It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
I've been to quite a few gigs recently at smallish clubs and have been lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to be in the firing line of the backline - proper backline; loud valve amps.
Here's what I thought to the amps used by various bands.
Marshall Plexi (presumably a reissue) - didn't like so much, not that it sounded bad, just didn't sound anywhere near as good as the Victory amp the other guitarist was using.
Fender Super Reverb - I've owned one and think it's possibly one of the best amps ever made but in the hands of one quite well known player, I didn't like it. It just sounded dry and lifeless.
Marshall Silver Jubilee - likey, very nice classic rock tones with either lots of gain or with a cleaner profile. Chuffing loud too!
Fender Supersonic - nice but nothing really outstanding. I heard this mainly with high gain settings and it wasn't bad but was nothing special.
Marshall 30th Anniversary - Yuck. Dark, mushy, indistinct and bland.
Fender Hot Rod DeVille - nice, liked a lot, I can't explain why but it just worked very well clean and with moderate gain. No idea what version it was.
The best 'till last.......... Fender Bassman reissue - just incredible. Pretty much only one sound but what a sound and how can one tone be so versatile and work with everything and sonically complement everything the rest of the band were doing and not care what guitar was plugged into it?
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
I've always liked Fender Bassmans because in addition to a great warm clean they can deliver a glorious low end 'grind' breakup that only a JTM45 can also do ( not surprising as Jim Marshall basically nicked the Bassman circuit). Plus, they work really well with pedals e.g. a tubescreamer
That Bassman though was something else. It’s hard to describe how an amp can sound clean and dirty at the same time, just a gorgeous tone.
As for the Super Reverb, I have noticed that while I do respect the player I don’t always respect her tone - even on the albums the tone is sometimes grim - assuming of course the same amps are used.
Overall though I do tend to prefer Fender tones to Marshall, that silver jubilee was quite an exception though - it’d sound awful with me playing it (Marshall’s always have) and maybe a reason why I prefer Fender as a rule.
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.
I gigged on Saturday with a Marshall, the first time I've used one in 100 or so gigs which have all been done on a Fender Hot Rod. Quite enjoyed it but listening back to the recording of the gig I don't really sound any different from what I did with the Hot Rod. If someone mixed up that recording with a gig the week before and asked me which was Marshall and which was Fender I probably couldn't tell myself.
I'm not saying all amps sound the same, they don't but there's less difference between valve amps of a similar size played dirty than you might think. It's certainly more the player that you hear .... there's a couple of guys I know who just make everything sound better just by intonating themselves better and having better dynamic control. That's one of the reasons I've never really lusted after any gear, too many nights at The Salutation in Portsmouth watching a guy playing a Hondo Explorer copy with an EMG pickup into an old Marshall end through an EQ pedal.
The Jubilee is an excellent amp in either form. It's my favourite Marshall for the sheer versatility, anything from clean up to metal with a boost. Nice responsive EQ. As a bonus the grey/silver looks cooler to me than the standard black and gold. I think it'd get more "internet respect" if people didn't know it had diodes in it.
I'm not a fan of Jubilees either, they always sound buzzy and a bit thin to me - and I don't think it's the diodes. (I actually think it's more to do with the EQ section.) I know a lot of people love them though.
Some amps just work for some players and not others, and some of it is down to how you set them... I was once told by a friend that there wasn't really any difference in my sound when I used a borrowed Marshall AVT150 instead of my Mesa DC-5. Admittedly I used my V-1 pedal in front of the amp.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I've had the 800, 900, jmp, and 2000 and all of them to me just did not work. I thought they always sounded thin and way to edgey in the gain.
On the other hand I have owned Laney which is meant to be a poor mans marshall and always thought they sounded amazing. But these days I seem to have gone over to the other big UK maker Orange which I think have the sound I have always been after, Big and raw. UK wise I would only ever go for those two makes now.
The funny think about this is that the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret pedal is billed as a 'Marshall In A Box' - it even has two settings marked 'Super Lead' and 'Super Bass'. They're wrong... it should be marked Laney and Orange, exactly because it has that grittier, darker sound of those two amps and doesn't really sound like a Marshall at all.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein