your favorite modern blues amp tones

  • Thread starter Thread starter mentoneman
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Eric Gales is a ??? He goes from Marshalls, Mesa Rectifiers, Two Rock, to the current POS toy he uses now. His tones blow.
 
mentoneman said:
in the case of Johnny, i saw him in concert for the first time on Catalina Island as part of an assignment for Teen Beat magazine when he was a young heartthrob, and was in a state of shock when he opened his mouth to sing and a 50 yr old black man came pouring out.
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I've always liked Johnny. Still do. His material was straight blues right out of the gate. There was a good blues scene in MN during the 90's. It's mostly gone now like it's gone most other places, unfortunately. I know his old bassist from his Fargo days, Jeff Hayes. He lives around Austin. Saw Johnny at the Moondance jam in 97 I think it was. There was a lot of bands on the bill, mostly classic rock, and his band annihilated them all. Wasn't even close. Just a great performer, singer, entertainer, solid guitarist, and to top it off he seems like a nice guy too.
mentoneman said:
you make a good point. i can cite only two white male blues vocalists that to my ear legitimately convince me when i close my eyes.
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Those are good examples. There is a certain conviction to it. Too many guys relying solely on guitar chops as cover for a lousy vocal. You don't have to sing like a black guy, just don't sing like a white opera singer would sing blues, lol
 
mentoneman said:
with the whole boutique uprising it was pretty easy to dismiss the bassman tweed reissue 4x10 when it came out.
but you’re right. my friend bought one after shopping around and the thing is great.
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There's a couple stupidly cheap ones local pickup only on reverb in the Midwest. Chicago or Milwaukee? 800$
 
For me for sure my favorites for blues type amps are the Ronin J7GT (now called Audio Eyra), Gjika 10N and Jim Kelley. Even as someone that strongly prefers vintage gear these were still to me the hands down favorites (not counting a real Dumble ODS)
 
I'm surprised, or maybe not surprised, none of you blues rockers were talking about the audiofanzine link on the forum page to Kingfish's rig. He uses a TRRI and a Marshall Shredmaster pedal, dunlop mini wah, and a couple other boxes. He has pretty nice driven tone but I liked this video better with him using a Chris Cain setup 335 into Music Man RD50. Nice weight to his lead tones and he really smokes a slow blues



Same with Marcus King on this slow blues

 
mentoneman said:
nice suggestions! was not familiar with Larry McCray but he’s cool!
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Delta Hurricane back in the early 90s was one of my fave albums.

Then I saw him opening for Gary Moore at the Still Got The Blues tour, the 2 shows in the US tour lol.
Last year he was out guesting alongside Josh in Bonnamassa’s band.
 
mentoneman said:
people seem to have a wide range of opinions when it comes to modern 90s-now blues.
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Yeah Braddah Cuz, they sure do...not sure what the signal path was but for me this kind of nails it, this guy nailed it. I know it’s a legit 50’s P90 Goldtop but not sure about the amp, but Sean Costello had that thing and tone in spades. Broke da ear.



 
CarlF said:
Eric Gales is a ??? He goes from Marshalls, Mesa Rectifiers, Two Rock, to the current POS toy he uses now. His tones blow.
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what’s weird is he had all those tube amps over the years and especially when he had the siggy EG two tock his tone was very generic.
i think he’s getting some of the best tones i’ve heard from him with that little mark amp nowadays. but definitely not a heavy tone guy.
 
* velcro-fly * said:
Yeah Braddah Cuz, they sure do...not sure what the signal path was but for me this kind of nails it, this guy nailed it. I know it’s a legit 50’s P90 Goldtop but not sure about the amp, but Sean Costello had that thing and tone in spades. Broke da ear.



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pretty cool tone and P90s are fun to play through & tricky to get right in a mix. my ear is so tuned to blues = strat that anything else is foreign!🤣

ps waves were great today!
morning barrels:
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evening walls (about 2 hrs ago)
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braintheory said:
For me for sure my favorites for blues type amps are the Ronin J7GT (now called Audio Eyra), Gjika 10N and Jim Kelley. Even as someone that strongly prefers vintage gear these were still to me the hands down favorites (not counting a real Dumble ODS)
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that’s some pretty rarified air. not sure about the Ronin but aren’t Gjika and Kelly amps going for $10k via auction? i totally get the allure of boutique gear but i can’t relate to those prices.
 
mentoneman said:
that’s some pretty rarified air. not sure about the Ronin but aren’t Gjika and Kelly amps going for $10k via auction? i totally get the allure of boutique gear but i can’t relate to those prices.
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Yeah they fetch mad money.
I used to borrow a Kelley and really did not want to Art with it.
Jim also from the conversations I’ve had and his white papers I read the closest thing to genius in amp design. Too bad he doesn’t follow up and sell the things he dreams up.

Like an amp that lets you tune the overtone content like what registers on an organ do.
Where you could literally (finally) have an amp that is a JM and any kind of Fender in one.
 
mentoneman said:
that’s some pretty rarified air. not sure about the Ronin but aren’t Gjika and Kelly amps going for $10k via auction? i totally get the allure of boutique gear but i can’t relate to those prices.
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I guess they have been in the past. Fwiw I paid less than $4k for my Gjika and Kelley when I bought them in 2019, but I just go by how the gear sounds, not what they cost or how rare they are. I mean some Two Rocks and Bludotones can be just as expensive and they are not in the same league in quality of tone or nuance. A ‘60’s JTM45 or early 4 input Vox AC30/15 wouldn’t be any cheaper either. Most top notch amps I know of (Including the best high gain amps I’ve played) would be in a similar price range

We can discuss the best gear restricted by price range and availability or just the very best gear period. One of those 2 I think is a lot more interesting than the other. Fwiw I’ve played the other amps mentioned in this thread and wouldn’t consider them in the same league as what I said (at least for overall tonal complexity and what I’d look for in a bluesy amp). Like Degenaro said, the Kelley (and Gjika and Ronin) have a level of overtones, tonal complexity and liquid/vocal note connection that just isn’t at all in the cards for other amps I’ve tried besides the one real Dumble I tried being even better there (the part the clones don’t capture an ounce of sadly)
 
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