PLEASE - Amp suggestions for someone forever frustrated with their tone!
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They are £3K now, less than £2K when I got mine in 2018...and it's pre-Gibson (not that I expect that to mean anything unless quality starts to drop after Randall Smith's departure).ElevensLouder said:Ahh man those mesa mark v 35s are soooo expensive!
I’ve finally got my hands on a Matchless Lightning and yes they are expensive and heavy but there’s not a bad sound in it. No need to tweak despite sticking multiple types of guitar and effects into it . It even sounded great with a boss ME90 in the frontStuartMac290 said:My stock answer is pretty much always a Matchless of one sort or the other, because they have a natural compression to them that feels lovely to play, and they just sound fantastic. You should be able to pick up a used one within your budget.
Before you go down an expensive rabbit hole - have you tried a different speaker?
VHT D-50H. It's a hand-wired (in China) Dumble clone that sounds fantastic. They make a matching 1x12 speaker cab.
Almost everyone will give you a different answer of course but here goes:
I was really surprised, and still love, my Friedman Runt 50. Got it in 2020. The clean channel is a super simple two knob Fender circuit and the gain channel is a Marshall, probably 800 based. The clean channel takes pedals very well. For some reason, I find the EQ on the gain channel takes some working with and sounds best to me with bass and treble at 5, and the mids boosted a little. I have an EQ in the loop with a mid boost and treble cut for solos.
When I was last doing the function band thing, many moons ago, I ended up settling on a Hughes and Kettner Statesman which worked wonderfully at the time, though I don't recall many of the specifics now.
I was really surprised, and still love, my Friedman Runt 50. Got it in 2020. The clean channel is a super simple two knob Fender circuit and the gain channel is a Marshall, probably 800 based. The clean channel takes pedals very well. For some reason, I find the EQ on the gain channel takes some working with and sounds best to me with bass and treble at 5, and the mids boosted a little. I have an EQ in the loop with a mid boost and treble cut for solos.
When I was last doing the function band thing, many moons ago, I ended up settling on a Hughes and Kettner Statesman which worked wonderfully at the time, though I don't recall many of the specifics now.
I think you might be over-complicating things a little. Can you push the gain of your preamp more before using pedals?ElevensLouder said:Thanks everyone for your fantastic input.
I spent the afternoon/evening experimenting with the DSL. Rejigged a few things on the pedal board/signal chain etc and changed some settings on the amp and I've gotten closer to what I'm looking for.
How I was running things:
Guitar---fuzzface mini---tuner---klone---another drive---chorus---DSL40CR amp on clean channel (red)
{FX loop} delay---reverb---clean boost
Changes made:
Ditch the fuzz face
Amp on clean GREEN
Ditch the fx loop - all fx into front of amp.
Clean boost PERMANENTLY ON
The reason for using the clean channel on the red setting was I found the green to be too quiet. I had a brainwave (very rare for me!) and it told me to leave the boost on permanently to give more oomph so that I could use the green channel more effectively.
Now I'm able to ride the volume knob for solo boosts, and I'm experimenting with one of the drives as a potential always on solution for treble loss when rolling the volume off on the guitar.
So far very happy with the sound. I just set up and sound checked for a gig I'm playing tomorrow and it was great. However, in this band we use IEMs which makes things much much easier in terms of actually hearing yourself (funny that).
Anyway, I'm still gassing hard for a new amp anyway, so keep the suggestions coming, but for now at least I'm happy with what I've got.
EDIT - As suggested in this thread, I may try a little compression in the chain, though if I'm leaving a boost on all the time and possibly a light drive too (as a treble fixing solution) I may end up hitting the front end too hard and don't want to do that as my reverb/delay will sound awful!
worth bearing in mind at band volumes you’re going to get a lot more natural compression than bedroom levels, too.
Pushing the gain in the preamp any further results in unwanted overdrive, which has undesirable effects on my delay/reverb. I've always enjoyed the extra clarity and punch an 'always on' boost gives anyway.Revolutions said:I think you might be over-complicating things a little. Can you push the gain of your preamp more before using pedals?
worth bearing in mind at band volumes you’re going to get a lot more natural compression than bedroom levels, too.
I too have a HRD - I do think they are on the whole ‘meh’, but always sound decent at gigs. I’ve used the DSL (head) clean channel a couple of times and I really like it - I don’t know why people throw shade on Marshall cleans…
I guess the thing is you want something special from an amp but you're not sure what. You're a little way into a rabbit hole with no end.
I would advise to try something simple, see if you can get the right tone with what you have. Speakers and pickups play a massive part of the tone equation - the right combo could turn that hot rod deluxe into a boutique killer.
I ended up with a Tonemaster Deluxe, which is extremely easy to live with and rescued me from the rabbit hole (though I still peer in from time to time!). I know I can find a better amp. And I'm ok with that.
I would advise to try something simple, see if you can get the right tone with what you have. Speakers and pickups play a massive part of the tone equation - the right combo could turn that hot rod deluxe into a boutique killer.
I ended up with a Tonemaster Deluxe, which is extremely easy to live with and rescued me from the rabbit hole (though I still peer in from time to time!). I know I can find a better amp. And I'm ok with that.
‘59 Bassman reissue is a lovely sounding amp.
PRS HDRX20 does some very good Marshall tones and loud for 20W.
