Matching amps to guitars

[golias]

This evening, I experimented with my Les Paul, my Tele, my Strat, and my semi through a wide variety of really nice amps, from boutique 100W tube half-stacks to solid-state bass amps and just about all points between, including jacking into the PA, and I made an interesting discovery.

 

Every single guitar I own sounds best (to me) through my Peavey Classic 30.

 

So I guess that's my life made simpler. No matter what guitar I'm playing, I know what amp to bring to the gig, and don't even need to think about it.

[Josh S]

Isn't it great when you find the one? And isn't it a surprise how often it's a cheapie? Some of the best tones I've ever had ever were from a bog-standard Hot Rod Deluxe.

 

 

...That being said, once I got my first Hiwatt I never looked back

[Shenaniganizer]

Isn't it great when you find the one? And isn't it a surprise how often it's a cheapie? Some of the best tones I've ever had ever were from a bog-standard Hot Rod Deluxe. ...That being said, once I got my first Hiwatt I never looked back

 

I want a Hiwatt, so bad.

 

THANKS A LOT, DAVID GILMOUR.

[Faber]

try it again in a week, a month or a year and tell me if you reach the same conclusion. If you do congratulations on making life simpler. If otoh you're like me, your idea of what constitute "best" will change or rather go round in circles. Sometimes I think a particular amp is a guitar flatterer, other tmes I tink it sound like wet cardboard.

[soundcreation]

I'm kind of the same....I haven't tried a ton but of all the ones I have tried I've seen no reason to change from my crate V1512.

[prolog]

I've found the same things for 1x12 combos I've tried - I really like the C30, which makes things simpler for me, since I have one already!

 

However, a while ago I got to plug into a cranked 18W Marshall clone, with a 4x12 cab. For some things, I'd prefer a smaller combo amp, but now I really understand the desire to plug into something really loud and powerful.

[bsman]

 

try it again in a week, a month or a year and tell me if you reach the same conclusion. If you do congratulations on making life simpler. If otoh you're like me, your idea of what constitute "best" will change or rather go round in circles. Sometimes I think a particular amp is a guitar flatterer, other tmes I tink it sound like wet cardboard.

 

 

This is the same for me. One day, I think I've found tonal nirvana, and the next, it's not working for me. I think that there are so many variables both in environment and the head of the listener that intereract with tone that it's impossible to "get right". I'm happy to just be in the right neighborhood!

[smorgdonkey]

 

Every single guitar I own sounds best (to me) through my Peavey Classic 30.

 

 

I have noticed throughout my guitar-playing days that certain great amps (or so they seemed with one guitar) didn't impress with other guitars or vice versa. Some gear just doesn't compliment each other.

 

I would be careful in the final assessment however as your ear can become 'tuned' to expect certain things and if you hear something consistently in a period of time your ear actually filters out certain prominent sound frequencies as a defense mechanism.

 

A practical example would be back in the day I had a guitar and amp combination that I was convinced was stellar. At a sound check in a club I plugged into an amp that I had never used before and the look of "oh my God that is the most incredible guitar sound that I have ever heard came over EVERYONE's faces". It was WAY different than I was used to but even I knew that it was a pinnacle of sorts.

 

I also notice that people who play with small amps with small speakers (particularly single speakers) get used to that sound and often find that they 'cannot get their sound' from a larger set-up with multiple speakers. Most often, that is because they aren't used to the fullness and the extra bottom end that comes with the larger set-ups and multiple speakers.

 

So...with all of that said and knowing not how much of it (and regardless of it) applies to your particular situation but being all-too familiar with how it seems to apply in 90-something % of the small combo players that I have encountered, I suggest that you get a closed-back extension cab for your Classic 30 (which is an amp that I like a lot too).

[golias]

 

So...with all of that said and knowing not how much of it (and regardless of it) applies to your particular situation but being all-too familiar with how it seems to apply in 90-something % of the small combo players that I have encountered, I suggest that you get a closed-back extension cab for your Classic 30 (which is an amp that I like a lot too).

 

 

I already have it paired with the matching 112e cab, and that's what I was using while doing my little experiment last night.

 

My Classic 30 has been more-or-less my "number one" rig for about a year, but I've been playing in a lot of situations through a lot of different amps over the last year, so it's not as if a 4x12 (or even full stack) isn't something I'm used to. And there were a couple other "smaller" setups that I was monkeying with last night as well. I think I've just fallen in love with the specific voicing of the Classic.

