What is your main amp?

[Steelpriest]

samicksg said:

Main main amp, because its my only amp is my marshall mg15dfx. I love this little tone box, great combination with my les paul.

Hmmm, was it too pompous to assume that everybody has got a variety of amps? LOL... that was not my intention. But I noticed that some folks here have more guitars at home than our local dealer has got in this store in this cheesy small town where I live, I simply thought let´s ask a silly question... ;D

[samicksg]

Haha!! Well I dont do any gigs YET, so the marshall's good enough for now

Although maybe one day I'll buy my self a nice marshall stack...

[Ol Geezer]

Steelpriest said:

Hmmm, was it too pompous to assume that everybody has got a variety of amps? LOL... that was not my intention. But I noticed that some folks here have more guitars at home than our local dealer has got in this store in this cheesy small town where I live, I simply thought let´s ask a silly question... ;D

I think it was a valid question -- and when I used to play out I certainly wanted more than one amp to choose from.

But nowadays, recording at home only, amp modelers have opened up a whole world of possibilities to me. Instead of trying to mic an amp somewhere in my apartment without bothering the neighbors (or picking up noise from the alley or small planes overhead landing nearby) I can choose from close-enough-sounding virtual ones to compliment the particular guitar I'm using.

As you might guess, I'm the one who voted POD above -- but I have both the original POD and the POD-xt. The original POD sounds to me like vintage amps recorded well-saturated onto analog tape, while the xt sounds like those amps would in a studio setting, through the monitors live. The assortment of modeled vintage pedals and effects included was worth the price of admission of the xt for me, but many times I prefer the original POD's more raw emulations.

[Steelpriest]

Ol said:

But nowadays, recording at home only, amp modelers have opened up a whole world of possibilities to me.

I have the Behringer V Amp 2 at home for practising and recording, and my "main" amp is also a modelling amp, the Yamaha DG1000 19" preamp. I love the versatility of those modelling amps, although the Yamaha isn´t that versatile, just 8 simulations or better to say 8 sound characteristics or gain stages (from clean I up to lead II). Yamaha does not indulge into name-dropping concerning this sounds. But I never had an amp sounding that close (or can I dare to say "identic") to my old Marshall JCM 800´s... No real hi-gain sounds, more a hot rodded british and very smooth kind of distortion with rich harmonics. It has no built in effects and the whole capacity of the processor goes into the sound modelling. The Behringer is very alike a POD, but more affordable and does sound very good, it has 15 speaker/cabinet simulations you can freely attach to each chosen amp simulation, most of the chosen descriptions like Rectifier, Fender amp, British stack...etc, are very suitable. I use it for recording and I get awesome sounds from this little device. Sometimes when my rack is at home I split the signal from my guitar with an active splitter box and use both amps (better to say "preamps") for recording and mix the desired sound together. During all those years I played I had numerous tube amps and some solid state amps also. It began with an old italian tube amp (a combo called GALANTI) originally intended for keyboards. My father bought it for me and it was very okay these days. From my first self earned money (around 1983) I bought a 2nd hand SOUND CITY 50 watts head and a used 4x12" cabinet. From this point on I always used 4x12" cabinets. Later I owned a HiWatt head, some LONDON CITY and SUPER CITY amps (all those "CITIES" were more or less copies of Marshalls of dutch or british origin and very popular in Europe). In the late 80´s up to the mid 90´s I had two Marshall JCM 800 100 Watts full stacks which I unfortunately sold when I changed over to the bass guitar. For guitar I played a Laney VC 50 tube combo at that time and a Marshall Valvestate VS 80 combo. Quite an amount of amps I owned in all those years, but if someone had told me 1990 that I would use "modelling" amps somewhen in the future that are more alike computers than they are guitar amps I possibly wouldn´t have believed him. But that´s the way life goes and I really appreciate that technical progress. When something new comes our way, we are always a bit sceptic but once the technology improves we dare to try and are happy with it. Okay I will close this monologue here... hehe!

[cage77]

For modeling, I have a Johnson J-Station. Pretty much the same as the V-Amp and POD. I do like the bass simulations on the J though.

