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Whatcha plugging your guitar into?


bluesmann

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Thanks Blues. I ended up with 6L6's in it - they seem to be a bit warmer sounding to my old ears. The amp is rated 1, 6 or 12 watts depending on how you switch the power supply, that way you can run it clean or a little overdrive at reasonable volume levels.

 

If someone is interested in building their own amp I highly recommend AmpMaker

 

http://www.ampmaker.com/store/

 

Mine was the DoubleSix model - they have several others including a remake of the old Champ - I've been considering building one of those.

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My stuff is mostly old. If it's not old -- it's cheap. Sometimes, it's both.

 

I'm recording acoustic guitar tracks now. I am only using these 2 boxes.

The JoeMeek VC3 Pro-Channel (immortal for vocals & acoustic guitars

and the PreSonus D/A converter. I am bypassing the mixer.

 

[img2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.harmonycentral.com\/forum\/filedata\/fetch?photoid=32291316"}[/img2]

 

For my electric guitars I have these pedals:

 

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Going into either the JoeMeek or the Really Nice Compressor or neither one.

From there they go into the mixer above.

 

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From that mixer they usually go into my best-sounding amp, a Roland AC-90.

It's an acoustic-guitar amp. But it is a SUPERB synth amp. Much better than any

keyboard amp or PA I've used. It's studio monitor quality to my ears.

 

It doesn't look like much. But the sound quality blows away musicians who visit me -

especially when I play my Korg M3 workstation thru it.

 

[img2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.harmonycentral.com\/forum\/filedata\/fetch?photoid=32291319"}[/img2]

 

If I want something that is wild & uncontrollable -- I have this monster.

 

A 30+ year old US-made Peavey. Anvil heavy & louder than anyone wants.

It is a BEAST.

 

[img2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.harmonycentral.com\/forum\/filedata\/fetch?photoid=32291320"}[/img2]

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I Have a few electric guitar amps and a few acoustic guitar amps.

 

If I play acoustic it's just some picking around the shanty unplugged.

For practice around the house I use a Yamaha THR classic.

This month is all goes well and I get it together, I'm gonna look at a Fender 57 Deluxe.

Playing out I have used anything for a PRRI, or a DRRI, a Maz 18. the BJ limited. or a couple 5 watters I have.

 

I have even mic-ed up a Vox Valvetroix.

I also have one Mesa amp left, that I am keeping.

 

My pedal board is simple. I have a few other pedals, but these are the ones that made it to the board. Right now.

 

A little boost here, so OD when the job calls for it, may some delay or slap back.

 

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It varies TBH... if I am going to play live somewhere, it's usually my EVM-12 equipped Princeton Reverb II, oftentimes in partnership with my Weber Blue Dog AlNiCo equipped AC15cc1. They both get used in the studio a lot too, but so does my Marshall Class 5, my blackfaced '71 Princeton, my THD Univalve, and various other amps...

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I have several amps for different tones/situations.

 

67 Fender Pro Reverb - great for gigging or recording, Sovtek 6L6's and a mix of NOS pre-amp tubes, EV SRO speakers

 

74 Fender VibroChamp - my go-to for recording, RCA tubes, Jupiter 8SC speaker

 

77 Fender Musicmaster Bass - poor man's silver face Princeton, NOS Sylvania tubes, JBL D120F

 

Valvetech Hayseed 30 - boutique clone of a '64 AC30 with some cool modern features (1/2 power switch, master volume, selectable preamp (EF86, 12AX7, 12AX7 w/TB)), JJ tubes, Eminence Red Fang and Weber Blue Dog speakers

 

Peavey Classic 30 - this is my grab and go for jams and such, stock tubes (JJ's), and currently has a JBL D123 in it

 

Lectrosonics "The Mouse" - rechargeable battery powered amp for busking, currently sitting on my bench as a test amp

 

Gorilla G80 - somebody just gave this to me and I don't know what to do with it. It sounds OKish clean, but introduce any of the "tube stack" into it and it turns into a gritty, mushy mess. The reverb is {censored}.

