Clean but rich amp recommendations

chris78

Thanks for suggestions so far.
I’ve tried the Carrs at coda and I wasn’t impressed. I know they’re highly thought of, but they didn’t do it for me.
The two rocks sound worth trying and the magnatone is a great shout. John at peach plugged me into one a couple of years back to demo an eggle and it was sublime.
Couple of great suggestions too about just trying a good old Fender. Has anyone had any experience with hand wired vs normal?
As much as I love the bartel, imagine someone spilling their beer over your 4 grand amp.

menamestom

Many of the boutique offerings tens to over spec everything and you end up with slightly sterile cleans IMO, certainly at anything but very loud volume levels.
Older Fenders were not like this, the transformers did the job, but nothing more and were an important part of the feel of the amps.  Now everything is ‘military spec’, whatever that means.  ‘Rich’ to me needs good headroom but also some ‘give’ in the sound and attack which means transformers, compliments and speakers working in a sympathetic manner.   Perhaps you can get some of this feel back by cathode bias but I don’t think it is the same.

I’d just go for a Fender, I have my eye on the ‘64 Deluxe Reverb.  

IsambardKentucky

Speakers... try a speaker swap. I've found speakers can make much more of a difference than a different amp. Jerry rig a couple up in a cab if you have one spare.

sweepy

Give Chris at Rift Amplification  a shout

exocet

menamestom said:

Many of the boutique offerings tens to over spec everything and you end up with slightly sterile cleans IMO, certainly at anything but very loud volume levels.
Older Fenders were not like this, the transformers did the job, but nothing more and were an important part of the feel of the amps.  Now everything is ‘military spec’, whatever that means.  ‘Rich’ to me needs good headroom but also some ‘give’ in the sound and attack which means transformers, compliments and speakers working in a sympathetic manner.   Perhaps you can get some of this feel back by cathode bias but I don’t think it is the same.

I’d just go for a Fender, I have my eye on the ‘64 Deluxe Reverb.  

For what’s it’s worth, I think that many Two Rock amps fit into this category. They follow Dumble amp principles where the power supply was very stable under load which results in a slightly stiff and lifeless playing experience. Cranked up, things begin to move a bit but as you say, Fenders enter this territory much sooner.

FreddieVanHalen

chris78 said:

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.

Are there any other ways you can cut the bass a bit?

I see there's been lots of people talking about lighter gauge strings recently, an advantage being the bass strings are a bit less thumpy? Worth trying pickup height adjustment on the bass side?

Or a decent tone shaping or EQ pedal?

I haven't used a California Tweed but other Boogies I've had have been very sensitive to the relative position of the mid and gain controls - anything to be gained from more experiments there?

ICBM

chris78 said:

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.

Are you putting the amp down on the floor? If so, don't - raising it up a bit will roll off the deep lows that make it boomy.

chris78

ICBM said:

Are you putting the amp down on the floor? If so, don't - raising it up a bit will roll off the deep lows that make it boomy.

Thank you. That’s a great shout. 

KickTheHabit

Victory v40 deluxe or V140 deluxe exactly what you are looking for...

ennspek

Redplate are worth a look.

lukedlb

Redplate. Not so great with pedals but then you wouldn’t need any; the amp will cover all the options you require. I’ve an rp50r, which they don’t make anymore. Incredible amps. Incredible. 

ThePrettyDamned

I'd try an amp stand if you are happy, bar a bit of boom. 

Limehouse_Blues

Shout out for the Brunetti Singleman. Fabulous pedal platform. Combos are available in 15W (6V6), 30W (6L6) and 50W (EL34)

Greatape

The sound that Zac of 'Ask Zac' fame gets out of his old deluxe reverb? That's what the Rambler does, by way of a benchmark.

Kebabkid

If you can find one, a Divided by 13 JRT 9/15 - it's the best clean amp I've ever owned and quite a few folks here who heard it at SE Gearfests, rated it very highly. It has a 9 watt side with 6V6s (think Fender Princeton, Deluxe) and a 15watt with EL34s (think Vox).

Those wattages might seem low on paper but believe me, the clean headroom available from these things, especially the head version with a good 2x12 amp and even on 9 watts, and the quality of tone will pleasantly surprise you and work for rehearsals, gigs etc with a full band.

Ramblers are good as are the Sportsman and Slant from Carr.

I don't think you can go wrong with a Fender Deluxe Reverb/DRRI. Just a note, I think the '64 handwired version is based on the original Blackface design and so that will break up earlier than a DRRI

One amp that really surprised me is the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe George Benson. You might not like the livery and nor should it be thought of as 'a jazz amp' because of the signature association, but I thought it was a lot more chimey, open and bigger-sounding than the regular HRD. It's the same weight as a DRRI but 40watts instead of 22 and has a proper pine cabinet. The OD channel is still the same as the earlier HRDs and not the newer, more improved version and that's ok-ish

Rivera have a Venus model that is designed to be a a high headroom 25 watt clean amp that's also a great pedal platform, as are all the amps I've mentioned here. The Port City amps also work that way.

I use a Mesa Boogie Mark V 25 head with a MB mini slanted 1x12. There's a choice of 3 clean types on Channel 1 and the same on the Overdrive Channnel. I use the cleanest option with my board (from a Lonestar) and they're all really good cleans and find I've no need for the Overdrive channel, preferring my various OD pedals instead, so maybe one of these or a Lonestar would work better for you?

Jack at Peach did a 'Clean Amp Shoot Out' recently and your old TK Imperial sounded fantastic!

Good luck with your search

BintyTwanger77

thomasw88 said:

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.

If I were gigging, I’d strongly consider an HRD IV. I tried one and there’s been a huge improvement with the gain channels, though I think a decent compressor could really help them sound better. An HRD IV, a Strymon Compadre, a tuner and a delay, and that’s most of your gig needs covered, I think.

bermudianbrit

So I recognise the bias here because I'm selling one...but the Dr. Z EZG-50 is a beautiful thing indeed. Warm and rich cleans don't get much better. Selling because I'm unlikely to gig in the foreseeable future, and I'm opting for a combo since I only have 1 hand free when moving around anyway due to needing a cane in the other. 

Nerine

EQ pedal?

JMP220478

Is there a particular guitar and or pickup position that exacerbates the low end issue ie if you use guitar with other players kit does it exhibit similar low end flubb ?

could some adjustment of pickup height / pole pieces  or current pickup model replacement help

or possibly try a parametric vs a std eq - n really focus in on the offending frequency ? 

thebreeze

If you like the Imperial I'd have tried the Metropolitan that was recently for sale on here (sold now I think).  It does the nice cleans but slightly "richer" that you're looking for.  A fairly useable lead channel too.  40w and attenuation on both channels separately.  Unfortunately, they don't seem to crop up much but worth having a look/try I would say..