Hi there,
Create a list of 10 Bass and 10 Guitar valve amps that you believe are the best sounding ones.
These amps have to be a bit louder then 50 watts.
The speaker cabinet is not taken into account, only the amp.
A short description why it's on your list would be welcome.
The list is to be created as follows:
Brand - Model - Why?
Refrain from other comments as the data is used for an experimental project on The Mystical Valve Guitar Amplifier.
Many thanks for all the contributions.
Tarzan
Create a list of 10 Bass and 10 Guitar valve amps that you believe are the best sounding ones.
These amps have to be a bit louder then 50 watts.
The speaker cabinet is not taken into account, only the amp.
A short description why it's on your list would be welcome.
The list is to be created as follows:
Brand - Model - Why?
Refrain from other comments as the data is used for an experimental project on The Mystical Valve Guitar Amplifier.
Many thanks for all the contributions.
Tarzan
Bass:
SVT head 'cause it sounds good and has balls.
Mesa 400+ power amp w/ Alembic preamp 'cause it sounds good and has balls.
Fender Bassman or Showman or SuperShowman.
'70's Marshall 50 watt.
SVT head 'cause it sounds good and has balls.
Mesa 400+ power amp w/ Alembic preamp 'cause it sounds good and has balls.
Fender Bassman or Showman or SuperShowman.
'70's Marshall 50 watt.
Why must it be at least 50 watts? My favorite guitar amps are Fender Twin Reverbs, Deluxes, and ESPECIALLY Champs.
Why champs with their piddly little 7 or so watts?
Because you can crank it to 10 and not rattle the neighborhood, and you get tone like no other amp I've heard. But it has to be a good champ. Preferably tweed, or at least blackface. And one without faulty components. Mic it and you're good for on-stage. Seal the cab and you get punchy mids. Add a Weber speaker, etc. etc... very modifiable.
All that being said if you MUST have 50+ watts, I'd go with one of the stereo Mesa Boogies.
Why champs with their piddly little 7 or so watts?
Because you can crank it to 10 and not rattle the neighborhood, and you get tone like no other amp I've heard. But it has to be a good champ. Preferably tweed, or at least blackface. And one without faulty components. Mic it and you're good for on-stage. Seal the cab and you get punchy mids. Add a Weber speaker, etc. etc... very modifiable.
All that being said if you MUST have 50+ watts, I'd go with one of the stereo Mesa Boogies.
Agreed, if you absolutely must have more practice or stage volume, then get two. IMHO a 50-watt Marshall sounds much much better than a 100-watt Marshall.
I agree with "get more amps if you need more volume." I recently saw Eric Johnson live, and I believe he was playing through a stack of Princetons, from the look of it. He obviously had no issues with being loud enough, as I could hear the amps themselves over the sound of the PA of the medium-sized venue. These are 15 watt amps.
And as for tone... there's no arguing with Mr. Johnson.
edit: he also had some marshal cabs, but I dunno what the head unit was for those. Obviously he was using the marshal's for his high gain stuff, and the fenders for the cleaner stuff.
And as for tone... there's no arguing with Mr. Johnson.
edit: he also had some marshal cabs, but I dunno what the head unit was for those. Obviously he was using the marshal's for his high gain stuff, and the fenders for the cleaner stuff.
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I have to agree with a 50 watt Marshall sounding better than a 100 watt marshall. Most people when go to play a 100 watt Marshall they think it's going to be 2x as loud. But in reality it's only probably 3-4 decibals louder.
Throw away the 50 watt rule and I vote for a Fender Tweed Deluxe circuit 5E3, and if we keep the "at least 50 watt" rule I would vote for a Fender Bassman circuit 5F6-A (the origins of Marshalls)
Throw away the 50 watt rule and I vote for a Fender Tweed Deluxe circuit 5E3, and if we keep the "at least 50 watt" rule I would vote for a Fender Bassman circuit 5F6-A (the origins of Marshalls)
famousmockingbird, I like. My brother has a 5e3. It sounds wonderful, when it's not broken. Parts seem to go bad on it all the time. But as I said, when it's tuned up..... there's just no better blues amp, especially for a club or other small venue.
