What's your amp and modeling gear history?

JoKeR III

JoKeR III

Fractal Fanatic
The thread discussing our first amp modeler got me thinking back through gear I've owned over the years. Just curious if anyone would like to share a list of the amps and modelers you've owned.

Here's a list of what I recall owning in the order I remember having them:

Amps:
Mako Piranha (First amp bought in 1989 with first electric guitar)
Peavey Classic (Solid state)
Line 6 Flextone II
VOX Cambridge 30
Fender Blues Deluxe
Marshall Valvestate AVT 50
Fender Cybertwin
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
VOX Pathfinder
Behringer V-Tone GMX112
Fender Mustang II
Rivera Hundred Duo Twelve
Mesa Trem-O-Verb
Mesa Mark IV
Mesa Lonestar Classic
Dr. Z Carmen Ghia (Only amp I regret trading)
Marshall JCM2000 TSL 100
Buddha Superdrive 18
Mesa Roadster
Splawn Competition (Still have)
3 Monkeys Organ Grinder
65 Amps London Pro
Brunetti Pleximan (Still have)
Orange OR-15 (Still have)

Modelers:
DOD GS-30
Johnson J-Station
Behringer V-Amp (I and 2)
Line 6 POD (1.0, 2.0, XT and XT Live)
VOX Tonelab LE and ST
AVID Eleven Rack
Fractal AX8, Axe III and FM3 (Still have the Axe III and FM3)
 
Best i can recall...

Gregory combo, probably 10" speaker, 7th grade
Danelectro 1x12 combo, head stashed in the back
Danelectro 2x12 combo, same
Blackface Bassman
Bassman w 2 Altec 15s shoehorned into that cab
Bassman preamped w Danelectro head
Bassman w 2 Dual Showman cabs
Bassman modified into a quasi Marshall by Dawk Stillwell, bad idea
Unknown model Marshall head for about 15 minutes, hated it
Boogie Mark-nothing 1x15 combo
Boogie switched w Alembic rack preamp for cleans
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Fender CyberTwin
Marshall 9000 rack preamp, later modified
Sansamp PSA1
Rocktron Voodoo Valve Online
Various software amp sims
Helix Floor
Blackstar ID60 TVP as backup amp
Axe III w FC 12 and 2 Alesis Alpha 112 monitors
Axe III w 2 EV PXM 12MPs

Standel Artist 2x15 combo bass amp for bass, surprisingly great

Still have some of those, some modified/hacked up.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Direct and to the point!
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When it came time to swap out my JCM 800 for something else it was the endless list of possibilities that convinced me to try a modeler instead. The initial idea was to narrow down the list of amps and pedals using modeling and then purchase what I like best, but the AxeFx3 is so good I never even think about buying any amps or pedals anymore.
 
AC15HW
POD HD500X
Helix LT
Helix Floor
Strymon Iridium
UAFX Ruby/Dream
Walrus AC1
Quad Cortex
Two Notes Opus + Kingsley Squire 86
Tonex
HX Stomp
Quad Cortex
HX Stomp
Quad Cortex (yeah, this was a difficult time for me)
FM3 MKII
FM9 Turbo

I've also A/B'd my Fractal with a Kemper floor.
 
Started in 1970 with a Carvin solid state combo and ended when I put myself on the wait list for a FM3. In between there were several dozen amps and modelers. My favorites being my 1974 Sunn Model T and my Peavey 5150 which were night and day from each other. For my pre Fractal modelers it was a H&K ZenAmp and a Yamaha DG100 head.
 
It's honestly a succession of cheap and half-crummy practice amps that all died. I know that there was at least one Vox, Orange, and H&K, but I likely forgot some of them.

Then I quit for a while.

When I came back, I got a Boss Nextone that also effectively started my pedal journey, and I had a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 for a while.

I'm very much a hobbyist, and amps have always pissed me off. Through all of that, I was playing a lot more amps. I worked at Guitar Center for a while, and I worked in a high-end studio for a while too....I've played some VERY nice amps, plus kind of always shopping for that thing that would actually sound good without killing my ears at home. My favorites that I actually got to play were always the vintage Marshalls and a couple VERY good Dumble clones.

The DSM/Humboldt Simplifier was what convinced me that I could go amp-less. I had two of them in a wet/dry rig for a couple years, but I kept the DeVille at the same time for some reason.

Then, I bought an FM3 almost on a whim about three years ago....and sold all the amps and almost all of my pedals. I've played more really great amps (most recent was a very well-maintained Silver Jubilee). And other than maybe upgrading to an FM9 or AF3 at some point, there's really nothing else I want to play.
 
