Have your say in a very ambitious project

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pre-distortion AND post-distortion EQ
Until just the last few years, Mesa Marks were the only amps that did this. A set of knobs to control EQ before distortion which lets you control the character of your distortion, and post-distortion EQ to control the overall equalization of the preamp. Then the Randall Satan came along and offered a two-band EQ and overall gain control, in addition to the standard post-gain tonestack. Now, the Wizard Hell Razor is the latest amp to offer this kind of control. The controls on that amp read "gain1, gain2, gain3, and saturation" but Gain 1 is pre-gain Treble, Gain 2 is pre-gain Bass, and Gain 3 and Saturation are overall gain controls at different places in the circuit. It's extremely useful and I don't know why it never caught on.

Negative Feedback knob
Global negative feedback control. If the amp is multi channel, give each channel a negative feedback control. It's a hugely useful and impactful control that shapes the entire voicing of the amp and dramatically increases the breadth of tones that can be dialed on it.

Frequency control of Presence and Depth
The Bogner Ecstasy Pandora has these controls for Presence and Depth. They're basically 3-position switches next to the Presence and Depth knobs that allow you to control where the frequencies affected by the Presence and Depth knobs begin. The Uber Ultra has this control on its Presence knob. It's a cool idea that can drastically expand the available tones in the amp.

Mid Range Frequency and Q Control
Dan had a great suggestion above and I agree with it. My own spin on the idea would be to have a single band of Parametric EQ for the Mids. In other words, give the Mid knob dedicated Frequency and Q knobs.
 
A giggable amp that will get your name out there some more. 35 watt, single channel, clean to a little gritty with responsive eq. IR loader with a couple nice sounding IRs that can go into any front of house.
 
Dan Gleesak said:
A giggable amp that will get your name out there some more. 35 watt, single channel, clean to a little gritty with responsive eq. IR loader with a couple nice sounding IRs that can go into any front of house.
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Yes. A rugged but reasonably lightweight 35-40 watt 2x12 combo with some decent sounding neos would probably make a decent seller and could cover a lot of bases. I can't think of anything worth a crap that fits that bill out there now.
 
VonBonfire said:
Yes. A rugged but reasonably lightweight 35-40 watt 2x12 combo with some decent sounding neos would probably make a decent seller and could cover a lot of bases. I can't think of anything worth a crap that fits that bill out there now.
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+1 on neo speakers in combos.

I have a Line 6 Catalyst 100, 1x12. Just did the CX firmware upgrade that added 6 more amp models. Even before that, it was much better than I expected; I use my HX-Effects with it. While some of the crunch and high gain channels sound good, I found using the clean and boutique models, as effects platforms I can get a wide range of tones. The volume, sound and feel are there. Also lightweight compared to tube amps. They also have a 200W 2x12 version

I have an Origin 50C 1x12 combo and a DSL40CR 1x12 combo which work well for me

I have a pair of G12 Celestion Century Neo speakers (not the Vintage, the originals that were discontinued, that are power rated at 80W, with sensitivity at 102 dB) new in the box, they were tough to find and pricey after they were discontinued; that I plan to make into a pair of 1x12 cabs eventually; I forget if I got 8 or 16 ohm, have to check. Unfortunately, I don't have the EQ response curve for comparison. I recall these were some of the most even EQ and clearest Celestion speakers ever made, which is why I got these and not the G12 Century Vintage Neos.

edit: not my ad, but this has a good description and pics:

https://reverb.com/item/2937701-cel...odymium-8-ohm-guitar-speaker-rare-2-available
 
Always thought it would be interesting to see a series of knobs (alongside the regular controls) controlling the fundamental voicing/feel/character of the amp, but reflecting the words we generally use to describe this stuff. Eg:

Chew <—> Kerrang (or Grind)
Bounce (or Sag) <—> Tight
Huge <—> Punch
Liquid (or Grease) <—> Dry
Smooth <—> Hair
Round <—> Scoop
Dark <—> Bright
Etc.

Obviously not new in concept (eg Mesa’s Bold/Spongy switch and various amps with mid voicing switches or feel knobs, plus your deep and presence knobs etc) but having the ability to dial in a range of different characteristics could be interesting.
 
