Thinking of going low gain

DanTravis62 said:
Big agree on morgans.

For that kind of money there are way, way, WAY better options

I would grab a bad cat, matchless, tophat, victoria, alessandro, etc depending on what type of circuit you're looking for, and you'd get a lot more for the money.

Morgans aren't terrible by any means, but the build quality and QC is sus and i've heard some gross things about his business practices. I would avoid like the plague, especially when there are so many great builders for those types of amps out there.
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Morgan’s were some of the most disappointing amps I’ve tried. I forgot about them until this thread reminded me lol

My favorite EL84 chime-y clean to low break up amps have been just a real early ‘60’s Vox AC30 Top Boost and Jamison J30 (learned about it from SBlue. Like a better Matchless). Alessandro’s are incredible too (I had 5 at one point lol). Of all the non-vintage amps I’ve tried I found them closest to getting that raw, more lively, organic character I’ve always strongly preferred in vintage amps. They don’t get 100% there, but I’m surprised how close to my ears at least

I didn’t know Victoria made EL84 type amps. I found Victoria’s just ok, but like most recent amps lacking the life/character of its vintage counterpart in what I like to hear, but definitely not the degree of Morgan lol. I felt honestly similarly about the Top Hat’s I had when compared directly to my vintage amps, but I agree for the price they may be hard to beat, but actually for the price too I’d say Savage’s (from Minessota) imo are even better and cheaper for that niche. Some of the most underrated amps I know of somehow
 
The magic is right here, best of 4 Worlds 😉 It’s crazy how good the blended sounds are, so far digging it at about 2:00 o’clock, Top Boost switch up, Black face switch on

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Smash said:
Man. The hiwatt sound is sex. And building one way cheaper. But it seems hard. My build would not be as clean as yours
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Yes, it really is

Its my favorite clean sound by far

The only reason mine looks so nice is because it took me months of ridiculously careful soldering and twisting wires and copying reeves era gutshots for the runs - I still got a couple little things wrong and had to go back and fix it. Especially the right angles and shit like that

It was worth it though. It's a brick shithouse of an amp now
 
Here’s some other magic I discovered....this pedal into the clean channel of my PT15 transforms it into a Vox. This pedal into my Wooly Coats basically accomplishes the same thing as the blend knob on the Clean Sink but is way more powerful.


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Smash said:
Yes. This is kind of my thought process. This thread has made me realize i am looking more towards a jtm45ish amp. @DanTravis62 do you think i could handle a mojotone 45 build? The thing is cheap as hell
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Worth trying some of the old school Marshall flavored amps if you can. For a JTM45-ish type amp you might like the Bogner Telos or Savage Blitz. Both imo really good amps for that that aren’t too pricy (at least on the used market) or the 50w Alessandro’s
 
Smash said:
I love the hiwatt clean also. Maybe i like sterile, but it sounds so full and beautiful
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They definitely sound very big and room filling, but the hollow midrange quality also makes it a yes and no to me with respect to their overall fullness, sorta like with Wizards and Fryette’s. At least with the vintage ones (not sure about recent examples) I wouldn’t call them sterile the way a typical recent made is, but more like it has a flat/blank character from the type of midrange they have (works well for pedals). I think of the clean sounds from a good ‘60’s Vox, Blackface or Plexi as being more lush and beautiful to me, but they don’t have the power/headroom of Hiwatt or the type of dynamics Dan is talking about IME
 
braintheory said:
They definitely sound very big and room filling, but the hollow midrange quality also makes it a yes and no to me with respect to their overall fullness, sorta like with Wizards and Fryette’s. At least with the vintage ones (not sure about recent examples) I wouldn’t call them sterile the way a typical recent made is, but more like it has a flat/blank character from the type of midrange they have. I think of the clean sounds from a good ‘60’s Vox, Blackface or Plexi as being more lush and beautiful, but they don’t have the power/headroom of Hiwatt or the type of dynamics Dan is talking about IME
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Yeah. It doesnt have a bad character
 
Smash said:
Yeah. It doesnt have a bad character
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That midrange quality is why they sound so percussive and dynamic, when theyre cranked and with gain pedals

it's very similar to a wizard or fryette as far as frequency response and vibe, just not high gain

Although when it's cranked, similar to a plexi, you can get a lot of gain out of it

If anyone's interested i'll do some clips
 
Smash said:
Yeah. It doesnt have a bad character
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Alright, I just miced up the hiwatt in my garage with my EV12L cab, just in case any RT high gain people are curious about the max gain level of a hiwatt - I would also suggest johan segeborns videos for a good example of "in the room", but his stuff obviously isnt close miced, and close micing is the world I live in

I couldn't be in the same room because it is literally deafeningly loud, and because of that I only had about a minute to play before my neighbors called the cops - merry christmas, here's some "black dog

That being said, here's a quick and dirty clip of me noodling my DR103 with everything except the bass, mid, and presence controls on 10

 
DanTravis62 said:
Alright, I just miced up the hiwatt in my garage with my EV12L cab, just in case any RT high gain people are curious about the max gain level of a hiwatt - I would also suggest johan segeborns videos for a good example of "in the room", but his stuff obviously isnt close miced, and close micing is the world I live in

I couldn't be in the same room because it is literally deafeningly loud, and because of that I only had about a minute to play before my neighbors called the cops - merry christmas, here's some "black dog

That being said, here's a quick and dirty clip of me noodling my DR103 with everything except the bass, mid, and presence controls on 10

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Man. That is glorious
 
Smash said:
Wow that maz sounds badass
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Yeah, super badass. Had I not ran into the Clean Sink 40 I just scored I was getting a Z Wreck Jr or another Maz 18.... I had an old Maz18 that was great, the MKII version allegedly has a bit more headroom and is a solid gigging amp
 
DanTravis62 said:
I like the maz 18 but I freaking LOVE the maz 38
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The 38 is gnarl.....like unmiced big outdoor gig gnarl. Shit ton of power there, pretty sure that was Brad Paisleys rig of choice for a long time. So many good sounds in that amp
 
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