what's your favorite amp?

UPDATE: I'm realizing that not only is it really difficult to pick a favorite amp, but over the course of time, my favorite amp has changed quite a bit. Does anyone remember me being excited about the Dean Dime 120 watt solid state head I had bought around 2012? Later it was my first "tube amp", a Vox Valvetronix?  Then there was the Carvin V3 that I bought from Guy.

Fast forward a dozen amps to present day. In this thread I posted about the two different versions of the Blistertone amps that I own. The short backstory about the Blistertone is that after Doug Sewell had made a number of classic Fender inspired amplifiers, he thought he might need to design an amp that was more Marshall inspired, and that is what became the Blistertone.

So, why not just get a Marshall amp?
Yes, but which one? They do not all sound alike.

It seems to me that in the world of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal, there are two dominant Marshall Amplifier camps.  1.) The Plexi camp and 2.) the JCM800 camp. My favorite band in the world (Judas Priest) had a lot of Plexi tone going on in their early days but my favorite actual tone from a single artist would be Slash, playing a Les Paul through a hot-rodded JCM800.

And THAT is why, at this particular moment in time, THIS is currently my favorite amp. It's a 100 watt Slash signature model JCM800 Silver Jubilee.

MarshallSilverJubilee01.jpg

 
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After 30 years with Mesa/Boogie when it came time for a new amp I looked seriously at the Mark V :35 with a wooden cab. I decided to keep an open mind and just received my new PRS DG 30 Custom amp and 2x 12 cab .  It is a hand wired 3 x 12AX7 / 1 12AT7 (reverb) 4 EL84M/7189 single channel designed with David Grissom and Doug Sewel .  By far the sweetest amp I've ever played , imagine the love child of a  Fender Twin and Vox AC30 

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On 12/22/2022 at 3:02 AM, greywolf66 said:

Celestion Vintage 30  Power-Handling: 120 Watts  8 ohms

The back is ported and has grill screens   . The cat on the chair is Doug Sewel the amp designer

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Excellent demo!  I love the way Grissom verbally explains how the amp was developed, plays a killer riff, then follows up on what we just heard it do.  Having Sewel there, offering his technical input discussing the painstaking trial and error steps, was icing on the cake.   

 
I love my new Mesa California Tweed connected to additional speaker (with rotating baffle) from an old Conn organ with a variac controlling the speed. It sound very lush. And if I add my univibe at just about the same speed, it can become magic.View attachment 30766

 
I mainly play a Mesa TA-15 on the Top Boost setting and it does a great Vox sound. I'm looking to get something marshall-y and trying to find a mini jubilee for a decent price.

 
Anthony said:
I love my new Mesa California Tweed connected to additional speaker (with rotating baffle) from an old Conn organ with a variac controlling the speed. It sound very lush. And if I add my univibe at just about the same speed, it can become magic.View attachment 30766
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Hey what do you think of that Moog delay? I've never had a chance to try one of the minifoogers.

And is that black thing a Roger Mayer pedal? I want one just because they look cool!

 
I really like the Moog. It sounds very old school analog. The only down side is the level never goes to zero. There is always a very faint signal. It works well as a boost too.

The black rocket is a Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz that I bought in the early 1990s. It was supposed to be orange, but he sent an autographed black one. I really like it. 

In my early years I didn't understand how fuzz pedals work with the guitar volume. So I emailed Roger Mayer. The gain slowly increases then all of a sudden, it jumps to crazy gain. Roger replied back "that's the way its supposed to work".

I crank the gain on the fuzz pedal and adjust the level with the guitar volume.

I usually run my amp at max volume then drop the gain just until breakup. I keep the pedal gain levels pretty low to just give a boost. The OCD sounds the best with my 05 H150 with Seth Lovers.

 
That's a great Roger Mayer story! Congrats on the autograph too.

I wonder if the fooger has a trim pot inside you could adjust?

 
I have the MF-104Z, it works well & doesn't have that problem. Strange, most of their stuff is well designed.

Actually I do have the minifooger drive pedal, it's good. Always wondered about the delay though!

 
RJLII said:
My Carr Rambler. 
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Ok, I got my 1x12 Victoria Ivy League (5F10 circuit) out of the closet this morning and it’s now my new favorite. I’ve been looking for a particular tone and the Carr wasn’t getting me there. The tweed is getting it done. 

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