Clean but rich amp recommendations

chris78

I've having a real love hate with my California Tweed at the moment. On some days, it's the best amp I've ever owned, on others, I find it a bit bass heavy and maybe even a touch precise if that makes sense.
I'm probably not going to move it on anytime soon (which knowing me means it'll be in classifieds next week), but I have been thinking about what I'm trying to find.

To date, my Tone King Imperial MK2, which I sold last year, has come closest to doing what I want. The clean tones were fabulous and clear but vintage sounding to my ear. I just found it broke up too early for me. I've played a Bartel and that had amazing clean rich tones but that price!

I think I like American style Fender amps - 6v6. Maybe I don't though.

Anyway, enough rambling. Over to you amp nerds to recommend amps with good levels of headroom, ideally sub 40w, great pedal platforms but rich (not necessarily warm) clean tones. Do I need to suck up Bartel money? Is there a great option from Rift as I'd rather buy British? Do I need to spend more time dialling the mesa in? Would a Dr Z Route 66 be a great find? Other options and recommendations welcome. I'm almost certainly going to have a few shop visits to try a few out in the next few weeks, but with covid restrictions, a good shortlist would help.

ICBM

Mesa Blue Angel.

It's a shame we're not closer or I'd offer a temporary swap-to-try...

Not available new and relatively rare second hand though, which might be a problem anyway.

dazzajl

If a Rift build is an option, I’d wholeheartedly recommend Chris. I had a few chats with him, told him what I wanted, in very non technical and emotive terms and he built EXACTLY what I had in my head. 

spirit7

Your description sounds like a Hiwatt DR103 to me...if you can handle it  

Sassafras

Carr Rambler for clean sound.

RickLucas

Tweed Bassman

thomasw88

erm.. appreciate you may be looking to spend on something bootique.. but if not how about the  Fender Hotrod Deluxe iv..

I've been all over different amps for years, had various fenders, Mesa Boogies, Hughes & Kettner, Vox, Roland, Allesandro's, Laneys,  old valve amps, new valve amps etc etc.
  Bought one of these about 18months ago and its been brilliant.  I changed the speaker out to an eminence cannabis rex  (although the stock Celestion A type is actually really good).

 I've got it sitting next to a handmade Wienbrock Gringo  which can  go through a wienbrock 4x10 and/or a 1x12 Celestion Cream Alnico speaker.     For gigs the Hotrod is a no brainer, and in the house I use the hotrod far more than the gringo or any of my other amps in the house.

Gassage

Lazy J40 by a country mile. 

meltedbuzzbox

Hiwatt SA212

TimmyO

JCM800 reissue - low input 

Hamstead RT 

mgaw

buy the Bartel

dindude

Carr Rambler or just go Fender, I.e. deluxe, hand wired if you so wish.

rossi

Fender champion 40

kennedydream1980

Two Rock Studio Pro 35.

RandallFlagg

Just checking but have you tried moving the amp and playing in different rooms?

I've got stuck hating and amp and sold it before only to realise it was the room it was being played in and it was too close to the wall which accentuated the low end.

1Strat2many

Another thumbs up for a Carr Rambler. I also occasionally use a 74 Deluxe or Vibrolux for similar purposes sometimes too. All are used gig-wise as pedal/ multi effects platforms. If I want to keep the Fenders as clean as possible I turn up a bit and use the No.2 (padded) input. This works very well for me with my HX effects. Of course, a Carr doesnt have this facility but I haven’t had any problems. You might consider an old Musicman 65 if you can find a nice one. I did a lot of gigs in the 80s using either 115 65 combo or a RP100. Both were excellent for Clean / Pedal use and were super reliable. I still have the RP100 and have been using it indoors for the last month or so. It still sounds very nice 40 years after purchase. These can sometimes still be found for reasonable prices. Good luck with your search.

Majorscale

You’ve got the tweed type amp, had a black face type amp.

 I’ve had a few of the amps listed above and all were good, (Carr rambler, lazy j40, Fender drri etc). The best for me by far is my Magnatone Twilighter which seems to be a blend of the best bits of those other amps. 

rsvmark

Two rock. All day long

Fishboy7

Morgan SW22 is the best clean amp I've owned 

richardhomer

I agree with @1Strat2many - old Music Man amps have great cleans.

chris78

RandallFlagg said:

Just checking but have you tried moving the amp and playing in different rooms?

I've got stuck hating and amp and sold it before only to realise it was the room it was being played in and it was too close to the wall which accentuated the low end.

Cheers for the suggestion. I took it to the studio last night - we had first band practice for 6 months. The room isn’t that big and I was a little close to the wall just due to logistics of getting 5 of us in. I did use it on my own in the same studio a few weeks before and still found it a bit bass boomy - it was in the middle of the room.
Last night I went from loving it (there was a track we do where I use a trem pedal and I had the most amazing shimmery cleans that even our bass player commented on) to it sounding boomy.
The cali tweed does so much so well. It’s edge of break up tones are incredible and it has amazing cleans. I’ve got the bass turned quite a way down though but every now and then I get that boomy sound and it annoys the heck out of me.