Do quality channel switching amps exist?

bloodandtears

octatonic said:

Kebabkid said:

Mesa Mark V 25 but one of the best I've heard recently is the Suhr PT (Pete Thorn) 100 - 3 channels of goodness (clean, crunch, lead)

I have had the 50W Suhr PT50 for almost 10 years now and have no intention of changing amps.
When I got it I sold half a dozen amps, although I got an Axe FX soon after as well.

The best thing about tit is the FX Loop, which doesn't sound shit at low levels.

At £3k it should be the mutts...

Kebabkid

Well, PT and Suhr have a new model coming out that's meant to be a lower and more useable wattage and incorporate some 'goodies' which could be a speaker cab or reactive load built in, both of which Suhr make as separate pedals, but these are just murmurings on sites at the moment.

I don't expect it to be cheap but as Oct says, something like this can be a keeper and if you want Blackface to Vox, Plexi and Soldano/5150 under one hood and for all the channels to be equally good and it replaces several amps, then fair enough.

Lebarque

Mesa's new Fillmore? A one channel amp x2!

Hattigol

Gaffer tape a Vox AC30 to a Fender DRRI with an A/B switch in between and pretend it's one amp.
Next question.

ICBM

richardhomer said:

Much dependent on what you want in terms of clean/dirty sounds. My old MkIII Boogie had stellar Blackface Fender-like cleans and a great, fat, mid-biased drive channel - but there’s a fair chance that neither sound will represent someone’s personal ‘ideal’.

This is part of the problem... it's perfectly possible to have an exceptional channel-switching amp - providing you want multiple channels of the *same* amp.

A Mesa MkV sounds fantastic on all three channels - if you want Mesa cleans, Mesa crunch and Mesa lead. But that's not what most people want - they want Fender cleans, Marshall crunch and Mesa lead (or some other combination) and that's much harder to do.

(For what it's worth the MkV is not for me, since I don't really like Mark series crunch and lead.)

olafgarten

ICBM said:

richardhomer said:

Much dependent on what you want in terms of clean/dirty sounds. My old MkIII Boogie had stellar Blackface Fender-like cleans and a great, fat, mid-biased drive channel - but there’s a fair chance that neither sound will represent someone’s personal ‘ideal’.

This is part of the problem... it's perfectly possible to have an exceptional channel-switching amp - providing you want multiple channels of the *same* amp.

A Mesa MkV sounds fantastic on all three channels - if you want Mesa cleans, Mesa crunch and Mesa lead. But that's not what most people want - they want Fender cleans, Marshall crunch and Mesa lead (or some other combination) and that's much harder to do.

(For what it's worth the MkV is not for me, since I don't really like Mark series crunch and lead.)

I think this is the main issue, the iconic amp sounds are a combination of pre amp and power amp, with most channel switching amps all of the different pre amp circuits have to share a power amp, so there is a compromise.

There are systems like the Synergy that get very close to emulating all of the sounds. 

jdgm

Fender Twin Reverb II.

I had 2 of them, used them for 30 years in all.

mr-mac

We'll preamp wise.  Groove Tubes Trio.

3 switchable valve channels with independent controls, clean (fender blackface and then some - best clean fender sound ever produced wouldn't be off the mark), mean (somewhere around tweed and Marshall sound depends who you listen to - very nice crunch that i think all 3 guitarists in grateful dead ended up using and billy gibbons raved about) and lastly scream (based on the early hotrodded fender amps (early Messa style higher gain sounds as they were a hotrodded fender) and plenty of gain avail in this one.  Can be switched via footswitch or some have rare midi board.  Some also have a 1+3 switch (nicknames 13th floor by groove tubes) it inserte the clean channel in before the scream one for even more ability to tweak that channels sound.



you wanna go really crazy then pair with the Groove Tubes Dual 75 power amp.  2 x 75w valve amps that can actually have 6l6 in one and el34 in other so even power amp can do fender and Marshall sounds.  Match it to a custom wired 4x10 or 12 (wired as two 2x10/12 banks) and you can switch between them with a footswitch.  Or even run both channels together with diff valves or same valves in each channel whatever you choose.

