Devin
Well-known member
Many, many such cases
Many, many such cases
H
harddriver
Well-known member
Ampchaser will find it for you, just ask him.
ChurchHill
Well-known member
Let me start by asking some questions. What do you expect the perfect setup to do? What does it sound like? What does it accomplish?
I've been playing for a little over 40 years, too, and have also been through a silly number of amps. When I started, I really didn't have any specific sound or style in mind, I just wanted to make the music that satisfied that craving. Didn't matter that much what I was playing on or playing through, only that I was playing. My perfect setup was the first amp I got that wasn't a complete POS and it's still the standard I measure everything else against. Over the years, I've experimented with many different sounds and still enjoy doing that because it inspires me to play differently, much like I don't play the same on a Les Paul as I do on a Jackson Soloist. In the end, though, I still sound like me and that's all that really matters to me.
I'm not in the same league and not trying to imply a comparison, but for instance, EVH sounded like EVH on any rig and anyone else who played his rig didn't sound like him, at all, apparently. Or that it didn't matter what Page, Clapton, Hendrix, BB King, and many other examples, were playing or playing through. They all sounded like themselves, whether it was a Fender Champ, a Sears special, or a solid-state Lab Series. After that, it just becomes a matter or whether or not a specific guitar or amp or whatever works for you or it doesn't.
So, to answer your question, no, there's not much difference between a DSL and a Friedman, Bogner, or anything else that's basically a modified Marshall circuit. Whether or not they sound better is a matter of preference. There is some difference in feel, but again, that's a matter of preference. Everything in the rig affects the sound. Hands > speakers > amp > pickups > strings > cables > wood. To include every other variable. None of it really matters as long as you're inspired to play. Whatever inspires you the most is my idea of a perfect setup.
Simon Dorn
Well-known member
I play a stock 2203 Reissue with a Ibanez PTGate and a TS808HWV2. Even on lower volume it beats everything else.
Simon Dorn
Well-known member
I don't like that stuff either. I used to play a Marshall 1959 SLP with a Boss DS1 in the early days.
T
tjnx
Well-known member
I think if you have a really good cab you can make a lot of stuff work. The differences are small until you try to match them, then it seems there is a grand canyon between them. Digital or otherwise. But the cab is doing a lot more of the coloring than it gets credit for.
Do you have an example of the perfect tone you'd like? Nothing wrong with going with a dsl and maybe throwing a sd1 in front.
I've noticed a lot of people have passionate opinions on which amp etc, but when I actually get to hear what they're talking about it usually is not a big deal at all.
Do you have an example of the perfect tone you'd like? Nothing wrong with going with a dsl and maybe throwing a sd1 in front.
I've noticed a lot of people have passionate opinions on which amp etc, but when I actually get to hear what they're talking about it usually is not a big deal at all.
E
ElMuchoDingo
Member
I think that’s probably the most accurate statement. I think it’s turned into a quest for the next bigger better thing, the new motivation or inspiration. The focus becomes the gear not the playing.
Someone on the thread asked what tone I would be going for. I realize that’s a tough question when I think of it. That’s something that modeling helped and hurt. I could try a bunch of different “amps” but then I think I spend too much time basically wasting time.
BABMusic
Well-known member
Ampchaser will find it for you, just ask him.
We need another thread on how Eddie really got his tone. This time, it will be the real hard facts.
rsm
Well-known member
If you're looking for a plexi sound (I have a 1959HW); try the Marshall Origin 50; I had the 50 head, but sold it because I have the Origin 50C combo and the 1959HW (and other Marshalls and Marshall flavored Engl and Bogner).... and a DSL40CR combo which I like as well. The DSL has a lot more gain; the Origin does the JTM-45/100 to plexi to my ears. I don't use any dirt pedals, but occasionally an EQ pedal, for a tone change/volume boost for lead.
The trick to the Origin is similar to DSL40CR: get the master volume at 7+; I run my master volume at 8 on the Origin and on the DSL, 7 on the classic, 8 on the ultra channel; then use the power scaling (which works very well) to get it to the volume you need. Set the Tilt to the center, dial in the bass, mid, treble, presence and gain to your liking, then adjust the Tilt...IIRC, to the left of noon is normal channel, to the right is treble channel.
Origin isn't a plexi, but it sounds good, and close, to me. (don't use the amp boost either, makes the bottom flubby IMO)
Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
Almost every 80s band I see now has 2000s as back lines
saxxamafone
Well-known member
The more amps you play over more years, the more you realise there’s heaps that sound very similar to each other
Especially modern high gain
Especially modern high gain
BenoA
Well-known member
@ElMuchoDingo You are not alone. I sound the same, in whatever I plugged in.
