One Song, 33 Amps! (amp collection tour/walkthrough added!)

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Thanks guys!

Time for the next episode!

This one is all about the Marshall DSL20HR (20 watt Marshall DSL head). This is most likely the most affordable amp in my collection, but does that mean it's bad? Heck no, it's a great little amp in my opinion! Sure, it has it's own tone and you can't compare it to something like a Plexi or 2203 but it's great in its own right.

The tones of the more recent DSLs definitely is a bit more modern sounding than something like a JCM 800 or a 1959 SPL. The clean tones are very bright and the gain tones have plenty of gain on tap. The saturation is pretty thich while still retaining a very good upper-mid cut. So these amps really cut through a mix like a knife! It's also worth pointing out that this small amp has EL34s. A lot of people give amps like the MT15 credit for having the larger powertubes, but we shouldn't forget that this amp was already around!

I think the amp speaks for itself... So here's the demo, would like to know what you guys think (objectively) about the tone. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think it does a good job at what it's supposed to do, right?

 
surprised...but not surprised as i've always liked the DSL's.... but yea it sounded really good to my ears. a little "thinner" feeling (maybe?) than the mesa-rec and/or JVM... but still. that little amp has some good bones about it.

what's up next Jon!?
 
Time for a new episode!

This new one is all about this little modern amp by PRS; the MT15 Mark Tremonti signature head! It's a relatively new amp but it's a very popular amp and for good reasons. It's one of the few lunchbox amps that has big 6L6 powertubes and that definitely is something that a lot of people seem to appreciate. The cleans are nice (a little bit on the sterile side, so very clean with lots of headroom) and the lead channel is great for rock, heavy rock and metal. The only thing that this amp 'lacks' for versatility is a good low-gain crunch tone. You can kinda get in the ballpark with the lead channel but it will never be perfect in that regard (for my personal style that is).

It's a solid amp with plenty of power, the tones are good, it looks cool, what's not to love? Here's the video. How well will the amp perfom in the 'One Song, One Amp' setting? Let's find out:

 
Guitar into Axe Fx III (for DI recording and a pre-gate) - the amps are in the loop of the Axe Fx - the amp speaker outputs are going into a Fractal LB2 loadbox - IRs are processed in the Axe Fx as well as a post-gate for the heavy tones, just to remove some hiss. Some amps have this worse than others.

The post effects like the subtle reverbs are done in my daw with Helix Native. For the amps with built in reverb I use those instead of the plugin, only for the clean tones.
 
Wow. OK. Thanks. That's intense. Well you definitely know how to get good tones.


If you get bored :LOL: :LOL: (yeah right) I would love you forever if you grabbed all the 'metal' portions of these (or 30 seconds of each) and strung them all together back to back.


Yeah - those MT15s are pretty amazing.
 
When all the separate tones are done I'm going to make a compilation with all of the amps along with some timecodes. So you'll be able to skip to all the desired sections when that's done.
 
And here's the next one: the EVH 5150 III 50W EL34!

This amp certainly is popular and for good reasons! It's a killer amp, designed by a great guitarist! (RIP EVH!)

I'm not a huge fan of the clean tones myself because they are very very clean with a lot of headroom. I personally prefer cleans that are a little bit more compressed/saturated but I guess a lot of people do like these types of cleans. Definitely not bad, just a certain sound that you have to gell with.

The blue channel is somewhat controversial because it's not as tight and aggressive as the red channel. I've said this before but I think that the blue channel is great BECAUSE of that! It gives the amp way more versatility and it gives the player a more vintage sounding alternative to the modern and blistering red channel. So the red channel is amazing for (heavy) rock and metal but the blue channel is great for classic rock and even more modern rock as well. I would say, let's give the blue channel a chance folks!

Tight high gain tones are cool, but sometimes I think people tend to obsess too much over tightness of tones. A little bit of fatness and looseness can make guitars sound huge in a mix, and more tube-y too imho. Just my 2 cents! Sure, I like tight tones as well but I have just as much love for 'rounder' tones too! :)

Alrighty, here's the episode:

 
Hey everyone!