mr-mac

mr-mac

Also 90's crate vintage Club does an epic clean and seriously good dirt channel.  Clean is fender through and through, dirt is Marshall with a little ac30 explosiveness and edge to it.  

go for vc5212 or 5310 left field 5115  Fender clean channel, Marshall crunch channel... EL84 Power Amp with, unusually, fixed bias.  Has an output transformer cloned from a tweed fender.  Seperate master volumes for each channel so easy to match levels.

Used by Knopfler live and studio from early 90's till quite recently.

Outstanding sound indeed.  Side by side with a pre gain fender clean is right up with it.  These amps particularly the 1x15's are popular with some lap steel players due to quality of the clean channel and clean headroom avail.  imho the couch channel is stunning too and every bit as good.

crunchman

Quality in terms of engineering yes.

I've never found a channel switcher I like the sound of on both channels.  Something like a Hot Rod Deluxe has an exceelent clean channel (with a decent speaker), but I really don't like the drive channel.  I always used to use pedals with mine.

I prefer the sound of pedals into a good amp that's clean or on the edge of breakup to any drive channel I've ever come across.  I'm not into high gain stuff though.  A lot of people who are into that seem to prefer amp gain to pedals.

ICBM

crunchman said:

I've never found a channel switcher I like the sound of on both channels.  Something like a Hot Rod Deluxe has an exceelent clean channel (with a decent speaker), but I really don't like the drive channel.  I always used to use pedals with mine.

But interestingly the Hotrod is a good example of an amp with a great overdrive channel - because it sounds like an overdriven version of the clean channel! I know... that’s not what most people want .

I’ve A/B’d one (admittedly one of the LE ones with a Jensen speaker) with a boutique tweed 5E3 Deluxe copy, and the Hotrod’s drive channel could near enough nail the sound of it.

The problem is that it doesn’t sound anything like a Marshall...

Moe_Zambeek

ICBM said:

crunchman said:

I've never found a channel switcher I like the sound of on both channels.  Something like a Hot Rod Deluxe has an exceelent clean channel (with a decent speaker), but I really don't like the drive channel.  I always used to use pedals with mine.

But interestingly the Hotrod is a good example of an amp with a great overdrive channel - because it sounds like an overdriven version of the clean channel! I know... that’s not what most people want .

I’ve A/B’d one (admittedly one of the LE ones with a Jensen speaker) with a boutique tweed 5E3 Deluxe copy, and the Hotrod’s drive channel could near enough nail the sound of it.

The problem is that it doesn’t sound anything like a Marshall...

I definitely don't want a tweed deluxe then!

ICBM

Moe_Zambeek said:

I definitely don't want a tweed deluxe then!

I would also have to admit that I had to dial the Hotrod in quite differently from how you normally would to get the best clean sound... but that’s really the key to the drive channel - dial the amp in for it and let the clean take care of itself, which it largely will.

The shared EQ is a big limitation though.

ESBlonde

It's not just about multiple preamp stages. the cooking AC30 or Marshall tone for example involves the power amp valves and output transformer saturation to get that tone (as well as the tortured cones). Switching to a clean preamp channel using the same common power section won't make that go away without a) a less than crystal clean tone. b) a drop in volume. So you need almost completely separate amps (perhaps of different power outputs), for each of your favourite tones, or use pedals, or dare I say it - go digital. It all depends how much and wheer the compromise will be, and if all your venues will permit you to use your choices at optimal volume.

olafgarten

I think an interesting solution would be rather than having multiple preamps you could have miniature power amp circuits with very low output power tubes, these go into a reactive load and are reamped by a clean class d power section. 

rico

Orange Rockerverb III or Matamp GT2. Massive clean channels and even bigger drive channels. 

normula1

What about the H&K Triamp mk3 which has six channels and switchable output valves too. No idea what it sounds like in person.