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Best Guitar & Amp Combination


layboomo

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Ha.

 

Doesn't this really depend on your situation, and the gig?

 

Just some personal thoughts on what I thought sounded the best:

 

1. Best crunch/"Pure" rock sound: It was my Gibson Les Paul through a full Marshall stack. Talk about an amazing sound. I can see why most manufacturers (guitar, and amplification) have gone so far out of their way to emulate and imitate this tried and true setup. When I had the gain at 6 and the master at....4.....pure tone...incredible response and presence. It was so responsive I just barely had to plink a string with my Jim Dunlop 2.0's and it would talk back to me. If I wasn't of the opinion that this amp setup is waaaayyy too big for most clubs (and the price), I'd be all over this.

 

2. Best clean tone: Fender Twin reverbs. Damn those are nice amps. They sound great with any guitar, but stick an Epiphone or a Gibson....and this unbelievably warm, beautiful sound comes out of the speaker. Any mid-to-large sized Fender amp is probably good for clean stuff, but that's definitely their Rolls Royce of amplifiers.

 

3. Most univeral/adaptable amp: My Roland Cube. Great tones, simple settings, built in effects, and some really great amp models. Go from Classic (my favorite setting) to JC Clean to acoustic to British fuzz or tweed....all sound great. As far as small to medium sized clubs? This is the amp of choice.

 

4. Most practical practice amplifier: I was going to say Roland Microcube (c'mon....it's battery powered! How can you beat that!?!) But they just put out a Street Performer that has a mic input (I'm thinkin' it sucks batteries more quickly though)....still, portable amplification is where it's at, and Roland has the lion's share of that market as well. (And as far as gigging? No problem...just run it out from the headphone jack into the PA. Because you can do this, and jam with other musicians who might have acoustics? It's the ultimate open mic amplifier. I by far prefer it to a Pod.)

 

5. Consolation prize: Crate amps. Drop them off the top of a building and they'll probably keep working for you. No, not the greatest sounding amps in the world...but there's something to be said about an amp you can give a good swift kick to and it just keeps on going. The Energizer Bunny of amplifiers..

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Best rhythm is definitely my Casino (position 2) through the Valve Junior.

 

Best lead is broken into two parts... Most convenient lead is my Fender Strat, in position 1, through the Valve Junior.

 

My favourite sound, though, is my Casino (Position 1) into my Squier SP-10 (the little 10W amp that comes with a Squier Strat Pack) with the overdrive on.

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I don't think I've ever gotten the right guitar with the right amp at the same time...at least not owning them at the same time.... one amp that was very versitile was a silver faced Fender Vibrolux Reverb. It could do great clean sounds and when you cranked it' date=' it got a great rock tone like an AC/DC sound...But my guitar at the time sucked so the best sound I got out of it was with a friends Gibson Explorer. Right now, I like any of my guitars through the VJ and just throw in a pedal for effects or metal grind. I wish they would bring back the Galaxie 10 again though, I would get one just to try it. The schematic looks entising.[/quote']

 

Hey OldPriest,

I found one(Galaxie 10) NOS on ebay...if you get a chance to get one... do it! it sounds damn good stock...toss in some better tubes and it will WOW you...some say changing out the stock Celestion tube speaker helps, but I love how it sounds. The little amp loves pedals also.

Capt

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I use the following guitars:

 

Gibson Les Paul w/ Burstbuckers

Tokai Les Paul w/ Duncan Antiquities

Gibson Les Paul Special double cutaway w/ Duncan Antiquities P-90's

Epiphone Sheraton w/ Duncan Pearly Gates bridge & '59 neck

Fender '50s style Strat w/ Duncan Antiquities

Fender '50s style Strat w/ GFS Grey bottoms

Fender '60s style Strat w/ Texas Specials

Fender '60s Players Strat w/ GFS Texas Hots

 

I mainly (95% of the time) use a Fender Twin Reverb Reissue

I do occasionally use an Allen Hot Fudge and/or an OLD Klemt BS40

I take a Crate Power Block with me to every gig to use as a back up

 

 

I have a pedal board and the order of pedals is:

 

Boss tuner

Ibanez Weeping Demon wah

Boss Blues Driver

Fulltone OCD

Boss Flanger

Boss Chorus

Boss Delay

 

I use the chorus and delay 100% of the time

I use the Blues Driver for a light overdriven sound

I use the OCD for heavier overdriven sound

Flanger & wah as needed

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Aw hell, I don't know! Can't you tell that I'm confused already?!? Tonight’s selection has been a Fender Bassman amp with an Epiphone Elite Sheraton through a Ibanez TS8 and an EH Holy Grail. That gets me some nice classic rock crunch tones and can get dirty blues and clean jazz really fast. I'll change my tune tomorrow with a different guitar and another amp. One just has to be sure that there are some glowing glass bottles under the hood!

