What's your favourite Amp...and why...???

I love starting/replying to these kind of threads so I'll give it a bash...

This is not about the best amp...we could argue about that forever...is it the Bassman...Is it the Jtm 45...we could be here all day...this is about your favorite...!!!

For me it has to be the Mesa Boogie dual rectifier...nothing cries like that amp for my style of playing...and that's why it's my favorite...I will use the Bassman for certain things and to be honest if you want some vintage killer sound it's still the best...but for me the best high gain lead will always be the boogie...and not just for shred...it's smooth and creamy...it's the closest tone for me compared to Steve Vai's Carvins...but to be honest as much as I love Mr Vai I like a different tone...

So share with us oh lovers of the six string god...what is your favorite amp...???

I'm with you on the Dual Rectifier, smoking tones! my favorite.

Buuut, I did try a Suhr Hedgehog at the NAMM show and I couldn't put the guitar down. I don't think they're out yet and that was over a year ago. It was the killer overdriven vintage amp tone, like a Marshall, without any of the harshness or noisiness, real warm.

I have a Marshall AVT150X and it is my favorite. I have tried a few amp at the music store the day I bought this amp, in my opinion it had the best metal sound (was on sale at 900$ CD). It also have a great sounding clean and accoustic simulation channel. The first overdrive channel is good for those who like more classic rock style.
Personnaly, I choose the second overdrive channel, put the gain and volume at max, adjust the master volume, push the scoop button and get ready for some headbanging :)

There are also effects to choose from on the amp like Halls decay, room decay, plates decay, gated reverb, chorus, flange, delay, chorus room, ch/dly room and modulation.

Bottom line it is a great amp for the metal heads out there great sound,
2 downside : don't use the emulated line output, it sucks, mic it if you want to record and it is only one effect at a time.

Never regretted that purcahse.

I know it's not strictly one amp but I love my G-Dec 3 Thirty. I like the way it has all the amp models on it and more settings than you can shake a stick at while remaining incredibly easy to use. Being able to play along with the in-built backing tracks and any that you wish to add makes this a brilliant piece of kit. All this in a great sounding cabinet!

I'll keep an eye on this thread though and may be tempted to try some other dedicated amps out.

Sooo...in the spirit of honesty I must also admit that my favorite amp is not only one amp...in fact its not even an amp...it's a computer program...Yes friends...all my tones come from Ik Multimedia Amplitube...I am lucky enough to own Amplitube 3...Amplitube Fender...and Jimi Hendrix and metal...!!! Ok it's not the same as cranking up 100 watts of tube through a 4 by 12 but at the end of the day I just write and record at home...Got me a big range of amps to choose from...

Having said that I do own an actual amp...A Wharfedale TCT 30 all tube baby...she sings real good...but if I had a house with no neighbors I would still definitely go for the dual rectifier...:)

A little intimidated here. I'm 54 and have been playing for about seven months but was born to play guitar. I bought a Squire Strat and a little Fender Mustang 1 amp. My focus is on a Mark Knopfler tone. Can any of you help me find it either in what I already have or tell me what I need so I can set some gear goals. I have my eye on the MK Fender signature series but I also read that he loved the Schecter. Any help would be great.

Originally Posted by: ianroxA little intimidated here. I'm 54 and have been playing for about seven months but was born to play guitar. I bought a Squire Strat and a little Fender Mustang 1 amp. My focus is on a Mark Knopfler tone. Can any of you help me find it either in what I already have or tell me what I need so I can set some gear goals. I have my eye on the MK Fender signature series but I also read that he loved the Schecter. Any help would be great.

Hi there...don't be intimidated...we don't bite...well the instructors might...:D

To be honest with Mark's tone and gear it's like which year...which album...which song...!!! He has used so many set ups over the years...Guitars range from the strat to the Les Paul to Surhs and Schecters...

As far as amps goes he used 100w Soldano heads for quite a while...As far as I know he is using hand built amps from a guy here in the uk at the moment...I can't remember the guys name now but I was on his website a while ago looking at the amps he designed for Mark...

I've been on the fender site and looked at your amp and I see it has 24 amp models...I can't find a list of what they are though...Mark uses very clean amps though so I would steer away from Marshalls...

