Best amp at each category

[Yehuda]

I’m bored at work, so let’s hear everyone’s thoughts- what are traits you look for in amps, and which amp exemplifies that trait for you?

Examples

I love super tight amps, and Hermansson does that best

Or

I like amps that sound like ass, and Revv does that best

 

[glpg80]

I like channel switchers that have a badass clean channel, a 2203 inspired crunch channel, and a SLO style lead channel

The Bogner XTC literally ticks that exact box

 

[psychodave]

I prefer amps that feel super easy to play. This is why I love Cameron amps. You never need to fight the amp your playing doesn't suffer.

 

[Smash]

The groundzero hellion i played is tightest amp i have played and it sounds phenomenal.

Mgl red best sounding single channel i have played.

Bogner new uber ultra pretty fucking great do it all amp. Hell raiser right there with it

 

[angelspade]

Best Clean Sound: I've played a bunch, and the Roland JC120 is still the best (Fender tube purists will slam me for this)

Most Versatile: Again, I've defiantly owned some amps that do may things well (like the Diezel VH4) and nothing has come close to the Koch Supernova Head. Five separate channels, and It does so many thing swell and the voicing dip switches (particularly the mid shift) changes the entire character and voicing of the amp.

 

[braintheory]

Basically the reasons to justify what amps are keepers lol
Super tight, sharp attack: Hermansson
Aggressive highs: Hermansson
Organic/Raw: Mark IIC+, Rev C, ‘80’s and older Marshall’s (stock or with a good mod)
3D/complex tone: Mark IIC+, Jim Kelley, Gjika, Ronin
5D tone: Dumble ODS
Easy to play, saturation: Rev 1 Uber
How well do the notes connect: Mark IIC+, Rev 1 Uber, Jim Kelley, Gjika, Ronin
Thickest sounding: Rev 1 Uber
Chewy: Rev 1 Uber, Bogner Snorkler Mod, Friedman Marsha
Throaty Growl on Powerchords: Rev C Recto
Clarity, Punch, Open: Wizard Hell Razor
Density to notes: Mark IIC+
Liquid, yet blistering shreddy lead tones: Mark IIC+
Midrange grind: good modded Marshall’s
Good uppermids: ‘89 SLO, MLC Silenoz
Huge sound/muscle: Megalith Beta
Sweet, round, vocal lead tone: Purpleface, Jim Kelley, Gjika


Bad qualities:
Filtered/sterie/cardboardy: Uber Ultra, Omega, KSR
Processed/recorded sounding: most Engl’s, JVM
Hollow midrange: Hiwatt, Wizard and Hermansson (still love these amps though despite that)

 

[rsm]

 

[braintheory]

For me the best cleans have been: 1969 Marshall Tremolo 50w, Alessanndro DAZZ, and 1963 Vox AC30TB

The Roland JC120’s have very nice cleans for solid state amps but IME sound still a bit flat/2D when directly compared to great clean tube amps and don’t feel as good to play. IMO missing a little bit of lushness and beauty in sound

 

[braintheory]

I prefer amps that feel super easy to play. This is why I love Cameron amps. You never need to fight the amp your playing doesn't suffer.

Agreed. They used to be number 1 for me in that department, but now I find for me at least the easiest playing amps to be my Rev 1 Uber and Hermansson’s

 

[VHTStark]

Everyone has certain things that make an amp a "keeper" or just another amp to trade/sell. Reading posts on here, I find some guys put high priority on specific tonal traits/requirements and some guys put more priority on response/feel.

I am firmly in the response/feel camp. I find I can make a Friedman, Bogner, Marshall....whatever....sound good to my ears. I don't get caught on things like,"Oh....this amp lacks a smidgen of upper mid complexity...or harmonic swirl..." lol! You give me a Hughes and kettner triamp, or a JCM 2000 or whatever and I can find tones I like on it.

That said: I am a picky bitch when it comes to feel/response. I prefer an amp to be relatively tight, punchy, immediate, open and have a bounce, but not too much sag. Wizard and Fryette check these boxes for me, as do some older amps. Old 4 hole Marshall's, late 70's/early 80's 2203's and 2204's and Hiwatts really have a feel I love as well. These are often called "unforgiving", but the lack of excess gain, saturation and weird frequencies (like clanky mids in many modern amps) mean nothing gets in the way of your playing.

 

[Bloodrock]

Marshall 8100 and a couple old solid state Randall's are all I need. Although I still love my jubilees, I play my SS amps more.

 

[skoora]

Best Clean Sound: I've played a bunch, and the Roland JC120 is still the best (Fender tube purists will slam me for this)

Most Versatile: Again, I've defiantly owned some amps that do may things well (like the Diezel VH4) and nothing has come close to the Koch Supernova Head. Five separate channels, and It does so many thing swell and the voicing dip switches (particularly the mid shift) changes the entire character and voicing of the amp.