 

 

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My go to amp is still this Fender Princeton Chorus solid state Great for home use,no waiting for tubes to heat or cool. Just plug and play whenever I have a little time The clean sound is pretty nice I have other amps but this one is ready when I am

 

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They're awesome amps. Quite possibly my favorite amp of all time. :philthumb:

 

The II is different in a lot of ways (20W, 12" speaker, lead volume / gain switching; the cascading gain stages in the preamp are more similar to what you'd find in an earlier Mesa Boogie - or a Rivera; Paul is the guy who spec'd the amps and told Ed Jahns, the designer for Fender, what he wanted...) but they're also the last of the standard line hand-built P2P Fenders, and the last of the CBS-era amps, and while they have a SS rectifier (I like toobs), they're still very capable of generating the classic Fender clean tones too.

 

I also have a '71 Princeton that's been blackfaced internally and externally. I probably play through that amp more than any other that I own. I bought it (in rather beat up shape) for $80, and put about $200-300 in parts into it, and it's just a wonderful sounding amp. Princetons have some of the best clean tones in the world IMHO.

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[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none"' date='"data-size":"full","data-tempid":"temp_139788_1533799255563_790"}[/ATTACH'] Now you see em, now you don't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIhjJNN1Qs0 Here's some Dark side of the moon, (Money) I used a backing track and learned the lead and the tone with added delay.

 

Nice job on the Money solo. :cool2: Did you use the blue PRS in the video for the recording? That's a beautiful guitar!

 

I've always thought it was brilliant the way Marc took the Effect forum's suggestion to do the graphics on the Pig Mine so the miner's lamp on the pig's helmet lined up with the LED. Next to the Malekko Echo 600, that's the best LED placement on a pedal - evar! :lol:

 

Very nice pedals you have there - you have excellent taste. IMHO, Marc / Skreddy makes some of the finest pedals on the planet. :philthumb:

 

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hmmm...better question what am I NOT plugging into. ;)

 

For live work, my current favorite amp is my BlackStar HT20 Studio...gets me great tones from Fender clean to Marshall crunch, Vox-y chime, Boogie-ish grind...all easily dialed in. These amps sell pretty cheap used, which I don't understand, but fine with me, I may get a second one for outdoor gigs.

I also really like my Vox Nighttrain15CC...like an AC15* with a wide open flair, dirt and more dirt, or 'clean as a weasel' as one old forumite's sig used to say. Behind those, my longtime workhorses were a 'pair' of Blonde Blues Juniors [one USA, one Mexico], both now have standby switches, and different speakers [uSA= Jensen, Mexican= Celestion]. My 'big stage' amp is my '64 Vibrolux Reverb, which will be getting re-tubed later this year...I've owned that amp since 1972.

Studio-wise, I like to use small amps, so I have a Fender Champion 600 with upgraded MOD speaker and JJ tubes, an Epi Valve Junior [on the bench for additional upgrades at the moment, gets pushed back often by the paid repair work], and a little old late 40s/early50s Magnatone lap steel amp that just screams, cries, sobs and wails...

 

 

 

*Saturday I was sitting in with some friends, and used an AC15 [with no footswitch] :(

When I was done, the guy who owned it took a picture of the settings, and then told me the amp had never sounded that good....:idk:

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I forgot to include a photo... :0 Please don't ban me! ;)

 

 

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Phil did you recover the Rivera designed Fender Princeton II? I have only seen them in black.

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I'm done with tubes. IMO, they (and their associated problems) are no longer required.

 

My main amp (since 1999) is a Yamaha DG80-112 which replaced a Twin Reverb. I also have a Fender Mustang IV and recently picked up a BOSS Katana 50 which is my new small amp.

