Definitive amp tones?

guitargeek62

I know this is entirely subjective, but what are your tonal benchmarks for classic / well-known amps?

We can go as specific as you like, but to start us off I instantly think of this when someone says "Marshall":

It doesn't have to be a world-famous benchmark, just something that you feel captures the sound & spirit of that particular make/model.

Over to you.

ICBM

Sorry for the very early thread hijack, but I have to say this.

I'm not really a big AC/DC fan, but Black In Black is *the* sound of a Marshall amp. I have said this before I know, but @MarshallAmplification - just make amps that sound like this. Please. That is all.

Actually, not quite all. This is the other sound of a Marshall.

All you need is an amp which will do those two sounds. The end.

[/hijack]

Mine…

Amp: Mesa Trem-o-verb

Track: R.E.M., Crush With Eyeliner

DaiCapp

Fender Super Reverb, but you can pick pretty much any BB King for Fender Twin as well for me. One of the few guitarists you could probably identify from a single note!

gordiji

Old Fenders    

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM;1106382" said:

Sorry for the very early thread hijack, but I have to say this.

I'm not really a big AC/DC fan, but Black In Black is *the* sound of a Marshall amp. I have said this before I know, but @MarshallAmplification - just make amps that sound like this. Please. That is all.



Actually, not quite all. This is the other sound of a Marshall.





All you need is an amp which will do those two sounds. The end.

[/hijack]



Mine…

Amp: Mesa Trem-o-verb

Track: R.E.M., Crush With Eyeliner

Much wisdom!

I'm not a fan of ac dc either. But that is the sound of an old Marshall. That same amp with the same settings but with single coils would totally nail live hendrix before he steps on a fuzz, too. Such a good sounding, versatile amp.

For 5150/6505 tones, I'd go for anything by trivium from ascendancy.

Dual rec red - Linkin Park, one step closer. Whatever, it is *the* sound of nu metal. Or anything by korn.

Marktigere1

AC30 - Brian May/Queen

Listen to Queen 2 (Brian's favourite) and that to me is the sound of the AC30.

guitargeek62

The Beatles: Revolver = Fender Blackface amps (Deluxe Reverb?). I may be wrong on that, but that's the sound I expect from BF amps at least!

hugbot

When I think of the "definitive" Dual Rectifier tone I think of a lot of very bad music. But the late 90's early 2000s nu metal bands are definitely the ones where you could immediatey hear it was a dual rec.

Tuscan777

Fender Bassman - Nile Rodgers back in the Chic days. Funk for days.....

olafgarten

Fender Vibrolux
Stephen Stills playing Carry On Live with CSN.

Sassafras

EC playing through his Pignose.

xSkarloey

HiWatt is Live at Leeds. Vox AC30 is variously Hank Marvin, then Rory Gallagher then Brian May. I thought during the Revolver days the Fabs still used the Voxes. (There are also pics of Macca with a Selmer amp at some stage too).

siraxeman

Marktigere1;1109642" said:

AC30 - Brian May/Queen

Listen to Queen 2 (Brian's favourite) and that to me is the sound of the AC30.

As long as you floor the amp and use a treble booster.

guitargeek62

Skarloey;1110182" said:

I thought during the Revolver days the Fabs still used the Voxes. (There are also pics of Macca with a Selmer amp at some stage too).

Looks like Harrison played through a cream Bassman, and Lennon was on a BF Showman.

http://www.guitarworld.com/guide-recording-equipment-songs-and-instruments-featured-beatles-revolver-album

octatonic

These two tracks are all I really care about in terms of guitar tone- it is more about the phrasing though.

The Kid Charlemagne solo sound:

335 into a Tweed Deluxe.

The Robben Ford thing: humbucker guitar into either a Dumble or a Zendrive loading a Twin.

Fiftyshadesofjay

hugbot said:

When I think of the "definitive" Dual Rectifier tone I think of a lot of very bad music. But the late 90's early 2000s nu metal bands are definitely the ones where you could immediatey hear it was a dual rec.

Soundgarden have possibly my favourite Rectifier tone I think.

octatonic

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

hugbot said:

When I think of the "definitive" Dual Rectifier tone I think of a lot of very bad music. But the late 90's early 2000s nu metal bands are definitely the ones where you could immediatey hear it was a dual rec.

Soundgarden have possibly my favourite Rectifier tone I think.

Agree.

George Lynch had a great Recto tone as well, although very different to Soundgarden.

maidenfan

That's interesting, I thought that Lynch used Lee Jackson modded plexi's on Back For The Attack, with some Rockman added in.

Found this on a Marshall forum - is this bs?

 "Umm yes he did ...George used a mix of these different Marshall set-ups in the studio which resulted with a clean power section to preamp through. Included here are two 1968 Marshall plexi heads and a 100-watt Marshall Super Tremolo that were modified by Lee Jackson of Metaltronix, fitting them with 6550 power tube sections. Signal routing was more simplistic than presented here. As Lynch explained it at the time, "I use an old Ibanez Tube Screamer or a Boss GE-7 to preamp my amps a little. Other than that, I don't use pedals except an A/B switch to throw on another guitar. I go stereo out of a Lexicon PCM-41 with 28 milliseconds of delay to fatten up my rhythms." Also pictured here two Rocktron HUSH II-C's to keep things quiet on both sides of stereo application. A Rockman Distortion Generator was used to push the signal a little more to the power section. Used in A/B switching, there is also a Rockman X100-B in a Rockmount for a chorused clean signal. While using the clean alongside the high gain in an A + B application in tandem, Lynch describes the sound as "giving it a a bit of a shimmer and percussion" to the rhythm guitar parts. As mentioned, Lynch used an old Ibanez Tube Screamer or the BOSS GE-7 to preamp his amps. Above is the TS-808 that has been present for most of Lynch's recording career, as was used during the 1985 recording of Dokken's "Under Lock And Key" album."

xSkarloey

guitargeek62 said:

Skarloey;1110182" said:

I thought during the Revolver days the Fabs still used the Voxes. (There are also pics of Macca with a Selmer amp at some stage too).

Looks like Harrison played through a cream Bassman, and Lennon was on a BF Showman.

http://www.guitarworld.com/guide-recording-equipment-songs-and-instruments-featured-beatles-revolver-album

Well I never.

I did know the silverface Fender stuff was all over Let it Be...because Fender shipped them a load of free gear.