You have to be carefull with the original because with todays higher line voltages the B+ can be quite high (they are already biased really hot). My practice area usually stays around 122vac so I had to install a couple zener diodes to reduce B+. My 5E3 clone is around 360v at 120vac and my original without diodes was something like 390v.
But yes the best blues/rock amp hands down😎
I actually rather like the bass amp I bought...
Laney G300 Pro - its stereo (bi-ampable), or can be run bridged mono. 12-band graphic eq, so easy to use, and (despite being made in 1989) will happily shove out double its rated power output.
I use it and a 4x10" cab as a general purpose guitar/bass rig. Plenty loud enough, will drown out a loud drummer without being asked twice.
I use a multi-fx to get the sounds, but plugging a guitar straight in sounds rather good. Must put some clips up some time.
Chris
Laney G300 Pro - its stereo (bi-ampable), or can be run bridged mono. 12-band graphic eq, so easy to use, and (despite being made in 1989) will happily shove out double its rated power output.
I use it and a 4x10" cab as a general purpose guitar/bass rig. Plenty loud enough, will drown out a loud drummer without being asked twice.
I use a multi-fx to get the sounds, but plugging a guitar straight in sounds rather good. Must put some clips up some time.
Chris
No flamage, or putting down intended, but FYI 3dB = 2x louder. Your point is valid, that adding 50 watts doesn't make it twice as loud.
I'm on board 100% with the silly 50W rule.
For guitar blues, country and moderate classic rock, National (SE 6V6 amp) looks like this:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Next is the blackface Fender Champ.
Next is my home made amp, dual channel (clean and wide range OD/distortion), all valve, quad-6V6 (just shy of 50 watts I'm guessing).
For bass, my modified Fender silverface Super Reverb, upgraded with dual 6550's and a 15" instead of the OEM 4x10".
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Thanks for all replies.
But I'm afraid the original thread is going to the direction of "What's my best sounding amp."
The original question was and still is:
"Valve amps that you believe are the best sounding ones. And with an output power of 50 watts or more."
We all know that amps like the Champ, and the many other low wattage amps that have been or are still build, do sound beautifull but these do not fit in the project and will not be looked at.
50 + Watts:
Brand - Model - Why, is all that's needed.
There is a reason behind the asking and your answers will make the report to what it has to become.
Again, many thanks for your answers on the subject.
Cheers,
But I'm afraid the original thread is going to the direction of "What's my best sounding amp."
The original question was and still is:
"Valve amps that you believe are the best sounding ones. And with an output power of 50 watts or more."
We all know that amps like the Champ, and the many other low wattage amps that have been or are still build, do sound beautifull but these do not fit in the project and will not be looked at.
50 + Watts:
Brand - Model - Why, is all that's needed.
There is a reason behind the asking and your answers will make the report to what it has to become.
Again, many thanks for your answers on the subject.
Cheers,
I am pretty sure you contradict yourself in this sentence, FYI 3db does not equal 2x louder.
A Marshall 50 watt is something like 119db, a 100 watt is 122db. According to your logic a 100 watt should be 238db.
Do you mean 3db = 2x wattage?
No, that's not what I meant. It's a logarithmic scale. It doesn't really matter anyway, because so much of sound has to do with the ear, which has a non-linear frequency response.
Volume is non-linear. +3db is twice a much audio power. db by itself is not a measure of volume without a reference. Loudness does invovle frequency repsonse and is a different subject than volume.
Still, it's the distortion and sustain etc. that make the 50-watt sound so good cranked. Two 50-watt marshalls sound much better than a 100-watt.
Still, it's the distortion and sustain etc. that make the 50-watt sound so good cranked. Two 50-watt marshalls sound much better than a 100-watt.