I also use an ART SGX2000 preamp for a lot of recordings. The thing has 2 12ax7's in it for starters. It also has every effect you can think of. It sounds better than the POD, J-Station, or V-Amp either through an amp, into a live console, or into a studio desk. It doesn't emulater anything. It just allows you to get the tone you want. Not close, but 99.9% close.

The on;ly drawback to this device was the price point. I bought mine used a year after it was discontinued. Still, I paid $750 for it...then another $250 for the control board. Well worth every penny tho....

Brandon

[zep]

I'd like to get a Marshall MG30DFX so that I don't always have to borrow my brother's amp

[WickedWishes]

Zep,....

Go for it,..!!

I did a lot of research, consumer reports, reviews, advice suggestions etc,...etc,...

I looked at Crate, Peavy, and many others, but I decided on a Marshall.

I was considering the MG30DFX, but looking at price vs. wattage, there was no thinking about it any more I got the Marshall MG100DFX.

65 lbs of Marshall power,....100 watts.......whoa....!!

Then again,...I am still learning how to use it properly,.....(this thing got a lot of knobs),........LOL

ya can't go wrong with Marshall,.....IMHO

^5

WickedWishes

[Steelpriest]

I have to agree with Wicked Wishes, you definitely can´t go wrong with a Marshall. Marshalls are very reliable and I never came across a Marshall that disappointed me, even the small practise amps have amazing tone.

[zep]

That's what I figured, but I'm definately not going for a 100 watt just too much...and although some people complain about solid state not being anything compared to full-tube, it will suit my purposes and not be way too expensive...and I've heard that solid states are a lot better nowadays anyway.

[Steelpriest]

Yes Zep, solid state technoligy has made a big step ahead during the last years soundwise. I only use solid state amplification todays, although probably most people won´t agree with me when I say you can get amazing tone out of solid state gear. My preamp is a modelling amp (Yamaha DG1000), the power amp is solid state (Trace Elliot, 500 watts), cabinets are Laney 4 x 12"s... but the sound is like an earthquake, very alike my old Marshall 2003 heads. Hmm, I wanna say:"Don´t spend so much time on thinking of the ingredients, only make sure the recipe works out fine and the result is tasty!" I don´t dare to say I consider solid state technology superior to tubes, but it is more affordable, more reliable and does nowadays actually sound good. If I had enough money..., I´d say I wanna have a Mesa Tri Axis and two Simul Class 2:90s, hehehehe... wishful thinking! ;D

[CAFeathers]

For Electric I use a Marshall AVT50, For Acoustic I use a Marshall AS50R, and for Bass I use a Fender Frontman 60B.

For backup I have: VOX Cambridge 30R, VOX VBM1, ZOOM Fire 30, Peavey Classic 20, Peavey Audition Chorus, and a Peavey Rage 158.

[samicksg]

I have a marshall MG15dfx and I gotta say the MG solid state seris is pretty nice for the money. Just get one and you won't be dissapointed.

[JohnnieGoat]

at the moment, my main amp is a flextone 1 by line6. nice piece of kit, sounds great and i like the fact that it doesn't take too much time to figure out how it works.

i also have an old fender blues jr that needs repairing.

saw a WEM Clubman in a local shop - still trying to get a price outta the guy who runs it... because i really like it!!! ;D

used to own an old (late 60's) marshall 50 watt 1/2 stack. had to sell it and most of my guitars @ 6 yrs ago to fund my move to london. was a brilliant amp. ran my LP through a guv'nor into it for a real gary moore hot blues tone.
doubt i'll ever have an amp like it again...

*wipes away the tears..*

[mikeymac]

In order of usage (this week )

Gibson GA-15RV
Peavey Delta Blues 210 w/Reverend Alltone 1025's (what else for the good Rev?!)
Fender Vibro Champ (1980/81)
Fender Acoustasonic Jr.
Peavey Minx 110 (for bass; which I don't play; I play at it)

Used to have a Peavey Ultra 410 that was actually an incredible amp; now I'm looking for one again to mod with those Reverend 1025 speakers! The only reason I got rid of it was because it was so HEAVY! And I'm gettin' older and "comin' apart" as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once said about his reason for retirement!

[Dezine]

I use a line 6 spiderII 210 combo, with an fbv shortboard.
120 watts, i dont need to turn it up much more than half way ;D