Dippin’ a Koch is my 2nd favorite thing to do in the Universe.

 

[skoora]

For me, an amp that goes clean to mean on the guitar volume but the inbetween sounds are as good as the wound up ones. This is basically a number of Non Master models between Marshall, Fender and Vox, throw in some Ampegs too. These are also amps that are a pleasure to record. They just have it going on in the spectrum where a guitar needs to be.

 

[PDC]

I’m a sucker for amps that feel easy to play. Never have plugged into a Cameron - but owned a pair of Mark IIIs back in the day, and they for sure made you want to play your shreddiest licks over and over and over…

 

[braintheory]

Everyone has certain things that make an amp a "keeper" or just another amp to trade/sell. Reading posts on here, I find some guys put high priority on specific tonal traits/requirements and some guys put more priority on response/feel.

I am firmly in the response/feel camp. I find I can make a Friedman, Bogner, Marshall....whatever....sound good to my ears. I don't get caught on things like,"Oh....this amp lacks a smidgen of upper mid complexity...or harmonic swirl..." lol! You give me a Hughes and kettner triamp, or a JCM 2000 or whatever and I can find tones I like on it.

That said: I am a picky bitch when it comes to feel/response. I prefer an amp to be relatively tight, punchy, immediate, open and have a bounce, but not too much sag. Wizard and Fryette check these boxes for me, as do some older amps. Old 4 hole Marshall's, late 70's/early 80's 2203's and 2204's and Hiwatts really have a feel I love as well. These are often called "unforgiving", but the lack of excess gain, saturation and weird frequencies (like clanky mids in many modern amps) mean nothing gets in the way of your playing.

It is interesting that most of us probably would agree more on what we like for feel/response in amps more than the sound itself. You might like for what you described also the Naylor’s and Hermanssons’s (at least for modern metal)

What we like for feel can also be very style dependent. For metal and more aggressive rock styles most would probably want the same type of feel/response you want, but then for more bluesy or classic rock-ish stuff want something more round, soft in attack and that’s where amps like the Jim Kelley, Gjika and Ronin have excellent feel as long as you play music suited to them

For ideal cleans I actually look for something kind of close to what you described liking too, but it’s a balancing act because if it’s too hard or sharp in sound and feel it tends to not get a lush/beautiful tone like the truly great clean amps, so they to tend to still have some roundness and a bit airier usually than high gain amps with good clean channels

 

[Smash]

The groundzero hellion i played is tightest amp i have played and it sounds phenomenal.

Mgl red best sounding single channel i have played.

Bogner new uber ultra pretty fucking great do it all amp. Hell raiser right ther

Basically the reasons to justify what amps are keepers lol
Super tight, sharp attack: Hermansson
Aggressive highs: Hermansson
Organic/Raw: Mark IIC+, Rev C, ‘80’s and older Marshall’s (stock or with a good mod)
3D/complex tone: Mark IIC+, Jim Kelley, Gjika, Ronin
5D tone: Dumble ODS
Easy to play, saturation: Rev 1 Uber
How well do the notes connect: Mark IIC+, Rev 1 Uber, Jim Kelley, Gjika, Ronin
Thickest sounding: Rev 1 Uber
Chewy: Rev 1 Uber, Bogner Snorkler Mod, Friedman Marsha
Throaty Growl on Powerchords: Rev C Recto
Clarity, Punch, Open: Wizard Hell Razor
Density to notes: Mark IIC+
Liquid, yet blistering shreddy lead tones: Mark IIC+
Midrange grind: good modded Marshall’s
Good uppermids: ‘89 SLO, MLC Silenoz
Huge sound/muscle: Megalith Beta
Sweet, round, vocal lead tone: Purpleface, Jim Kelley, Gjika


Bad qualities:
Filtered/sterie/cardboardy: Uber Ultra, Omega, KSR
Processed/recorded sounding: most Engl’s, JVM
Hollow midrange: Hiwatt, Wizard and Hermansson (still love these amps though despite that)

I strongly disagree about ultra being sterile. Fucking amp is badass. I am only commenting because me and you are fairly aligned with everything else

 

[braintheory]

The groundzero hellion i played is tightest amp i have played and it sounds phenomenal.

Mgl red best sounding single channel i have played.

