Best jazz fusion amps for mid and high gain sounds.

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daretosoar

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I'm curious to start looking for a different amp. I play in a prog instrumental trio type deal and I'm huge fan of bands like The Aristocrats and Consider the Source, and acts like the old Mahavishnu Orchestra as well as the great Al Di Meola.

What I'm using: Orange Rockerverb 100MK 1. Absolutely incredible amp. I think I might be looking for something a bit more percussive in the sound, or dynamic, if you will. I usually keep the gain low and boost the front end with a Suhr Koko boost to give it that boosted, cranked sound. The thing that I really like about the amp is that it's pretty dark, and has big thick mids. I HATE really bright guitar tones, especially with distortion. If the high frequencies are hurting my ears then the tone is unusable in my opinion. (I had a brief fling with a badcat and sold it as soon as possible for that very reason)

My favorite guitar tone in the world is Guthrie Govan's live tone when I saw The Aristocrats. OH MY GOD. so perfectly dynamic and balanced, very articulate and thick honky mids (a must have for me). I have greatly considered the Suhr Badger 30 watt head but I just don't know about not having a footswitchable clean tone. I admire Guthrie's ability to use his volume pedal to clean up a single channel amp but my band is a tad different, and there are often moments where I need to switch tones immediately with one button.

I'm not really asking for anyone to suggest what amp I should look into, but more for people to inform me of amps and manufacturers in the semi affordable boutique range that I might not have known about. My budget is about 1700$. Enough to get say, a Suhr Badger 30.

Must haves include:

Fx Loop
Darker, more mid heavy tone
Fair amount of gain on tap
foot-switchable clean channel
Enough wattage to be heard over a prog metal drummer in a fairly large room without being miced. (So maybe 70 watts to 100. possibly 50 if the amp is actually of really loud design)

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Bogner XTC 101b or 20th with controls set to vintage might be an option but it has those thick mids you're looking for. Bonus is it has 3 channels.
 
+1 for the 20th XTC. Gives you that versatility and sounds incredible. Channel 2 on the Plexi mode with the mids cranked/boosted is what you want.

-C
 
I've looked into that as well as the Shiva but they are pretty pricey.
 
Two-Rock would get you some of the best mid gain tones. But they can get expensive, so used would be a better route.
Cornford and Bogner are some other names I would recommend.
 
I used a bogner red pedal once at guitar center and that thing was AWESOME. Are there any high wattage pedal friendly amps with sort of a dark quality that I might look into using with one of those and a suhr koko boost? That's pretty much what Guthrie does, he boosts the hell out of pedal friendly amp.
 
Do a search for Rhodes Gemini vids. There are a few where a guy is chatting with Andy Wood and Kyle, and he is playing all sorts of fusion and blues influenced edge of burn material.

There are a few other vids displaying what a Rhodes can do. fast Red Ponycar has a few I believe.

I have a variety of amps from Fender, Dr Z, Bog, Marshall, oil Boogie MKIIC, Old Recto. Had an SLO, Rivera Knuck. A few good amps.

The Rhodes is the best overall combination amp. The separate clean channel only preamp tube setup lets you put a nice Mullard in there for clean and grit. The variety of higher gain odes are well documented.

The foot switch controllable presets for all of the many micro switches make this feel like a real amp meets some of the functional tone sculpting of a modeler.

It gets lots of press as a drop tune beast of an amp. That is really an unfair portrayal of the Rhodes. It does that in excellent form, but it is great clean, blues, rock, metal amp. It works well with my old Suhr Tele with low output pickups to the ESP Snakebyte with a high output Het Set.

You can go from Dire Straits, to Keith Urban, Mötley Crüe, to Metallica, and KSE is using a Rhodes. Kyle can catch you up on the others.

It takes pedals well. So the clean channel and a Bogner Red pedal sounds great.

And Kyle, the builder, answers calls and replies to texts.



Good luck on the tone quest.
 
I would say Bogner ,Egnater ,The Cornford or PRS SE ,,or as you mentioned a Bogner red into a clean amp ,Boogie would be another obvious choice the MarkV
You basically are looking for Smooth ,Dark ,Thick
 
Heritage Softail":28v0x4zd said:
Do a search for Rhodes Gemini vids. There are a few where a guy is chatting with Andy Wood and Kyle, and he is playing all sorts of fusion and blues influenced edge of burn material.

There are a few other vids displaying what a Rhodes can do. fast Red Ponycar has a few I believe.

I have a variety of amps from Fender, Dr Z, Bog, Marshall, oil Boogie MKIIC, Old Recto. Had an SLO, Rivera Knuck. A few good amps.