EGW-Eric
Member
I like some things about a lot of amps, which is why digital makes the most sense for me. Back in the day, I used a combination of 2204s and Carvin X100Bs as a platform through 1960A cabs. Amazing. Then later on I moved to a 9100 power amp and went through a million preamps trying to chase what I used to have with varying degrees of success. But since moving to Fractal like 14 years ago or something, I don't even know, I can get some of everything again. Add to that some amazing DAW plugins and IRs (I work with one of the OG big names as a dev) and if I want a Lone Star today and a HBE tomorrow, no sweat. 'Accuracy' is meaningless to me, it's what it brings to my ears and fingers that's most important.
Shask
Well-known member
I also think the longer you play, the more you dial in every amp to sound the same. You always land on "your" tone.
Shask
Well-known member
Must be why I buy a new Synergy module every time I can't play a song
EGW-Eric
Member
Where I find the differences between high gain amps is in the low mids and the reactive right-hand feel at lower gain settings. By lower gain I mean tight thrash vs HM2 levels of noise. This is that last 10% for me that allows me to make clear choices in what I like.
DrewJD82
Well-known member
That’s the point where I’d say, “Ok, I’ve had all the toys I believed could get me there and that didn’t work, so now I have to look into the non-gear areas”. At some point the playing and the tone will meet up somewhere, you have the tone ideas in your head you want to aim for but that doesn’t always mean the fingers are going to navigate it the way you need them to in order to be satisfied with the tone.
Eric Johnson calls it ‘navigating the medium’; sometimes we’re trying to force a tone to feel pleasing to play and we’re not realizing we’re removing the thing about the tone we love in the process. That’s especially the case with those older Marshall circuits when you start caking on distortion and compression, at some point they stop snarling like the Marshall tone we love, though they start sustaining more. Finding that happy medium between laying into the strings and the amp taking over from there can be tricky because there’s a million variations on how to do it, especially when you start tossing boosts in the mix.
The flip side to this is that when you make your fingers more accountable for your tone than your gear, you tend to stop giving a shit what your playing through and how it sounds because you know even if your ears aren’t hearing the tone you want to hear, it’s still going to sound like you to the audience because the fingers are doing the heavy lifting.
Eric Johnson calls it ‘navigating the medium’; sometimes we’re trying to force a tone to feel pleasing to play and we’re not realizing we’re removing the thing about the tone we love in the process. That’s especially the case with those older Marshall circuits when you start caking on distortion and compression, at some point they stop snarling like the Marshall tone we love, though they start sustaining more. Finding that happy medium between laying into the strings and the amp taking over from there can be tricky because there’s a million variations on how to do it, especially when you start tossing boosts in the mix.
The flip side to this is that when you make your fingers more accountable for your tone than your gear, you tend to stop giving a shit what your playing through and how it sounds because you know even if your ears aren’t hearing the tone you want to hear, it’s still going to sound like you to the audience because the fingers are doing the heavy lifting.
R
Racerxrated
Well-known member
A DSL or JVM may get you 80% of the tone a good JMP 2203 gets. Maybe that's good enough for you, or others.
But the remaining 20% is a BIG difference to me. So I'll sell/pass on the DSL/JVM and step up to the JMP 2203 and be happier. Same with the 68/69 Plexi. It was 4K, not cheap by any standard. A resissue can get close for half the price. But close isn't good enough for me.
But, that's me. You do you. We all find happiness in our own way.
Go get yours.
But the remaining 20% is a BIG difference to me. So I'll sell/pass on the DSL/JVM and step up to the JMP 2203 and be happier. Same with the 68/69 Plexi. It was 4K, not cheap by any standard. A resissue can get close for half the price. But close isn't good enough for me.
But, that's me. You do you. We all find happiness in our own way.
Go get yours.
H
harddriver
Well-known member
Looks like you've been through some of the best amps on the market. If none of those gave you the sound you like other than a plexi then you are plexi guy so then you just need to control the volume. That being said.... it is said the Suhr MKII master volume control is very good and you always have the option to use a good attenuator to shave off -8DB of volume or so in conjunction with the master to get the volume control you desire yet retain great tone. FWIW the Friedman Plex has the same PPIMV that the MKII Suhr uses.
Since you liked the Cameron Atomica the Ceriatone Molecular is said to be a 100% clone.
This vid is by a RT member.
japetus
Well-known member
I only said it because I felt it myself before lol