I think I just misread your quote and we are at an agreeance on the subject.
Apologies for sidetracking the thread, I would like to see more people chime in on favorite 50+ watt amps but maybe a lot of people are playing low wattage amps these days.
Oh another nice Bass head is Ampeg B15 I believe, not the new ones but the old ones with 6SL7 octals for the preamp.
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I typically go for big sounding tube-driven cleans without any noticable clipping from the amp, and I get my gain from (DIY) pedals.
My previous #1 amp was a '68 Fender Super Reverb. What an amp. That Super Reverb was a silverface cosmetic, but still with the classic blackface circuitry and such. Someone had ripped out the tube chart so it had no more vintage value, and that's how I bought it - got her stable and played her all the time and brought her everywhere for years. Those old Super Reverbs are amazing amps! Only 40 watts though....so doesn't meet the specs...
I say that amp was my previous #1, because in the last few years I encountered vintage Ampegs - namely the Ampeg V-series.
Long story short, side by side, once I had an Ampeg V4b fixed up and running, the Super Reverb wasn't getting any playing time from me....so as much as I loved that amp, it deserved to be played, and I sold it.
The Ampeg V4/V4b/V2 heads and the VT-40/VT-22 cabs - all of them are above 50 watts, same base circuitry...AMAZING amps. They're starting to rise in value as the sludge-rock crowd has started gravitating toward them, and in general people become aware of what they are capable of, but they're still bargains for a vintage amp that needs some work.
Did I mention they have ACTIVE, tube-drive midrange control with frequency selection, somewhat like an SVT? They're great bass amps too! The V4b is actually the bass amp version, that's what I have, even though I'm a guitarist (who occasionally plays his bass) by all accounts.
It's hard not to want to say it's the best guitar amp ever...but it's MY favorite guitar amp ever, bar none.
My previous #1 amp was a '68 Fender Super Reverb. What an amp. That Super Reverb was a silverface cosmetic, but still with the classic blackface circuitry and such. Someone had ripped out the tube chart so it had no more vintage value, and that's how I bought it - got her stable and played her all the time and brought her everywhere for years. Those old Super Reverbs are amazing amps! Only 40 watts though....so doesn't meet the specs...
I say that amp was my previous #1, because in the last few years I encountered vintage Ampegs - namely the Ampeg V-series.
Long story short, side by side, once I had an Ampeg V4b fixed up and running, the Super Reverb wasn't getting any playing time from me....so as much as I loved that amp, it deserved to be played, and I sold it.
The Ampeg V4/V4b/V2 heads and the VT-40/VT-22 cabs - all of them are above 50 watts, same base circuitry...AMAZING amps. They're starting to rise in value as the sludge-rock crowd has started gravitating toward them, and in general people become aware of what they are capable of, but they're still bargains for a vintage amp that needs some work.
Did I mention they have ACTIVE, tube-drive midrange control with frequency selection, somewhat like an SVT? They're great bass amps too! The V4b is actually the bass amp version, that's what I have, even though I'm a guitarist (who occasionally plays his bass) by all accounts.
It's hard not to want to say it's the best guitar amp ever...but it's MY favorite guitar amp ever, bar none.
Following is a list of the favorits so far.
(Best amps.doc)
I will leave this thread open until the end of May.
Thanks for your inputs.
(Best amps.doc)
I will leave this thread open until the end of May.
Thanks for your inputs.
That's a cool list...but somehow six of the votes are mine! 😀
To tweak the list (and clarify my post) I'd consider all those ampegs (V4/V4b/V2/VT-22/VT-40) the same 'amp' for the sake of the poll - they are all more or less the same 'sound' and preamp, the variations are just one of 2 power amp variations (2 or 4 or 7027s/6L6GCs with 590 or 540v on the plates, respectively), in either a head/speaker configurations, and/or with or without reverb.
I'd just make that all as 1 BIG vote for the 'Ampeg V-series'; or specially the V-4 if that's easiest)...since that all came for me.
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