Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

mwalluk

mwalluk

New member
Discuss.


Let's face it tastes and style changes. At one point of time, we all generally had an idea of our tone, so we set off on our musical journey to acquire it. Now some of us took the high road and got their amp, the one they truly wanted. While others, like myself, went through amp after amp, swapping/selling/trading to get to where we (I) am now.

Here's all the amps I went through in the last 5 years. I would like to see what path you chose and how you got there. Also, this will be helpful to newer members talking about getting a VYper, MG, VK or any other lower end amp.

1. Peavey Valveking
2. Marshall JTM60
3. Randall RM50
4. Peavey XXX
5. Randall RM100
6. Mesa Trem-o-verb
7. Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100
8. Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100
9. VHT Deliverance Sixty

*I may of had a few more that I can't remember
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

laney AOR
carvin x100b
fender stage 160 ( actually pretty good solid state metal sound)
fender metal head
peavey 515o
carvin v3
back to the 5150

i still miss that x100b and that laney
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Well, I've been stagnant for a few years, but in the last 9-10 here's what I've been through.

Crate (can't remember model, but a crappy solid state 20 watter).
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Marshall JCM 600 Combo
Marshall JCM 800 Combo (2205 circuit)

That's it. Now I have a VOX modeling amp that GR8Scott was kind enough to send me (since I had NO amp), and my Boss GT-6 which I just used to use for recording when I needed something other than my JCM 800.

I knew early on (once I discovered tube amps) that Marshall was the tone that I wanted. I also knew from playing with a group of guys that I needed a 2 channel amp, because we did plenty of songs that required both a clean and dirty tone. The JCM 600 was actually a great amp, and I almost kept it. I had the 600 and the 800 at the same time. I made a recording for myself of the same clips played through both amps....because live it's so hard to tell the difference, since our ears have a very short memory. The JCM 800 was a lot thicker and meatier, for lack of better terms. Once I found out that I could have the 800 modded by Jeff Seal to have Fender cleans and those great modded 800 tones from the 80's and beyond, the 600 went bye bye.

Whatever tube amp I end up with next, it will either be a JCM 800, two channel, a DSL or something similar with a strong British flavor. For me, that's where my tone lies. I guess I'm lucky I haven't gone through a ton of expensive or even semi-expensive amps. I always come back to the Marshall tone....for me.
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

My amplifier wattage has gone through a bell curve (last 5 years is in bold):

1. Started with a Laney Pro Tube 30 (30W)
2. Marshall JCM 800 (50W)
3. Rivera Knucklehead (100W)
4. Engl 580/Marshall EL 34 100/100 (dual 100W)
5. Splawn Quick Rod (100W)
6. Bumbox Cielo (30W)
7. EAST Studio 2 (2W)

I've gone from multi-channel, high gain monsters to single channel amps and power tube distortion. I've also gone from zero effects to a pedal board with an assortment of overdrives, clean boosts, and fuzz pedals.

Pretty much 180 degree change!! :)
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

I've also had the same amp for the last 5 years.
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Hmm... In Order

Amps:

-Peavey Special 130 (honestly, amazing cleans - that i cannot complain about)
-Peavey Valveking 100 Head
-Fender Hot Rod Deville (Kept)
-Marshall JCM2000 DSL100
-Hartke 3500 Bass Amp(Kept)
-Fender Blues Deville
-Orange AD30HTC (Current)
-Fender Supersonic 112 60w 60th in Oxblood/Cream w/ Stock V30 (Current)
-VHT Handwired 36 (2 of them, freaking tasty amps : ) )

Cabs:
-Marshall MG412
-(2) Old School Hartke 410's (kept)
-Marshall JCM900 1960A W/ G12t-75's
-Orange PPC212-C MIE - v30's (Current)
-Fender Supersonic 212 60th Oxblood/Cream - v30's (Current)

Wow... That Doesn't seem so bad now! Not as much a fiend as i thought, maybe?
 
