Shoegaze/Noise Rock Amps?

[s_mcsleazy]

Silverface Twin. Job Done. Can still be picked up here in the UK for 500-800. Get it serviced and screws some wheels on (if it doesn't already have some) and go get noisy. Not only do you get the best spring reverb out there but bonus tremolo too. Chorus is better in a pedal anyway as well. I've owned 3 or 4 from different eras and they've all been great workhorse amps that sound great as long as you like being loud. And providing your back can handle their weight (any 100w combo is going to be heavy though).

*Edit: I just looked and they seem to be £800-1000 now, but cheaper do pop up. Depending where you are theres also a nice 79 Vibrosonic (100W) in Swindon on FB marketplace.

i bought my twin from a friend during the pandemic when people were trying to get £1200 for them. the rule with buying it was "make me an offer based on pre-pandemic market and how much you would then try to talk me down" so i only paid £600. tbh the fane crescendo's in mine are going for like £250 each so i think i got my money's worth.

[JSett]

Silverface Twin. Job Done. Can still be picked up here in the UK for 500-800. Get it serviced and screws some wheels on (if it doesn't already have some) and go get noisy. Not only do you get the best spring reverb out there but bonus tremolo too. Chorus is better in a pedal anyway as well. I've owned 3 or 4 from different eras and they've all been great workhorse amps that sound great as long as you like being loud. And providing your back can handle their weight (any 100w combo is going to be heavy though).

*Edit: I just looked and they seem to be £800-1000 now, but cheaper do pop up. Depending where you are theres also a nice 79 Vibrosonic (100W) in Swindon on FB marketplace.

i bought my twin from a friend during the pandemic when people were trying to get £1200 for them. the rule with buying it was "make me an offer based on pre-pandemic market and how much you would then try to talk me down" so i only paid £600. tbh the fane crescendo's in mine are going for like £250 each so i think i got my money's worth.

For sure, the twin's seem to be perpetually well priced compared to the smaller Fender amps. So much bang for buck. I still occasionally see one for less that £500 too if it's tatty (but functional).

If I had need for big and clean I'd use nothing else apart from a SF Twin. The ultimate yardstick

[marqueemoon]

I'm not a fan of the concept that you need a specific type of amp or guitar to play a specific type of music. Play shoegaze on a Fender Champ. Play jazz on a Diezel. Get creative.

I will say that about no one needs a 100W amp. They're only marginally louder than their 50/30 watt cousins. You'd do better to change speakers or use an extension cab if you want to be louder.

I saw a heavy band recently where the singer played a Ric through a Mesa half stack. They really got a cool sound out of it.

I agree about power ratings. 30-50 watts with efficient speakers is going to be plenty loud.

I usually gig with 20 watt 1x12 combo these days. It’s totally fine from a volume standpoint. It doesn’t have the same grunt as a bigger amp, but that’s not the sound I’m going for.

Silver panel Twins are a good value these days, but they are a real chore to move around.

For tuning down I’d personally prefer a head/cab setup so I could isolate the head from vibration as needed and go with a little more robust cab. Plus less weight to carry in one go.

[jorri]

Any reason they're so cheap?

Yes. They're not "real" Twins and don't have the vintage Fender mojo. Other than that, I think they are great amps in themselves.
As posted above, you don't really need the lower wattage option, but I think it does something to the way the amp takes pedals without blowing out your bedroom windows and I had always liked that.

I would say they have little to do with twins at all. They have a vintage solid state sound associated with post-punk/punk players most at the time. The light-up cyan control panel is very enticing! Was offered one for £80 recently!

Solid states are definately an option for reverb clarity if you have that kind of sound. +1 for Yamaha (more like poor man's Jazz Chorus but its not as close as some others but great in its own right). And why not a JC-120 if you want chorus? seems like the obvious option. The main JC-120 "clones" would be a Peavey stereo chorus or a Ampeg ss140c ( a lot closer to Jazz Chorus than the Yamaha).

My personal choice is Musicman however; those are more related to twins but less harsh and have a solid state pre-, but very powerful output tubes so retains 'tube warmth' minus convoluting breakup or twin 'ice-pick' sound. Any of them, but RD50 has the optional switch to put the preamp into tube distortion mode, and 50w is actually plenty with those high plate voltage tubes. I can carry it in one hand but its a loud as a twin, i never have had volume past 3 yet actively gigging and thats with volume attenuation on my board too! OR not a chorus but onboard phaser on some of the 65w vintage ones.

And with those you could even go down the Wem or Sunn route for the headroom yet power. I'm sure noise rock bands will use them. The Wem Dominator i've used on recordings works great for a little more grit without getting lost in dirt.

Shields used Marshalls, Voxes and everything else. Worth getting an amp sim? maybe, I mean if you are like a lot of 'nu'-gaze maybe you switch from MBV sludge to Slowdive 'pad' cleans like many new bands do that works in your favour to do that in a controlled way with a solid-state.

[46346]

i love big clean sounds and have been playing a Twin Reverb most recently, though it's more ambient surf than shoegaze.

perhaps the gaziest live band i've played in found me blending two small-ish amps.


