Guitar Amp Choices

builder · Post by **builder** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:41 am

What are everyone's favorite amps to record...

I recently saw a video on YouTube were the engineer for Nirvanna's Nevermind was going through all the guitar tracks for "Drain You"

He had Fenderbassman, a Mesa, and a few others. Listening to the differences between the amps and then the sum of all of them together is really something....

I have a Fender Hotrod. I also am about to borrow a friends Sundown head with Mesa cabinet... and my other guitarist has a Princeton.

I was thinking about picking up a small Mesa combo, but I also remeber Chrispick talking about a ephiphone amp he picked up that he liked, so I thought I would throw this post out...

Budmas21 · Post by **Budmas21** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:15 am

My current favorite amp to record with is my Krank Revolution half stack. In my opinion, it has the balls of a Mesa and the mids/cut-through of a Marshall. I currently use a Krank 2x12 cabinet on it, but I also have the 4x12 cabinet. It was my median when I tried to decide on what amp to buy. Of course, you can almost never go wrong with a good Marshall. I've recorded with a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL and a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb. My Krank is my favorite though. When I do have to get some other type of guitar sound, I normally use my Pod XT Live pedal board. I still can't seem to get my the Line 6 stuff sound right. One thing about the Mesa Boogie stuff... you have to really tweak on those to get a good sound. I still can't see how Mark Tremonti get's his recorded guitar sound running a straight Dual Rec with no effects (supposibly).

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:18 am

I've had many different amps come through the studio. I really think the guitar/amp/performer combination has more to do with the sound than the amp alone. However, with that said, the amps I think that have sounded the best so far have been from Mesa and Marshall. The ones that have sounded the worst have been from Line 6. That's not to say there aren't some great sounding Line 6s or bad sounding Marshalls. It's just what I've heard in my studio.
Then there's this other thing. What sounds great solo'd is not necessarily what sounds best in the mix. Sometimes that's a tough concept to sell to the guitarist. So I will often take a direct-in on a separate track for re-amping at a later date if necessary.

Phil

chrispick · Post by **chrispick** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:10 pm

builder wrote:I was thinking about picking up a small Mesa combo, but I also remeber Chrispick talking about a ephiphone amp he picked up that he liked, so I thought I would throw this post out...

Well, the Epiphone amp I picked up is the Epiphone Valve Jr.. It sound great for the price, but it's only addresses a specialized sound palette. Good for certain clean or bluesy stuff.

I've read that a lot of engineers picked up the head version to run it though an array of bigger, better speakers, and have had great results. Some have switched out the tubes for more "boutique" alteration. I'm not doing that. I just wanted a low-watt, cheap tube combo for clean to semi-dirty, but not pristine sounds. For that, it works great.

If you do test drive the Epi Jr., try turning your guitar volume down and the amp's volume up. Let the amp do the work. To me, it sounds best when you gain-stage it that way.

I'm actually half-shopping for a good, versatile recording amp, so I'm kind of in the same boat as you.

Budmas21 · Post by **Budmas21** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:33 pm

My local guitar shop is about to receive one of Peavey's new JSX Mini Colossal amps. I believe it's a 5 watt Class A tube amp. It's pretty pricey $500 on some of the online dealers, but I'm hoping for the same thing... a nice low wattage tube amp that I can drive to get some different tones. Check out Peavey's web site to read about it. Like I said, I have yet to hear it, but they're suppose to call me when it comes in so I can demo it for myself.

daniel.sneed · Post by **daniel.sneed** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:11 pm

I rely on a Mesa Boogie Studio 22 and a Fender Blues Deluxe.
They have been faithfull horses till now from clean to crunch.

But on stage and for common work I only use a Mesa Boogie V-Twin preamp with a direct-box to the PA mixer or to the DAW.
Never a glitch and much easy to travel with.
And I can use it past sleeping time...

msmith92 · Post by **msmith92** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:35 am

the fender 100w twin amp is awesome.

jrdmcdnld · Post by **jrdmcdnld** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:13 am

For the budget minded, the fender blues junior and pro junior give you a nice tube tone.

rcannonp · Post by **rcannonp** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:40 pm

My Marshall JTM 622 sounds great through my SM57 and Baby Bottle. It just bums me out that I live in an apartment and don't get to use it much.

I tried out a Fender Blues Jr. at Guitar Center and thought that it sounded really good, especially with a Telecaster. If I needed another amp I certainly would have bought one.

gearboy · Post by **gearboy** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:50 am

I own a Mesa/Boogie DC-3 and a Fender Pro Jr with JJ tubes in it. I also have access to several 1970s Fender amps (Twin Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, etc).

One of the best investments that I made in 2006 was this: http://www.radialeng.com/di-xamp.htm. It's rock solid and does the trick. Now I always take a dry/unprocessed direct guitar or bass signal so that I have the option of reamping (if needed). I also like having the flexibility of being able to run any instrument or vocal though my stomp boxes or any guitar amp, as well as being able to record performances and worry about the right sound/room/combination of amps at a later date.

If I want to record a Telecaster through my Mesa and my friend's Twin with a tubescreamer, I don't have to worry about the fact that it's 4am and the Twin is 20 miles away when I'm writing parts. ReAmping separates the performance from the sound... unless you are recording gtr feedback!

Jeff

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:50 am

I have some files I've been wanting to post, just been SO busy. I took (3) different guitars (Strat, Tele and a Les Paul) into the studio, recorded dry via the DI on one of my pres over (5) different music styles and then re-amped several different amps including some of the ones you're talking about here. I need to just make MP3's of these and post them, it's quite interesting!

gearboy · Post by **gearboy** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:16 pm

The coolest thing about having a Reamp, though, is learning all about microphone placement as it relates to guitar amps.

Jeff

daveyboy · Post by **daveyboy** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:48 pm

I'm a guitarist who used to use amps, switched to mostly direct stuff (pod, vox, etc) and have gone back to amps. I bought a cheap Peavey Classic 30 for around $350. I didn't really like it at first. But now I use it all the time. It's really great for clean to bluesy dirty stuff and takes pedals very well. Works great with a cheap nady ribbon mic. Very full sound. I also bought a Marshall tsl2000 that has been modded and I use that for the "marshall" sound. Plus I have a fender blues deville that doesn't really get used. For most of the stuff I'm doing the Peavey seems to get the most use. Regardless, it's much better the the direct amp sound. Want to get the Radial reamping device as well.

MOTUnation.com

Guitar Amp Choices

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