sweet, sweet guitar tones wanted :D

[Dave_M]

hi all, i'm learning to play electric guitar and i need some distortion. My marshall amp can be overdriven, but play 2-3 notes at once with it and it makes a terrible NASTY noise! yuck! It is not useable at all. I used to own a digital multi effects pedal (zoom GFX-707). It was ok but doesnt sound great, it takes somthing away from the music, just sounds flat and cheap. I sold it now. I tried out BOSS DS-1, very unimpressed although it's not terrible.

I'm thinking get a good valve amp with an effects loop and stay away from nasty transistor distortion. I'm not sure exactly what to look for apart from I will probably want to spend a little more to get somthing that sounds nice. Ideal amp would be versatile and get any sound out of it more or less.

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe looks good, not sure what it is capable of though. And having transformer coupled output to speakers... i almost cannot belive that sounds better than modern solid state tech. Any recommendations?

[jules650]

What's your budget? There are some really good valve amps out there; Vox, Orange and even Cornford spring to mind, but some of them can be really pricey.

[Dave_M]

I will be trying to get one second hand to stretch budget as far as it will go. I dont have that much money to throw around, but it must be very nice otherwise I will only have to upgrade it later. Mesa amps are very good I hear, but they are twice the price then thats where I draw the line at too expensive.

[Jahn]

it sounds like you want to have a pure bluesy overdrive tone from a tube-driven amp.

look no further than the Fender Blues Jr.

that tiny beastie will break up so sweet and clean you'll cry. give it a test at your local store, they'll probably have one since they're common. they won't break the bank, and will be plenty loud to practice with - and just mic it up if you're gigging out. the bigger amps are actually harder to OD since they have so much headroom/power to play with, and thus need to do alot of processing to crunch. stick with the tiny spitty tube amps and you won't be sorry!


oh by the way, your marshalls and mesas and boss DS-1s are all Distortion - think "big hair 80's." it's not Overdrive - think "Stevie Ray Vaughan." the pedal version would be an Ibanez Tube Screamer - but i'd still recommend putting it through a clean tube amp just on the edge of its own OD.

But don't worry, you can still get plenty nasty with a small tube amp. here's a clip of my tiny epiphone valve amp with a monster fuzz box attached to it - the Big Muff Pi. this will scare your children.

[grawk]

Best bet is to find a smaller custom builder, along the lines of headfi diy. Lots of great DIY tube amp designs out there. It's how mesa got started, after all.

[Jahn]

there are definitely tons of DIY jobbies and mods out there too - here's a cool one using an old bassman head.

[keyid]

try looking for a local guitar swap meet, I found a 1960's fender lead III at one, the vintage emblems on them cost more the what I bought it for. Dont disregard old tube amps needing some care.

[Dave_M]

thanks for your input. i think that blues jr is exactly what i'm after.

[GAD]

Originally Posted by Jahn

oh by the way, your marshalls and mesas and boss DS-1s are all Distortion - think "big hair 80's." it's not Overdrive - think "Stevie Ray Vaughan." the pedal version would be an Ibanez Tube Screamer - but i'd still recommend putting it through a clean tube amp just on the edge of its own OD.

Bingo.

GAD

[mrarroyo]

Black face Fender Champ, w/ a low number Grove Tube (the lower the earlier they start to overdrive). A Princeton would work well also.