What's the most articulate amp you've ever played through?

[Mudder]

I would have to go with my Dr Z Rt66 as most articulate. It's not some high gain screamer, in fact it tops out somewhere in the JTM45 neighborhood. But for classic rock and everything with less gain it can flat out punish you for mistakes.

 

[Stratboy151]

for me it was a Bruno Cowtipper

 

[LordOVchaoS]

Let me also add that I think nearly anything James Peters makes would make all the amps mentioned in this thread cry in jealousy of their clarity. I've not even seen one live but listening to clips leads me to believe they're some of the most articulate amps in existence!

 

[Shiny_Surface]

The Einstein I owned sounded great for soloing, but the rhythm tone was very muddy

Very muddy. I had a like o.k./hate thing with that amp. Leads were nice to a degree but that amp was muddy and lifeless as hell IMHO. The Herbert was the same for me. It was like the amp was made to sound like a recorded guitar that has had post eq'ing done and compression added instead of making it sound like an amp with good open texture and bite. All my worthless .02

Bogner Uberschall was like that too. It was almost like a tube amp emulating a modeled "produced" sound. Sounds great at home, not so good in a live band mix.

I think quite a few high end amps follow that formula, I didn't realize how extensive it was at first

 

[hairychris444]

Weird. I can't get mud out of my Einstein... and it doesn't compress until you shove high output pickups into it at higher gain settings.

Then again my amp background is JCM900 and Mesa Rectifier so my idea of 'articulate' may have a different base level to everyone else!

 

[ejecta]

The Einstein I owned sounded great for soloing, but the rhythm tone was very muddy

Very muddy. I had a like o.k./hate thing with that amp. Leads were nice to a degree but that amp was muddy and lifeless as hell IMHO. The Herbert was the same for me. It was like the amp was made to sound like a recorded guitar that has had post eq'ing done and compression added instead of making it sound like an amp with good open texture and bite. All my worthless .02

Bogner Uberschall was like that too. It was almost like a tube amp emulating a modeled "produced" sound. Sounds great at home, not so good in a live band mix.

I think quite a few high end amps follow that formula, I didn't realize how extensive it was at first

Well I think its an easy thing to fall into as that is the tones that are in your head as a builder. I think though that some forget those amps sound different in person without the post eq, compression and effects or they may do that on purpose to sell amps that sound like recorded guitars just sitting there alone. Thats why IMHO amps that are more open, have that upper mid bark, and sparkle cut better live and sound better recorded. The thing that convinced me of this was when I recorded a Roccaforte Custom 40 and a Diezel Herbert side by side. The Roccaforte sounded just as big, was thicker, and sat in mix much better than the Diezel. Funny thing is the Deizel is capable more low end and low mids so you would think it would sound bigger. In my experience thats just not true. Now that said one of the greatest tones Ive heard was my buddy using his early Mesa Triple Rec and the Roccaforte mixed in a recording. That was thick! But when you muted one or the other the Rocca cut better and the Rec sat a bit back in the mix. If had to choose one or the other I liked the Roccaforte but together was really nice.

Weird. I can't get mud out of my Einstein... and it doesn't compress until you shove high output pickups into it at higher gain settings.

Then again my amp background is JCM900 and Mesa Rectifier so my idea of 'articulate' may have a different base level to everyone else!

I agree alot of this is subjective and tastes to music you like and past experience with different amps Im sure.

 

[jcj]

I think it depends on what kind of articulation you're looking for... Im guessing you're talking about the high gain kind... a Plexi/JMP with a boost is pretty freakin' articulate IMO, but so is the VHT UL I played. The Diezels Ive played have been really articulate but I agree with Ejecta, they can sound a little compressed on some channels. Peter Diezel was actually telling me at NAMM he wants to take out some of the compression out of the 4th channel of the VH4 and third channel of the Herbert. Even he thought there was a bit too much.

I kind of felt like the Einstein was a bit too compressed when I played it at the Vigier bash, but I also didnt even bother setting it up, I just plugged in and said "fuck it, lets rock."

I think some of the Splawns are a bit comrpessed sounding, but when you come from a Non Master Volume amp into a high gain amp, they all sound compressed in comparison. And I dont mean that negatively. They're just different.

I was fortunate enough to have Peter mod channel 3 of my Herbert, when he was here for NAMM. Got rid of some of that compression on Channel 3, and it was absolutely beautiful. I never used the third channel prior to that. That would be a GREAT production idea. VH4 4th channel was the same to me....waaaay too compressed for my ears, but channel 3....