Deciding on a new amp.please help

[jakethesnake20x]

So I have mainly played tube amps all of my time as a guitarist. I have played Vox, Fender, Crate, Epiphone, and other tube amps. I play ambient and alternative music and am looking for an extremely clean tone. I love the warmth of tubes, but of course they break up a lot sooner with volume increase killing that clean tone. I have started looking at the Orange Crush series or higher wattage Orange combos. I have heard their clean sound from their solid state amps is great. I did own a small Orange practice amp at one time and was blown away by the sound for a practice amp. I have played tube Orange amps as well, they are great for distortion tone or even adding fuzz to it, but the clean tone is lacking. I'm interested to see if anyone has advice for me on my quest to find an extremely clean amp. I'm leaning towards the solid state Orange, but if anyone has suggestions I would be happy to hear them. I also mainly use delay, modulation, reverb, synth, and other out there pedals most people don't traditionally use. I'm not for or against using only analog or only digital effects if they have a clear good sound. I'm not as big of a fan of the sound quality from older digital pedals, but in the last 5-10 years digital tone quality has increased. I am listing these effects because I want an amp that will sound good with those effects. I mainly play alternative and ambient music in the styles of Tycho, Explosions in the Sky, El Ten Eleven, Bombay Bicycle Club, Sigur Ros, M83. I do at times jam out with a good fuzz such as an original Big Muff, Zvex Fuzz Factory, Way Huge Swollen Pickle(most recently). I am not interested in digital amps (modeling amps) I am just partial to solid state or tube. I've tried different digital amps and did not care for their tone.

[Mikeo]

Fender Twin Reverb

Mesa Boogie Tremloverb is even better, but weighs in at 98 lbs for the combo.

 

 

 

[jakethesnake20x]

Thanks, I did like the Twin Reverb, I've never owned one but have played them and they are one of the cleaner tube amps I've played. I'll have to check out the Mesa Boogie Tremloverb. I looked into the Mesa Boogie Lonestar and thought it might sound right. I've only heard them on youtube and when I went to Minus the Bear concerts they used them so I guess I have heard them live, but never played one.

[1001gear]

I schlepping a concern? You can put all your tubifyng on the floor with your ambient stuff and just play through a powered cab.

[guitarcapo]

If it has to be tube...and you want awesome cleans, no way around it...you are going to need WATTS. And watts in a tube amp is going to make WEIGHT.

 

Mainly because watts is going to demand beefier transformers and speakers to handle that power. I suggest a 100 watt head with a separate cab for weight purposes. But if it has to be a combo...and you want it cheap. Maybe something like an early 1980's Fender Concert can be had for $600. They have lots of features, are PTP wired, and are 60 watts.

[Mikeo]

Try a Quilter if you can find one. They are SS. The Mach 2 HD is 200 watts.

They make an ext cab for it too.

 

 

https://www.quilterlabs.com/index.php/product/mach-2-combo-12hd/

[t_e_l_e]

i call roland jazz chorus there are the jc120 and the jc70 as a smaller version

[Phil O'Keefe]

Have you ever tried an old Peavey Nashville 400? They have a single 15” speaker and 200W, and are definitely clean. Could work well for what you’re after, and they tend to sell for ~$350 or so used...

[DeepEnd]

Have you ever tried an old Peavey Nashville 400? They have a single 15” speaker and 200W' date=' and are definitely clean. Could work well for what you’re after, and they tend to sell for ~$350 or so used...[/quote']

IIRC those are pretty heavy if that's a concern for the OP.

[Phil O'Keefe]

IIRC those are pretty heavy if that's a concern for the OP.

 

True... but Twins and the like are often not the lightest of amps either.

 

 

[DeepEnd]

True... but Twins and the like are often not the lightest of amps either.

Sure. just trying to make sure the OP knows what's up going in. If he's okay with a big, heavy amp or maybe won't need to move it that's cool. I've known a couple of guitarists who owned Twin Reverbs and I can say they're not for me. The OP's mileage might vary. The Jazz Chorus 77 t_e_l_e mentioned comes in under 45 lbs. and might be worth a look.

[Voltan]

i didnt notice any mention of weight requirements in the OP? so im not addressing that..

recently ive been running a marshall origin 50, 1x12 combo, slaved to a jc77... the clean on the marshall is actually pretty darned clean, not fender, but the jc easily handles that... (that said, im also running single coils)...

give one of these origin 50’s a listen, you might be pleasantly surprised...i was!

[daddymack]

Try a Quilter if you can find one. They are SS. The Mach 2 HD is 200 watts.