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In no particular order, and liable to be updated as I think some more:

  • Per-tube bias adjustment so I can chuck whatever I have on hand or can get in a pinch into the amp and keep rolling.
  • Externally accessible bias measurement points and trim pots.
  • Each power transformer winding/power supply fused.
  • Per-tube fusing on the output section, perhaps combined with fault-indicating LED's.
  • Beefy low-distortion wide-range output transformer that can handle a no-load condition or impedance mismatch without issue.
  • Beefy power transformer that isn't being run at it's limit
  • Odd-valued impedance taps on the output transformer like what the Weber Z-Matcher has, to run e.g. three 8-ohm cabs at once or three 4-ohm cabs at once, an 8-ohm and a 16-ohm cab at once, etc. 1-ohm output would be occasionally useful too, for running eight 8-ohm speakers in parallel. Not sure if at that point you'd just use the 2-ohm out and be fine.
  • Metal inserts and/or captive nuts with machine screws, no self-tappers or wood screws.
  • Easy-to-work on internals (good pads, don't need to pull board to solder/desolder, etc.)
  • Schematics!
  • No electronic parts likely to become unobtanium in the future (super special ASICs, etc.).
  • UPS/FedEx proof ;)
  • Good power-scaling a la London Power, or something equally effective to set headroom per-gig and be able to blast the power section as desired. Per-channel adjustability to, e.g., slam the power tubes on the "clean" channel and then switch to clean power section for high gain.
  • Parallel clean and dirty channels, mixable before power amp, to pull off the trick where people parallel a clean amp with a high-gain amp.
  • Two parallel dirty channels with adjustable crossover. So you can run the bass cleaner than the mids on up or vice versa. Might be able to just do this with a parallel clean and dirty channel.
Context of all this is bedroom guitar playing, plus providing a backline for a variety music group.
 
Put a beer holder on it and also a mesa 5 band eq. The tone is all that matters. A sweet fender clean that will get crunchy and then the overdrive channel from crunchy to more death than a graveyard. 🪦 sorry 😞 that’s all I got. Ohhh yeah..make it affordable…🙏
 
I knew this was the right place to ask - quite the diverse collection of ideas.

Without giving too much away a number of these wish-list items have already been implemented. I wish we could say more for now, but this will be the first place to hear about it when we can.

mnemonic said:
I have read online people talking about more complex amps with multiple channels and lots of switching seem to lack something that simpler amps have, but I haven’t played a ton of multichannel amps to experience that myself. Zen Amps you have about a million amps, is that something you have experienced, or is it just an ‘options overload’ thing with multiple channels and switches on an amp?
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No I don't believe it's option overload for most guys. It really depends on your expectations, and if you want multiple authentic classic tones in one amp, or are content with the maker's version of these tones. Friedman, Bogner, Diezel, Wizard, Splawn are all great amps - but I don't think anyone could argue they do a legit Fender clean & 2203 say (or Plexi & modern high gain). Same for Mesas, and the whole breed of newer amps too.

Having multiple, authentic preamps channels isn't that difficult - it's been done many times quite well. The biggest issue is the power amp is most always a one-size-fits-all, static affair. Same with preamp systems like Synergy (unless you have multiple power amps available).

Regarding high gain amps, I've heard many 'the preamp is creating most of the tone' type comments over the years. But as I'm sure most here know, it's actually the 'preamp is creating most of the distortion'. The power amp provides and dictates so much, e.g. tightness/looseness, compression, harmonics, thump, headroom and of course a wildly non-linear eq curve. It's a major contributor to an amp's overall tone, and why for example a Diezel VH4 preamp into a Marshall power amp doesn't sound much like a Diezel anymore.

That's a long way of saying the 'jack-of-all-trades' complaints players have of many multi-channel amps are IMO well-founded. Exceptions are if you can find an amp that include a highly reconfigurable output section, depending on how the preamp is set. That would be instantly switchable NFB, presence & depth circuits at minimum, an ideally both EL34s and 6L6s on hand. Difficult to achieve, but incredibly powerful stuff - ask us how we know later...
 
My Rivera Clubster Royale Recording has just about everything I need in an amp with the recording features, headphone out, etc. Many seem to mention that though.

I like having a real spring tank build in and being able to completely bypass it.

I need a clean that is crystal clean for taking pedals but has a warmth as well. A switchable mode here would be nice for blackface & tweed, etc.

A crunch channel and a lead channel.

Assignable reverb per channel would be great as well.

Master volume and gain for each channel.

Mid switch

Bright switch

Low switch.

Tube driven fx loop with send and return levels.

A single input, I hate jumping inputs or using a Low/High.

High headroom in general and selectable wattages.

