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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 9:57 am
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First off, welcome to the Forums. Should have brought your infobrella though you could not have posssibly anticipated the 'rain' you've just been showered with courtesy of our extremely versatile, knowlegeable, and experienced colleagues. I suggest that, when you frame a question, you try to be as specific about the issue as you can be, unless you're open to a general discussion. You presently own a very versatile guitar which has the potential for many applications. How you plan to use it presently will dictate the kind of amplification and signal chain you should consider. Give us that and we may be able to focus our remarks more precisely. There's a helluva difference between a Fender Champ and an EC Twin.

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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:21 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Big or small, there is no substitute for a great amp.

None.

Whatsoever.



+1000

Anything less means choosing to not bring out the full potential of a nice guitar.


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:36 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Big or small, there is no substitute for a great amp.

None.

Whatsoever.



MNSHO


+100


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:52 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Coach56 wrote:
I would not buy into the whole you must spend a ton to get great tone.

I've been playing guitar for more than 40 years. I've tried it all. Solid state amps, hybrid amps, modelling amps, entry level tube amps, mid grade tube amps, pro grade tube amps, low wattage, medium power and big power.

Big or small, there is no substitute for a great amp.

None.

Whatsoever.

MNSHO


Agreed... but there are great amps in each of the categories you mention.

Since you do have so much experience, I'd ask that you share your favorites in each category.

Many of us can benefit from your impressions !

TIA

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:18 am
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Lightnin MN wrote:

Agreed... but there are great amps in each of the categories you mention.



Most if not all of these categories are a compromise. Compromise do make great amp.


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:22 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Sorry. That might have been a little rough.
I just get frustrated by how common it is for people to buy a pro-grade guitar and then insist on playing it through an entry level amp.

I know but I'm still studying(not even university, I'm 15) and my best friend's dad has a vox from the 80s but I'm searching for a good amp to use myself... and I spent all my money on the guitar, but I'm saving...


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:28 am
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And I'm quite a Vaughan-fan as well as a Hendrixx and ZZtop, the band,..... I also like to play alternative music with stretched tones (could be solved with a pedal)...


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:33 am
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pg25
You're absolutely right to buy an amp according with the money you have. Later when you have more money for a better amp, you rediscover your guitar.

Too many people ignore this.


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:04 pm
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pg25 wrote:
And I'm quite a Vaughan-fan as well as a Hendrixx and ZZtop, the band,..... I also like to play alternative music with stretched tones (could be solved with a pedal)...

Well you're certainly spread across a range of genre's and tones aren't you. There's quite a bit to satisfy there. :wink: You might consider mating a Fender Frontman 212R [solid state] to a Fender Mustang Floor as a place to begin, saving the more sophisticated gear for a time, let's say, when you're earning some money with your music and the need calls for the upgrade.

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Last edited by ZZDoc on Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:49 pm
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pg25 wrote:
I know but I'm still studying(not even university, I'm 15)


Well that changes everything. How loud are you looking to go, my man?

As soon as I read your comment the Fender Frontman 212R, as ZZDoc also suggests, came to mind. Reliable, solid, and affordable. Sounds pretty good for the money. You could sell it used without taking much of a loss when the time comes to upgrade to a more expensive tube amp.


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:55 pm
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Toronado wrote:
pg25 wrote:
I know but I'm still studying(not even university, I'm 15)


Well that changes everything. How loud are you looking to go, my man?

As soon as I read your comment the Fender Frontman 212R, as ZZDoc also suggests, came to mind. Reliable, solid, and affordable. Sounds pretty good for the money. You could sell it used without taking much of a loss when the time comes to upgrade to a more expensive tube amp.

.......or the Mustang IV V.2 which would have the best of both plus the internet connectivity he might care to take advantage of. Valve amps are going to get a bit pricey. The aforementioned gear should give him economical headroom and effects at an economy of cost. Saving a couple of hundred additional Euros should pay the freight.

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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:06 pm
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My Fender Super Sonic was nearly a 1/3 of the cost used from new, and I'm waiting for a delivery of an used Fender Excelsior Tube amp that was less than the cost of a Fender Mustang III and the same price as a used Fender Mustang II.

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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:45 pm
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DetroitBlues wrote:
My Fender Super Sonic was nearly a 1/3 of the cost used from new, and I'm waiting for a delivery of an used Fender Excelsior Tube amp that was less than the cost of a Fender Mustang III and the same price as a used Fender Mustang II.

