what power amp do you use?

[bke]

hi

Have been enjoying playing through the return on my JVM 410 and playing through a cab. Considering getting a power amp to have that option.

Have had matrix a few years ago and also a power station, not interested in either of those again. Usually play Marshall type amps. Don’t mind if the power amp colors the tone, I’m not a purist. I just want it to sound and feel good. Play out a bit but also at home do something that works at low volume as well would be ideal.

Also rack mountable would be best for me.


Any suggestions?

 

[Ole]

https://www.thomann.de/gb/crown_xls_1502.htm?ref=search_prv_13

I really like this one.

 

[electronpirate]

Look around in this sub forum

 

[kmanick]

I too have been running my axe into the return of my JVM head and it sounded great. But I got sick of lugging it around , so I decided to try a Seymour Duncan Power stage 170. At moderate volumes?so far so good , I had to match the low res to my cab(s) and add some dynamic depth, tweak negative feedback and sag , but the JVM may actually go up for sale. I have a full band rehearsal on Monday night , and that will be telling of whether or not this thing will fly or not. I'll update on Tuesday. I'm hopeful. I have 2 cabs that I've been going back and forth with. A very early JCM 800 2X12 and a Mesa recto 2X12. I think the JCM800 sounds a touch better with the Marshal models but the Mesa cab sounds better all around., and switching back and forth between the cabs alters the sound much more dramatically than you would initially think.

 

[unix-guy]

hi

Have been enjoying playing through the return on my JVM 410 and playing through a cab. Considering getting a power amp to have that option.

Have had matrix a few years ago and also a power station, not interested in either of those again. Usually play Marshall type amps. Don’t mind if the power amp colors the tone, I’m not a purist. I just want it to sound and feel good. Play out a bit but also at home do something that works at low volume as well would be ideal.

Also rack mountable would be best for me.


Any suggestions?

Just curious what it is about the 2 you mentioned that don't do what you want?

They are probably the top 2 recommended solutions here.

 

[bke]

I too have been running my axe into the return of my JVM head and it sounded great. But I got sick of lugging it around , so I decided to try a Seymour Duncan Power stage 170. At moderate volumes?so far so good , I had to match the low res to my cab(s) and add some dynamic depth, tweak negative feedback and sag , but the JVM may actually go up for sale. I have a full band rehearsal on Monday night , and that will be telling of whether or not this thing will fly or not. I'll update on Tuesday. I'm hopeful. I have 2 cabs that I've been going back and forth with. A very early JCM 800 2X12 and a Mesa recto 2X12. I think the JCM800 sounds a touch better with the Marshal models but the Mesa cab sounds better all around., and switching back and forth between the cabs alters the sound much more dramatically than you would initially think.

Yeah the jvm isn’t a long term solution either. Interested to hear how you find the power stage after your rehearsal.

 

[bke]

Just curious what it is about the 2 you mentioned that don't do what you want?

They are probably the top

I found it hard to dial in a good warm, tube like tone with the matrix, was a few years ago so maybe the axe has evolved more or maybe I was doing something wrong but just didn’t work for me.

Power station is a good bit of kit but something in the feel of it I didn’t quite like vs using my actual amps, can’t remember what I thought about it putting my axe FX 2 but don’t remember being blown away.

Just curious what it is about the 2 you mentioned that don't do what you want?

They are probably the top 2 recommended solutions here.

It’s been a few years since I had a matrix but remember struggling to get a good warm tube like sound/feel from it. Lots of reasons why that may have been And lots has changed since. I remember needing to tweak lots of settings to try get what I was looking for and failing. Could well have been me. Using my amp as a power amp it just sounded right with only changes to normal base, middle, treble etc.

Ok the power station, was more I felt a difference in feel vs my actual amps that I didn’t really gel with....

 

[ChainOfThought]

I used an Engl E840/50 for a while before switching to Matrix...was a pretty beastly amp. Lots of people love a VHT/Fryette 2/90/2. Marshall does (did?) make a rack mount tube power amp, but I can’t remember the name of it. Mesa also has plenty of options. Carvin TS100 is another one that lots of people that can be had on the cheap usually.

Personally I just use a GT1000FX and love it. I’ve started trying to dig into the cab & amp block settings to make the models respond a little better, but I honestly never really felt like anything was lacking before that I’m just doing it because I’ve read it can be even better if you do x y and z.

 

[unix-guy]

It’s been a few years since I had a matrix but remember struggling to get a good warm tube like sound/feel from it. Lots of reasons why that may have been And lots has changed since. I remember needing to tweak lots of settings to try get what I was looking for and failing. Could well have been me. Using my amp as a power amp it just sounded right with only changes to normal base, middle, treble etc.