Variable ohms.
 
I'm a simple creature...

2 channels; one that does clean to light crunch, one that does mild to full on saturation. Good FX loop.

Maybe 50w with a half power switch, something with enough horsepower to hang with full band & drummer, but not completely useless at home.

I do most of my playing around the house, without close neighbors so my home volume is a little louder than most. But if an amp isn't enough for me to play gigs or jam with other musicians, I lose interest.
 
Some great things already mentioned.

I'm going to throw out there how it asthetically looks... Call me shallow but if an amp sounds amazing but looks un-inspiring, i still struggle with it for some stupid reason
 
Been reading through all of this a little closer. Interesting stuff, and again I appreciate the time you guys have taken to contribute.

I can't respond to it all, but this must addressed:
saxxamafone said:
I'm going to throw out there how it asthetically looks... Call me shallow but if an amp sounds amazing but looks un-inspiring, i still struggle with it for some stupid reason
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What a superficial, fickle man you are. But yes, I couldn't agree more.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
pre-distortion AND post-distortion EQ
Until just the last few years, Mesa Marks were the only amps that did this. A set of knobs to control EQ before distortion which lets you control the character of your distortion, and post-distortion EQ to control the overall equalization of the preamp. Then the Randall Satan came along and offered a two-band EQ and overall gain control, in addition to the standard post-gain tonestack. Now, the Wizard Hell Razor is the latest amp to offer this kind of control. The controls on that amp read "gain1, gain2, gain3, and saturation" but Gain 1 is pre-gain Treble, Gain 2 is pre-gain Bass, and Gain 3 and Saturation are overall gain controls at different places in the circuit. It's extremely useful and I don't know why it never caught on.

Negative Feedback knob
Global negative feedback control. If the amp is multi channel, give each channel a negative feedback control. It's a hugely useful and impactful control that shapes the entire voicing of the amp and dramatically increases the breadth of tones that can be dialed on it.

Frequency control of Presence and Depth
The Bogner Ecstasy Pandora has these controls for Presence and Depth. They're basically 3-position switches next to the Presence and Depth knobs that allow you to control where the frequencies affected by the Presence and Depth knobs begin. The Uber Ultra has this control on its Presence knob. It's a cool idea that can drastically expand the available tones in the amp.

Mid Range Frequency and Q Control
Dan had a great suggestion above and I agree with it. My own spin on the idea would be to have a single band of Parametric EQ for the Mids. In other words, give the Mid knob dedicated Frequency and Q knobs.
Click to expand...
I don’t think you are correct about the wizard knobs. I believe they are just gain knobs for different stages
 
Lot of good ideas here. It’s hard to think of something that hasn’t been done for sure. Here are a few thoughts, more about layout than features since I can’t think of really unique controls that are not already out there in droves.
  • 2 channels: 1 from super clean to light breakup. 1 from light breakup to heavy distortion, but not too over the top. It must take boost pedals well.
  • Ability to bypass tone controls completely
  • Bright, NFB, Depth, Presence, etc…whatever you (the builder) need to get the voicing you want the amp to have
  • All controls on the front of the amp. Controls on the back for me is a set and forget, they may well not exist
  • To get really crazy, motorized knobs with midi control to save tone, volume, gain settings for recall with the touch of a foot
 
Yehuda said:
I don’t think you are correct about the wizard knobs. I believe they are just gain knobs for different stages
Click to expand...

Oh yeah? That's interesting, I've read people describing the function of the different gain knobs in that way specifically. Of course I won't argue, you own one after all :D, but yeah thanks for setting the record straight there.

At any rate, I still think in general that some form of separate pre-distortion and post-distortion EQ control is a good idea for high gain amps.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Variable frequency pre-input hipass to remove flubby low end, commensurate depth or resonance control to dial low end back in above 80-100hz
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Came to post this! As extended range guitars have become prevalent, I hope to see this become a standard feature in modern amps.
 
1. If it's going to be a channel switcher... MIDI. It's 2024. All channel switchers should have MIDI.
2. I wish more amp builders would use TwoNotes integration similar to how Revv has done. This makes recording and playing live so much more fulfilling when you can get YOUR tone to "tape" or to FOH the way you hear it.
 
Motorized knobs would be great. Properly implemented, just like the Soldano X99 (motors driving real pots, not vca or other contraptions). All channel switching, voicing switches etc. fully midified. I don't understand why it's not more common. It could be easy driving some servo motors with an Arduino.
 
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