Home/Practise Pedal Platform with Chewy Distortion

AngryGoldfish

If anyone has tried a Tone King Falcon or has heard the clips of it, that chewy, thick distortion is what I'm looking for, but for around £1000 or less with a clean tone that's ideal for pedals. I could stretch to £1100 if it's perfect, but the Falcon is just too much money these days, especially when converted to EURO (my currency). That chewy distortion I'm talking about that sounds like the amp is going to blow up isn't absolutely essential as I can use fuzzes and overdrive pedals to recreate it, but it's something I've been looking for in amp form for a while now. It will be for home use, but also for small gigs/jam sessions (with no drummer). I basically just need a low wattage, portable, nice looking combo for pedals that also has that vintage low gain chewiness that Marshall, Fender and Matamp have. I'm not very taken by Vox amps, though I have little experience with them. 

I've been eyeing up these combos:

Laney Lionheart LT5
Brunetti Singleman 16
Cornell Romany
Carr Raleigh
Fender 68 Princeton
Supro Saturn Reverb
Marshall Class 5

And on the used market I could maybe swing for a Carr Mercury or Sportsman. The TK Falcon never comes up used, and when it does I don't always have the money needed. The Bogner New Yorker looks appealing to me as well, but again never pops up used. I also am considering finding a used low wattage Matamp combo (maybe a First Lady of C7), or maybe breaking protocol and buying a Minimat head and cab. Really, though, I'd rather a combo for convenience, especially one below 40lbs/18kg.

Any ideas?

monquixote

I often hear the term "chewy" relating to overdrive and I have absolutely no idea what it means. 

AngryGoldfish

Mark from Tone King often calls it "syrupy" and "chewy". That's where I borrowed the term from.



This is a quote from a TGP member who:

"I bought quite a few amps of the past 2 years, and though many of them have been high quality, none of them have FELT like Tone Kings. Mark mentions the words "syrup" and "chewy" a lot in his interviews and amp descriptions; and that's exactly what I love about his offerings. I have played the Imperial, Meteor 2, Sky King, and Royalist; they all have that same sort of attack characteristic, to varying degrees. It makes them such a pleasure to play!"

Sassafras

Supros have the 'about to explode' sound.

Babones

Chewy Distortion.

Babones

If you want small but loud, with clean headroom, perhaps look at the Supro Titan, a 50w 1x10 6L6 combo.

Winny_Pooh

You should try an 18watt marshall clone or similar.

It will do the falcon thing (but slightly tighter) but not be clean for pedals... you are asking for two very different things.

For clean a princeton would be great but you need a drive particularly tailored to it to make it work.

AngryGoldfish

Winny_Pooh said:

You should try an 18watt marshall clone or similar.

It will do the falcon thing (but slightly tighter) but not be clean for pedals... you are asking for two very different things.

For clean a princeton would be great but you need a drive particularly tailored to it to make it work.

Yeah, I've considered that. Not sure who to look into for one though.

Richardj

Cornell Plexi 7? It just so happens I know of one that could be available.........

http://www.dc-developments.com/cornell_plexi7_combo.htm

AngryGoldfish

Richardj said:

Cornell Plexi 7? It just so happens I know of one that could be available.........

http://www.dc-developments.com/cornell_plexi7_combo.htm

Any video clips that you reckon sounds about right? What's the clean sounds like?

Richardj

There are a couple of video clips on the link. Clean is nice, not a huge amount of headroom but certainly enough for home and a not too loud practice. It really excels when you use the guitar volume to take it from clean to a little 'hair' to drive.

DaiCapp

Cornell plexi is a great choice - i also recently tried a couple of Dr Z's that did clean way better than i expected and the OD was lush too, Carmen Ghia and Maz 18 (non reverb). Maybe a touch more than you want to spend new unless you have sharp bartering skills but you might get one used easily in your price range

AngryGoldfish

Dr Z amps are a little too heavy. I'd really like something around 30-40lbs. Even Dr. Z's small amps are cumbersome to carry. I have looked into the M12 though, and I'll keep my eye out for one.

The Cornell Plexi does sound very nice, but I haven't heard any clean tones yet that were particularly impressive.

