Anyone else bought an amp because of a guitar hero's opinion?

[bipedal2]

I picked up a used, rough-around-the-edges Fender Pro Jr years ago after reading something from Nels Cline about how he found those to be surprisingly great for studio recording.

I hadn't thought much about the utility of small, low wattage tube amps before then (how silly of me). Aside from a speaker change I've been mighty happy with that little beast.

[46346]

fun question for me as it turns out... i've been a real amp fiend, and always check out the gear that my heroes (or anyone, really) are using.

but when it comes to their opinions, or what they say in interviews and such, i've sometimes found myself at odds with their choices! some of them have moved from classic analog/tube setups to modern stuff like Axe FX, Kemper, etc. that i just don't enjoy the programming aspect/learning curve.

or, they remain staunchly specific about tradition, like Dick Dale. the thing about DD is that he would insist that the Strat was the only suitable guitar for Surf (what i read in one interview, anyway) and i wasn't about to change my tack on Jazzmaster love back then (the 90's/2000's...)

i fully support his prescription for great Surf tone on the amp front. before i attended my first DD show, i had instinctively arrived at a Brown Fender amp (Vibrasonic - with the classic JBL - in a combo - and yes, the Harmonic Vibrato!) and even came upon a brown Reverb Unit (reissue but it matches my Vibrasonic!). but i always had that vintage fetish anyway, and was excited to experiment with any old amp that seemed cool and was affordable (it was the 90's...) perhaps his opinion might have inspired me if i had heard from him first, but i was already pretty much there, minus the Strat.

I saw Neil Young playing solo last night, right up front, i could hear his Tweed Deluxes and Magnatone directly, distinct from the P.A. you just can't argue with his tone. and he sure does have an opinion or two about sound and gear! i don't have a Tweed Deluxe, though i have some variations on the design. worthy stuff, of course, but i don't even have a proper Les Paul...

Neil's definitely a hero of mine. i even got to record on the same song with him once, and had some good conversations with him along the way. but i guess the opinions of some of the greats are surely worth considering, but they don't often apply to what you or i happen to be doing with the guitar at any given moment!

[46346]

(double post)

[Fuzzbuzz]

Certainly not. I play what I like

[PapaB]

Well fuzzbuzz, I can understand that.
But I agree with a previous comment, Neil Young's tone and style of soloing is OUT OF THIS WORLD!
So many people I've known swear by the Tweed Champ, tiny little amp, and tiny speaker, but ....
Fender offers a '51 hardwired for a fair price, .... I may have to pick one up for the collection. Whereas this. Carvin is super clean, with a modern tone, almost pedal like distortion, I think the '51 is a bit more loose and nasty, like Mr. Young's solos.
I'm still looking to play a brown Fender amp. I bet they are terrific.

BTW, gorgeous pics!

[Maggieo]

I bought my PRRI because Jim Camplilongo uses a PR, a cord and his Tele.


Syd The Paisley Tele And A Madcap Amp, September 21, 2014 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Pink Paisley MIJ Jazzmaster with Mathing Telecaster And Amp, June 21, 2021 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

[DeathJag]

What a snazzy little family! You've got the greatest collection there... I gotta ask - where's the jag?!!

I think the initial question goes far deeper than most people think. The idea of what one human thinks sounds good is an accumulation of their life experiences. I have many childhood memories of my parents are other people smiling and wagging their heads or bodies along to music, acting as if I should really like it. Many children really pay attention to sounds, and are interested in what caused them. (At least autistic child me was.) When I first heard first wave surf in 1991, that tone grabbed me by the soul and danced around my whole body. Whereas a lot of punk music I listened to had terrible mixes and tones, like Screeching Weasel. I have zero desire to explore their methods, but I still love their music. It wasn't until 2018 that I really realized how the brown Fenders and 6g15s (and offsets!) fit into that surf sound.

