A New Amp, Help Appreciated |
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Oct 16 2008, 03:48 PM
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Hey guys,
As some of you already noticed, I have made my mind up regarding my new guitar: The Eric Johnson Strat, which I will be buying sometime over the next 2 months. I am also closely looking into buying a new amp with it, but I am having quite some difficulties in making a shortlist at the moment, either based on budget or on usability. Below I have pointed out several things I am looking for in the new amp, my playstyle etc. and I would really appreciate any comments etc to help me further in the right direction (of course I will definitely play several amps with the EJ Strat in the future to make my final choice, but it would be good to narrow, focus already). Use of the amp: Bedroom practice, band practice, small gigs My playstyle: Little bit of jazz, Blues, Bluesrock, Rock (and some metal, come to that later). My current gear: Ibanez RG770 (Rock/metal guitar with humbuckers), Marshall JCM900 50W hi-gain combo. Why a new amp: My Marshall amp does not have any nice clean sounds and is lacking some nice bluesy sounds as well (although the sound is great for hi-gain stuff). Futhermore it's of course the Brittish sound as well. I currently plug my G9.2tt (with pre-amp tubes) directly to the power-tubes section of the Marshall in order to obtain a reasonable clean/crunchy sound with my setup. I will definitely keep my Ibanez guitar and Marshall amp to do the more 'shredding-like', 'metal-like hi-gain' stuff, but I really need a proper set-up for my main passion: Blues(rock). Therefore I decided on the EJ Strat, and am specifically looking for an 'American-sound' amp. Needs on the new amp: At least 2 seperate channels with very good clean and if at all possible a fair amount of gain (the very high gains are less important as I can use the Marshall for that if needed). With my band we only play Blues, Bluesrock and some relatively mild Rock songs, so it should cover those needs in the end in terms of gain requirements. I can always use a seperate tube-screamer or my G9.2tt board to boost it, but I would like to use primarily the pre-amp of the amp instead for my lead/distorted tones if at all possible. A good reverb, no other effects are required, preferably a switch for lowering the watts for e.g. bedroom practice, but that's not a dealbreaker. A fairly portable amp (I need to carry in around downstairs/upstairs etc. several times a week). Budget/identified amps: This really is not so easy to decide on, basically there are 2 options for me: a. I will buy myself a decent amp, which sounds good is versatile, but is maybe a bit limiting on the long-term, requiring to buy in the end a higher-end amp (I know everyone will say go for high-end right away, but that may result in me having no new amp at all for quite a long time, and having to stick with the EJ strat with only the Marshall). Price-range somewhere from € 600 - € 1000. Identified amps: Fender HotRod Deluxe (40w), Fender HotRod Deville 2x12 (60w), Peavey Delta Blues (30w). b. I will buy myself a more higher-end amp (the far higher-end is out of the question at the moment (Lone-start etc.), but these higher-end amps need to be quite transportable as well as I do not want to have to buy another smaller amp for the regular band practice etc. Price-range somewhere from € 1.200 - € 1.700. Identified amps: Fender Supersonic 112 (60w), Mesa Boogie 5:50 Express (50w). At this moment I am leaning towards either doing the HotRod Deluxe (for now, costs me about € 700 only so I can probably buy it directly with the EJ Strat  ) or the other side the Mesa Boogie 5:50 Express (€ 1.650, as I read several reviews that the cleans are as nice as with the Fender amps). Ok, sorry for all the long texts but I really hope you can help me bring me further on the right track what to do, and hopefully can even add other amps to this list which provide me with the needs I have as well. Many thanks! 
-------------------- "Don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you can't get it wrong." Guitars & Amps Brian Moore DC-1 Custom Shop (Cherry Sunburst, mahogany/rosewood) Eric Johnson Signature Strat (2-tone Sunburst, alder/maple) Ibanez RG770 (Black, basswood/rosewood) Peerless Journeyman (solid spruce/maple) Sixt Bov-105C (Ovation-like acoustic) - Ibanez SGT-130 (Jumbo acoustic) London City VS-1 (Precision bass) - Baton Rouge U3S (Ukelele) Fender HotRod Deluxe 40W combo - Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue 5W combo - Marshall JCM 900 50W Hi-Gain combo Effects & Other stuff POD Studio UX2 audio interface - Edirol MA-15D monitors EH Double Muff - Fulltone GT-500 - Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet - Guitarsystems TrebleTool Junior - Guitarsystems FuzzTool Junior Korg Pitchblack Tuner - MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay - TC Electronics Nova Modulator - Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah Shure SM58 - Roland PCR-500 midi controller/keyboard & Yamaha Clavinova CL-910 piano My Website My MySpace Page My YouTube Channel My Twitter Account My Band 'Gonzo!' |
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Oct 16 2008, 06:09 PM
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I think the Hot Rod Deluxe would serve you well both for blues/jazz and rock.
A couple of others to concider would be a Matchless, any Matchless, or a Hiwatt Custom :-) There's also a handwired Orange AD model that I'm sure you'd be happy with. EDIT: I apoligize for suggetsing British amps... just slipped
This post has been edited by MickeM: Oct 16 2008, 06:09 PM -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Oct 16 2008, 06:30 PM
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I play same as you, blues/rock/bits of metal:D I've got the fender FM 65 watt. It is loud..volume @ 2 is too much for at home:D
-------------------- Don't just play it. Feel it!
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Oct 16 2008, 08:47 PM
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I would go for Deluxe or Deville, Deville is a bit heavy, if you wanna take it on gigs, so Deluxe maybe. Don't worry, this amp will last you a long time and it is great. Mesa is awesome as well, and if you have the money you can buy it, other than great clean it has great gain as well, but if you wanna play jazz, blues, rock, then Deluxe, or Deville are great choice for the money.
-------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons - (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel - Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :) |
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Oct 17 2008, 09:11 AM
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Many thanks for all your comments, at this moment (also based on my total budget of course and the fact that I need portability) I am really leaning towards the Strat + Hot Rod Deluxe and we will see what happens in the future in terms of other Amps etc.
Currently calculating and do a lot of number-crunching in order to justify an earlier buy of this stuff (tomorrow? ... not so sure whether my girlfriend still likes me after the big buy
This post has been edited by Velvet Roger: Oct 17 2008, 09:11 AM -------------------- "Don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you can't get it wrong." Guitars & Amps Brian Moore DC-1 Custom Shop (Cherry Sunburst, mahogany/rosewood) Eric Johnson Signature Strat (2-tone Sunburst, alder/maple) Ibanez RG770 (Black, basswood/rosewood) Peerless Journeyman (solid spruce/maple) Sixt Bov-105C (Ovation-like acoustic) - Ibanez SGT-130 (Jumbo acoustic) London City VS-1 (Precision bass) - Baton Rouge U3S (Ukelele) Fender HotRod Deluxe 40W combo - Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue 5W combo - Marshall JCM 900 50W Hi-Gain combo Effects & Other stuff POD Studio UX2 audio interface - Edirol MA-15D monitors EH Double Muff - Fulltone GT-500 - Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet - Guitarsystems TrebleTool Junior - Guitarsystems FuzzTool Junior Korg Pitchblack Tuner - MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay - TC Electronics Nova Modulator - Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah Shure SM58 - Roland PCR-500 midi controller/keyboard & Yamaha Clavinova CL-910 piano My Website My MySpace Page My YouTube Channel My Twitter Account My Band 'Gonzo!' |
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Oct 17 2008, 10:03 PM
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I think you should bite a bullet and get strat+deluxe mate, they are just made for each other
-------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons - (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel - Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :) |
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