Re: Guitar/Bass head???

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Jay
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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by Jay » Sat Oct 07, 2006 3:25 pm

The Sound City amps are fine if you can get a good tech through one. I have a friend that swears by his and I must say, it sounded damn good.  They're really similiar to a Marshall though, maybe not the best for bass.  I like HiWatt because they have a nice tight clear sound that should work well with bass.  Plus they're killer guitar amps.  Expensive these days though...  Bassman is probably still the best bet.  You could probably get one set up so that the first channel is tuned  for guitar and the second for bass even.  And I'd go silverface since you'll likely tweak it anyway.

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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by daydreamdelay » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:01 pm

thanks Jay, I found a Custom 50 a few years back at a local shop for $750 but someone had just beat me to it :(

I'll keep an eye on those and the DR103, maybe I'll find a nice deal.. otherwise I'll probably go with a Bassman or one of those other amps if I can get some info.

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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by mezcalhead » Sun Oct 08, 2006 2:18 am

I have a feeling the Thunderverb might not be exactly what you're looking for anyway:
www.orangeamps.com wrote:The Orange Thunderverb 200 is the new standard for metal guitar amplifiers .. warmest, loudest clean imaginable to most extreme metal distortion your ears have ever experienced ..
It seems to be directed at nu-metal 7-string players, is my impression.
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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by mjet » Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:15 am

Sound City amps are great - they're essentially early versions of HiWatts. Don't confuse them with London City amps which were fairly cheap Marshall clones from the Netherlands.
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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by enormous » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:46 pm

I've never really liked a Bassman for bass, it just doesn't sound that great to my ear.

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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by Orang Goreng » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:31 am

mjet260 wrote: Don't confuse them with London City amps which were fairly cheap Marshall clones from the Netherlands.
Right! Never knew that. That certainly explains why there used to be so many of them around as second hands when I was shopping for an amp locally in the late 80s.
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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by mjet » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:15 am

Orang Goreng wrote:
Right! Never knew that. That certainly explains why there used to be so many of them around as second hands when I was shopping for an amp locally in the late 80s.
Yup. Here's some more information about them.

http://www.drtube.com/guitamp.htm#LondonCity

I think lots of people confuse them with Sound City amps because of the similar-sounding name, the fact that both stopped production in the 70s, and they even have a similar appearance w/ logo plates in the same font etc.

There is an excellent site on Sound City done by a guy over at the Vintage Amps Bulletin Board here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~iktoblikto/sc_home.htm

It charts the whole Sound City / HiWatt connection and has lots of photos, catalog scans etc. Incidentally I have been thinking about trying to build up a site featuring old H||H Electronics amps, one of my closet loves.  ;) But as easy as they look, websites on those kinds of things take a LOT of work. Right, administrators?  :D
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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by Orang Goreng » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:41 am

It appears that someone's making new London City amps, that seem to have nothing to do with the old ones:
http://www.jic.nl/LC_amps/LC_amps.htm
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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by mjet » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:48 am

Orang Goreng wrote: It appears that someone's making new London City amps, that seem to have nothing to do with the old ones:
http://www.jic.nl/LC_amps/LC_amps.htm
Interesting. It looks like they are using some of the same logo plates - maybe it's some retired music store owner's side project. Have you seen them in person? Any idea about their pricing (ie not detailed, just curious to see if they're up-market or down-market)?
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Re: Guitar/Bass head???

Post by Orang Goreng » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:55 am

mjet260 wrote: Have you seen them in person? Any idea about their pricing (ie not detailed, just curious to see if they're up-market or down-market)?
I have no further info on them, just googled "london city amps" and this came up.

Edit: strike that. This shop has them in stock. Tube head + 4x12 cab for 750 euros. That's quite affordable. At that price, they're probably no longer Dutch-made. [third edit to this post:] According to this site they're made in China.

Here's some reviews at HC.
Last edited by Orang Goreng on Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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