What makes an amp perfect for you?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Smash
  • Start date Start date
Smash

Smash

Hack
Recently, @Yehuda made a really good thread that got derailed. But it brought up some good points as in what we are all looking for in an amp.

All of us have been guilty of following suite en masse on the latest trend only to find a lot of guys selling the amp and saying they have been overcome by some financial hardship, but are somehow still interested in trading for other amps.

I think also some guys appreciate every amp for its idiosyncracies and features and dont focus on the negatives. I wish I were one of those.

As someone that gets an amp and then progressively finds all the negatives and dwells on them, i have learned that i need to find a pretty damn good amp if it is to be a keeper.

To find the amp that you turn on and play and dont find yourself reaching for the eq hoping some magic sound is in there is what I want in an amp at the root level. What about you?
 
Clarity, punch, openess, and string definition. Those are usually the traits I look for in an amp. I don't like them too smooth or overly compressed.

I've tried a lot of amps that many people love, but just didn't do it for me, which is why I've managed to whittle my collection from 14 down to 3. I found what I liked. However, there are a few amps out there I haven't tried that I'd like to get my hands on: GZ Hellion ,CCV, 3rd Power Dragon, and a Hermansson. Those all interest me for various reasons.
 
Last edited:
Ryan990 said:
Clarity, punch, openess, and string definition. Those are usually the traits I look for in an amp. I don't like them too smooth or overly compressed.

I've tried a lot of amps that many people love, but just didn't do it for me, which is why I've managed to whittle my collection from 14 down to 3. I found what I liked. However, there are a few amps out there I haven't tried that I'd like to get my hands on: GZ Hellion ,CCV, and a 3rd Power Dragon. Those all interest me for various reasons.
Click to expand...
I will say that while I much prefer an open amp to own, I actually enjoy playing compressed amps also. Same with smooth amps. I love them. Just hard to find one that I feel like could be my main amp.. The Hiwatt that fortin made was an incredible chameleon amp imo. It was smooth, but I feel like it would have nailed any style. It didn't have a lot of character and I think that in itself would lend itself well to a lot of guys. I had to think hard before passing on that one.

But you nailed it with clarity, punch, openness and string definition.
I think I would love to try a Naylor, Larry, and a Friedman Dirty Shirley.
 
Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
I will say that while I much prefer an open amp to own, I actually enjoy playing compressed amps also. Same with smooth amps. I love them. Just hard to find one that I feel like could be my main amp.. The Hiwatt that fortin made was an incredible chameleon amp imo. It was smooth, but I feel like it would have nailed any style. It didn't have a lot of character and I think that in itself would lend itself well to a lot of guys. I had to think hard before passing on that one.

But you nailed it with clarity, punch, openness and string definition.
I think I would love to try a Naylor, Larry, and a Friedman Dirty Shirley.
Click to expand...
I don't mind compression either, just not overly compressed. I found KSR, Omega, EVH, and a couple other fit this category for me. Nothing wrong with those amps, but they just weren't my thing.
As for smooth, I found Friedmans to fit that category. They just seemed too polite and smooth sounding when compared to similar circuit amps.
 
Tone, reliability, cost. Somehow I always wind up with big, clean, tight amps. I need cheap stuff because I'm gigging it and it's gonna take a beating but I don't want junk I want something built like a tank. The cheapest vintage amp is basically a SF Twin so I have a couple of those.
 
Nigel said:
Cathode bias does it for me: Zinky Blue Velvet 50. That said, Framus Dragon, Splawn Quick Tod Pro Mod KT88 and Ugly Amps Big Ugly 100 left good impressions as of late, as well as a Framus Ruby Riot.
Click to expand...
A lot of people are polarized over splawn. I think i need to try one. Just listened to a zen amp demo, and it sounded great. But those guys make everything sound great. Also, heard so much about Framus amps. They would be nice to play sometime.
 
The 2 things I look for in an amp that aren’t direct tonal qualities are having a unique sound that other amps don’t have, and not having something that I wish was different- an illustration of the second point was I loved my wizard MCII, but I wished it was more aggressive and immediate- which is what the hell razor ended up being for me. Summarized, I want unique sounding amps that are still directionally like the sound I have in my head.

