New amp! Too many options!

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dice999

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Hey Guys,

I'm new to this forum but I thought I might try and scope the internet for some opinions on amps. I'm looking to get a new amp, head and cab. I've been playing on the axe fx for the past 5 years or so and I'm really starting to miss good tube tone. I have a lot of different options in my head, but since none of my local guitar shops has anything of any worth I have to go through video after video on youtube, and all of it is really starting to mush together in my head. I was just wondering if anybody has any opinion on which route I should take.

Here are my potential amps: (any suggestions to others is greatly appreciated as well!)
Friedman Small Box
Friedman BE100
Mesa Jp-2c
Mesa LoneStar (used as pedal platform)
Suhr Pt-100
Mesa Boogie Mark V (maybe V25 for EL84 option)

I really love nice smooth buttery lead tones, which leads me more towards el34, or el84s but I also love the cleans of 6l6. It's such a dilemma. Bottom line is I love early 90s Petrucci tone, as well as mid to late 90s Shawn Lane, and Andy Timmons always sounds wonderful.

Any help or suggestions would be wonderful, I'm struggling to make up my mind and it has been killing me for weeks.

Thanks
 
If you dig Petrucci tone then I'd go for the JP2C. Or maybe whatever your favorite tone is on your Axe? Go for the real deal. So many choices....so little time! Good luck!
 
dice999":1pnr7ydp said:
Hey Guys,

I'm new to this forum but I thought I might try and scope the internet for some opinions on amps. I'm looking to get a new amp, head and cab. I've been playing on the axe fx for the past 5 years or so and I'm really starting to miss good tube tone. I have a lot of different options in my head, but since none of my local guitar shops has anything of any worth I have to go through video after video on youtube, and all of it is really starting to mush together in my head. I was just wondering if anybody has any opinion on which route I should take.

Here are my potential amps: (any suggestions to others is greatly appreciated as well!)
Friedman Small Box
Friedman BE100
Mesa Jp-2c
Mesa LoneStar (used as pedal platform)
Suhr Pt-100
Mesa Boogie Mark V (maybe V25 for EL84 option)

I really love nice smooth buttery lead tones, which leads me more towards el34, or el84s but I also love the cleans of 6l6. It's such a dilemma. Bottom line is I love early 90s Petrucci tone, as well as mid to late 90s Shawn Lane, and Andy Timmons always sounds wonderful.

Any help or suggestions would be wonderful, I'm struggling to make up my mind and it has been killing me for weeks.

Thanks
Click to expand...
You are looking for a Good Mesa Boogie mark iiC+ amp Try a MB Jp2c, Mark V or Mark IVb
 
Mesa amps have wonderful clean channels, my only issue is getting a nice lead sound out of them, the 6L6 always sounds too harsh to me, it doesn't have a nice smooth rounded nature to it, if that makes sense. Maybe if I put a drive pedal in front it might help. I'm really looking for a nice warm, easy to listen to amp, sort of like eric johnson lead tone, but maybe with a little more definition to the notes. I love Andy Timmons' tone and I know that he gets his sound out of Lonestar as a pedal platform, but I wasn't sure if his tone really all comes from his hands or not.
 
Check out the Landry LS100 G3 as well. Great cleans and a wide range on the dirt side. Leads can be smoothed out with the treble switch in the darkest setting and the presence rolled back and there is good crunch available as well.
 
dice999":3ffog8u6 said:
Mesa amps have wonderful clean channels, my only issue is getting a nice lead sound out of them, the 6L6 always sounds too harsh to me, it doesn't have a nice smooth rounded nature to it, if that makes sense. Maybe if I put a drive pedal in front it might help. I'm really looking for a nice warm, easy to listen to amp, sort of like eric johnson lead tone, but maybe with a little more definition to the notes. I love Andy Timmons' tone and I know that he gets his sound out of Lonestar as a pedal platform, but I wasn't sure if his tone really all comes from his hands or not.
Click to expand...

Actually, from what you describe a Lonestar would be right on the money. Plus you can put el34's in them.
 
I have got to say, I love the Mesa Mark amps and had a Lonestar that had one of the nicest lead tones I ever heard in the list of amps I've actually owned. But last week I went to The Music Zoo and played a Friedman BE100 for about 20 minutes. The first Friedman I'd ever played. That amp was amazing to me. I could just sit and play that amp forever. No pedals, just straight in. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd be selling shit to get one. It was running through an Orange 4x12. Just thick, tight gain.
 
I'd go with a handwired friedman of a mesa any day if i had the choice. but, theres still the issue, of the metal...

Friedman JJ
 
Hmm... I'd check out Landry honestly. I've had a few of those amps and the Landry did it for me.
 
I hear what your saying about 6L6's- I picked up a Friedman BE 100 relatively cheap recently and love it. No pedals....but it doesn't do everything and I still have my Lucky 13 which is not really high gain but does things with a little tube screaming that the BE doesn't do; similar but yet different and the clean channel on that Lucky is second to none. Not familiar with the Mesa stuff but a lot of the guys here have good advice so you might want to try out one of those if your budget dictates it. They seem to be well made and have a lot of features to avoid having multiple heads LOL! Good Luck!
 
justinashouri":36z4rzih said:
I'd go with a handwired friedman of a mesa any day if i had the choice. but, theres still the issue, of the metal...

Friedman JJ
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Are they handwired? I thought PCB...same as Mesa..
 
Racerxrated":nvwyof0s said:
justinashouri":nvwyof0s said:
I'd go with a handwired friedman of a mesa any day if i had the choice. but, theres still the issue, of the metal...

Friedman JJ
Click to expand...
Are they handwired? I thought PCB...same as Mesa..
Click to expand...
serious? your joking I'm sure, ?
 
Beandust":m0af82t7 said:
Racerxrated":m0af82t7 said:
justinashouri":m0af82t7 said:
I'd go with a handwired friedman of a mesa any day if i had the choice. but, theres still the issue, of the metal...

Friedman JJ
Click to expand...
Are they handwired? I thought PCB...same as Mesa..
Click to expand...
serious? your joking I'm sure, ?
Click to expand...
Haha no I'm not. There was a thread a while back where an accusation(tongue in cheek) about Friedman boards being populated overseas. That would imply that these amps are PCB, like Mesa. Hand populated maybe, but when I read hand wired I define that with point to point. I think Soldano is the one of the few that are actually hand wired PTP amps. I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure Friedman and Mesa amps have PCB in them. And hand populated here in the USA. But not PTP.
 
And there's nothing wrong with hand populated PCB amps.
 
In terms of the friedman amps, I've played a smallbox before and it sounded wonderful, but I know that the BE is the more expensive flagship model, what do people think on the differences between the two? I know the BE has a little more gain. In terms of price, I'm really more focused on getting the right fit, price, although they are certainly not cheap, comes second on my list.
 
My only point here is that I believe both Friedman and Mesa use the same type of construction techniques between them, and there's no advantage in build quality between the two. Its just a matter of which tone you want.
 
dice999":39n6f8cy said:
In terms of the friedman amps, I've played a smallbox before and it sounded wonderful, but I know that the BE is the more expensive flagship model, what do people think on the differences between the two? I know the BE has a little more gain. In terms of price, I'm really more focused on getting the right fit, price, although they are certainly not cheap, comes second on my list.
Click to expand...
From what I've read, the small box is more Marshall while the BE has its own more modern thing going on..still Marshally though. Just not as much as the small box.
 
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