Favorite # Amp types

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I've settled into using these amps for the time being:

59 Bassguy
Class A 30W TB
Vibroverb
1987x
Recto Orange
Shiver Ld
Wrecker
 
Regular Plexi
Both wreckers cleanish,light breakup, heavier breakup, tweaked to front emg
Twin
Shiva clean
working on legacy
duh, have my hands filled with these

Always with the cali 4 12, just me...
 
Some of Cliff's real world favs in 2006:
CC said:
I've played through numerous amps over the last few years (for modelling purposes) and there were some definite standouts. Out of those I'd take the following for a nice assortment of different sounds: Matchless Chieftain, Fender Vibroverb, Vox AC-30, Mesa MkIV
Click to expand...

Aah, the joy of "Cliff Notes"... ;)
 
Cleans:

Blackface a bit of hair
Showman cleanest
Vibroverb rounder with more body
Bassman - even rounder also used for mild crunch

Mild crunch:
AC30 - also used clean
Dr Z
Matchless

Crunch:
cornford
87 treble
wrecker

Basic rock tone - SLO and gainer for leads

Gainier leads and solos:
800 with TS
soldano 99
HBE
FAS Brown

Smoother leads and solos:
boogie
ODS


I know it is more than 10 but it is less than 20 and I use 2 amps on pretty much all my patches. Most rock tones have SLO matched with another amp for different flavors. SLO with Cornford, both with preamp gain down and power amp up, get me more of a Black Crowes, Blackberry smoke deal. SLO with 87treble more Haynes, Betts type stuff. SLO with soldano 99 more of an 80s rockin type deal. SLO and HBE rocking leads, SLO and 800 smoother leads etc etc etc etc.

I find that using 2 amps allows me to get different colors without the tone changing drastically. Switching betwen 3 different sounds in one tune but all 3 sounds have half the sound coming from SLO is less drastic and still sounds like "me" more than going from 87treble to cornford to SLO.

The fact that each amp is fed by different "guitars" via using mags and models on my JTV variaxes takes it up more than a notch.
 
The biggest point I get in this thread is how it solves the age old debate of should a modeler have tons of amp models or as many POD fans have said since HD500 came out "less models of higher quality". "who needs more than 16 amps any way".

First FAS shows that you don't have to scrimp on quality to have more than 16 amps, so that is a silly assumption. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Second, even if few people "need" more than 16 amps, a large user base will NEVER agree on which 16 amps. Sure there are lots of overlap in this thread but there are a ton of amps that others have as their "go to" that I would never use or rarley use and of course vice versa.

I have a big business meeting in vegas in april and we have a "company band" that typically plays a tune or two. One of our guys writes a tune about one of our products or new marketing messages and we goof around and play it. For our customers it is a change from the rest of the meetings they go to where it is a barrage of powerpoint.

Last year I had to drag my X3L as a grab and go "rig". I had a HD500 but without an SLO just could not get the sounds I used when we came up wit our little parts. I was slightly annoyed that I bought the latest and the greatest but needed to use the old box, mostly because of a lack of SLO sim and also because with dual amps I hit the DSP monster.

That annoyance lead me to buy the Ultra last year, and the II a short while later.

This year I need to decide between maybe making due with HD500 and an Explorer or if I find once again that I dig mags and models from JTV into 2 different amps, will likely drag out my II, POD HD Pro and MFC. . . . .. sort of crazy for a silly little 1-2 song "gig". . .. .but I am funny that way.

The other guitar player goofs on me endlessly as he pays almost zero attention to tone. he played a PRS through an OLD POD preset on the demo. Then he shows up in vegas empty handed except for an old noisy Rat pedal. He rents a strat and Fender Hot Rod. So what was his crunchy PRS rhythm becomes a thin and much cleaner rhythm. His PRS on bridge pickup lead turns into strat neck pickup because the bridge was way to shrill, through a Rat that actually seemed lower in volume than his rhythm sound. He was not digging his sound at all, but didn't care enough to maybe rent a LP and Marshal to at least be in the ballpark. . . . at least when I kicked in my solo patches. . .I got louder and had the Q filter and delay that I used on the damn demo. . . . .lol.

I will always pick the option of having more amps and choices . . . . . .
 
lovin the cornford, fryette and shiva, it's just great to play so many amps I would probably never get the chance to in real life.
 
Fw 6 has landed and after some weeks (got to play with it on forehand as a beta tester) the dust settles somewhat. Here's my current crop of favorites. Everything with EVM 12l (real cab or IR).

Clean
- Twin. Or Deluxe as it sounds quite similar (Deluxe is a bit more mellow). Master at 9, Drive at 2.5, done.

Clean on the verge of breakup
- '65 Bassman. Newcomer in my selection. Great for chorid strumming.
- Vox AC30TB. Gets better and better.
- Hiwatt Brilliance. Loved by everyone during the beta test of fw 6.

Vintage
- Budda. Always return to this one, although Wrecker and the revamped 1987x are good competitors.

Rock crunch
- Friedman BE. Replaced Euro Blue and that's a hell of an achievement as I'm a longtime Bogner fan.

Rock
- Cameron 2. Good for everything. Hit the strings, it'll make you smile. Presence at 0, it's so bright.
- Friedman HBE. For something extra on top of BE.

