Amp Advice Wanted

[4406cuda]

I play in a cover band and I need 4 basic sounds: Clean, Slight Break Up, Medium Gain, Singing Sustaining Lead

I am considering two options, 3 or 4 channel tube amp or a clean amp and use pedals to get the various sounds.

I do not want or need anything too loud, most clubs these days want the bands to play at a lower volume so the bartenders can hear what drinks the patrons are ordering.

I have recently owned a JSX, Mark V 90 Watt Head, Ceriatone Chupacabra, and I currently own a EVH III 50 and 100 Watt Head.

The EVH 100 watt is too big and loud for small gigs. The EVH 50 Watt might work if I set up one channel for a clean-clean sound, but I would like to consider other options.

I do not want to spend more than around $1,500 and I am open to combo's and heads?

What do you all recommend for either a multi-channel or an amp that can be a clean foundation for pedals for my requirements.

 

[snowdog]

Can always turn down the volume of your guitar for 2 of those sounds.

 

[Findthetone1]

How clean do you need your clean to be? The Freidman PT and a good OD pedal and the guitar volume knob can cover all that. It's currently what I'm using and am having more fun with a single channel amp than I ever thought I would.

 

[zewango]

When I was using the EVH 50, I went 4CM Method with a Digitech GSP 1101.
Used the GSP for the clean sound all controlled by the MIDI footswitch. Had lots of tonal options.

 

[mbman]

I did the single channel amp/pedals thing for a little over a year and ended up going back to a four channel amp. I get more sounds out of it sometimes by rolling back the guitar volume.

Martin

 

[4406cuda]

How clean do you need your clean to be? The Freidman PT and a good OD pedal and the guitar volume knob can cover all that. It's currently what I'm using and am having more fun with a single channel amp than I ever thought I would.

We cover songs like, Pretenders Brass in Pocket

Fender or Vox cleans

 

[4406cuda]

When I was using the EVH 50, I went 4CM Method with a Digitech GSP 1101.
Used the GSP for the clean sound all controlled by the MIDI footswitch. Had lots of tonal options.

I have thinking about that option as well with a Pod 500x

 

[Findthetone1]

How clean do you need your clean to be? The Freidman PT and a good OD pedal and the guitar volume knob can cover all that. It's currently what I'm using and am having more fun with a single channel amp than I ever thought I would.

We cover songs like, Pretenders Brass in Pocket

Fender or Vox cleans

Gotcha. In that case, DRRI and some pedals can take you anywhere and I often wonder why I'm not doing that. Probably because I'm not much of a combo guy.
BTW, cudos for doing Brass in Pocket. Don't think I've ever heard it covered.

 

[4406cuda]

How clean do you need your clean to be? The Freidman PT and a good OD pedal and the guitar volume knob can cover all that. It's currently what I'm using and am having more fun with a single channel amp than I ever thought I would.

We cover songs like, Pretenders Brass in Pocket

Fender or Vox cleans

Gotcha. In that case, DRRI and some pedals can take you anywhere and I often wonder why I'm not doing that. Probably because I'm not much of a combo guy.
BTW, cudos for doing Brass in Pocket. Don't think I've ever heard it covered.

I noticed they released a DRRI head.

I also read, clipping the bright cap allows the amp to take pedals better.

 

[HilltopExplosion]

Is an attenuator out of the question? I use my RockCrusher with my evh 100 watt and it's fine miced. They also have a new one out that has a speaker emulator... but I just watched the videos..

 

[Findthetone1]

How clean do you need your clean to be? The Freidman PT and a good OD pedal and the guitar volume knob can cover all that. It's currently what I'm using and am having more fun with a single channel amp than I ever thought I would.

We cover songs like, Pretenders Brass in Pocket

Fender or Vox cleans

Gotcha. In that case, DRRI and some pedals can take you anywhere and I often wonder why I'm not doing that. Probably because I'm not much of a combo guy.
BTW, cudos for doing Brass in Pocket. Don't think I've ever heard it covered.

I noticed they released a DRRI head.

I also read, clipping the bright cap allows the amp to take pedals better.

That's pretty cool. I'll look into that. Although it doesn't have a loop and I seem to prefer my modulation effects through one. Pluse I like to run an eq in a loop to tighten things up a bit.

 

[CaseyCor]

If you want to go with a Fender combo + pedals, the Hot Rod/Deville models are a good choice. They've got a nice clean channel that takes pedals really well, and the edge of breakup tones are pretty cool too. It's got a loop for your modulation and delays. You could go with a blackface DR, or my favorite Fender amp, the VibroVerb. Both of those are bigger and louder than a Hot Rod though.