Ok the power station, was more I felt a difference in feel vs my actual amps that I didn’t really gel with....

All the "tube like" stuff is coming from the Axe Fx, not the power amp... That's the whole point of the modeling.

 

[bke]

All the "tube like" stuff is coming from the Axe Fx, not the power amp... That's the whole point of the modeling.

Yeah, but then you need to dial I’m the cab frequency, I’ve seen pepole say play with the depth, try this, that etc I was struggling with it sounding too thin, and not good sounding.. going through the effects on my amp the other day, sounded and felt great. Would love to replicate that using a standalone power amp but cautious about trying what I’ve already tried and didn’t work for me. I know it’s the point of modeling but as in my op I’m not a purist

 

[ChainOfThought]

Yeah, but then you need to dial I’m the cab frequency, I’ve seen pepole say play with the depth, try this, that etc I was struggling with it sounding too thin, and not good sounding.. going through the effects on my amp the other day, sounded and felt great. Would love to replicate that using a standalone power amp but cautious about trying what I’ve already tried and didn’t work for me. I know it’s the point of modeling but as in my op I’m not a purist

Nothing wrong with that. It's like you said, with the right tweaks and everything the feel and everything can be had from a solid state setup with all the modeling happening in the axe. On the other hand, if you don't care about authenticity of models then you might have an easier time grabbing a tube power amp that you know you like and just rolling with that.

The downside is you'll probably want to disable power amp simulation. This can totally kill certain types of amp models or just change the character of others. So just depending on what you want to accomplish it may or may not be a good solution for you. I really liked my engl poweramp... It was plenty loud, fairly clean and an egregious amount of balls. If I ever get the chance I also want to get my hands on a vht 2-90-2, I've heard nothing but amazing things about them.

 

[bke]

Nothing wrong with that. It's like you said, with the right tweaks and everything the feel and everything can be had from a solid state setup with all the modeling happening in the axe. On the other hand, if you don't care about authenticity of models then you might have an easier time grabbing a tube power amp that you know you like and just rolling with that.

The downside is you'll probably want to disable power amp simulation. This can totally kill certain types of amp models or just change the character of others. So just depending on what you want to accomplish it may or may not be a good solution for you. I really liked my engl poweramp... It was plenty loud, fairly clean and an egregious amount of balls. If I ever get the chance I also want to get my hands on a vht 2-90-2, I've heard nothing but amazing things about them.

Good points there, would imagine master volume type amps would work better with the power amp disabled than plexis etc.

 

[ChainOfThought]

Good points there, would imagine master volume type amps would work better with the power amp disabled than plexis etc.

Yea basically any amp that gets a noticeable chunk of it's tone from the power section. I do almost exclusively modern high gain so I don't care as much about it myself.... I'm after a good tone that hits me just right, not an authentic tone that perfectly matches x y or z. I still ended up with a solid state amp because I was curious what it would be like. So far I'm not disappointed at all. No real tubes to deal with, the feel is the same to me, the tone is consistent, and it makes it easier to jump between my real cab, frfr etc etc.

No one way to do it is better than the other ways, just different methods for different goals and approaches. Some setups are measurably more versatile than others, but sometimes the extreme versatility isn't important.

 

[kmanick]

Yeah the jvm isn’t a long term solution either. Interested to hear how you find the power stage after your rehearsal.

Well I just got back from rehearsal and the Powerstage performed great. I rotated between the JS JVM, the JCM 800, the SuperTweed, and the Brit Pre, for amp models . I ran into my JCM 800 cab and the band thought it sounded great. I liked it well enough, still missing a little bit of juicyness in the feel when playing lead, but I'm not doing any shred with this band so it's not really an issue. I started with the JS JVM and thought that would be my main patch , but the JCM 800 slowly took over during the night. I never got it up past 10:00 and it was plenty loud going against the other guitarist that plays through a bogner 2X12 combo. Looks like I'm going to keep it and see if I can dial in my patches a bit more to where I don't miss my my tubes at all.

 

[bke]

Well I just got back from rehearsal and the Powerstage performed great. I rotated between the JS JVM, the JCM 800, the SuperTweed, and the Brit Pre, for amp models . I ran into my JCM 800 cab and the band thought it sounded great. I liked it well enough, still missing a little bit of juicyness in the feel when playing lead, but I'm not doing any shred with this band so it's not really an issue. I started with the JS JVM and thought that would be my main patch , but the JCM 800 slowly took over during the night. I never got it up past 10:00 and it was plenty loud going against the other guitarist that plays through a bogner 2X12 combo. Looks like I'm going to keep it and see if I can dial in my patches a bit more to where I don't miss my my tubes at all.

Nice one!!