I’ve just picked up a Cornell Romany plus which I need to try out properly, but even at home levels it sounds bloody glorious.
PRS HDRX20 does some very good Marshall tones and loud for 20W.
I’ve just picked up a Cornell Romany plus which I need to try out properly, but even at home levels it sounds bloody glorious.
This. A Creamback in an HRD works wonders, it makes it really lively and fun to play.Greatape said:Before you go down an expensive rabbit hole - have you tried a different speaker?
Crappy phone videos of mine;
https://youtu.be/J-v5mHjyQlo?si=Cv5XCiM2ZH8pqFEC
https://youtu.be/w1uAmNKgqhs?si=DHcOLZTnCSNQBowh
Sounds great @p90fool
It really does make a difference, I agree with your feeling on the HRD with the stock speaker.
A Creamback Neo would also make it noticeably lighter - although still not light, a useful difference. If you still prefer a more ‘American’ sound, an Eminence Li’l Texas or a Jensen Tornado would be good options.
The stock speaker - unless it’s the Mk4 model with a Celestion A-type - is somehow both overbearing and characterless at the same time, whether it’s the original brown-label Fender Eminence (Mk1 and 2), or the Celestion Seventy/80 (Mk3).
I still think something like a Mesa is a step up in quality though.
The stock speaker - unless it’s the Mk4 model with a Celestion A-type - is somehow both overbearing and characterless at the same time, whether it’s the original brown-label Fender Eminence (Mk1 and 2), or the Celestion Seventy/80 (Mk3).
I still think something like a Mesa is a step up in quality though.
@ElevensLouder if you can tolerate 2-3lbs of extra weight in the DSL, you might get a bit more volume out of a Creamback H75 as a substitute for the stock V-type. It’s rated as 2dB more efficient, plus with the bigger magnet you may get away with running the bass and resonance controls slightly lower, which may also help squeeze a bit more clean headroom.
Also - what EL34’s have you got in there and how old are they?
Also - what EL34’s have you got in there and how old are they?
Just the stock EL34s - no idea what they are. EDIT - they're about 3 years old, done maybe 20 hours of moderate gigging levels.noisepolluter said:@ElevensLouder if you can tolerate 2-3lbs of extra weight in the DSL, you might get a bit more volume out of a Creamback H75 as a substitute for the stock V-type. It’s rated as 2dB more efficient, plus with the bigger magnet you may get away with running the bass and resonance controls slightly lower, which may also help squeeze a bit more clean headroom.
Also - what EL34’s have you got in there and how old are they?
I see a lot of people replace the speaker with a Creamback - perhaps I'll give it a try.
Gig the other day was good - totally different experience with IEMs though isn't it. I don't see many of my blues heroes using IEMs (in their smaller gigs at least) and most of the gigs I do I'm just relying on backline for hearing myself.
I think they use rebranded JJ’s.ElevensLouder said:Just the stock EL34s - no idea what they are. EDIT - they're about 3 years old, done maybe 20 hours of moderate gigging levels.
I had a run of bad luck with their EL34’s (stock and replacement sets) which between them barely notched up a year of mostly low volume playing.
A few months ago I switched to TAD Redbase EL34’s having read positive reviews - they’ve been great so far, certainly clearer sounding than the JJ’s though I couldn’t speak for clean headroom, and obvs jury still out re longevity.
@noisepolluter thanks for the info - could you do the revalve yourself, or does it need specialist knowledge?
I don't know if this helps.ElevensLouder said:@noisepolluter thanks for the info - could you do the revalve yourself, or does it need specialist knowledge?
I revalved mine a couple of weeks ago and got some help from here.
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/274667/marshall-dsl40-cr-valves-failing#latest
I found it really straightforward, watched a video on YouTube first to be sure but there is nothing to it.
I've since done it a couple of times more as I believe that it can drift after they start to wear in. It has only shifted a tiny fraction though.
I put a Texas Heat in my Traynor YCV40 - not a million miles from an HRD - and it transformed it.ICBM said:A Creamback Neo would also make it noticeably lighter - although still not light, a useful difference. If you still prefer a more ‘American’ sound, an Eminence Li’l Texas or a Jensen Tornado would be good options.
The stock speaker - unless it’s the Mk4 model with a Celestion A-type - is somehow both overbearing and characterless at the same time, whether it’s the original brown-label Fender Eminence (Mk1 and 2), or the Celestion Seventy/80 (Mk3).
I still think something like a Mesa is a step up in quality though.
suhr bella and a few quality pedals or a divided by 13 and a few pedals
or an older peavey classic 30 with a decent 212
If the HRD is not for you, and you don't mind a heavier combo option, I'd recommend the Hot Rod Deville ML. Not the regular one, has to be the ML.
I picked one up a couple of weeks ago, as I wanted a decent pedal platform amp and had been underwhelmed by the HRDeluxe. Unlike the standard versions od the HR range, it's a single channel clean amp with 2 volume controls, that can be selected via a footswitch. Speakers are a pair of Celestion 75w V Types and it supposedly has uprated power transformers, but I cannot confirm or deny. What I will say is it fits the bill for me, as it has a great clean sound and takes pedals very nicely.
There is a boost switch that adds a bit of grit, but I don't see myself using that and would've preferred that the reverb was footswitch selectable instead.
I got mine for £420.
It is heavy, mind.