Once I got a collection of brown Fenders and some 6g15s, I realized that they are a little too dirty for me, too much tone loss from the reverb unit. The solution is to use two brown Fenders with a wet / dry method. So it seems that while I can get the tone of those old surf bands, it turns out I like something a little more clean and full...

[Maggieo]

What a snazzy little family! You've got the greatest collection there... I gotta ask - where's the jag?!!

Thanks!

Which Jag?


1964 Fender Jaguar, November 11, 2022 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

or


Guitar Paradise, March 13, 2020 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

I kind of wish I'd kept the Padre LP, but I traded it for the '64 Jag, so...

[marqueemoon]

I did not buy it because of him, but I was motivated to get my old Vox Cambridge Reverb back up and running in large part thanks to listening to a bunch of Hank Marvin.

It’s not an AC30, but I’m not lugging one of those around.

[jhexp]

I got the '69 Twin Reverb because of Rowland S Howard, the '68 Vibrolux Reverb because of Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton.
VR is the most played amp, and that's among the company of vintage '60s Vox and Marshalls in my collection.

[Flurko]

I've never done this, despite reading gear Interviews for a long time, watching rig rundowns, etc..
I've never found amps interesting in the slightest. I know they're integral in whatever we call 'tone', but I was never into it in more than a practical way.
I've started on a Marshall MG30dfx because the salesman at the shop convinced me and my mom with the (shitty) onboard effects, but I would have been better off with a micro cube like all the budding guitar players of my high school. I bought a Vox AC4 with my first summer job paycheck in 2009 and it's still the only amp I own, it sounds like "cool electric guitar clean" at low volume and I almost never crank it because it's still too loud for a living room, but it sounds like "cool overdriven guitar" when I do it.

Of course I hear the difference between it and the plasticy sounding Line6 we have at the practice space, but other than that, I simply bought a EHX 44magnum to plug into whatever cab is there and I always sound like "electric guitar", while being plenty loud to overwhelm the drums if needed. The rest is in the fuzz and whatever preamp/OD goes into it. I have some heroes but I will never play the same kind of stages they do, so what's the need for a Twin or something like it ?

[wooderson]

I got a Germino Club 40 because J Mascis plays Super Bass Marshalls live - great amp, dearly wish I hadn't had to sell it at the start of the pandemic when money was nonexistent.

I just got a Marshall 2-hole JMP clone - I've never had a non-bass model Marshall and when I thought about what people who inspired me to play were using there were a lot of JMPs and JCM800s. All the originals are way out of my price range but this clone seems perfect for me - low input is a beautiful clean, high input isn't too gainy, it's got a bright cap defeat switch so I can take out some ear bleeding treble when desired. Wouldn't have that much range live since you can't just footswitch between them but for my use it's like having multiple amps.

[MrShake]

A decade or so ago, I'd gotten a couple rack reverbs (Alesis and Yamaha for shoegaze stuff), and was on my way to a "rack amp" rig. I was looking at preamp options, which seems fairly limited these days. I narrowed it down to a few old standbys and put the list on hold.

I went to go see Agent Orange. Mike Palm was playing a Jazzmaster with an ADA MP-1 and a Quadraverb. He sounded like a tsunami of surf-punk. Positively MONSTROUS.

My decision was made there and then.

I don't want to emulate his sound, but it was a clear case of "well, the MP-1 can do THAT" and has a pretty good "JC" clean channel for pedals, too? Done.

Now I just need to pay a fortune to a tech to iron out the issues with my discounted rack stuff, layer by layer.

But that MP-1 still sounds fantastic.

[OffYourFace]

that looks a lot like my old '69 Twin Reverb. Whether it is or not, my old '69 Twin is what forced me to learn about amp repair and enhancements.
1969 was Fender's worst year for amps due to the fixed & cathode hybrid bias ckt and I had no idea at the time. It was a learning lesson. Our admin Jay really helped me get that thing going properly.

[DeathJag]

I like that JBL plate! I have three 70s Twins that each came with JBLs yet none have that plate.