I'm going to try to release the episodes more frequently now so hopefully we can get closer to the final epic 'One Song, 33 Amps!' compilation sooner! ;)

This next episode is all about the Wangs HD-15 amp. It's a cool Chinese boutique amplifier with some unique tones that are (loosely) based on a Bogner Shiva and a Soldano for the high-gain tones. For more information about this amp I would recommend checking out the full review that I did recently. Of course in this next video there is no talk, just tones! I hope you like it:



I think it's a very cool amp! The only amp in my collection with 6V6 tubes. I hope I can try more Wangs amps in the future.... cough*2204*cough haha!
 
As we approach the release of the final 6.5 hour long 'One Song, 33 Amps!' video release, I'll start releasing these seperate amp demos more frequently.

So this one is all about the Mesa Boogie Mark 5 Thirty-Five. This is such a cool amp! Certainly not as easy to dial in as some of the other amps but very rewarding once you get the tones just right. With it's 3 modes per channel and 2 channels this amp is quite versatile! Even the first channel alone can do anything from super clean all the way up to high gain crunch. The second channel is just amazing for that classic Boogie Mark sound. The IIC+ isn't always what I expect it to be, but the Xtreme mode and Mark IV modes are just amazing for high-gain.

Overall a super good amp imho. This demo will merely showcase a little bit of what the amp is capable of.

 
timeghost said:
You are THE MAN! Love your videos!
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Thanks!

And here's the next one!

This one features the discontinued Orange Jim Root Terror signature head. This amp was based on the Rockerverb. So it's basically a tiny 15w Rockerverb head (only the dirty channel). It sounds really good actually! For high gain tones this is one of my favorite Orange lunchbox amps. The clean and crunch tones are good too! Check it out:

 
Ah, the Marshall JCM 800 Studio or SC20H (Studio Classic)! Such a cool amplifier with that real iconic sound imho. To all the purists: I know, it's not the same as the 100w amps etc but it has some serious tones (at reasonable levels). It's nice that you don't have to crank it SUPER loud in order to get the EL34's cooking, so it's much easier to find a fat sweetspot where the power tubes are going into saturation. Anyway, super amp, always really enjoy playing through it!

 
Today we're looking at the wonderful Laney Ironheart IRT60H 60 watt head!

I really love this amp for a bunch of reasons. The tone is great and sits in the mix very firmly, the tonal shaping options are very useful (such as the push-pull EQ and boost etc.) and it also looks really cool with the red glow! :)

Check it out:

 
The amp in today's episode ain't no Mesa Badlander, but it's still a BADASS! This is my 3 2000's 3 channel Dual Rectifier. I love this amp a lot as it sounds huge and raw in a good way. See, that's what I like about Recto's, they make your guitar sound bigger. That does mean that the low-end is more loose and 'flubby' than something like a Marshall, but I like how that fills out the mix in a BIG way. I still would love to try a Badlander, I'm sure I could get some great tones out of it, but until then I'll enjoy my Dual Rectifier just fine! Even without a boost for the most part. Here's the episode:

 
We're getting closer to the final 33 amps compilation, I hope there are still people along for the ride :)

So this episode focuses on the Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40. It's a 40w 4 channel amp with a lot of built-in features such as a boost (which is independently voiced for each channel), built-in effects like reverb, delay, modulation etc, a power-soak and power scaling and the list goes on... I really like this amp. It can do a lot but it certainly has it's own voice. A tone that stands tall in a mix! Nice and present! Check it out:

 
Alex_S said:
What an epic task and thread. Super cool!! Thanks so much for that effort!
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Thank you!!

Here's the next episode: this one features the Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 50, a very cool UK made Marshall with a lot of character and some great tonal options. Maybe these amps weren't so popular back in the day, I'm not sure, but I know that a lot of people like these amps nowadays, and I'm one of them! The high-gain tones on this amp aren't super modern and tight but they have a nice thick saturation with plenty of gain. A boost pedal can certainly turn these amps into metal monsters. The clean tones are good albeit a little bright, nothing that can't be fixed with some eq. The crunch tones are really nice on this amp as well! I never use the scooped tone shift voicing but the deep control certainly is useful. Here's the episode, enjoy:

 
Today I'm featuring a very good amp by ENGL; the Fireball 100!

This 100w 6L6 amp has some serious girth, filth and clarity! The clean tones are really chimey/glassy which I really like and you can push the clean channel up to a nice crunch. The high-gain tones in this amp are to die for. Quite tight and gnarly but with plenty of bottom-end and saturation. Check it out:

 
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