Fender Princeton Reverb II, the early 80's Rivera era 12" combo that is a lot like a Deluxe Reverb,
maybe 20 watts of deep, clean tube tone and a quintessential Fender reverb tank sound.

and

1966 Ampeg Reverberocket 2 (also 1x12") for grindy mids - and chimey, somewhat fuzzy highs. i use an
Alnico Weber P12 something with a Vox-style paper cone that brings out the overtones all night long.

it was easy to stack one on top of the other, then blend volumes to suit the stage acoustics.

man, that gave me tons of sustain on tap and each amp was adept at a certain set of overtones,
i think that was the key to getting a wider range of harmonic feedback.

good times!

[Brock the Mod]

I too am on the Twin Reverb side of things. I love the one mike modded and have owned it for nearly a decade now.

Following that the 'Pro Reverbs' are really good finds too if someone lets it go for the right price. A bit lower wattage twin from my understanding. Ampeg, Supro, and Musicman amps are also notable mentions.

[horseblanket]

Traynor YRM-1. 50 watts. The guts are made of the most desirable parts. Fender BF Circuit. Built stronger than a brick wall. Just plain awesome and can be had well under 1k.

[horseblanket]

Traynor YSR-1. Clean and Loud. Like a JTM45 with reverb and trem. 50 watts. sturdy as hell. Beautiful sounding. I just picked one up for under 500.

[hulakatt]

I'm not a fan of the concept that you need a specific type of amp or guitar to play a specific type of music. Play shoegaze on a Fender Champ. Play jazz on a Diezel. Get creative.

I will say that about no one needs a 100W amp. They're only marginally louder than their 50/30 watt cousins. You'd do better to change speakers or use an extension cab if you want to be louder.

I'll echo this and add the the biggest difference between 50 and 100 watt amps is less about volume and more about fidelity and bandwidth. The 100w amps just have more authority to them.

[46346]

I'll echo this and add the the biggest difference between 50 and 100 watt amps is less about volume and more about fidelity and bandwidth. The 100w amps just have more authority to them.

Aye! that's why i surprised myself by finally getting the Twin Reverb after thinking it was too much amp. these days i have a very extended pitch range on guitar, and have also been playing a real Wurlitzer electric piano with the 'vibrato' throbbing. i don't need a lot of volume, rarely go over 4.5 even at a gig, but when i need a deep, clean, *full* tone, it's there.

[Mighty_Zoltan]

As someone mentioned upthread, AC30s. Two of the three guitarists in our shoegaze/dreampop band use them to good effect. When the venue permits, I run a Marshall SV20 parallel with my AC30. Fecking immense.

That’s similar to Adam Franklin from Swervedriver’s set up. He runs a jcm800 and an ac30 together.
Also 3 of the big 4 OG shoegaze bands, MBV, Ride, Swervediver all use Marshall’s. Plus Dino Jr who obviously influenced MBV. So it’s not really always a clean amp. You can attenuate for your clean signal. On the other hand bands like Yo La Tengo use a Vibrolux so def in that Fender camp.

Only thing to be mindful of if you buy a twin is that the are really loud, really heavy and really clean until really cranked. Really.

[Larsongs]

The 100 Watt Fender Pro Tube Twin’s are great Amps.. They were a fairly short Production run & are great Amps.. I think it’s the only one that is 100 Watts & can be switched to 22 Watts.. They never took off as they were too much like the 65 Twin Reverbs so good deals can be had on Used ones..

The SS Roland JC150’s are equivalent to a 40-50 Watt Tube Amp..

Most Twin Reverbs are only 85 Watts.. The Fender Pro Tube Amp is 100 Watts..

Good luck..

[Jonesie]

The 100 Watt Fender Pro Tube Twin’s are great Amps.. They were a fairly short Production run & are great Amps.. I think it’s the only one that is 100 Watts & can be switched to 22 Watts.. They never took off as they were too much like the 65 Twin Reverbs so good deals can be had on Used ones..

The SS Roland JC150’s are equivalent to a 40-50 Watt Tube Amp..

Most Twin Reverbs are only 85 Watts.. The Fender Pro Tube Amp is 100 Watts..

Good luck..

I had one of the Pro Tube Super Reverbs, I think that was 60 watts? Holy shit was that thing loud. Literally shook my windows.

[OffYourFace]

A 100w Marshall is still my favorite amp. I’m going to build myself a ‘68 12,000 series SL clone soon and be done. I’m just gonna finish off my hearing for good

[Larsongs]

The 100 Watt Fender Pro Tube Twin’s are great Amps.. They were a fairly short Production run & are great Amps.. I think it’s the only one that is 100 Watts & can be switched to 22 Watts.. They never took off as they were too much like the 65 Twin Reverbs so good deals can be had on Used ones..

The SS Roland JC150’s are equivalent to a 40-50 Watt Tube Amp..

Most Twin Reverbs are only 85 Watts.. The Fender Pro Tube Amp is 100 Watts..

Good luck..

I had one of the Pro Tube Super Reverbs, I think that was 60 watts? Holy shit was that thing loud. Literally shook my windows.

Mine is the 100 Watt but it can be switched to 22 Watts.. I almost always play it at 22 Watts & that’s plenty loud with the 2 x 12” Eminence Speakers that come stock with it.. I’ve yet to play anywhere that I need 100 Watts with this Amp..