your favorite modern blues amp tones

  • Thread starter Thread starter mentoneman
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degenaro said:
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.
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Yes, that’s for me too part of what makes them exceptional amps. The Gjika and Ronin have a similar thing going on in that way, but I’d probably consider Kelley the best of those in that department. Does JM mean JM Trainwreck?
 
mentoneman said:
corridors and victims are peak GM imo.
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Since we're on it, we'll go back a bit further and this is some next level stuff right here all the way around. Three Legends gone. He's playing Greeny, prob not long after he got it, look how clean it is. Note the broken string too....killer version of this song

 
braintheory said:
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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i don’t doubt those amps sound great. two of the best guitar tones i’ve ever heard live in a blues fusion context were carlton’s dumble wdw and landau’s dumble modded super.
and if builders can command top dollar you can’t blame them. i guess i just haven’t heard any recent recordings or clips of those amps that have justified that exceptional cost beyond Shawn Lane’s 90s albums with the Gjika. but that’s more Shawn Lane than the amp.
 
* velcro-fly * said:
Since we're on it, we'll go back a bit further and this is some next level stuff right here all the way around. Three Legends gone. He's playing Greeny, prob not long after he got it, look how clean it is. Note the broken string too....killer version of this song

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funny that the first and only Les Paul blues tone i could think of done the way i like to hear it was Gary Moore/Greenie🤣
 
mentoneman said:
i don’t doubt those amps sound great. two of the best guitar tones i’ve ever heard live in a blues fusion context were carlton’s dumble wdw and landau’s dumble modded super.
and if builders can command top dollar you can’t blame them. i guess i just haven’t heard any recent recordings or clips of those amps that have justified that exceptional cost beyond Shawn Lane’s 90s albums with the Gjika. but that’s more Shawn Lane than the amp.
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It doesn’t fully do them justice, but there are lots of phone clips of the Gjika on his YouTube channel and phone clips of the Ronin on Lance Keltner’s YouTube channel and another YouTube vid imo Bonamassa did a decent job showing what the Kelley can do (he has a dozen of them lol)

In person I think you’ll find if you just play a few notes on them, especially a lead or melody line with some milky vibratos, that’ll be enough where you’ll see these amps are just in another class vs others except a real Dumble and probably a Trainwreck (haven’t tried a real one yet, just tons of clones)

For leads especially these other amps (including Two Rock) comparatively IME just lack life (sterile) and some of those magical nuances for all those expressions/subtleties for truly great, expressive leadwork. The Kelley imo exceptional for that. Very liquid, round and sweet, but maybe hard to capture well in recordings. These amps have the same qualities that make the real Klon centaur so special to me. It’s like the gear has a life force of its own and very special the way notes connect like a great singer would sing the notes
 
VonBonfire said:
59 Burst and a Dumble was all it took to get him there. :rolleyes::LOL:
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🤣
yeah that gtr appears capable of inspiring such timeless treasures such as “i’ve got tetanus blues”
just look at that nut height—yet i suspect that if you changed out anything on his rig it wouldn’t sound as pure or authentic. imperfect perfection.
 
VonBonfire said:
Here is one of my all time favorite tones. Listen to the breakdown. Magic Sam borrowing Earl Hooker's Univox LP copy into a Twin I think. That exact guitar was for sale a few years ago for 4k...
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Magic Sam is amazing! I made a thread about it here a few years ago and everyone else here hated it hahah (they don’t get it I guess). Those old Japanese Univox PAF copies can be amazing as are some other vintage Japanese pickups. I’ve got my fair share of them lol
 
this may not look historically traditional ala the termite relic’ed strat authenticity silted with mississippi delta mud,
but if you can’t get any tone you wish for from
this scalpel it may be time to blame the guy in the mirror

 
braintheory said:
Yes, that’s for me too part of what makes them exceptional amps. The Gjika and Ronin have a similar thing going on in that way, but I’d probably consider Kelley the best of those in that department. Does JM mean JM Trainwreck?
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Was meant to type JMP as in pre JCM Marshall.
 
i’ve heard the construction of these amps are suspect as in keep a fire extinguisher nearby 🤣

but the range of fendery cleans with almost a parallel DI top end brilliance blended in ala matchless, to the squish under the fingers and vintage reedy vibe of the blues gain levels was a shocker.
“Carvin…the leaders in fine boutique amplification.”🤣

 
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