Anyone crank their amps?

[stevejamsecono]

I know this forum is a well-loved haven for the pedal-board friendly, but I also know there are a fair few of you that also like to let rip with your amp turned up a decent amount. So who are ya, and what kind of amp are you turning up to 10?

The idea of doing this is lamentably one that is on the newer side from me, something that depresses the hell out of me when I realize what amps I used to have that I was stupidly trying to make work with a series of disappointing overdrive pedals. Siigh, if only I'd known.


The OG and my first "good" amp. Sadly, it never occured to me to just turn it up... ugh.

Nice little Mesa rig. Again, didn't use the onboard gain of it.

I was closer this time, even had the P-90 (okay 100) Les paul, but nope...

I actually DID get to hear a friend crank his Les Paul Classic through this thing and it sounded like the bees knees. Me? Tele with a Bluesdriver and its sounded "meh". Ughh..

Finally the winner. Really miss this amp, because cranked up on the non master channel and hit with either my SD Booster or my Super Duper 2 in 1? Glorious bliss.

But yeah, whaddya got?

[marqueemoon]

Bought a VHT Special 6 head about a year ago and it was eye-opening. I run it a little less than dimed, but 3/4+ is pretty normal for playing live.

Effects are a tough balancing act, but I've found that as long as reverb and delay stay mixed kind of low they remain cleaner under the crunchy note attack. I've dailed the gain from pedals waaaay down. I just use a JFET clean boost and a transparent-ish OD now.

Here's my giant amp rig with my Tele.

[stevejamsecono]

Bought a VHT Special 6 head about a year ago and it was eye-opening. I run it a little less than dimed, but 3/4+ is pretty normal for playing live.

Effects are a tough balancing act, but I've found that as long as reverb and delay stay mixed kind of low they remain cleaner under the crunchy note attack. I've dailed the gain from pedals waaaay down. I just use a JFET clean boost and a transparent-ish OD now.

Here's my giant amp rig with my Tele.

Yeah, that's where I start to wonder about like, effects looks and things like that. Then again, the pros in the 70s didn't have that stuff right away and made it work, so I guess it's just messing with mix and level knobs on the delays and stuff?

I think when I have to do it again, I could probably get by with my 18 watt although I wouldn't mind the added low end of something a bit stronger (JTM45, Blackface Bassman or the like) and maybe getting a PPIMV installed or something to tame it. I like the low wattage thing, but if it's unmic'd I found it can be a little rough in some rooms...

[marqueemoon]

I like the low wattage thing, but if it's unmic'd I found it can be a little rough in some rooms...

I find it's generally workable, but that said I have a new head on the way with slightly more juice.

[simonhpieman]

Long, long ago I used just my Epiphone P90 Junior into my 4x10 Blues DeVille (early 90s USA model). No pedals. At all.

Nowadays I have 2 amps, the DeVille and an Excelsior, which I use with a RAT for leads, etc. My sound is a lot cleaner than it used to be, to be fair, but I like it just at the breaking up point.

Problem is, I hardly ever need to turn the DeVille up past 2 or 3 (it goes BEYOND "elevin", all the way to 12) as it's just SO loud. I played a pretty decent sized venue for a change the other night and EVERYTHING was put through the PA - full drum mics, the works. They mic'd up my amp at 2 as per usual. Then the band after us asked to borrow my amp, standard practice in London, unfortunately. They cranked it so much that the sound engineer just turned the amps PA mic off and they were filling the room with just the DeVille. And when I went I carried it off stage 20 minutes after their set was finished the top of the amp, where the tweed is, was still uncomfortably warm to the touch... Sounded fricking amazing, though.

The only other time I've managed to crank it has been when I've recorded at work. I go in the control room with my Jazzmaster and the amp goes the other side of the door! I miss the harmonic interaction between guitar and amp but cranking it is FUN!

The Excelsior I've got a bit closer to pushing in normal life. Still not past half way, that thing is also proper loud, but it's fun. Really hankering after something better built than the Excelsior, though, it just buzzes SO much

[zhivago]

Sure I crank and let rip!



This^^ actually works real well


On the other hand,

I have a Matchless Lightning as well that for 15 watts sound stupid loud. In my experience the best thing to do in that case is to find good, amp-like pedals. They do exist.

BJFE pedals work for me for overdriven/distorted sounds. Sure, they are expensive not to mention very rare as few people let go of them, but thankfully Bearfoot makes authorised copies that sound just as good.

If you want Marshall sounds get a Bearfoot Dyna Red...look it up

https://www.bearfootfx.com/store/overdr ... istortion/

[ifallalot]

I have a 68 CDR and have really not needed anything besides a delay with it. I mess around with a Fuzz and have a Joyo American Sound but its just so much better to run it jumped with the Bassman side on like 5 with the bass and treble cranked and the Deluxe side on 4 with the bass at 4 and treble at 7

[Mclean]

I'm lucky enough to have a couple of options. I've got some lower wattage amps which are great fun to crank...



While my Bassman sounds great all the way up, I normally run it clean(ish) and hit it with pedals.



