What is the best guitar amp you have ever played?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jasonP
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Choosing one particular amp is kind of hard as several are my favorites for a specific purpose.
ENGL Inferno is my favorite for higher gain with good compression and definition without being sterile.
KSR Gemini is my favorite for unmatched versatility.
Naylor Superdrive is my favorite for an untamed rawness that not many other amps can produce
Randall MTS/Synergy is my favorite for just being a blast to play. Go from Fender Twin clean to Marshall Plexi crunch to high gain Bogner goodness at the push of a button.
Crate BV300 is my favorite because Fuck You! Yeah it's a Crate but it sounds damn good. Now watch me drown out the entire band with 300 watts of devastation. :LOL:
 
Yes very subjective for sure.
I would say all around my Ecstacy 101b
But really my Helios 100 is my favorite amp.
As for cleans my late 60's Bassman.
However the cleans on the low gain plexi side of the Helios are great as well.
I have said it many times I find the Bogner Ecstacy 101b to be the Swiss army knife of amps.
 
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Braciola said:
My '74 Marshall Superlead
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This.
My 72 SuperTrem is the best to my ears. You can get 70s rock unboosted; or 80s HR/Metal double boosted. No mods, just balls to the wall flatten small mountains push. No harshness, tons of harmonics.

For reference I’ve had 10 Cameron’s, 60 or so stock/modded pre 1990 Marshalls. 4 C+, 2 F triples, 2 Wizards, 4 SLOs. Some EVHs and VHTs as well.

2nd best is the Rev C dual i recently got…incredible amp that takes any GAS I had for any other Mesa. Even over any C+. It can do any modded Marshall tone in my head, and it’s not a Marshall lol. But it won’t quite match my 72.
 
for me my old mark 4. had a vh4 but could not bond with it as crazy as that sounds. wished I would have gotten the Herbert instead.
 
Best for me - Marshall 410 JVM. Honorable mention OG 5150 and my old Marshall 50W JMP MV.

Those are the amps I've enjoyed and stayed with the most throughout the last 30 years. Owned everything from Bogner to Soldano's to VHT's both amps and preamps and those above are the one's for me.
 
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JackBootedThug said:
for me my old mark 4. had a vh4 but could not bond with it as crazy as that sounds. wished I would have gotten the Herbert instead.
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I'll say the same, my Mesa Mark IVb. It's a really fun amp to play through, unfortunately it's not available anymore. Out of current production amps, i'd say the JP2C.
 
gtrwun said:
I’m not sure what “production” means?

Does that mean “mass produced”?

Best amp for me is my Gjika 10n. Can’t buy it at Guitar Center, but it can be had.

This topic is so subjective. It really depends on the player, the music being played and the sound one hears in his head.

The Gjika is very touch sensitive and the harmonics are off the chart. It’s very rich and deep while being smooth and pleasant to the ear. There is no “crunch” in this amp. There are a hundred other amps that crunch and scream. Bob did something different.
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Based Class A single ended JJ KT77 enjoyer.
 
A few I can remember-

Early 70's Marshall Super Tremolo 100 watt. It had 4 speaker outputs in the back and I believe a third switch (polarity) in front.
68 Smallbox Marshall. It wasn't mine. I played it in 1973 and it was glorious.
The first mid-70's JMP Master Volume Marshalls. I owned a few, 100's and 50's. Probably my fav amp of all time.
A few Hiwatts I owned.

Mesa Quad Preamp. Amazing preamp and at the time I was naive to the endless possibilties it had.

I had many SLO's, a few Ecstasys, many others, but my ear always gravitates towards Marshalls.
 
Honestly I really can’t think of any readily available production amp that would really be top notch or in the exceptional category tonewise. That’s I think what the OP was asking for. The only amp of that type I actually have still is a Badlander

I think most of the really great amps have already been discussed here (although a few mentioned that I think don’t belong in the same conversation imho). The only others I’d add as being some of the best aren’t for metal/hard rock: my Jim Kelley, 1963 Vox AC30TB, ‘64 Vibroverb, Alessandro’s & Schroeder’s. So far the Alessandro’s have the most organic & raw tone I’ve heard in a non-vintage amp (more than my Gjika 10N). Still not quite like my actual vintage amps, but amazingly close. I guess he’s one of the few guys that really gets it with organic tone. My 3 favorite amps I’ve got fwiw are my iic+ hrg, stock 1972 Marshall SuperLead 100 & 1963 Vox AC30 Top Boost. Still gotta properly try my Rev C soon
 
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Every time I hear a Cameron clip, I totally get the hype. There’s a quality that I also here in every clip of a Gower amp. It’s like the amp wants you to sound as good and play as well as you possibly can.
 
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