Bear in mind that your level of sophistication enabled a wise choice in the matter of used gear. I don't know that this young person has that to his advantage.

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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:54 pm
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I may have missed it, but no one mentioned a Super Champ X2. Channel one gives you a tube amp, and channel two is hybrid with lots of amp models and integrates with FUSE like the Mustangs. It's also available in your budget. Seems like a great place to start!


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Post subject: Re: Best Amp for American Strat
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 4:15 pm
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Lightnin MN wrote:
I'd ask that you share your favorites in each category.

Gladly.


I have several personal favourite amps. Some I have tried but never owned. Some I have owned and wish I still had and some I still have.

Keeping in mind you asked for my favourites.

For low wattage amps I like the old Fender Tweeds like the Champ and Deluxe. Many companies make clones of these amps for less than the price of paying for a real vintage example. Sometimes a lot less depending on the model. There are also kits available for almost every skill level at an even lower price point. I fully plan to obtain either a Victoria or Clark or Tungsten Deluxe Clone at some point in the future. I would also be interested in a Fender EC Deluxe (Tremolux, I think?). I am leaning toward the Clark at present but time may change that. I have not played a Clark yet but I briefly tried a Victoria 512 and they are in the same general ballpark for quality of build.

For medium powered amps I really like the Deluxe Reverb on the lower end of medium. Silver Faced examples can usually be found for only a little more than the price of a new DRRI. I am also quite fond of the Vibrolux Reverb. Higher powered than the Deluxe of course and more useful for cleaner tones but there's something about the sound of tens and 6L6s that gives me a chubby. For clean-ish bluesy tones, that is. In fact I would say that for clean-ish blues tones with a little grit when you dig in the Vibrolux Reverb is probably the Holy Grail Vintage Fender amp. I wish I had never sold mine but they say hindsight is always 20/20. For a high gain amp in the medium to high category I really like the Mesa Boogie .50 Calibre. Even at 50 watts it can still sound great at pub-gig volume levels. Again, those Fender models can be recreated without paying full shot and the Boogie can still be found as a used amp for a reasonable price.

My days of playing at ear splitting volumes are pretty much over but I still have some favourite high powered amps. The Twin Reverb can be a great loud and throaty clean amp. The Dual Professional was a totally amazing big power amp and so was the ToneMaster but you'd be looking at spending some coin to find either one of those in good condition and they are too recent to be available as clones (I think anyway). For some seriously high gain in a brute power amp I really like the Dime half stack. I'd say it's the best sounding modern half stack I've come across yet for that kickass bad angry music. Not a fan of the newer Marshalls. The Mesa Rectifiers have to be really cranked to sound their best so I don't recommend a Dual or Triple. A Single is the way to go if you want that sound.

One of my favourite amps is my very own Rivera Fandango 55W 112 open back combo with a closed back 112 ext cab. The green channel is a cross between a Super and a Twin but just a tad ballsier than either. The red channel is kind of like an old Plexi but not quite. It's got the gain and harmonics of a Plexi but it seems a little more open. A little more airy. Actually the red channel is a little too loud for me these days and I've taken to using the half-power switch with it. Another currently available amp that I really really like is the Fender Vibro-King. I'd like to find an early to mid 90s model in decent shape, preferably in blonde and oxblood.

Now here's the big surprise. I also have a solid state amp to recommend. Prolly didn't see that one coming did you? Fender hasn't made these amps for about a decade or more but the DynaTouch Series was a really good line of S/S amps. Particularly the 90W Deluxe version. Fender had a really good thing going there but they started screwing with them at first by adding useless junk like DSP F/X and before long the line-up was unrecognisable. I hardly ever see a used one for sale and I don't blame people for hanging onto them. They were the most tubey sounding S/S amps I ever came across. They needed a better speaker because they flabbed out at volume like almost all Fender S/S amps do but that was all they needed. One more Fender S/S amp worthy of mention was the Rok-Pro 700 112 combo. The Rok-Pro amps were hybrids. They had a 12AX7 in the pre-amp stage much like some S/S bass amps still do today. There was also a Rok-Pro 1000 in both combo and head versions but the 700 was the better bet. It too needed a speaker. It wasn't as impressive as the 90W Dyna but it still sounded not too bad.

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