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Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Crate GX20M (was my amp for like four years)
Fender FM25R
Blackheart BH5
Superchamp XD
Vox Night Train
Marshall DSL50
Egnater Tweaker

Yeah I've been through a few but the first 3 barely even count, as back then, I was too wasted all the time and only played like an hour or two a week. The SCXD was the first amp that really got me excited about playing again.
I fell in love with both the blackface tone and the vox-ish tones of the SCXD, but something didn't satisfy my about the feel of the SCXD. When I played the night train, I found the feel that I wanted. Or so I thought. After getting a little disenchanted with the flubby bass of the thick mode and a greenback, I was convinced that I needed more punch and more balls and got a DSL.
The DSL gave me TOO MUCH punch and balls (very little of which was available at home-friendly volume) so I found something that sort of has the feel of the SCXD's best settings and much of the feel of the night train's best settings. Doesn't have the THUNDER of the DSL but I can't play that loud anymore anyways.

If I get another amp anytime within a long while, it would probably be a Tweed Champ clone. The Champ has a unique sound that my tweaker doesn't really do.
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

JCM 900 (the one with reverb)
JCM 2000
Present - Laney AOR 50 watt Pro-Tube 6 knober, with V1 A+B engaged. Simply love it, a lot of people say that it has this hot rodded 800/JMP sound to it, it does but with a classic dark Laney overtones, push/pull boosts really have a second amp effect. Someday I will get a Komet Constellation and a hot rodded Marshall metal face (71/72) and original Laney Supergroup, but this one is a keeper. Most likely I will get another one and do stereo set up. The cab has always been the same, JCM900 1960A. After I re-do my main axe i will try a Swamp Thang/V30 X in it. With JCM2000 I've used a DigiTech 21/20. Now I am pedal board dude, love the Ibanez 9 series (AD, FL, TS modded by Strutdeluxer) MXR 401 clean boost, orignal Bad Hoarsie Whah. Thinking of doing the Webber MASS lite again as part of the rig .... That's about it.
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Mesa Maverick 4-10
'69 Fender Bassman
Carvin X-100b
Peavey Ultra 120
LabSeries L2

Wish I would of bought the Lab Series earlier,
it's light, sounds great and no tubes to worry about!
I picked it up cheap to hold me over until the Ultra 120 gets
fixed but now I like the tone from it so much,
I don't care about the Peavey!
 
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Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Hughes & Kettner Triamp Mk I (GREAT amp! I miss it.)
Traynor Custom Blue 50
Traynor YCS100H (two at one time, still have one that's a backup to my XTC)
Bogner EL34 Shiva (GREAT amp!)
Marshall Class 5
Fender '65 Twin Reverb Reissue
Jet City Pico Valve (had for two hours... LOL)
Egnater Tweaker
Bogner Ecstasy Classic (Pretty much the end of the road for me for big amps. Only interested in small, bedroom amps from here on out. The XTC just seems more awesome every day.)

Been VERY happy with most of these amps. The best have been the Bogners, followed by the H&K, and then the Traynors.
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Then:
Crappy tone.
Homebrew axe (which, in and of itself, was and still is a great guitar capable of awesome tone - Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, PAF Pro in neck. Alder body, All maple bolt on neck)
Zoom 505 (the original!)
Fender HOT practice amp that nobody knows about because it's so obscure.

Today:
Awesome tone
Ibanez mahogany/maple/rosewood superstrat SD TB-5/SH-2N
Korg Pitchblack
GCB-95
TS-9
Jet City JCA100H
Sunn 412 w/ G12T-75s & G1265s
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Then - Behringer Strat+Behringer SS 15w amp

Now - Peavey Reactor & Custom made neck-thru strat-->Big Muff-->Box of Rock-->'68 Bassman.