The Rhodes is the best overall combination amp. The separate clean channel only preamp tube setup lets you put a nice Mullard in there for clean and grit. The variety of higher gain odes are well documented.

The foot switch controllable presets for all of the many micro switches make this feel like a real amp meets some of the functional tone sculpting of a modeler.

It gets lots of press as a drop tune beast of an amp. That is really an unfair portrayal of the Rhodes. It does that in excellent form, but it is great clean, blues, rock, metal amp. It works well with my old Suhr Tele with low output pickups to the ESP Snakebyte with a high output Het Set.

You can go from Dire Straits, to Keith Urban, Mötley Crüe, to Metallica, and KSE is using a Rhodes. Kyle can catch you up on the others.

It takes pedals well. So the clean channel and a Bogner Red pedal sounds great.

And Kyle, the builder, answers calls and replies to texts.



Good luck on the tone quest.
Click to expand...

I can't vouche for the mid/low gain tones on a Rhodes since I only messed with the high gain sounds, but the Rhodes stuff is killer. After getting the chance to mess with some of Kyle's amps at NAMM I placed an order for the stripped down Orthos model. He has been a class act to deal with so far, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to friends.

Plus the orthos is surprisingly affordable, I would recommend shooting Kyle an email to get pricing from him.
 
How about a Port City?

I know Tom Quayle uses one, he he has the best fusion tone I've ever heard.

A big part of his tone is his signature Wampler pedal, but maybe you could still incorporate that in a Suhr Badger rig?




 
Khoi":2vstyna1 said:
How about a Port City?

I know Tom Quayle uses one, he he has the best fusion tone I've ever heard.

A big part of his tone is his signature Wampler pedal, but maybe you could still incorporate that in a Suhr Badger rig?




Click to expand...


How ironic...

Tom Quayle was the guy doing the Rhodes Gemini demo at NAMM!!

Pete Thorn does a great Badger demo.

I think he uses it as a platform for his pedalboard demo.
 
Yeah, he's not endorsed by anyone I don't think, but I know he usually uses a Port City or Axe II. I'm pretty sure he's at least using a Port City in those clips. Regardless, I love the tone.
 
gtr31":2z66epw0 said:
I would say Bogner ,Egnater ,The Cornford or PRS SE ,,or as you mentioned a Bogner red into a clean amp ,Boogie would be another obvious choice the MarkV
You basically are looking for Smooth ,Dark ,Thick
Click to expand...

The Egnater TOL100 is what also came to mind for me. Thick smoky mids on channel 3 all day long. They have been out of production for a long time now but pop up on eBay or the forums from time to time. Great sounding amps...
 
Hi
I would like to start that I maybe a small potato near some of the guys here
But –
I played stuff close to what you mentioned and Guthrie tone is my favorite in a huge way to this times!
I have a badger 30 (among others) with double 1X12 with v30 and with his signature Suhr guitar and a koko boost in front, I usually feel in heaven!
That say, it's pretty easy to get a clean and mid gain tone playing the volume pot and pedals like "Detox" (Paul Gilbert signature pedal) that bring you down from gain to clean in one switch.
Some other amp that I'm usually up for every time is a Boogie mark V! that just can do anything with a tone of options!

Good luck finding you tones!
 
Thanks for all the input, people! I've been messing with my orange and i've set my eq in the fx loop and boost the gain channel really hard with the koko boost, and it's soundy really awesome. Nice clarity and honkness without being too bright. I should have mentioned that I usually use a marshal 1960a cab loaded with those pesky g12 75's. I'm getting a new carvin legacy cabinet today with v 30's that will help with the midrange punch and definition. I should have considered the speaker's role in my tone beforehand but I was too quick to blame the amp.

Anyways, the Rockerverb is truly an awesome amp. So far the best tone that I've had from an amp, and I used to own a mesa mark 4, badcat lynx, even an axe fx at one point..... :doh:

I'll let you all know how it turns out today when I get the cab and crank it.
 
Surprised you couldn't get that sound with the Mark IV. Class A, Triode, Tweed setting with the presence rolled off.
 
Speakers have a HUGE roll you don't even now about until you A/B gear.
May want to try some G12-65s . To me it's a great darker yet cutting speaker. Or a EVM12L. Neutral/flat speak easy to EQ.

Also, Dual Fusion is a excellent excellent pedal for the tones you described.
I have a 4 piece fusion thing that I usually just use a Mark III combo with the Dual Fusion and verbs/dealys etc. . . in the loop with. Great tones. :thumbsup:
 
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