Gibson tube amp (unsure model #)
Crate G40C
Peavey 5150 1/2 stack
Mesa Subway Rocket
Mesa TremoVerb 2X12
Boogie Mark IV
62 Brown Deluxe
Allen Accomplice
Bruno Cowtipper
Boogie Mark III Simul Class
Boogie Mark III 60 watt combo
Carlson Tremo Pup
3 Monkeys Orangutan 1X12 Combo
Studious Selye
Cutthroat Audio Down Brownie
Cutthroat Audio Penguin
Dandry Lil Devil 1X10 combo
Dandry Dean Ween Amp (30 watt Lil Devil)
KCA Circuits GR1.6
Mill Hill Summer
Bruno Bulldog 45
Black Volt Crazy Horse
Allyn Meyer Trainwreck Express Clone
Komet K60TA
Komet Silver Cloud
Komet Pulse Jet
Komet Vimana 25
Komet KAC30
Komet Constellation

Johnson J Station
Peavey Transformer Combo
Line 6 Spider 4
AXEFX 1 - 3, AX8, FM9
 
Mid '60s Fender Bronco (New)
Mid '60s Fender Deluxe Reverb (used, about a year old)
Acoustic 150b Head w/212 homemade cabinet and 2 Heathkit speakers)
Music Man 65 watt 210 combo
Sunn 610 cab ("V" configuration)
Sunn 212 cab (horn configuration)
Music Man 412 cab
Mesa Boogie Studio .22
Original POD
POD XT Live
MosValve MV-962 power amp
Line 6 412 cab
POD HD500
Fractal Axe-FX II Mk 2
QSC K12 (2 of them, now my band's FOH speakers)
QSC K10 (single, now my onstage wedge monitor)
Fractal Axe-FX II XL+
Fractal Axe-FX III

Still have all the amps except the Bronco (which was al all tube model...wish I still had it). The only cab I have is the Line 6 412. Haven't even plugged an any of the amps for nearly 15 years.
 
marsonic said:
t's honestly a succession of cheap and half-crummy practice amps that all died. I know that there was at least one Vox, Orange, and H&K, but I likely forgot some of them.
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I forgot about the H&K Switchblade. Had one for a few months before the Mesa Roadster period which led into my final modeling era. It's actually a pretty cool amp. Kind of surprised there aren't any H&K models in the FAS world.
 
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Oh boy, another threat, thats going to make me feel old. But here we go:

1. Bell Boxer Combo with a 12“ speaker.
2. HH Combo. I cant remember the model. It was very bad though. I got a Korg A4 multi fx unit back then and ran it into the HH and Bell Combo. At the time it was awesome for my teenager me.
3. Marshall 100w Valvestate Combo
4. Hughes&Kettner Triamp stack. It was quite meh. But at the time it looked awesome. As a 15 year old, that was more important i guess.
I ran a digitech rp14d in its poweramp. That sounded cool back then.
5. Hughes&Kettner Tube20 Combo. I liked it better than my Triamp at the time. But i couldnt admit it, because it was only a small 20watt combo.
6. Digitech 2112 into Marshall 9200 poweramp. And a few rack gadgets. That was cool again.
7. Peavey 6505+. I loved that amp. Its probally the amp, that i owned for the longest time.
8. Some Line6 tube modelling Head. Something Bogner designed. It was ok, only ok.
9. Mesa Boogie Mark V Stack. That one was great.
10. Engl Ironball 20watt tube head into a Mesa 112 or 212. Amazing little amp.
11. Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier multiwatt stack. Also awesome.
12. Ax8! Back then, my only intention was to pair it with my tube amps. I was going to get a Fx8 and got the Ax8 instead. I thought, it would be a good idea to have amp modelling as a backup. I quickly ended up using the unit straght in the PA and/or into a active speaker.
13. Axe Fx3 with Fc12
14. Fm3 with Fc6 for outside of my house.

After owning the Ax8 for a while, i finally sold all my amps. And i‘ve been fine ever since.

Now lets wait for the next gen Axe Fx and its smaller Floor Versions.
 
All of the following were one at a time. I never owned more than 1 amp.

Peavy Rage 108 in the late 80s
Marshall JCM 800 in the early 90s
Fender 3-channel amp that I can’t remember the name of
Mesa/Boogie Triaxis with a Marshall 9005 power amp

Moved to LA, CA without my rack, bought a OG Pod. Eventually sold all of the rack gear to build a pedalboard that could go in front of the crappy amps at MI. Worked for Vai for awhile so I had access to a ton of things, but only “in-house”

Carvin Legacy
Marshall 30th Anniversary, but was a lemon that I got ripped off on because it never worked properly.
Marshall DSL-100 that I coupled with a borrowed (friend relocated for awhile and kept it with me until they got back) Mesa/Boogie Dual Recto in an 80:20 split into the same cabinet. Best heavy rhythm sound I’ve ever had or heard.