They make an ext cab for it too.

https://www.quilterlabs.com/index.ph...-2-combo-12hd/

 

Used Quilter Aviators are probably your best SS amp bang for your buck. The heads sell used under $400[uS], have an awesome clean, and a very usable b channel for distortion/OD; but you want clean, and the Quilter clean is squeaky clean. It is a 100W per channel SS amp, so there is adequate volume for gigging, so as long as you have a cab that will take that kind of power, or even if you need to get one, this is a very solid option. As a long time [50years] tube amp guy, [although I do have some SS amps for Bass, and one old Harmony I inherited], on the recommendation of a good friend and former forumite, I took the leap on a used Aviator, modded an existing cab, and it is now my home practice rig, although I have gigged with it once.

 

The other great option mentioned here is the Roland Jazz Chorus amps...legendary cleans.

 

The Peavey Nashville 400, and the Nashville 1000, were designed for pedal steel, and intended to stay clean all the way out, so it is also an option...they do make a 1x12 version which is much lighter, with lower wattage, btw...but does tend to get 'gain-y' as the volume increases.

 

Another option I'm seeing being used lately is the 'pedalboard amp'...there are a number of these...class D 30 to 200watt amps that are light, and will drive a cab, or have an inboard DI to go to the PA board. I have not tried any of these yet, but I would certainly check it out given the OP's query.

 

Someone else suggested using a powered cabinet, which is also a good option if most of your sound is coming from the pedalboard. A powered PA cab like a Mackie Thump 15 [1kw] or a 12A [1.3kw] are good inexpensive powered cabs with no 'coloration'. 12A cabs used go in the 225-300 range, 15s will go 325-400.

[onelife]

I would suggest that, before you decide, take a look at the Boss Katana series - they come in 50 and 100 Watt versions and, IMO, are the best bang for the buck amplifiers that I have tried.

I like the Katana-50 for its portability (vastly different from a Twin) and, last week I played one outside without going through the PA. It was loud enough and the cleans remained clean even when turned way up.

https://www.boss.info/ca/categories/amplifiers/katana/

 

 

 

[onelife]

On 8/13/2019 at 9:52 AM, daddymack said:

 

Used Quilter Aviators are probably your best SS amp bang for your buck. The heads sell used under $400[uS], have an awesome clean, and a very usable b channel for distortion/OD; but you want clean, and the Quilter clean is squeaky clean. It is a 100W per channel SS amp, so there is adequate volume for gigging, so as long as you have a cab that will take that kind of power, or even if you need to get one, this is a very solid option. As a long time [50years] tube amp guy, [although I do have some SS amps for Bass, and one old Harmony I inherited], on the recommendation of a good friend and former forumite, I took the leap on a used Aviator, modded an existing cab, and it is now my home practice rig, although I have gigged with it once.

 

The other great option mentioned here is the Roland Jazz Chorus amps...legendary cleans.

 

The Peavey Nashville 400, and the Nashville 1000, were designed for pedal steel, and intended to stay clean all the way out, so it is also an option...they do make a 1x12 version which is much lighter, with lower wattage, btw...but does tend to get 'gain-y' as the volume increases.

 

Another option I'm seeing being used lately is the 'pedalboard amp'...there are a number of these...class D 30 to 200watt amps that are light, and will drive a cab, or have an inboard DI to go to the PA board. I have not tried any of these yet, but I would certainly check it out given the OP's query.

 

Someone else suggested using a powered cabinet, which is also a good option if most of your sound is coming from the pedalboard. A powered PA cab like a Mackie Thump 15 [1kw] or a 12A [1.3kw] are good inexpensive powered cabs with no 'coloration'. 12A cabs used go in the 225-300 range, 15s will go 325-400.

I too have been a tube guy for 50 years. I hauled around 100lbs of Twin Reverb/EVM12L for 15 of those years because nothing else would do it for me. I also paid for the amp a second time replacing tubes during those years. 

I used a Mesa Boogie Subway Blues for a while. A great sounding tube amp that devoured EL84s which went down spitting and hissing and generally disrupting the show. The very thing that makes tube amps great is also their weakness.

The first solid state amp that really worked for me was and early digital amp, the Yamaha DG80. I still have it and it's still the best amp I've ever had. Twenty years of regular use with the DG80 and not a single stitch of maintenance required.

Last year I sold the last of my tube amps and my arsenal now consists of the DG80, a Fender Mustang IV and a Boss Katana-50. I like the consistency in sound and overall operation of the modern amps compared to the effects of the slow deterioration of the sound that happens with tube amps. I recall one incident with my Twin where I was playing a six night gig in the same room. After three nights I replaced all the tubes in the amp and, with everything else being the same, the change was so drastic it felt like my guitar strings were made out of different material.