From doing a bit of research I found the only effects he really uses are compression delay and reverb.

Sorry to say that buying the MK strat will not give you the MK tone...it's only one small part of the picture...but what it will do is give you a much much better tone than you have right now...!!!

The amount of gear he has used over the years makes creating a tone a bit difficult...If you want to get a tone like the lead in Brothers in arms then you would need the Les Paul...but if you want a tone for say Sultans Of Swing then you would need the Strat...

I would say if you try one of the Fender models...I would go for the 65 Twin reverb if you have it...Dial in some compression...add some reverb and see if you like the sound...whatever gear you have it will be hard to get the tone exactly right but as long as it sounds good to you then you should be ok...

Sorry if I've overloaded you with info and made you even more confused...!!!

Hey, thanks man. If can get anything close I'll be stoked. Because I,m so new at this I struggle with my amp right now but will keep experimenting. My long term goal for guitars is an american strat and a Les Paul so maybe someday. Thanks again.

My favourite so far is my Jet City 50 watt head through a Celestion G 12 80 Hemp Coned speaker. I got the speaker from a company on Ebay called Atlas Speakers. They recone these like a Tone Tubby. I was feeling risky :) I put it a cab I built for 'prototyping' and it's all making a pretty sweet combination.

The only amp I've really "owned" and love is my Laney GH100L.
No clean channel, but sounds awesome when it's cranked with a tube screamer in front.
It does blues/rock tones to full on metal and only cost me £300! That was a few years ago though.
But yeah, never wanted anything more...until I tried a Blackstar series one and now I want one!

I have owned all the major vintage amps at one time or another. I have always come back to the Vox AC30 TB as a performance amp. No special settings, bass treble at 7, cut 5, then dial the volume up to suit the room, anywhere from 6-7 to flat out. It just has the nicest sounding naturally over-driven sound.
To rehearse or practice, or generally muck around, I have it's smaller, older brother, the AC 15. It is unfortunately a little small for live venues.
Amps are such a personal and subjective thing. I love the fact that we can all have our favourites and agree to disagree.
Keep music live!

I've owned a Mesa Boogie 50 Caliber, a Marshall JCM 800 - 100W full stack, a Marshall Silver Jubilee (got stolen), and a Fender Musicman all of which were great amps and had their place. With the Egnater 40 watt stack, I can "tweak it " to give me the Boogie and Marshall Vintage sounds plus I can get the full tone out of the amp in my house without having to be in a concert hall setting like you do with a dual or triple rectifier boogie. Just my opinion. It's powered by two 6L6 power tubes, but can be swapped out with EL34's with re-biasing. Has an effects loop for those who need the addedeffects. I you haven't tried one - you should take the opportunity. The 40 watts is big enough for the club scene. Anyway I agree that amps and taste are subjective.

I have three amps and use them for different tones and to play around.

- Fender G-Dec 3 Thirthy, lots of tones and also easie to use as tool with Guitar tricks when coupled to the computer, the lessons can be played as backing track.
- Fender Super Champ XD, hybrid party tubes good sounds

- Marshall 18Watt (Blues Breaker) handbuild it my self point to point wiring the old school way. Great Tube sound all the way.

As for the Mark Knopler tones on the Mustang you use the Fender Fuse software, and download the setting to the AMP.
https://fuse.fender.com/mustang/preset.php/guitarleon-80s-mark-knopfler

Cheers,
Jurjen.

I love my 65 amps London Pro

I've been playing Twin Reverbs for 35 years now, and a Boogie MkIV for about 20 years. Both have their particular sounds.... I'm on the waiting list for a Bludotone as well, scheduled for the end of this year. Check out bludotone dot com...

I can't really say "this amp is my favorite" because I haven't tried that many. I've owned several Marshalls, 50w Head, 100w Head... both sounded all right, mainly just loud. A very long time ago I borrowed a Fender Princeton that I loved... wish the owner would have sold it to me. Also tried a real Hiwatt in the music store way back that sounded great. If I had a time machine I'd definitely grab that one.