Hand issues forced me into retirement in 2007. Sold literally everything. Built a recording studio at a friends and they have some cool stuff.

Supro
Reinhardt half stack
Sunn that I don’t the model of but it was old as hell and heavy as shit.
Somehow, in the mid-90s, they ended up with what was claimed to be literally one of the first Marshall 100watt heads ever made but needed massive repairs. Whether that’s true or not… Dunno… But it was eventually sent to a reputable tech who was able to fix it over the course of 16-18 months. My friend was fine with that and it turns out that they’d kept it because they said it was the best sounding Marshall they’d ever played and wanted to keep it as long as they could. Many monies were offered but never accepted. They did get to name it though. Gorilla Balls

Started playing again last year.

Boss Katana
Fractal FM3

Aside from an AxeFxIII (or 4) I don’t need or foresee ever wanting anything else.

Quite a few people I’ve spoken about or shown my setup to that don’t have much experience with GOOD modeling gear have always had 2 major concerns. Sound quality, which is squashed as soon as they play through it. And “option paralysis” which I can understand, but absolutely do not agree with. Prior to Fractal, not even an unlimited budget would make it possible to finally figure out exactly what you like the most. You can love what have but there’s always that thought in the back of your head where improvements can me made if you could just find that “one pedal” or that “one modded version” or whatever it might be. Now you have everything. Time to stop shopping and start playing!
 
Sure, why not

*Peavey rage 158
*Marshall MG250dfx (ss 212 closed) - first band
*Traynor ycv80 (6L6 212 open-back for the rest of the world) - second band
*Peavey jsx + 2x triple X 412
*jsx out mesa roadster dual rectifier in (sometime here the 2x peavey cabs leave, 80s jcm800 with G12-65 enters) - third band
*Roadster out Peters amplification (cdn) FSM single-channel KT77? high gain head in - third and fourth band
*1983? 1985? Jcm800 2203 csa w EL34 replaced FSM - fifth band (touring)
Marshall cab out orange ppc412 in because artist deal
*add fender 65RI black panel twin
*fender mustang i, marshall mg30dfx, kustom tube12A come and go as practice amps
quit touring, amps cab and pedals are sold, briefly own deluxe reverb reissue
*orange supercrush 120, avater 212 v30 closed + avatar 212 v30/g12K100 open
*peavey 5150 script + marshall 1960a G12T-75
*supercrush out, 1975 marshall superlead mk2 100w in
*5150 out JTM-45 build in
One 212 out, marshall 1960ax converted to awh spec in
*1985 jcm800 csa 50W
second 212 out, matching marshall 1982B G12H-100 cab in

Modellers:
*Zoom 707 (borrowed from teacher, flanger woosh blew my mind)
*line6 pod hd400 in college - unsuccessful recording setup attempt
*helix LT - good but didnt do the Big Fuzz i wanted
*axefx3 OG

Small house big rig (straight cab at the jamspace)

IMG_2045.jpeg
 
1. Fender Bullet 8" + DS1 followed by the might MT2 Metal Zone
2. Digitech RP7 into an old Sunn that used to be my grandpa's
3. 5150 Signature head into Carvin 4x12" (kept this one for a while)
4. Pod Bean
5. Pod Pro
6. Triple Rec half stack (borrowed for one tour)
7. Dual Rec half stack
8. Got into plugins - Tone Forge / Headrush / Eleven / Positive Grid / S-Gear / TH-U / etc.
9. 6505+ Combo + TS9 (still have these)
10. Avid Eleven Rack
11. AxeFX III (had the FM3 and FM9 for a bit but sold those since I always just use the AxeFX)

Was considering NDSP and / or Kemper at one point, before just going with the king. Best decision I ever made. Now my 6505+ and TS9 just gather dust.
 
No real amps to mention.

Modelers... that I can recall

Digitech gnx3000
Behringer V-Amp
1st gen AxeFx
Fender Mustang Floor
Pod HD500
Avid 11 Rack
Zoom G5N
Valeton GP-200
Quilter US Block
Quilter 101 Mini
 
Here's a question. At what point does an amp become a modeling amp? Say a solid state amp has three voices. US, Class A, and British. Does that ny default make it a modeling amp?
 
Tonedeaf said:
Here's a question. At what point does an amp become a modeling amp? Say a solid state amp has three voices. US, Class A, and British. Does that ny default make it a modeling amp?
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All's fair in love and tone. However you want to classify it, it's all good. I put the Cybertwin, Flextone and V-Tone under amps since they are, in essence, standalone amps. They don't require a monitoring system to use.
 
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