 

Specifically, it's an old beat-up (USA-made) tweed Classic 30 and matching cab which I scored off Craigslist for a fire-sale price a while back.

 

The Peavey Classic series seems to be built to sound extremely Fender-ish, only without the "Fender Sparkle", which to my ear sounds a bit shrill, so while it's considered a "budget" alternative to its Fender counterpart, I find I actually prefer the sound of the Peavey.

[Lobsterbush]

 

The Peavey Classic series seems to be built to sound extremely Fender-ish, only without the "Fender Sparkle", which to my ear sounds a bit shrill, so while it's considered a "budget" alternative to its Fender counterpart, I find I actually prefer the sound of the Peavey.

 

 

 

+1

 

I love my classic 50 and plan on buying a classic 30 (for portability). I couldn't agree more on the Fender-ish tones. All the clarity you could ever want minus the sparkle.

[lp_junkie]

My guitars, all Les Pauls sound best through my Marshalls but can get the job done with my Egnater Renegade 1/2 stack as well...........

 

I do check out other amps ocassionally but always go back to my old standby, it's worked for me for 34 years.

[roners5]

after buying expensive amps and searching for "the tone", i've finally come to the conclusion that whatever's easiest is what works. I recently did a gig where i would need cleans and a dirty for solos and parts of tunes- i only have my soldano astroverb (1 ch- can either be set to clean or dirty, but not both) with me currently and was stressing- thought maybe i'd compromise, use a semi dirty tone and work the vol, etc (even thought about driving home and getting another amp).

 

Ultimately, I ran into my bad monkey pedal, then from there split direct to the pa and to the astroverb set crystal clean only for a monitor for myself. Sounded great and more importantly, nobody in the bar gave a {censored} what I was using.

[southtexslinger]

I can say the same thing about my peavey classic

 

the amp just hangs with just about every amp in its class and then some

 

takes pedals very well

 

it's a peavey so it's built to last

 

 

 

 

on the flip side though, I was asked to sit in on a gig once, I ran a hot-head distorion direct into the p.a., we did rock covers . . . a buddy in the audience said my guitar sounded awesome, he couldn't tell was not using an amp.

[cratz2]

I'm mostly a strat into a Blackface kinda guy, but when I branch out from that combo, I definitely find certain guitars that work remarkably with certain amps.

 

I had a standard AC15 with a Blue Dog and ended up getting an AC15H1TV. I've got to admit that at first, I just wasn't really super feeling it. Tried my main guitars... finally tried one of my cheapie strats that I had put a set of Duncan SSL2s in and MAGIC. Then, almost like a light switch, several other guitars seemed to sound spectacular through the amp. My main HB guitar is an LP DC type affair with 57 Classics and at first, I just didn't really love it through the H1TV. Tried it some more after bonding with the SSL2s and now it's like I can't get a bad tone out of that guitar through that amp.

 

The most recent one is I got a 5F1 Tweed Champ clone in a 1x12 housing from a forum member. This amp is not really my style, but I wanted something I could very easily crank. Again, at first, I had pretty much decided to resell it, but wasn't willing to take even a penny loss on it. Tried some HBs... tried some singles... tried the guitar with BG's Pure 90s (which was actually the main guitar I had in mind when I bought the amp) and it just wasn't really blowing my hair back. I bought a dirty Harmony at the pawn shop, it sounded kinda like ass and I remembered that I had a Dimarzio SDS1 which is sort of their P90 in a single coil housing effort. SPECTACULAR! Plenty of crunch when cranked... but still enough output and brightness to sound very nice when the volume on the guitar is rolled back.

 

So yeah... I definitely do that, OP.

[smorgdonkey]

on the flip side though, I was asked to sit in on a gig once, I ran a hot-head distorion direct into the p.a., we did rock covers . . . a buddy in the audience said my guitar sounded awesome, he couldn't tell was not using an amp.

 

How many beers did he have?

 

I recall doing a song by request once at a gig...our guitar player was good enough to fake it and everyone else followed him. I mustered up one verse from memory and had the chorus. Verse-chorus, same verse with a couple of words changed-chorus, huge solo, 1st verse again-chorus and outtro. Dude comes up to us at the break and raves that it was the best version ever done. We thanked him and held out laughter until he wasn't around and then bellowed about it!

