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The Vyse - Ferocious in every way! It's loud, it's angry, it's bursting with energy and makes every guitar played though it sound absolutely epic. It's also the most unmanageable if you want to play with a loud band and not have LOTS of drive. A Stephen Stern Master built Gretsch Annie, which is also a total screaming rock machine, through this amp was simply the best guitar noise I've ever heard.
The HW Fender - A tweed box full of mostly MEH. A soft and mild mannered amp that didn't want to break up at all. Quite possibly just what some people really want but not at all my idea of a Tweed Deluxe.
The Abbot - Was owned by our Mr Marlin and apparently was quite a mess inside. After that was fixed (by Mr Vyse) it was a nice amp but a little too well mannered for my personal taste. There was breakup but it didn't have that real rock n roll snarl that I really like.
The Gartone - Rich, warm, a really lovely overall tone. Probably more balanced than the Vyse but didn't have the "being shouted at by a Sergeant Major at point blank range" force to it.
The Americana - From my conversations with Chris at Rift, the Americana is supposed to be a slightly mellowed take on the 5e3. A little more power to open up the headroom, a gorgeous reverb to soften the edges and a speaker chosen to accentuate the amps really rich softer side, while not being too efficient, so you can push it playing with a band. I asked for mine to go back to a much more raw and gnarly side of the 5e3 and Chris has managed to get inside my head and capture just what I loved about my Vyse, before I sold it to Marlin. It's not quite as compressed and saggy as the Vyse but it has an immediacy to the sound that I've never heard in an amp before. It's like the guitar is connected directly to boxing glove. When you dig in on the guitar you are immediately hit with an enormous wall of sound. So much so that it's almost like the noise hits you before you've registered striking the notes.
I should add tho. I'm not looking for a snarling rock beast. I'm looking for subtle. Maybe not the typical use case. I like the mid range and compression you get from the tweeds.
I've actually got an original '61 5E3 here just now for some work, and it's OK, but... I wouldn't want to own it.
"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
My mate Gaz Morris (a legend in Brum) played a whole blues gig just before lock down that I joined him for a number - he had better tone than my J40- I was stunned. If you don't snare it, I may very well!!
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
We even had the Vyse up against a Plexi 36w into a 4x12 cab, and it out-Marshalled the Marshall. It’s a mental little amp, best amp I’ve ever played.
Listening to some clips the bassman clean tone is what I think I want. But I can't be arsed lugging one of those about. I can see the bandmaster and tweed super seem to be smaller versions of them.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
I make it work for me by bringing my own powered wedge and a Superlux cab mic, which means I can play a Princeton or whatever at the exact sweet spot I want and then adjust my onstage master volume by turning the wedge up or down. I can also have it facing me, which makes the sound guy's job a lot easier as he can barely hear me.
Trying to match amp output to drummers is a mug's game. In one soul band I played in they replaced the drummer, and I had to change from an attenuated 15w Pro Jr to a flat-out JTM45 in the same band.
I've got one of the small alto 8 inch wedges that hasn't had any use.
@Jota I did around 40 gigs with each drummer. They were both excellent, but the first guy was a real funk guy and the second way more rock, in fact he got down to the final handful of auditions to join AC/DC when Phil Rudd left, so the common question about whether an amp can keep up with a drummer is a bit vague!
Yeah, it is but, the only time I had a problem with an amp not cutting was more because of the room than the drummer.
"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