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Gibson Les Paul Traditional


Calvin Austin

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I love the Gibson Les Paul Traditional. I've have two and have been playing them for 3 years now. So I think this is quite natural. This is for all the Les Paul Traditional lovers out there. Recently, I've been in the market for amps that go best with the Traditional. I know Marshall is the obvious choice. But then again....!

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Welcome to the Forum. You have a great guitar. Your amp choice should be based on the sound you are after, which should be based on the type of music you play. Try out as many amps as you can before making a purchase.

Kenny V

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Welcome to the Forum. You have a great guitar. Your amp choice should be based on the sound you are after, which should be based on the type of music you play. Try out as many amps as you can before making a purchase.

Kenny V

 

Hi thank you for the warm welcome. What you said is very true. I play classic rock, hard rock, heavy rock and the like. Just confused between Marshall JCM 800 and Mesa Dual Rectifier. But I have to say that Marshall gives me a truer and tighter sound. It's super responsive like a finely tuned Ferrari ripping through the race track.

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Marshall with an LP sounds tighter in the bass than Mesa to me. Flabby bottom and too much sizzle from Mesa IMHO.... I'm playing a 1987 JCM 800 50 watt combo, model 4212. A killer amp for any Gibson guitar for sure.

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Marshall with an LP sounds tighter in the bass than Mesa to me. Flabby bottom and too much sizzle from Mesa IMHO.... I'm playing a 1987 JCM 800 50 watt combo, model 4212. A killer amp for any Gibson guitar for sure.

 

I'm trying to get my hands on Marshall JCM 800 (2203). Have you checked it out?

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I have to agree on the JCM800 myself. I had one built for me by Aris Amplification, he's also my dentist. Sounds incredible. It's the 50 watt version and is more than enough for what I need. I have downsized my amplifiers to more fit my needs. Give the Fender Supersonic a try also. I picked one up used and it's a great grab and go amp. I have one Fender 65 re-issue and it'a also a good grab and go. Toss a distortion pedal at it and it sounds nice also. My go to amps are my JCM 800 clone and I have a couple Blackstar heads I like very well also. If I had to only own one it would be the JCM800.

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I've been in the market for amps that go best with the Traditional.

 

That makes two of us. I have some Mesa Boogie gear that has a character that I cannot create without using Mesa. I would try to classify the genre as 'Metallica' esque. If metal is what you want to call it, cool. Mesa Boogie Rectifier Recording Preamp. Mesa Boogie Stereo 2:One Hundred Poweramp. It's 2 Dual Rectifiers, or stereo. Clean, Fat, Brit on the clean side and Raw, Vintage, Modern on the high gain side. A Solo mode offers a volume boost as it switches into Vintage (from Modern).

 

The speakers are usually Vintage 30, but to me this is bright for some of my guitars. The LP plays nice, but some EMG pups are bright. I tried Eminence and like them for a minute, but moved back to Greenback and Alnico Gold, sometimes using Creambacks solo. Speakers have much to do with the bottom line, whether it is love or hate. Safest for me to keep a bunch of them around for my satisfaction.

 

Dissatisfaction happens.

 

As I aged, I longed for that classic Marshall singing characteristic and employed my trusty ADA-MP1 in front of the Mesa 6L6 power section, dialed the gain back and rediscovered this preamp. It is capable of some real havoc and I will always appreciate its programmability.

 

But something was too dark, pairing Green and Creambacked speakers, and listening to peoples Marshalls, told me I needed to thin down a whole bunch, learn to appreciate the higher frequencies as well. I removed one channel all together and run just a single dual rec with Greenbacks. To add the missing spice, I put EL84/Alnico Gold right behind 1/2 of the MP1 output.

 

Being a cable jockey got old so long ago that I researched a router from Sound sculpture. I try to keep it simple, effects are nowhere to be found here, its just patching a guitar-preamp-poweramp. But this returns the programmability that was lost when I returned to simple circuit amps.

 

Want Mesa? Boom. Marshall? Boom. Fender? Boom. Right there, instantaneous. I have 3 guitars plugged in at all times, just pick up and go. But I a still shopping for an amp that cleans up and has major touch sensitivity. Right now a JTM clone looks nice for a gained amp that cleans up, a Bogner Ecstacy for amazing gains, or a Standel to make the 335's bells blossom.

 

Who am I kidding? All 3. F' it. And if another mic preamp comes into the picture that's fine. There will be Rickenbacker's, Telecasters... end in sight?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am a Trad lover too (have 2 of them, 2012 & 2014... see avatar).

 

I use primarily a Blackstar HT5R and LOVE it. Both of my Trads sound amazing through it (especially the '14...those '59 Tribute Humbuckers are something else!).

 

I don't gig or anything, just play at home and/or jam with friends...so the 5-watt Blackstar is plenty of amp for me. Highly recommend it!

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I play my 2012 Traditional through a 1960's Traynor YBA-1. It's essentially a Canadian take on the Bassman, they are very similar to JTM-45's in terms of the circuit but some of the electronic hardware is different (built like tanks). They're easily modded Marshall spec as well, I have mine rewired to the 2204 circuitry with Mullard EL-34's and it's pretty killer. They're handwired vintage amps and can be picked up used for about $400-500 no problemo! My mod cost me $150 I think? Well worth it!

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