Tone out the assho
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Five years ago I didn’t even have a guitar amp.
But I did, shortly after, buy a Marshall Valve state thing. Pretty much rubbish all round that thing.
Next Ashdown Fallen Angel 60w combo… which broke so was sent back.
In place of that I got another Ashdown Fallen Angel, but the head and that was put on top of a marshall MC212 cab.
Next was a mesa Express 5:25 and currently I’m trying an old JCM900.
What I want from my tone has not changed that much, although I used to use more gain than I do these days but I was playing more heavy rock/cheesy metal rather than the heavy blues rock I do now.
So my tone has almost certainly improved and changed but that’s been more down to what I could afford at any given time.
I suspect I’m going to be one of those people who keeps swapping amps.

Bass wise I’ve had a Peavey session bass head into a 4x10 cab, a 2x10 peavey combo and now I’ve settled on a Trace Elliot 300w 1x15 combo. That’s been more a case of getting smaller, more compact and louder amps. The Trace fits in the trunk of my car and is very loud. It also sounds pretty good, which is a bonus :)
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

I've bought more amps in the last 5 years than I have in my whole life previous. A main reason is the recording that I'm doing. I'm looking for a 70's classic tone, and there just aren't a lot of amps that do that well. Another reason is I bought a house in '07 and now I'm able to record a cranked amp instead of recording direct.
It was about 5 years ago that I switched from gigging with a rack rig to a head and cab because we added a bandmate and there just wasn't room on stage for two cabs.
I got a Genz Benz El Diablo 60 watt head, and used my Mesa 2-12 cab.
Then a Fender Super Sonic head
Peavey Supreme XL
Peavey Penta cab
Crate Palomino V32 and 2-12 cab (sold that again last month)
Jet City JAH20 head
Peavey 6505+ head and XXX cab
Reason Bambino Grande combo
Reason 2-12 cab with Greenbacks (I'm discovering this cab is one of the smartest buys I've made)
Genz Benz G Flex cab
Peavey Penta head, finally, to go with the cab.

Also a year ago a friend got my old Mitchell head working again after it sat unused for probably 20 years. I've actually been recording some stuff with that, with a pedal in front.
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

I had the same amp for 25 years - a Marshall 2204 JCM800. I realized a year ago though that I wanted something that could cover pristine cleans to rock n roll od/dist. The only thing I didn't need was high gain metal'ish tones. I ended up with a Tone King Metropolitan - really versatile two channel amp. Should last me another 25 years (hopefully I do too :0) )!
 
Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

Amps in order...
'79 Fender Vibrochamp (sold)
'79 Marshall JMP (still own)
Peavey Transtube 112EFX combo (sold)
Peavey Ultra Plus (sold)
Little Smokey (still own) can't forget that one :9:
Engl Powerball (sold)
Mesa Dual Recto 3ch (sold)
'67 Fender Blackface Vibrolux Reverb (still own)
Peavey 3120 running 6L6s not El34s (still own)
Digitech GSP1101 + ART SLA-2 power amp (sold)
Peavey 5150 with bias mod, choke mod and custom tolex (still own)
Electro Harmonix 44 Magnum (still own)

Cabs...
'79 Marshall 1960a with G12-65s (still own)
late 60s (forget the year) Fender 2x12 Bassman extension cab (still own)
Avatar 2x12 with Hellatone 30s (sold)
Splawn 4x12 straight cab with Hellatone 30s (still own)
Splawn 4x12 straight cab with broken in older V30s (still own)

Bass amps...
Peavey TNT 115 (sold)
Peavey Basic 60 (still own)

I feel like i'm forgetting something for some reason but thats the bulk of it.
 
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Re: Your tone 5 years ago and now (amps you've had).

I'm not really sure how long I have had my amps, but now I am playing through a Bogner Shiva and a Komet 60. The Shiva I have had for a while now and its a great amp and I love the tones I get from it. The Komet hands down is the best amp I have played through period. I also have a Marshall 900 that I gigged with for years, a SF Super Reverb abd a Deluxe Reverb(also SF). Both the Fenders are drip edge amps. I use the DR with band rehearsals as it is small enough to accomplish a decent sound and doesn't overpower the rest of the band. The DR has a Vintage 30 in it and that made a world of difference.
 
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