 

Then again...we WERE awesome.

[Willyguitar]

I know exactly what you mean - I feel as though most things sound better through my Vox AC30 than most other amps.

 

However, certain guitars match well with certain amps, and I suspect I have leaned towards the guitars that sound good with the AC30. For example, Les Pauls are really great through them, as are guitars with P90s (to me). However, the Fenders, although fine, usually sound a bit better through a Fender. Overall though, the Vox is the best compromise. It can sound a bit reedy with Fender single coils, but really makes Gibson style guitars sound biting and fat at the same time.

 

By the same token, I have found humbuckered guitars to sound not so great through many of the traditional fender amps I have tried/used.

[Guitarist970]

I hear you on the Peavey love. I might get a Classic 30 in a few months just cause I'm sick of lugging my Classic 50 4x10 to smaller gigs. I just had rehearsal today and brought along my Ibanez ART-100, a cheap single cut I picked up in a trade a few months ago, that I had just finished putting a SD Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge. Let me tell you that guitar sang today, I only really brought it with to test out the new pup, but my Carvin didn't leave it's case.

 

The pup just paired so well with the Classic 50, it was unreal.

[Tollenaar]

I love the Peavey Classic series. Like golias, all of my guitars sound great through it, and it's the one amp I've bonded with more so than any other. My only gripe is that I have the 4 x 10 50 watt combo and I'd like to swap it out for a 30 watt head, but that's mostly because I don't need so much volume and I'd like something a little more compact to tote around. But unless I can make that trade or reasonably afford to swap out and also pick up a decent extension cab, I'm more than content with what I have amp wise.

 

Ever since I've bonded with it this last year, I've never really gassed over an amp (though I'd love a 2550 Silver Jubilee someday). If only I could bond this well with my guitars and pedals

[docjeffrey]

You can't go wrong with an EL84 based amp if it's made well. I have a whole room full of them: an Orange, two Marshalls and three Voxes, Only 3 of the aforementioned 6 amps have master volume controls, and I like to hear those power valves cooking, so at home and in some live situations, I use attenuators. Hot Plates work flawlessly with EL84's, even on pretty high levels of attenuation.

[Xenoanthropus]

I've had a number of stage rigs over the years, and while I've finally found something I'm really happy with tonewise (ENGL E530 -> ISP Prorack G -> G-Major -> Rev 1 Mesa 50/50 (without the deep mod the later ones had), I've had a Modded Peavey Triumph 60 for about 5 years now. removed the gain-constricting diodes, and enabled the EQ on all 3 channels, and I just can't get rid of it.

 

It's got a really glassy clean tone, the BEST clean tone I've ever heard from a Peavey, even with the EMGs all my guitars have, and the gain gets all the way up to about Megadeth/Metallica levels... Not quite the precision of the ENGL for the Death metal my band plays, but for a lot of the stuff I jam on in my free time, it sounds absolutely phenomenal. A bit noisy, but that's what noise gates are for. I preferred it to my old USA Classic 30, as well, but I don't think I'm really cut out for a blues amp

[C-4]

My experience has been that if I find an amp that can be dialed in for most of my guitars by adding or subtracting a bit of EQ to fit the particular guitar, as long as Ilike the saturated and clean tones, I am happy.

 

I have owned many amps but find the Diezels to be the most versatile and flexible for me. My favorite Diezel is the 30 watt Class A Schmidt. I can set the EQ at 12 o'clock and everything always sounds great, especially using the matching 2x12 hemp loaded cab.

[lowbrow]

I thought you played through a Peavey Classic 50?

[Tidal Rhythm]

+1 I love my classic 50 and plan on buying a classic 30 (for portability). I couldn't agree more on the Fender-ish tones. All the clarity you could ever want minus the sparkle.

OT: Does Peavey make any 15w amps in their classic series? Maybe I've just been missing them, but it seems like I've only found 30w+ models.

[BG76]

I have a 1953 Fender Deluxe that everything sounds great through with the exception of one of my SGs - which sounds flat out amazing through my 1960s Marshall JTM-50.

 

I have a few amps, but far less then I used to have due to the Deluxe sounding so good.

[lowbrow]

OT: Does Peavey make any 15w amps in their classic series? Maybe I've just been missing them, but it seems like I've only found 30w+ models.

 

They no longer make it, but they used to offer a Peavey Classic 20 1X10 combo.