Lead
- Friedman BE with saturation switched on. I never had a better lead tone. More gain: I switch on a Full OD drive block, gain 0, Level 10.
- USA Lead 2+. I just use the factory preset with slight variations. Never have been a Mesa guy but this is nice.

Metal
- Das Metall, because it's so easy to dial in. Doesn't need stuff like a TS in front of it, like a Recto.
 
Last edited:
barhrecords said:
+1 I haven't bonded with the SLO sim yet :)
Click to expand...
if you've never used an SLO in real life, they can be a bit tricky to dial in, as in "unconventional settings". forget about 12 o'clock rules.
now with 6.0, I have to say that settings I used on my old SLOs really translate to the Axe now, which like I said, doesn't really make it easier to dial in if you're not familiar with them...
 
Although I like many of the amps the only ones I use for gigging are.

1. Plexi (treble).. It's the go to amp for most of what my band does (and for my tastes). Throw the tape dist(cranked up) in front of the amp to a get a mid gain les paul classic rock thing (with a lots of very natural feeling sustain, depending on the guitar of course). Alter the gain in the front end for cleaner crunch rhythm to hotter cranked stuff. Love this amp. Haven't tried it with 6 yet, hopefully it hasn't altered too much in terms of sound. I use the Masha Marshall for more modern stuff when we do it, although it simply is NOT anywhere near as sweet (then again it's not supposed to be).

2. ODS (lead) .. For the Robben Ford kind of thing when doing more blues oriented stuff (X/Y with varied gain settings).

3. Slightly driven AC30TB for cleaner stuff. I rarely use true clean sounds (pristine doesn't work for me), but this one gets pretty clean when I roll back the volume on the guitar volume. The Plexi does as well.

4. Sometimes I like the Buttery, sometimes I don't.
 
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Alexander, totally agree - before V6 my clean presets were all "Shiver Clean", now it's all Brownface...

Awesome update - the famous curtain in front of the speakers was risen one more time
 
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This thread has been dormant for awhile, but it got brought up in the main forum today, so here we go... back from the dead, just in time for firmware 10!
Currently running 9.02, and I'll update once I've had a few days with v10...

My primary is the Vox AC30. I never though it would have been... I've been a Fender guy all my guitar playing life... but the AC30 just sounds too right in too many situations. Using a mix of RW Blue cab and the Blackface 2/12 cab.
My #2 is the Fender 65 Bassman. This is where I feel like my tonal home is- I play a 6g6b Bassman when I go old school (read: when I bother to plug into my actual amp...), and this is the closest in the FX2.
#3- Budda. I don't know what it is about this amp, but man, what a balance between gain and clean. Perfect.
#4 CAE Rythm. I have the gain exactly where I want it on my CAE patch. Love it.
#5 Fender Super Reverb- gainier than I thought it'd be, but it's still my go to for Fender on-the-verge-of-breakup tones. It's beautiful.
#6 Cornford- holy schmoly- I've never been a high gain player (I play a Gretsch...), but this model... man, thick, meaty, gainy as hell, and just is everything I want in a high gain amp. If I had to wage a war with my guitar, this would be the first round in the chamber.
#7 Bad Cat Hot Cat- I had never really been into this type of gain- somewhat more buzzy, but still dynamic... until I got a hold of Tyler's patch for it. Then? Yea. Just Yea.
#8 The Supro. When I'm after good old fashioned rock and roll, this is where I head. Pop in a tremolo, and swamp it up...
#9 Plexi Treble. Good old rock and roll. Where the originals this gainy? All I hear is that the originals where so loud, had so much headroom, etc... but I love this one for the low gain settings. It's everything that is right about electric guitar.
#10. Fender Twin. I can't wait to hear the new model. Scoop the mids just a little bit, and get your Johnny Cash on. I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. Hell yea.
 
Top 5:

5. Heavy Rhythm- FAS Modern. Nuff said.

4. Lead 1- ODS-100. Focus and gain structure is just perfect. Not too much, just enough. So versatile.

3. Crunch/Lead 2- Plexi Treb.

2. Clean- Maz 38. This clean is simply alive and organic- just barely clean, the way I like it ;)

1. Juice- AC30. by far my favorite amp in the whole box. I would be happy if this was the only amp in the Axe Fx.
 
Having the 10.00 firmware, I'm reevaluating my very existence in this universe. Can hardly talk about a favourites list right now. IT'S ALL GLORIOUS!
 
Hey Billmeedog I saw you are in a Tool tribute band (very impressive) the tone on the 10,000 Days album I think is hands down the BEST modern Rock Guitar tone, especially on The Pot and Rosetta Stoned. I play through a setup where I use tube power & a 4x12 cab. With the Diezel have you gotten close to those tones? If so would you mind sharing some settings?
-thanks
 
Clean:
Buttery
A patch I made with Shiver Cln and USA Rhythm parallel with some chorus... yummy

Crunch to mid gain:
Class-A 30W TB with Treble Booster in front
Hipower Brilliant
Boutique 2
Cameron Ch2
Brit Super through the Citrus cab
Fryette D60 M

High Gain:
JVM OD1+2
Dizzy V4 4
Energyball
 
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