1x12 combo 'all rounder' amp - what's your favourite and why?

RandallFlagg

What's you favourite 1x12 (or 1x10) combo that is a good all rounder? Can cover clean, either warm and jazzy or country twang,  to glassy Strat neck pickup crunch up to hard rock with a Les Paul.

What is your desert island combo?

 I don't think I've found it yet...

JerkMoans

Probably my Rivera 55-112.

Which I've just gone and sold

StuartMac290

Magnatone Twilighter is pretty great. 

RandallFlagg

I've been having a bit of an amp nightmare this year (why should this year be any different!)

Just about to return a 2nd faulty Morgan PR12 and despite having loved it previously am now looking to go in a different direction with my sound. Hell, I've even set my Strat trem back to floating and found the trem arem in the bottom drawer and fitted it.

I'm having a gear change and will be looking for a new amp and my pedal board is going too and will be replaced with alternatives. Maybe even go back to a Helix!

I'm looking to get into some more ambient pushed clean, just into break up sounds with washes of delay and reverb, rather than the bluesy rock rut I have been in.

I'm looking for that ubiquitous all rounder, and love a 1x12 combo. Never had a plexi style amp so looking at their Pink Taco, also thinking about the Mesa Rect-o-verb 25 or Boogie 5/25+.

I love the sound of the plexi style amps with not too much gain with a Strat, just beyond pushed clean.

impmann

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

RandallFlagg

impmann said:

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I know the clean channel gets plenty of favourable comments, but the drive channel not so much. What in particular do you like about the HRD? I've not tried one. The closest I got was owning a blues Jr back in 2001, which despite it's reputation, I quite liked when I played it in the shop but it sounded awful at home volume.

camf

PRRI with 12" speaker upgrade or DRRI.

CarpeDiem

I'd also suggest a Fender HRD, using a pedal for drive through the clean channel. It's different to the Blues Junior. I use my HRD with the stock speaker, but some recommend changing it - @ICBM is better informed on these things than I am!

impmann

RandallFlagg said:

impmann said:

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

I know the clean channel gets plenty of favourable comments, but the drive channel not so much. What in particular do you like about the HRD? I've not tried one. The closest I got was owning a blues Jr back in 2001, which despite it's reputation, I quite liked when I played it in the shop but it sounded awful at home volume.

I use mine as a pedal platform - and it gives the Fender sound with a hair more mids than other Fender amps which is useful with gain tones. The drive sounds aren't Marshall, but they can be useful - frankly though, stick an overdrive/distortion in front of the clean channel and it sings...

As for the volume thing - I've just bought a gizmo for £20 that sits in the send return loop and tames it. Sounds epic.

This video (whilst rambling etc) is actually pretty good at showing what it sounds like.

stickyfiddle

The mouthful that is my Bad Cat Cub III 15R

Chuck a couple of good pedals in front and it'll do anything.

stratman3142

CarpeDiem said:

I'd also suggest a Fender HRD, using a pedal for drive through the clean channel. It's different to the Blues Junior. I use my HRD with the stock speaker, but some recommend changing it ...

I was very happy with my Hot Rod Deluxe 3 for the clean channel and used pedals for drive. The stock speaker was OK'ish but not great.

Firstly I changed the speaker to a V30 which was good for drive sounds but the clean rhythm was not sweet (so to speak). However, it cut well in a band context. Then I changed the speaker to a V-Type which seemed like a better match to me. I tried the V-type because MIke Landau uses them in his signature combo which is a (sort of) related type of amp.

The only thing I had against the HRD was the weight, which was too much for an old fart like me. Now I've got a 1 x 12 Blues Cube Artist which is much lighter and has a decent sound.

Wazmeister

Anyone who knows me will know my answer in advance...

Carr Rambler.

I dont believe that there are many amps that can do great cleans to crunch.

So, the cleans are hardest to find - and the Rambler has this in spades.

Crunch - Pedals are the answer here with the Rambler, as it takes pedals SO well.

A superb all-rounder of an amp, that let's you notice the subtle variance of each pick up...

Limehouse_Blues

Brunetti Singleman. To get crunch you have to crank it but when you do, oh man, what a delight. Cleans are beautiful.

Takes pedals like a champ and though single channel the various tone switching options make it highly versatile and easy to dial in with very different guitars from the twangiest Tele to the darkest humbucking beast.

JerkMoans

I found my HRD to be pretty versatile but the whole jumping off a cliff volume thing drove me nuts: from nothing to being next to Krakatoa going off at a nudge of the volume knob from 0.5 to 0.6478.  Volume attenuator thingy in the fx loop was the way forward but it's a stupid design.

JerkMoans

Limehouse_Blues said:

Brunetti Singleman. To get crunch you have to crank it but when you do, oh man, what a delight. Cleans are beautiful.

Takes pedals like a champ and though single channel the various tone switching options make it highly versatile and easy to dial in with very different guitars from the twangiest Tele to the darkest humbucking beast.

I've had my eye on Brunetti amps since seeing/hearing a couple of Youtube videos in which they were featured.  Will check that one out.

MartinB

If you want a clean-ish Marshally tone and have the sort of budget for Friedman, Morgan and the like, I'd be inclined to find a small UK builder to put together exactly what you want.  There are at least a couple on here who would cheerfully take that on, and you'd have someone to call if it ever needs repair or tweaking.  

JayGee

Mesa 5:25

Theoretically the current “Plus” version covers even more ground with the addition of the graphic EQ, a second master volume, and multiple channel assignable power settings but for my money the “grab and go” simplicity (for a Mesa product), the smaller cab size of the 1x10” format, and the fact that I already own it means the original version wins out... 

My only real complaints are the inaccessible DIN plug for the footswitch and that the “Clean” and “Crunch” modes are on the same channel so I can’t use them together but since “Clean” dials up to a decent Crunch (which then cleans up beautifully on the guitar volume), and “Blues” dials down to a decent clean that’s a very, very, very long way from a show-stopper.

Moe_Zambeek

Audio Kitchen combover for me. Does everything I need and has the headroom and low end extension to work really well with pedals.

timmysoft

The ones that stick out for me are:
H&K TM1812 - what I currently use
Brunetti Maranello - wish I hadn’t sold it

BluesyDave

The audio equivalent to a unicorn (for a single amp solution).  As others have already said, get a clean tone you're happy with and use pedals for the rest.  I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with your Morgan.  You'd think that a relatively simple and well known circuit like the Princeton would be easy to produce reliably.  I thought your old one sounded wonderful.  If you really want the 'ambient' thing going on then Fendery tones are more likely to suit better than the Marshally side of things (IMO).  If I hadn't just bought another amp the Fender 63 Vibro in the classifieds would have been top of my list.  Maybe something like that?  Whatever you decide, good luck with your search.

maw4neu

Cornell Romany Plus . . . . Tweed Heaven