"Clean" combo amp with pedals?

[badger71]

I've known a few guys who ran the Groove Tubes Solo-45 combo with a pedal board. I guess Aspen designed that particular amp with the purpose of running pedals up front. Ironically, and IIRC, Scott Peterson from TGP used to use that rig with alot of success.

 

[Copperhead]

There's a guy selling a Chadwick combo, single channel 2x12. They have phenomenal cleans and really love pedals. I wish I could have bought the thing, it may be still around.

 

[EvilBatman]

Is there any way you could rent one from a local store or maybe buy from Musician's Friend or Guitar Center, try it at rehersal and then return it if you don't dig it?

 

[blackba]

Fenders and HiWatt amps are the classic 'nice' pedal amps.

Have you thought of just getting an old fender silverface pro or vibrolux reverbs? They take pedals well, but you probably won't like them with the plank cranker as the mids are scouped BF and SF fenders in general, that is why the tubescreamer works with them.

If you go with a Vox AC30CC again, I would do some mods to it like removing the bright cap on the TB channel to make it more pedal friendly.

I think a bassman 410LTD would be a pretty good choice.

 

[White_Van]

the JC-120 really likes pedals, you may want to look into that.

 

[bill]

My setup is listed in my signature. I have a 16 X 32 pedaltrain loaded up with tons of goodies as you can see. My SD-1 is in the mail as I write. My old 59 Guild I set at 3 on the vol and do a real big church meeting room with around 800 people on any given meeting. I really hit that old amp hard with with all those pedals and there is some hiss due to the chain and all the old caps in the amp. I put 60% gain tubes in the preamp slots and it just sings for me. The very best setup I ever had. Keep in mine my style is blues country and rock not metal so I can't comment on that style. My cabinet is open back with a changed out 80 watt speaker instead of the 20 watt that it came with. I think my amp does distort when I am pushing it and I get useable feedback without too much trouble. Its super light I can lift the whole amp with three fingers. My pedalboard is kinda big but I don't move it very often. I gig with a single coil and a humbucker style guitar and use the VOS to boost the Fender. I had trouble getting the cleans loud enough without breaking up but my modified GE-7 and HBE CPR fixed that issue. Distortion was never an issue but loud cleans took a while to work out. It may not be loud enough for some band situations at 20 watts but a jump to a 45 watt or so would solve that. I always mike my cabinet by the way. Anyway I hope that helps. PS I saw Fargen was selling an amp that does just what you want. It was made in conjunction with Menatone the pedal guy. Check out the Fargen at his website.

 

[SFW]

What about a Rivera Suprema 55? Closed back 1x12 combo. Great fenderesq cleans and some good old marchall roar on the lead channel. They can be had for under a grand on the bay.

 

[bill]

My son has one of the new twins and its pretty loud. I like the 20 watt myself like a deluxe but it may not be loud enough. Most stores have both to try.

 

[ejecta]

The amps I have played that were absolute pedal whores were several Dr. Z amps. Used those amps are great deals.

 

[SFW]

Yeah, if you can find one, deffinately check it out. It's a ported closed back 1x12 that sounds like a halfstack. I owned one a few years ago, and still kick myself for getting rid of it! Great amp, and surprisingly versital.

 

[Gitfiddler]

have you considered a tonelab instead of individual pedals?

 

[SFW]

Then of course, there is the AC30.

 

[bill]

I never owned a Marshal or even messed with one that much so I can't say much along those lines. My setup does all the tones/sounds you mentioned as good as I have ever heard. If I could do better I would just do it. I spend all my extra money on guitars for the most part I got the amp thing covered. The 20 watt single 12 is plenty for me and all of the tones you mentioned in your post. If you don't need clean then a big part of the problem goes away. I always like the sound of a twin but they are heavy and really loud not that loud is bad. My son does the twin with a tube screamer and a sparkle drive. I think the 2 x 12 speaker thing could be good it does make it bigger but lots of great players have done the single 12 with success. I think Santana use a single 12 or used to. Try different setups and see what works for you.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

But I am definitely liking the idea of a more portable rig....