 

For many years I played through tube amps (mostly Fender) and had a Mesa Boogie Subway Blues. The Subway Blues sounded great but devoured EL84s and sometimes made noises it wasn't supposed to.

 

I often use a BOSS ME-25 plugged into a Yamaha mixer and studio monitors for practice and recording. It's convienient, versatile and sounds great.

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Phil did you recover the Rivera designed Fender Princeton II? I have only seen them in black.

 

Yes I did. The original was a bit banged up, and I was managing a repair shop at the time and had access to tolex and grille cloth at cost, so I thought, "what the heck..." I've always liked blonde Fenders with oxblood grilles. :)

 

FWIW, not all of the Princeton Reverb II's are covered in black tolex - there's a very few (~100) that are floating around out there with the limited edition "Super Pro Series" Super Champ style wood cabinets...

 

 

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....but they seem to show up even less frequently than the wood Super Champs. I have a Rivera-era Super Champ too, but unlike the PRII, it doesn't have the factory optional EVM in it, and it's still in the original black tolex.

 

 

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Yes I did. The original was a bit banged up, and I was managing a repair shop at the time and had access to tolex and grille cloth at cost, so I thought, "what the heck..." I've always liked blonde Fenders with oxblood grilles. :)

 

FWIW, not all of the Princeton Reverb II's are covered in black tolex - there's a very few (~100) that are floating around out there with the limited edition "Super Pro Series" Super Champ style wood cabinets...

 

 

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"champ_superdeluxe_fr01.jpg","data-attachmentid":32293972}[/ATTACH]

 

 

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"woodiepriitop.jpg","data-attachmentid":32293973}[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

....but they seem to show up even less frequently than the wood Super Champs. I have a Rivera-era Super Champ too, but unlike the PRII, it doesn't have the factory optional EVM in it, and it's still in the original black tolex.

 

 

I'm an familiar with the amp. I bought my Fender Twin Reveb back in 1982. I was not happy with a Musicman 2x10 65 I was playing out of. It was a bit harsh in tone. It was my fist good amp I purchased with my own money back in like 1978.

It was kind expensive too. No preamps ,tubes but it had 2 power tubes. Ran EV speakers.

 

Anyway there's shop in No Ho Mass, Downtown Sound ( still there) and I had a GF that lived out near there. I always thought I wanted a Fender Twin Reverb and he has one at his new store. I forget what the price was but I traded my Musician and gave him 125 for the new Twin. About that time is when the Princeton and Deluxe II were hitting the streets. The Twin II wouldn't come out till a year or so later. They were kind of Fenders answer Randall Smiths Marks amp. Probably the Mark II.

 

I still have the that push/ pull master volume Twin, it's in killer shape up in my attic. A could of year later I added a Marshall 2x12 50 watt combo. It's model 4104 if you really want to know. I thought I was so cool to have 2 amps, my dad made me a simple switcher box so I could play one or the other. That runs 6550's. it's super clean too, no real nicks or scuffs. I haul both amps myself to gigs and padded em up in the back of the trunk.

 

This is the time I got a little more bands. seriou, and thought I need a small amp, so I bought a Fender Super 60 red knob amp, and that was my main amp for a really long time. I started collecting a few more guitars between 1980 and 1985. and I thought my Les Paul Gold top, was to heavy and nice to play all night, so I already had purchased a couple of guitar from the 48th street area, and I made a trip back to get my main guitar I would use for bars for the next decade a 62 tele RI. I didn't even know it was mij. Never thought to look. The price was just right.

 

I've had a bunch of amps come and go over the years. Mesa's, Fender, a couple of Carvin's, A Vox, and the list keeps going, but I kept a lot too. The amp I missed the most is a first year production of the Fender Tweed Deluxe, not the famous one from the 50's, but what would turn out to be the HRD series. I never left much in the practice space, and took most of my stuff home, but I left this amp in my buddies cellar and there was a water pipe break. My buddy called me up and said Mike I have so bad news. It actually tuned on but the speakers and tweed covering were a mess. made in Corona too.