Check out this thread here on RT about the Traynor YGM-3. It's a small, cheap combo amp with great Fender like cleans and a Marshall-like lead channel. I've played through one before, and really enjoyed it. I don't recall if it has a loop or not though. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=172679

You also might be interested in Mesa's Express series. The 5:25 and 5:50 amps are killer sounding and portable. It's a 2 channel, 4 mode amp with an onboard EQ, reverb, and a loop. The clean channel, when set to clean mode, is the same circuit as the Lonestar series. The crunch mode on Channel 1 can give you some really nice edge of breakup to blues/early rock gain sounds. Channel 2 adds in more gain, especially when combined with the EQ. Would be great to use as your gain-ey rhythm sound. Channel 2 in "Burn" mode kicks the gain up further, into metal territory. The amp has Mesa's Multi-Watt power scaling, so you can take it down from 25 to 15, or even 5 watts. It sounds great at low volumes on any of those wattage settings. Multi-Watt allows you to set the power rating for each channel individually. I would set the clean channel up sparkly clean in the 25 watt setting for extra headroom, and use channel 2 as your main rhythm sound at 15 or 5 watts. Flavor with your boost/OD of choice, and you're good to go

The 5:25 is EL84 based, while the 5:50 has a 6L6 power section. I would choose which one you want based on your tube preference. The 5:50 can be power scaled down to 25 or 5 watts.

Skip to around 16 minutes into this video. Not too bad of a demonstration of what this portable powerhouse can do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz3gHJ73P48

And here's another demo you might dig. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-ny5nRZz0A

 

[guitarplayer]

 

[CaseyCor]

That's what I'm talking about! Cool rig. Those Bogner pedals just look so...inviting. I just want to tinker with one.

What's your take on the differences between the two, if I may ask?

 

[guitarplayer]

That's what I'm talking about! Cool rig. Those Bogner pedals just look so...inviting. I just want to tinker with one.

What's your take on the differences between the two, if I may ask?

Prior to the Bogner pedals....I was searching. Loved the thick muscular clean tone of the HRDLX but never quite satisfied with any pedal tone for overdrive. Now, I'm still stunned with these pedals. Sold off a Single Rect, Classic 50, Marshall JMP. All were wonderful amps but seemed to do one thing great and lacked in another area. I love simplicity.

The Blue is great, light to medium gain with lots of knobs to mess with. The Red....oh the Red. Full out ROCK!

If I ever got another rig, it would probably be a Bogner Shiva. But this is so great at a fraction of the cost.

 

[CaseyCor]

Very cool. Sounds like a lot of fun. I haven't had an amp in 3 1/2 years now. I just can't afford it. I play my Breedlove acoustic most of the time, and plug one of my electrics into Bias Pro when I want amp sounds. I'd really like to have an amp again, but I need something small, quiet, and versatile. A rig like yours seems like the best way to go. Ideally I would get an Axe-FX or the new Fractal floorboard unit, but it's far too expensive.

 

[4406cuda]

That's what I'm talking about! Cool rig. Those Bogner pedals just look so...inviting. I just want to tinker with one.

What's your take on the differences between the two, if I may ask?

Prior to the Bogner pedals....I was searching. Loved the thick muscular clean tone of the HRDLX but never quite satisfied with any pedal tone for overdrive. Now, I'm still stunned with these pedals. Sold off a Single Rect, Classic 50, Marshall JMP. All were wonderful amps but seemed to do one thing great and lacked in another area. I love simplicity.

The Blue is great, light to medium gain with lots of knobs to mess with. The Red....oh the Red. Full out ROCK!

If I ever got another rig, it would probably be a Bogner Shiva. But this is so great at a fraction of the cost.

I have been considering the Bogner Shiva

 

[CaseyCor]

Another option worth considering is a modeler. You can get an Axe-FX XL used, or look into the new Fractal floorboard coming out soon. You might go over budget if you want a power amp or a FRFR Monitor though.

The new Line 6 Helix is out now too. I haven't heard much about it since it was released though. It certainly does look nice.

 

[Chris6870]

I would think the Mark V would have been perfect for that.Why did you sell it?

 

[4406cuda]

At that time I had the Mark V for six years and all three channels sounded great when I had the master up around noon. The clean and crunch were great, channel three really needed to be turned up to sound the way I liked it.

I always felt like I was adjusting the knobs. I had great tubes in there and played through a couple Bogner cabs. When I got the EVH 5150 III 50 watt, there was that instant satisfaction. It was easy to play and just sounds good. But it is not as versatile as the Mark V. I traded the Mark V for a EVH 5150 III 100 watt. It is a great amp, but it is large and really needs to be turned up.

The band I recently joined does not play loud and plays many genres of music.

I am thinking a Bogner Shiva might be perfect.