Anyway, I'm thinking seriously about trying a Fender Bassman 4x10" combo....

Thoughts on that idea?

Yeah...from past experience it will be pretty close to moving a 4x12 around, except heavier because of the guts....

 

[mkalei]

Who's had success with doing this? I know it's nothing new, but it is to me! I'm looking to go under $1,000 for my next amp and there's a chance it will be my main gigging amp for several months or longer. I will have the new amp (whatever it is) and my Crate PowerBlock for backup.

I'm not 100% sold on combo amps, because of the open back, increased mids, lack of low end punch, etc... But I am definitely liking the idea of a more portable rig. I once owned a Line 6 Flextone II 1x12" combo that was surprisingly KICK ASS! It had low end beef and sounded really, really good, so I know it can be done. Seems like my Vox AC30CC2 was pretty thick as well, so there's an option (run it clean with pedals.)

Anyway, I'm thinking seriously about trying a Fender Bassman 4x10" combo on a clean setting with my ToneBone Classic for distortion, Fulltone OCD for mid gain distortion, and Plank Cranker for OD. Thoughts on that idea?

Any other amps I should really be looking at? Does the Fender Twin have low end or no?

Chris, imo, the open back cabs sound better for cleans and mild overdrive tones so don't shy away from that. A 2x12 open back combo (or 4x10) with the right pedals is definately a great set up. I use a 1x12 22w combo set clean, an OCD for mild overdrive and an MI Audio Crunchbox for Distortion tones. BUT, the 1st pedal in the chain is the Duncan pickup booster. With the OD pedals set a little less intense and the pickup booster before them, it adds a very slight volume boost but punishes the input section of the pedal just like slamming the front end of an amp thats set for overdrive/distortion. It adds alot of versatility to the set up.
I wouldn't use this set up in a band doing Priest and Whitesnake covers (a UL would be for that!!!), but doing Tom Petty, Van Morrison, and Bob Seager covers - it's ideal.

Good luck

 

[Axisman]

How about the traynor ycv50 blue. Good clean, very marshallesque dirt channel with built in boost in a 1X12 combo. I think MF sells the new for around 800 but can be had used for 3-400.

J.D.

 

[Gainfreak]

Have you ever heard John Perry's Jeckyl and Hyde Demo? It was done with a fender amp set on clean and the J&H pedal and a delay! Sounded killer!!

 

[orangekick]

I've used an Epiphone Valve Standard combo with a cab and pedals. It was actually a really good sound.

 

[tweed]

Have you ever heard John Perry's Jeckyl and Hyde Demo? It was done with a fender amp set on clean and the J&H pedal and a delay! Sounded killer!!

+1

I have a '95 ir '96 tweed fender blues deluxe, 1x12 40w that i used for years. Threw all sorts of pedals at it and it was a killer setup. New I think I cost me 5 bills. It's loud enough on its own to have club owners yell in your face to turn it down in the middle of songs. Dont' ask me how I know that.

 

[tweed]

+1

I have a '95 ir '96 tweed fender blues deluxe, 1x12 40w that i used for years. Threw all sorts of pedals at it and it was a killer setup. New I think I cost me 5 bills. It's loud enough on its own to have club owners yell in your face to turn it down in the middle of songs. Dont' ask me how I know that.

Is that amp really just a normal HotRod with minor tweaks for less gain and maybe a slightly different voicing? Those are pretty cool amps, huh? Did you use the amp distortion at all? I absolutely hate the regular HotRod distortion, but the clean seems killer.

Im not a fan of the amps distortion although im getting read to dig into with a soldering iron and change that . The cleans are killer. This model came out prior to the HotRod series so im not sure what they changed other than the gain. I know that its not that heavy to carry around, sounds good and has plenty of balls. Another you might look at is the Peavey classic 30. The peavey is also a killer little gigging amp with plenty of attitude.