 

FF: I'm gonna check out this month a Fender 57 Tweed RI. That should get me over the Tweed Deluxe mishap.

 

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[ATTACH=JSON]{"alt":"Click image for larger version Name:\t Views:\t1 Size:\t439.2 KB ID:\t32294068","data-align":"none","data-attachmentid":"32294068","data-size":"full"}[/ATTACH]

 

Nice job on the Money solo. :cool2: Did you use the blue PRS in the video for the recording? That's a beautiful guitar!

 

I've always thought it was brilliant the way Marc took the Effect forum's suggestion to do the graphics on the Pig Mine so the miner's lamp on the pig's helmet lined up with the LED. Next to the Malekko Echo 600, that's the best LED placement on a pedal - evar! :lol:

 

Very nice pedals you have there - you have excellent taste. IMHO, Marc / Skreddy makes some of the finest pedals on the planet. :philthumb:

 

Yes! that's my 2008 custom 22 Quilt 10 top Matteo blue.

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[ATTACH=JSON]{"alt":"Click image for larger version Name:\t Views:\t1 Size:\t439.2 KB ID:\t32294068"' date='"data-align":"none","data-attachmentid":"32294068","data-size":"full"}[/ATTACH']

 

Yes! that's my 2008 custom 22 Quilt 10 top Matteo blue.

 

Pretty.

 

I have PRS CU 22 in McCarty Sunburst. I tried a bunch of em one day, including some McCartys , 24's and 22's.

 

I thought if I was gonna get one it might as well do a few thing well.

 

I like the PRS whammy, so it give me some start capabilities, so tele capabilities and kind of feels like a LP. All familiar territory to me. I love quilted tops and Flame tops. Plus I wasn't getting a PRS with out the birdies. I kept the rotary switch in mine too, it really does give you the most tone options. I also have a strap that I leave in the case, as mine has the big washer like strap pins. I had to slightly cut the straps holes and make them so they would fit over the end pins.

 

I have had about 4 meas amps in my arsenal at one time. A DC-5, combo, a 2x12 Tverb combo, a 2x12 Maverick, one of the early Single rectifiers, and Nomad. I got rid of the Tverb as it was a nightmare to pick up, they were 98 lbs, but they did have casters, Love the tones off that amp.The Single rectifier 1x12 went to a kid form NH that drove 3 hours to test it out. He came with him mom. I had a 1x12 rectro ex cab that you could stack the single rectro on and it made a small stack.

 

I told him if he wanted I'd toss in the cab for a little extra. He asked me if I would take less for the single, as it didn't hurt to ask. I told him, he's the one that drove 3 hours and he could drive 3 hours back empty handed for all I cared. Yeah he took both pieces. Clean as a whistle those pieces where .He had a Gibson Flying V with him so I knew after I showed him what the amp could he was gonna make out all the gain control possibilities.

 

Anyway, I liked my Mesa stuff a lot, however the only Meas amp I kept was Normand 55 1x2 combo with no graphic eq on it. It's heavy but manageable. The problem with the Nomad series is it was not much less than the Mark III and 4's, which I found to be a nightmare.The Nomnad has 3 channel with 3 separate treb, mid and bass knobs, reverb for each channel and a solo boost button.

 

I asked the sales guy that worked at Mesa how many folks were employed there he told me about 50, there might be more now, but it's a rather small company.

 

One thing I heard about PSR is everyone starts in the sanding room. You can work you way up from there. They run tours and you can get your electronic cover plate signed by Paul at the end of the tour. The chrome cover plates on mine have a slight patina. Chrome ain't what it once was, with all the guitar manufactures. It have chrome on older guitars that has nothing more than a pick scratches on it.

I think all the USA ones are hand numbered too. Looks like they do it with a silver sharpie pen.

 

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