Babones

AngryGoldfish said:

The Cornell Plexi does sound very nice, but I haven't heard any clean tones yet that were particularly impressive.

It does Marshall cleans, which i really like personally. 

richardhomer

I was in a shop yesterday and heard someone playing a Les Paul through a '65 Reissue Princeton.

I'm generally not a fan of humbuckers played clean but it sounded fantastic.

rlw

richardhomer said:

I was in a shop yesterday and heard someone playing a Les Paul through a '65 Reissue Princeton.

I'm generally not a fan of humbuckers played clean but it sounded fantastic.

Certainly works for me - clean up to deafening levels in the bedroom and perfect with a BD2 or DS1 - or both...

AngryGoldfish

I don't think I'll go with the Cornell Plexi. It was described as having a high-midrange that you can't get rid of. I've experienced that in amps before, especially modern ones, and it's why I've kinda gone back to older designs.

The '68 Princeton reissue looked really interesting to me. I find it a bit hard to justify the price tag for the '65 reissue. It's basically the same price as the Brunetti Singleman. But the '68 Reissue can be had for £200-300 less. I've heard some say it's too dark. The clips do show a dark amp, which is odd for Fender, but generally I prefer a warmer, fatter Les Paul with a Marshall sound than a Fender Twin with a Tele sound.

samzadgan

Hey Dan...have you had a look at the old Rivera amps?

I would say wait it out for a matamp...because...Matamp...

or even chat to MJW amps (on this forum), could be the right price range, for custom built job.

btw...what happened to the dunwich amp build?

AngryGoldfish

samzadgan said:

Hey Dan...have you had a look at the old Rivera amps?

I would say wait it out for a matamp...because...Matamp...

or even chat to MJW amps (on this forum), could be the right price range, for custom built job.

btw...what happened to the dunwich amp build?

Hey Sam, thanks for stopping by. Hope down under is treating you well. ^^

I've contacted MJW about an amp. I'm chatting to Martin from there now. I'm also looking into JPD.

I've tried a Rivera amp before. I didn't like it. It sounded a bit dead and flat to me; no life. Took pedals very well though. I don't think it was an "old" Rivera though. I think it was a production model from 2011-ish.


What happened to the Dunwich? The currency crash happened. Two-three years ago the amp would have cost about €1400-1500. Now it would have cost closer to €2000. I just couldn't justify spending that much on an amp. I don't know if I'll ever pay that much on an amp, at least one that wasn't used for professional purposes such as touring or studio work. Fortunately I bought my beloved Fryette Memphis at a time when Fryette was really affordable and the currency conversion from USD to GBP was good, and then from GBP to EURO was even better. I bought the Fryette Memphis from Rich at Stormshadow (when he used to be the UK Fryette dealer) for around £1200. Back then, that was about €1400. The amp now is $2500, which is about €2700 with duties and tax. I'm so fortunate to have the Memphis right now, because I love it so much that if I had to buy it brand-new again, I'd find a way to pay €2700. Gratefully, I don't have to.

samzadgan

yeah Oz is ok...the weather helps!

that sucks about the Dunwich, but I can understand why. I remember hearing a few sound clips when Nick was almost done with it and it was sounding pretty nice. I'm sure Martin can get you there too...heard great things of his amps from everyone here.

AngryGoldfish

samzadgan said:

yeah Oz is ok...the weather helps!

that sucks about the Dunwich, but I can understand why. I remember hearing a few sound clips when Nick was almost done with it and it was sounding pretty nice. I'm sure Martin can get you there too...heard great things of his amps from everyone here.

Yeah, it looks promising.

The wait time is a bit of a problem, though. I don't like putting a deposit down and not seeing anything for many months. I understand why it has to be done, but it's still disconcerting. If I knew exactly what I wanted—such as a guitar I went and tested personally—then I'd actually be grateful in a way because I could use the deposit to help maintain enthusiasm and economically discipline. But when it's something I've never tried, it's basically going into the Dunwich scenario again where I start doubting everything. It's in my nature to be quite pessimistic, even if everything points to a positive outcome. It's an investment of time and mental energy, not just money.