I bought a Laney Lionheart and I really like it. Its spot on for the type of tone I'm looking for. One thing I like about the Laney is that its made in Britain, and oozes build quality. Before purchasing it I checked out the Fender Princeton re-issue... made in China, didn't sound good at all, and was the same price as the Lionheart.

Its great to read about what people like, have, or have on their wish list. With so many choices out there its good to get ideas of what some of the better amps are.

My ALL-TIME favorite amp (for me) was my Silvertone Twin Twelve (1964) and I wish that I still had it. I sold it in 1983 and it was still working great.

I own 8 different amps currently and this is a tough one to call, but I'd have to say that my current favorite amp is actually a combination- The Ibanez TSA15H TubeScreamer Head through my Marshall 1960 4X12 cabinet. This Ibanez is an all tube 15 watt ( an unbelievably LOUD 15 watts) with a built in tube screamer. It has a switch that allows you to play at 5watts-triode or 15watts-diode and in either setting has a 6dB boost. It has no built-in reverb but I run reverb though the FX loop and this has every conceivable output option that you can think of.Don't need thing else but a wah-wah and it's good to go. Even at the 5 watt setting this thing rattles the windows. This thing is really a sleeper. I recommend to everybody to go try one out, I believe that you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Runner up is my old Peavey Classic (circa 1976)-not to be confused with the current Peavey Classic Tweeds which are called "Classic 50 2X12" or "Classic 50 4X10". This Peavey is an older model that was simply called "the Classic"-50watt 6L6 power tubes with bright, normal, series and parallel inputs. This amp was originally designed for the recording musician but takes equally well to the stage. Great sound and I love these "vintage" amps from the '60's and the '70's. Built-in reverb and tremelo and master volume allows you to get some fantastic overdrive at low volume. Again-the only thing you need with this is a wah-wah.

Well, that's my 2 cents. Thanx for listening. -Jim

Favorite is a Marshall dsl 50 watt head. Close second WAS an early model Fender Hot Rod deluxe. Wish I still had that one. I've tried other ones but that particular amp had THE fender clean tone. And the first overdrive "channel" wasn't bad at all. That amp along with some pedals really made for a good set up. The Marshall is just THE rock and roll amp. IMHO Not much to dislike about it. Sound is so subjective though. That's what makes GAS so fun and threads like this fun to read. lol

I've owned a few different tube amps, and each had a sweet spot for me. 2 fenders (Super Reverb, Deluxe Reverb), Gibson Falcon, Epiphone Valve Jr., and my current Egnator Tweaker 15W.

For clean sparkling, the Fenders just ruled! With decent pedals, they rocked as well, but their effects loops were always noisy, and the amps seemed to wear out tubes quickly. Expensive these days to re-tube. Also often needed bias adjustments if you traveled much with your amp. My Super Reverb was a 4X10 combo, real back-breaker, but it could really cut through for a combo. Deluxe was more versatile, single 12", smaller output tubes, not a back-breaker.

The Gibson Falcon was a fun amp, single 12", trem and reverb. I miss it's trem often, there's not much to compare to a good tube vibrato. Very limited tone-wise, sometimes picky about pedals, no effects loop. But it had a great sound with a 335 Epiphone hollowbody. Smaller tube complement, tube rectifier.

The Valve Jr. was only a transition amp to get back into playing, but there are a lot of mods to hot rod it, and it has a simple two tube complement. Mine is still in pieces, as I figure out how I want to mod it.

The Egnator Tweaker is a real versatile little gem. 5 tube complement, very flexible tonally, and it does have an effects loop. Found a used one on Craigs' list for $250, maybe the best money I ever spent. Seems to take pedals well, and I can get close to the sound of many different amps.

Not I real fan of the modeling amps, so far. They have improved, but still, somethings missing to me. I have heard both a Line 6 and Fender tube version. They have their place, and I can see the value in them. Especially since reverb, delay, and trem are often thrown in the package. Still, I would rather gear up to nice external effects pedals these days, or buy a vintage amp that already has trem and reverb.

right now I would have to say my favourite amp is the orange micro terror, purely because it's really compact so it's great for taking to band practices and the tone out of it is really impressive. It sounds better than my Laney head and it's much easier to take to rehearsals plus the price on these things is crazy £99 for something that sounds that good !!!!!