I love playing with a fully dimed tube amp, there are so many sounds to be had with just the vol/tone knobs. However, if you're playing music which requires that sudden 'wall of noise', I find higher headroom amps and dirt boxes are the way to go.

[NickD]

My amp is a Marshall 1958X, it only really does cranked. I have an attenuator to keep the volume sensible for home use and it cleans up when needed with the guitar volume control.

[MechaBulletBill]

The Traynor YGM3 has a boost switch which sounds harsh and nasty at lower volumes but once you get close to antisocially loud, the boost makes it gritty and hairy like little else.

[Larsongs]

With my Vox AC15CC1X w/ Celestion Alnico Blue Spkr. I can get nice Cleans & any amount of Dirt I want at any volume Level without Pedals. I dig their Top Boost feature! It can get loud! But doesn't need to get those big sounds.

My '65 Princeton Reverb comes in a close 2nd.

My other big Fender & Marshall Amps require Pedals to get there. Unless I want to blow my eardrums!

Lars

[mijmog]

I can only get my head around amps that are cranked, doing it the traditional way. Its a hangup from being obsessed with people like Peter Green, Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Cream and all those bands in my Dad's record collection when I was a kid. I've never been able to get on with overdrives personally - I've never been able to get the balance right, they always seem to make the sound narrower (I've probably not tried good ones I admit), whereas an amp turned up feels deeper and wider, and I prefer the way the guitar volumes and tone react.

I'm struggling at the minute as I want the on-the-verge-of-breakup cranked power section sound but at any volume to suit any stage, so I'm experimenting with an attenuator and pulling tubes in a '68 Superlead clone. Its the wrong amp to be turning up I know, but I've gone from trying the whole "turning up small amps" thing, to seeing what happens when I try and tame down a huge amp, knowing I've got an extra gear in case I need more headroom. The problem is I don't like the sound of the attenuator though, and I hate having to carry it around, its one more bag to remember...

Some of the best sounds I've ever had have come from the following

- '78 Silverface Fender Deluxe Reverb on full, with a Celestion greenback. No pedals other than a clean boost, the guitar volume and tone was enough to get lots of useful sounds. This sound was heaven, it just was a little underpowered as the rest of my band got louder. As the whole amp was breathing fire, when the reverb was engaged it almost acted like an extra boost. The valve rectifier would give up in the most glorious way too.

- '62 Brown Fender Concert with an old Klemt tape echo in front. Like a Marshall in a box, super responsive and with that great 4x10" open swirling spacewind coming from deep within. The solid state recitifier stopped things from turning to mush quickly, if anything it was a little too harsh.

- Marshall JTM45 Reissue, a wah, and a 1906TV cab. I don't think much else is needed, perfect volume for a loud rock band. If the sound guy says its too loud, then use a boost to hammer the front end a little and turn the amp down. A removal back panel also helped the cab from being too directional and helped spill the sound around the stage a little more.

- Silverface Bassman through a Marshall cab with Greenbacks, that was exciting, tight and punchy and very unforgiving.

Weirdly one of the most exciting sounds I ever got was with a rented backline-du-jour Marshall Vintage Modern, I just cranked the clean channel and got the most easy to control glorious feedback, and when going from 8 on the volume to full, had a sparkling rhythm sound to a full-on lead singing compressed sound all there at my fingers. Crazy, I'd never buy one though as I'm a complete snob...

I think my next experiment is to sell the Marshall and try running two Fender Princetons on full, with my valve Copicat boosting the front end.

One thing that has thrown me sideways is a Lazy J Cruiser pedal I recently acquired - through my little Princeton at low volumes it really gets a fantastic cranked, touch responsive amp sound at a safe volume.

[Arthon]

I use too have 3 15 watters because I really like cranked amp. Princeton Reverb are really fun to crank around 7-8, and even cranked, they are pedal-friendly.

At the moment, I play mostly clean stuff. I take Jazz course and I play in surf-garage band, so I sold 2 of my 3 15 watters. I only kept my Tiny Terror since I have 2 other fender amps (vibrolux and vibro-champ) and I needed cash for my es-175.

Someday, I will buy a Princeton Reverb again since they are just awesome clean... and cranked!

[Jaguar018]

I never have. I've always preferred Fender clean sounds as the base of 'my sound,' and when I say clean I mean, REAL clean, not right on the edge of breakup or whatever.

With that said, sometimes I wish I lived in the middle of nowhere so I could just crank an amp and really figure it out.

During my 'playing career' I lived in apartments or row houses and all my practice spaces were tiny to the point where even a 5 watter cranked was a little much.

[fuzzjunkie]

I used to crank my '65 Vox AC-30 with silver bells to the point that it caught on fire twice. Obscenely loud. Tubes melted, transformer blown, but it sounded glorious. Replaced it with a '93 Korg AC-30 with greenbacks so I had a bit more headroom when I slammed it with a Rat or Roland BeeBaa.

I never got my '59 Bassman wound up like that, but a friend borrowed it to open for the Jesus and Marychain when his Marshall was in the shop and he would turn both volume knobs to 12 to end their set. Feedback for days.