varitey of situations. Some work better with single coils, and some work better with HB. So much of the term "best" depends on what you need the AMP to do for a particular project!

BOOGIE

I have no real experience with these. The only comment I have is the few that I have played thru, seemed very complicted to work. A lot of knobs and not a lot of versatility.

 

[Curly]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

Fender:
Tweed Bassman, Super Reverb, tweed Deluxe

Marshall:
early 50 w Plexi, Bluesbreaker combo

Mesa:
Blue Angel

I'd reserve my spare choices for a nice class A amp: Vox AC 30, Matchless C-30, Bad Cat, or a Dr Z.

 

[rombola]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

i dont know but i would love the metallica black album tone just exactly as the cd ! is that possible ? fftopic: or is studio shi*t ???

 

[Neeradj]

Re: What's the top 3 Marshall, Mesa, and Fender Amps, in your opinion?

None, Marshalls and Fenders are one trick pony's stock IMO, but a modded SLP retaining the bottom end and balls would be cool to have one day. The Mesa Stiletto looks cool, although I haven't tried it. The Rectifiers sound muddy to my ears and the Mark IV sounds ok, I just don't like the color of the lead channels.

I'd rather put my money to an ENGL, VHT, Framus etc but that's just me