Sonically, I want amps that have clear and defined highs- a lot of amps i have sold sounded good, but were almost muffled on the high end. Not everything has to be ultra fast response and sharp like the Hermansson- I love my rev1 uberschall despite it being a darker amp. The uberschall is shockingly clear on the higher notes despite the low mid thickness - the Uber ultra being the inverse- it could get crazy tight, but didn’t have the individual note clarity of earlier Ubers.

I also love amps with a ton of punch- wizards have spoiled me for sure, but stuff like the MI Beta, Uberschall, and the blueface vh4 I got to try all have their own kinds of massive punch.


And then the part that I do ultimately come back to- tightness and fast response- the Hermansson and hell razor being the more extreme examples- to me, there is just something special about having an amp respond so immediately to the input it receives, and allowing the picking hand to shine - these amps tend to allow my playing to sound most like me.

All this word vomit to say- an amp is a keeper when it is unique sounding, has clear defined highs, some level of punch, relatively quick response, and doesn’t flub out on the lows.

As a bonus, rather than sounding elitist, here are a few amps I recommend that are under 4k and still available

Redseven leviathan
Uber ultra
Ground zero hellion
Headfirst alta
Bogner XTC
 
Setting tonality aside, for me it’s having an amp that inspires you to play differently / different things and an amp that allows the character of the guitar to shine through even when it’s being driven
 
1) incredible string separation on complex chords and distortion unfriendly intervals for rhythm
2) amp must sing and sustain without needing pedals for lead
3) rawness

Lots of amps can do one or two of these things well but not many can achieve all three of those traits
 
Last edited:
I'm fine with any amp in proper worker order.

I tune in the same basic sounds regardless of of what amp it is.

Just the amp or maybe a few pedals to shape the sound.

I feel pretty much the same about cars, women, food, etc.

Do I have preferences ? Yes...but I don't consider them important.
 
Much like the women that have been in my life...even if it's a little weird or something kinda different, I'm cool. Just don't be bland or argue with me and STFU when stop playing.
 
3 channels, a lead channel that does aggressive high gain well, a middle channel that does crunch decently and a clean that can do crystal clean to slight break-up. For the lead channel i'm quite specific, i like a detailed but smooth top end, aggressive mids and tight but big lows. I like the lead channel a bit compressed, but not overly so. The clean I like compressed, the crunch i like much more open sounding.
 
anomaly said:
3 channels, a lead channel that does aggressive high gain well, a middle channel that does crunch decently and a clean that can do crystal clean to slight break-up. For the lead channel i'm quite specific, i like a detailed but smooth top end, aggressive mids and tight but big lows. I like the lead channel a bit compressed, but not overly so. The clean I like compressed, the crunch i like much more open sounding.
Click to expand...
Bogner xtc? Trying to think of other amps that fulfill those criteria- my Steavens poundcake falls in that category, although the mk2 one I tried is different
 
Ass, mids scoop in a way that sits just right in a mix, presence and high end that is cutting, dynamics. Boosted early recto been the perfect one for me so far. For rhythms at least.
 
I haven’t tried any piece of gear that really is perfect or has it all, but that’s also makes it more interesting and is the reason to have so much stuff. I believe there’s always trade offs like Marshall’s having great midrange, but often not as good low end or wizards having that more neutral midrange, but amazing almost everywhere else, etc

I like all the qualities others mentioned too, but for me the most important qualities I look for are the ones that many here would call cork sniffery lol. Things like tonal complexity, what’s going on around the notes, details like that is where the magic happens for me. This is generally the biggest Achilles heal in high gain and modern amps and sort of a paradox for me because modern high gain is my favorite style, but the amps that tend to excel most in those qualities I want are typically either vintage gear (which can sound dated/old) or non-high gain amps (not for metal). In a perfect world I’d want a modern high gain amp with the 5D quality of the one real Dumble ODS I tried. One can dream…
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top