What are the best amp and cab for clean sounds?

give some examples of clean. To some folks, SRV is clean, to others Pat Metheny. I use epifani UL112 bass cabs. Much better for cleans than the usual suspects...
 
On the AXEFx my go tos for Cleans in amps are the Band Commander, TX Star clean, and ODS clean. another trick not mentioned often enough, take your favorite amp model, Reduce the input gain and trim drastically and boost level, BMT to taste, and voila, instant clean. ...Cabs....use your ears.
 
I like Bogner Shiva, Marshall JTM45, USA Clean and Pre Clean the most. For my main cleans, I'm using Greenbacks combined with V30s (the two newest OwnHammer cab packs). Then I just dial in a Delay or Multidelay block and some Reverb and I can play that for hours.

I just discovered Output Comp in the amp block too. Somebody suggested setting it to 2 for cleans, and that works quite handily.
 
Roland JC120 is likely the "cleanest" amp, but I don't really like the way it sounds. Band Commander, or the Carr work well. I don't really know what you are looking for, so it is and to make suggestions. Perhaps you can post an example of what tone you are chasing?
 
I've always been a big fan of the '59 410 Bassman (Bassguy). Don't max out the master, as many tend to do, and there are some really nice, full clean tones in there.
 
My main clean preset is a Vibroverb with Drive about 3. Also really nice and full. You could back down the drive or input a bit and get it even cleaner. I also have a Princeton that's really nice for some funk tunes we play.

But really, as has been said, it depends on what your definition of clean is. Are you looking for fat round clean, shimmering 80s clean, jazz clean, etc...
 
I think of clean more as part of the way to play an amp, rather than a type of amp.

Most amps can do useful cleans, it comes down to what flavor of clean, and where else you want to take that tone. So much depends on gain staging from the pickups on down each link of the chain. This derives from the habit of real amps: Approach A: find an amp(or model) that gives the desired distortion, then fuss with the guitar knobs and amp controls until it cleans up nice. Approach B: An amp set clean and add pedals for the distortion.

Fender Twins and the Band-Commander ace the classic Fender cleans: but IME, everything Fender, even the dirty little Champ can be set to pull off a decent clean. The Hiwatt, the Mesa Marks I've tried, and higher gain amps generally; are tight and muscular in a way that's different from the natural shimmer of Fender Cleans. I also gravitate to the richness of the Dumble ODS-100, Matchless and Shiva.

Speaker type is going to have a substantial effect: EVM-12 and Fanes stay fairly clean and neutral, and I've found them useful for cleans when I want something outside the usual amp/cab pairings.
 
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I like the Double Verb Vib and Brit JTM45 for cleans. I like to add some output compression in the amp block as well. For cabs I am using the same for all of them, usually a mix of a V30 and Greenback. Factory cabs would be ML TV Mix and ML USA 57-121.
 
Any of the Fenders and their respective cabs will give you gorgeous vintage cleans. The Jazz 120 will do the late 70's/80's Rush/Police thing, especially with some chorus and a compressor up front. For modern cleans I really like the USA Clean, USA Pre Clean and Shiva Clean together with a V30 cab.

Dialling in a touch of output compression in the dynamics section and experimenting with high or low sag settings will also do wonders for your clean tones.
 
jzucker said:
give some examples of clean. To some folks, SRV is clean, to others Pat Metheny. I use epifani UL112 bass cabs. Much better for cleans than the usual suspects...
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jzucker, are the epifani UL112 bass cabs full range to your ears? With a power amp, do you like them for clean and distorted sounds?
 
Jarick said:
I like the Double Verb Vib and Brit JTM45 for cleans. I like to add some output compression in the amp block as well.
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Me too, I love those amps for cleans. I also like the Deluxe Verb Vibe, Captain Hook 1A, and Band Commander in that role.

I'm also going to add some amp output compression to my cleans/OD tones; I like what it did to my lead preset...really feels good digging in with the picking hand. Played over the weekend for the first time with the AX8/v8.02 and found I need to make some presets play a little less stiff.
 
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barhrecords said:
Band Commander for cleans here. Using a Strat.
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My gig over the weekend was a blues show and about 90% of the time I used my Band Commander preset (a bluesy rhythm/OD tone for use with single coils on my HSS guitar). When you dig it gets some hair but cleans up nicely when you back off picking and/or volume control. I max the Input Drive and goose it a little bit with the Input Trim. Boosted with the FAS Boost for leads.

The BC is a really lively, fully bodied amp...one of my favorite Fenders in the box.
 
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