Your Top 3 Amps For Clean Sounds

BintyTwanger77

Straw poll, exactly as the title says, what are the best 3 amps for clean tones that you have ever owned/tried? If you can explain why you like them, please do, but not essential.

Wazmeister

Carr Rambler
Redplate RP40/50/Blackverb
Magnatone Twilighter

dazzajl

The only amp I can recall having that was much of a clean machine is my current AC30. All that power and 2 big ol Blues moving a ton of air. Makes me think of Luther Vandross. Huge range and power but always smooth and feeling like it’s all in first and second gear. 

StuartMac290

Matchless DC30
Magnatone Twilighter
Louis Electric Columbia

slacker

I've got a Matchless Lightning and early Bad Cat Black Cat 30 that have similar and lovely cleans. The Bad Cat obviously has better headroom. I've also got a Morgan DAG that has very nice cleans, not so bright as the other two. 

I know you said 3 and owned, but number 4 was a borrowed 90s Twin, the cleans were a thing of beauty. I played my 1952 ES125 at a funeral and the cleans were amazing. 

BintyTwanger77

slacker said:

I've got a Matchless Lightning and early Bad Cat Black Cat 30 that have similar and lovely cleans. The Bad Cat obviously has better headroom. I've also got a Morgan DAG that has very nice cleans, not so bright as the other two. 

I know you said 3 and owned, but number 4 was a borrowed 90s Twin, the cleans were a thing of beauty. I played my 1952 ES125 at a funeral and the cleans were amazing. 

Was it a 1994 Twin, black knobs, effects loop, gain channel?

gringopig

.

Megii

Polytone Minibrute 2
Yamaha G100 112 mk2
Fender Pro Reverb

Jonathanthomas83

Laney Lionheart
Reeves Custom 50
Morgan AC20

slacker

BintyTwanger77 said:

slacker said:

I've got a Matchless Lightning and early Bad Cat Black Cat 30 that have similar and lovely cleans. The Bad Cat obviously has better headroom. I've also got a Morgan DAG that has very nice cleans, not so bright as the other two. 

I know you said 3 and owned, but number 4 was a borrowed 90s Twin, the cleans were a thing of beauty. I played my 1952 ES125 at a funeral and the cleans were amazing. 

Was it a 1994 Twin, black knobs, effects loop, gain channel?

Yes I think so it had a 20w switch on the back. It had loads of headroom. 

BintyTwanger77

slacker said:

BintyTwanger77 said:

slacker said:

I've got a Matchless Lightning and early Bad Cat Black Cat 30 that have similar and lovely cleans. The Bad Cat obviously has better headroom. I've also got a Morgan DAG that has very nice cleans, not so bright as the other two. 

I know you said 3 and owned, but number 4 was a borrowed 90s Twin, the cleans were a thing of beauty. I played my 1952 ES125 at a funeral and the cleans were amazing. 

Was it a 1994 Twin, black knobs, effects loop, gain channel?

Yes I think so it had a 20w switch on the back. It had loads of headroom. 

That’s the one. Just glorious cleans and I really likes the gain channel as well... and the low power option means I can just about use one at home... possibly... hmmm.

slacker

Your back might not forgive you. 

markr76

My current amp. A Hamstead artist 60rt is fantastic at the clean stuff. It’s not an American style clean though. Has a vintage British sound. Sounds like it has a bit of Hiwatt dna in there to me. It also takes pedals better than any amp I've played/owned.
others that I like are pretty much all the amps Chris at Rift builds and the like wise Fenders.
I'm also a fan of mist of the Two rock amps I’ve played. 

ICBM

Mesa Blue Angel. Best clean tone and best reverb of any amp ever.

Kebabkid

Divided by 13 JRT9/15 - almost a 3-D sound that has some compression to it. I recently sold mine and replaced it with a Mesa Boogie Mark V:25 - the Mesa gets close to it on the cleans and is good enough and a more versatile amp that allows for more variation on the cleans than the Divided, but the JRT just has something special over it and takes pedals much better. Choose between 9 watts of 6V6s or 15 watts of EL84s. Having been a long-time fan of 6V6s, and 6L6s, this was the amp that converted me to EL84s.

Fender Deluxe Reverb - This amp for me, and its derivatives, plus it's a great pedal platform. Probably the amp I'll end up with again when I'm not playing live or just occasionally, and the amp I look to play through in guitar shops as a good reference point if trying pedals or using my own board to try a guitar. A few mods, tweaks and it to the trem and speaker but the core clean sound it wonderful.

Fender Frontman 212R - Yep. I used one recently and thought it was the best SS amp I'd played through. It matched and possibly surpassed a wonderful Roland JC-180 (4x10) I used to use for backline gigs. It had a really strong and
percussive/full-bodied Fender-inspired clean tone and it took pedals superbly. I hear they have reliability issues but if I saw one cheap and fully working, I'd probably bite the bullet and nab one for home.

Funkfingers

Low gain input on Cornell Romany Plus. 

Rhythm 1 channel on MESA/Boogie Quad Pre-Amp.

Er, something else. Probably, a Roland JC120.

TTBZ

JTM45, Silver Jubilee and AC30 are the only amps I've really enjoyed playing clean on. I just don't like the super sparkly Fendery/American clean.

Brocco

+1 for Matchless Lightning which is loud for a 15w amp. You may need to mic the clean sound depending on how loud your drummer is. The overdriven sound of the amp is great (to my ears) and can be cleaned up with the volume on your guitar. My preferred setting is master wide open and pre-amp at 2 o' clock with guitar volume rolled off for rythym and up a smudge for solos.

octatonic

Matchless DC30
Fender Super Reverb
Vox AC30

Matt_McG

Definitely not as expert (or widely experienced with different amps as some here):

silverface Fender Deluxe reissue.  My default "trying things in shops" amp, if they have one, and some of the best sounds I've ever heard from anything were a 1960s student model Fender (Musicmaster, I think) through a silverface Deluxe.

Park 50 watt plexi type -- biased, since this is the amp I actually have, but really rich woody cleans, very fast pick attack. I'm not entirely sure _what_ model it is, relative to the Marshalls, since the Parks are a bit different from the Marshalls. Mine has 6L6s in it (although it should probably have KT88s). Too loud for me to plug in with any regularity, sadly. Also, no reverb, obviously.

Laney Lionheart -- as per someone else above. I've been very surprised by how great these sound, whenever I've tried one.

simonk

- Louis Electric Columbia
- MESA Blue Angel
- Custom Sound something or other from the 70’s/80’s - probably not amazing in the grand scheme of things but it was the first big box amp I had with a 12” speaker and reverb... and I thought it sounded lovely.