 

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sheraton1.jpg?t=1214278724

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Boy I wish Gibson would bring the Gibson GA-5 back. I missed out on that and every time I hear one I kick myself for not picking one up when they were on sale for $299.

 

Yeah, they're great little amps. You can get them on Ebay, but not for $299.

 

I replaced the 12ax7 with a NOS JAN 5751, and it gave it a little more clean headroom and made the overdrive tones much smoother.

 

My lead guitarist was playing his Les Paul through it the other day, and I was shocked at the round, woody lead tones he was getting. Quite amazing from an 8 inch speaker.

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MY memory serves up a night where I played through a Peavey Classic 30 (tube) with my SG and Strat. Sweet tone that perfectly matched the acoustics of the stage that night. I've never quite reproduced it again. It's funny how those events happen. The right combination of room and amp and mindset causes the sound to be memorable.

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I reckon there must be some incredible amps out there, but I can only vouch for mine. It may be a bottom of the range but the sound it gives me rocks!! Vox AD15VT. I plug in my Jordin (LP copy - the best sounding guitar I have), my Epi Special, or SG400 Goth and even my el-cheapo Strat copy.

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'68 SG with P-90's into a late sixties 50 watt Marshall straight head (no master vol) with a 2 X 12 cabinet.

I played that combo for about a year and wish I had it back almost every day.

It would literally make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

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For me I have 2 combinations I prefer for the type of thing I plunk away at:

 

1) Fender Stratocaster through a 1966 Blackface Fender Super Reverb (I have a 64 Strat, but actually prefer a MIM one I have here - go figure...). Like others, I like the sound of Fender thru Fender....

 

2) A 1996 Samick/Sheraton II Epi through a Roland 201 Space Echo unit into a 1966 Blackface Fender Bassman.

 

FWIW....[-o<

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Man Svet, if I had all the choices you have with guitars and amps, it would probably take me 10 minutes before each time I played just to decide what guitar I was going to play and through what amp!

I am very green with envy right now. I would love to have that problem!

8-[

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Man Svet' date=' if I had all the choices you have with guitars and amps, it would probably take me 10 minutes before each time I played just to decide what guitar I was going to play and through what amp!

I am very green with envy right now. I would love to have that problem!

8-[

[/quote']

Hi Brad, thank you and you are correct. I do walk into my storage area and scratch my head sometimes at what to use. I am very grateful to have my issue and I know I've had some lucky turns. It is a disease though and I still look at other guitars and amps and lust for them. I guess it never ends my friend. So lets just keep enjoying and strumming along!

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I recently got a great deal on a AD30VT on the bay. I paid $189, but when it arrived it had some minor cosmetic damage on the cabinet. I emailed them about it, and they gave me a $50 refund. So I got a next-to-new one for only $139! I know it's not an all-tube amp and just a hybrid (that's all I can afford right now). But I have only owned SS amps before. This amp has given me more desire and fun in my playing.

It is incredible. The P-90 on m Epi SG Jr. sounds awesome! When I first got the Jr. I liked it, but now I LOVE it!

And of course my G400 sounds great as well. But there is something about a SS amp that takes away from a P-90 pu. All I know is, I will probably never get a SS amp again.

I was late to the party. Those of you who only play thru a SS amp need to join the party.

It really makes whatever guitar you're playing, better.

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Hi Brad, I am glad you are finding happiness in a bottle! SS amps just can't match the over tones and harmonics produced by a tube amp. There is just something magical about it! Congratulations and wait till you start having fun substituting valves and changing the tone. It's like having multiple amps in one! Who needs that digital nonsense!?

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