Bogner new uber ultra pretty fucking great do it all amp. Hell raiser right ther

I strongly disagree about ultra being sterile. Fucking amp is badass. I am only commenting because me and you are fairly aligned with everything else

Well we’ll just have to strongly disagree then lol. Part of it may be that I owned the amp for a few months (lived with it for a bit) since I did like some things about it, but my opinions come from a place more of comparisons vs other amps and honestly (without saying names or disrespecting any brands) some amps you mentioned liking at that amp fest would also be amps I hear as being more on the sterile side of the spectrum. If you heard some of the same comparisons I did (especially vs my Rev 1 Uber) you may see where I’m coming from

With the Ultra in particular, I think its strong low mid presence (that all Ubers have) can give a false impression of warmth (which the amp didn’t have an ounce of) plus the power and punch can be impressive at first, but I find if you really listen to it there is zero warmth or richness to the core tone. It’s very filtered and cardboardy. It’s a prime example of it for me. Especially when compared to my Rev 1 Uber it was extremely exposed in where it lacked severely (no chewiness or richness of the OG, nor that trademark greasy feel). And the feel was very disconnected. Play something melodic or leads and the notes just did not connect well at all. For that I want a human quality, which is the opposite of sterile or clinical. An amp like a Jim Kelley, Gjika, Dumble or IIC+ has what I consider great note connection and why many love them for playing leads

For tightness, I haven’t tried a Hellion, but had a Ground Zero MOAB modded Marshall and while it was tight, it was nowhere near on the same level for that as the Hermansson’s I had, the Dino’s I tried nor my Hell Razor KT150. Other guys I know that also have a Hell Razor and Hermansson and had a Hellion seem to agree with me on that

 

[Smash]

Everyone has certain things that make an amp a "keeper" or just another amp to trade/sell. Reading posts on here, I find some guys put high priority on specific tonal traits/requirements and some guys put more priority on response/feel.

I am firmly in the response/feel camp. I find I can make a Friedman, Bogner, Marshall....whatever....sound good to my ears. I don't get caught on things like,"Oh....this amp lacks a smidgen of upper mid complexity...or harmonic swirl..." lol! You give me a Hughes and kettner triamp, or a JCM 2000 or whatever and I can find tones I like on it.

That said: I am a picky bitch when it comes to feel/response. I prefer an amp to be relatively tight, punchy, immediate, open and have a bounce, but not too much sag. Wizard and Fryette check these boxes for me, as do some older amps. Old 4 hole Marshall's, late 70's/early 80's 2203's and 2204's and Hiwatts really have a feel I love as well. These are often called "unforgiving", but the lack of excess gain, saturation and weird frequencies (like clanky mids in many modern amps) mean nothing gets in the way of your playing.

I understand. I loved the punch of wizards. Very addictive. But most important to me is the voicing. Second is volume knob on guitar being powerful in turning single channel amp into a "two channel"

 

[Smash]

Well we’ll just have to strongly disagree then lol. Part of it may be that I owned the amp for a few months (lived with it for a bit) since I did like some things about it, but my opinions come from a place more of comparisons vs other amps and honestly (without saying names or disrespecting any brands) some amps you mentioned liking at that amp fest would also be amps I hear as being more on the sterile side of the spectrum. If you also had the amp and lived with it for a while and compared to some others you may see where I’m coming from

With the Ultra in particular, I think it’s strong low mid presence (that all Ubers have) plus the power and punch can fool the ear initially to think it’s better than that it is, but I find if you really listen to it there is zero warmth or richness to the core tone. It’s very filtered and cardboardy. It’s a prime example of it for me. Especially when compared to my Rev 1 Uber it was extremely exposed in where it lacked severely (no chewiness or richness of the OG, nor that trademark greasy feel). And the feel was very disconnected. Play something melodic or leads and the notes just did not connect well at all. For that I want a human quality, which is the opposite of sterile or clinical. An amp like a Jim Kelley, Gjika, Dumble or IIC+ has what I consider great note connection and why many love them for playing leads

For tightness, I haven’t tried a Hellion, but had a Ground Zero MOAB and while it was tight, it was nowhere near on the same level for that as the Hermansson’s I had, the Dino’s I tried nor my Hell Razor KT150. Other guys I know that also have a Hell Razor and Hermansson and had a Hellion seem to agree with me on that

The hellion was way tighter than a moab, though the moab is tight enough and a beautiful voiced amp.

I played the uber ultra and hellraiser. Thought they were really similar. But i have no problem with your opinion. It is just interesting.

 

[braintheory]

The hellion was way tighter than a moab, though the moab is tight enough and a beautiful voiced amp.

I played the uber ultra and hellraiser. Thought they were really similar. But i have no problem with your opinion. It is just interesting.

The only similarity I heard with my Hell Razor was that both were punchy and powerful, but otherwise almost polar opposite for me. The Hell Razor, especially for a non-vintage amp, impressed me with how raw and organic it sounds, open, the note connection actually isn’t bad, and there’s lightyears more detail and clarity to the notes I found when compared. The eq curves were quite different too. No Wizard IME, even the MTL, gets that same huge low mid thickness like the Uber’s. Again, just my honest opinion, but my Hell Razor made the Ultra comparatively sound blurry, undefined and almost like it was underwater