What is the most rippin but dynamic modern rock amp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter midnightlaundry
  • Start date Start date
midnightlaundry

midnightlaundry

Well-known member
It should be uncompressed and clean up with a roll back, but still have modern levels of distortion.

Does it exist?
 
Uncompressed, with modern levels of distortion. Wat.

The closest you'd get I guess is a Fryette? They feel pretty dry and hard, no?
 
What's your reference for "modern levels of distortion"? That's a broad term, but generally speaking, at some point you'll have to give up a bit in one area in favor of the other; the more gain you add, the more compression you'll get.

A Fortin Cali mod without the clipping diodes engaged would possibly get you there. You'd likely need some hotter pickups (not too hot, though) or a boost to get that extra kick. I'd actually lean towards using a boost because you could use less amp gain and use lower output pickups, so you'll be able to get it to clean up once you turn off the boost. With the diodes engaged you'd definitely have all the modern gain you'd want, but it would also be a little more compressed and you'd sacrifice some ability to clean up. Whether or not it would clean up enough or is still dynamic enough for your tastes I don't know. Also, don't discount the effect of the pickups in what you're trying to achieve here - they play just as big a role. If you have a single coil in the neck or have a splittable a neck humbucker, you'll have a much easier time cleaning up with the volume.
 
Maybe I'll get panned for this, but I was pretty impressed with how uncompressed and dynamic the Mesa Recto can be, and the Recto obviously can get to modern gain levels. Just keep the gain to with sane levels and don't boost. Cleans up well with light pick attack and rolling back the guitar's volume; responds really well to the dynamics of varying pick attack. I think a lot of the "flubby" complaints about the Recto are due to the fact that it has a lot of preamp gain available yet is very uncompressed. It cleans up better than the last few high gain amps I've had, although some of those were known to be very compressed (SLO, VH4 off the top of my head).
 
^Recto has dynamics with that approach, but still yields a good amount of compression to my ears. Agreed on Fortin, that's some wicked hi gain with a dry dynamic attack. Problem is, it makes my mistakes too clear, lol
 
Peters.

My Hydra doesn't clean up as well as say... a Marshall. But it's the most raw, uncompressed (yet wet/saturated), open sounding amp I've tried. And it still has a great modern high-gain sound. But for what you describe, maybe look into the FSM.
 
Random Hero":2xuxegxd said:
The closest you'd get I guess is a Fryette? They feel pretty dry and hard, no?
Click to expand...

thats what comes to my mind as well
 
midnightlaundry":39shk768 said:
It should be uncompressed and clean up with a roll back, but still have modern levels of distortion.

Does it exist?
Click to expand...

Depends on if your quality of playing can "keep up with it". Uncompressed/dry type amps are not (as) easy to play and you have to have serious chops to sound good otherwise flaws in your playing will seem to stick out.

BTW what style are you playing? Style may dictate a certain amp more than what your brain thinks you should have.
 
The VHT/Fryette Sig:X is far and away the most dynamic modern amp I've ever played. Actually takes some getting used to since it doesn't compress nearly as much as other modern heads when the gain is cranked - it's not an amp that hides mistakes.
 
sahlomonic":35jvi4qq said:
midnightlaundry":35jvi4qq said:
It should be uncompressed and clean up with a roll back, but still have modern levels of distortion.

Does it exist?
Click to expand...

Depends on if your quality of playing can "keep up with it". Uncompressed/dry type amps are not (as) easy to play and you have to have serious chops to sound good otherwise flaws in your playing will seem to stick out.

BTW what style are you playing? Style may dictate a certain amp more than what your brain thinks you should have.
Click to expand...

+1 on specifying the style. If you plan on using your volume knob a lot to move between crunch and high gain, you may want to get some kind of 3 channel amp instead of trying to find a gain channel that can do it all with a volume knob.
 
fearhk213":2qn8xu9r said:
What's your reference for "modern levels of distortion"? That's a broad term, but generally speaking, at some point you'll have to give up a bit in one area in favor of the other; the more gain you add, the more compression you'll get.

A Fortin Cali mod without the clipping diodes engaged would possibly get you there. You'd likely need some hotter pickups (not too hot, though) or a boost to get that extra kick. I'd actually lean towards using a boost because you could use less amp gain and use lower output pickups, so you'll be able to get it to clean up once you turn off the boost. With the diodes engaged you'd definitely have all the modern gain you'd want, but it would also be a little more compressed and you'd sacrifice some ability to clean up. Whether or not it would clean up enough or is still dynamic enough for your tastes I don't know. Also, don't discount the effect of the pickups in what you're trying to achieve here - they play just as big a role. If you have a single coil in the neck or have a splittable a neck humbucker, you'll have a much easier time cleaning up with the volume.
Click to expand...
Spot on!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top