Ask some amp USERS thread

[chille01]

Ok, so I must admit, I have a bit of GAS going for a new amp.  Not that what I have is bad ( 72' Traynor YBA-1, 70's Silverface Bassman, 2x12 custom open back cab with Emminence Speakers, 70's Traynor 412 with original speakers)... just got some cash burning a hole in my pocket and an urge for something new.  Seeing as both of my current amps are non-master volume, I'm thinking something with a master.  But I don't know, I'm just exploring at this point.  Seeing as the local music shops really only carry recent Marshall, Mesa, and Fender products, and seeing as I have not had the first-hand experience to plug into some of the classics, I'm hoping this thread can be sort of cheat sheet to the kind of classic "families" of amps... listing the general features and sort of signature tone, if that can be described.  Maybe the kind of style it's best suited to.  And then what other sleeper amps might do the same thing better, or for cheaper.  For instance:

Marshall JCM800 – Single Channel, 100w, Master Volume - Crunchy mid-range, sound of 80's hard rock – Laney AOR, Peavey VTM

  I know there is a ton of knowledge and first-hand experience on this site, and I'm hoping to capitalize on that for my search (and to push me well over the edge into actually pulling the trigger on something).  I also know about the "Ask an Amp Tech Thread", but truthfully I'm well behind on that one, and not sure if it contains the info I seek.  It appears to be more tech centric, as opposed to comparing the signature sounds of various amps. I also know a lot of this has been covered on the forum already, but searching for "amp" on this forum brings up a tonne of stuff.  I'm thinking this thread could eventually be a sort of go-to thread for amp shopping in general.  If that thread already exists, please feel free to call me a dumbass and link me in the right direction.

   Maybe we can fill in the blanks on:

Marshall

Orange

Sound City/HiWatt

Matamp/Electric

Fender

Ampeg

Etc. etc.

[Hemisaurus]

Didn't we do this already, amp families and sounds?

http://riffrocklives.com/forum/index.php?topic=5331.0

[chille01]

EXACTLY what I had in mind, and perfect iPad reading for the hour long bus ride home from work I'll be doing shortly.  Thanks Hemi!

This thread = ABORTED 

[Mr. Foxen]

Marshall: whatever you put in, Marshall comes out.,

Orange: Marketing uber alles, some new stuff is straight Fender style, some old stuff is Matamp, everything is high priced for what you get, but holds value for same reason. Trad Orange tone is middly, but the jobs with the 3 band eq have Fender tone stacks that are mid cut only, so totally don't do the Orange sound as it is known.

Sound City/Hiwatt: Two different things, Mark 4 sound city are the common ones and totally their own thing with the active preamps, the earlier ones are closer to hiwatt, but not got the super neat thing going on. Hiwatt are top end build quality, but if they are distorting, something is wrong with them, or you melted your face with volume. Mark 4 Sound City is not a tone, its a whole bunch of tones from the active preamp, and a lot are wrong, and they are often in need of repair which means a noisy preamp.

Matamp: Kind of have their own tone, the Dave Green era stuff is dirtier than any other era, kind of aimed at the US market, other stuff aimed for a really clean thing, especially the early stuff, since Matt Matthias hated distortion so much he would jump on stage and turn down bands, and eventually quit making instrument amps entirely to concentrate on disco. Current stuff straddles the eras, superb build quality. Dave Green era stuff got a bad reliability rep from a certain US distro putting the wrong valves in EL34 amps to sell them as 6550 bass amps.