Favorite amps for your guitarist

[heath_r_91]

We talk a lot about guitards on here and I was just thinking about how fortunate I was in the band to have a guitarist AND drummer with good equipment.

What amps are you favorite for your guitarist to play with?

My guitarist has an Orange Rocker 30 and the tone is definitely one of the best, if not THE best I've ever heard.

What about the rest of you?

[yamaha]

Hughes & Kettner is awesome, and versatile. One of my guitarists has one. Beeing 40 yo, and playing mostly classic Rock with other 30+ yo musicians, I can say all my bandmates, in all my bands, are very well equipped. I guess over the years, they all managed to put some money aside towards good gear. Other guitarists have Marshalls (more than half of them), Mesa's (sweet), Vox (too agressive for me), and Fender twin reverb (my favorite for clean, tied with a Roland Jazz Chorus). I used to love Rivera's, but not so much now. All tube Crates are great for the money.

[SixString]

I'd be happy with my guitar player using just about any tube amp. If i were to pick one id go with a 60's or 70s orange. The modern ones just don't hit the mark for me.

[B-string]

This mini Marshall that ran on a 9 volt battery!

Seriously though it is between an old fender Champ (always miked of course) and a Soldono. One of my guitardists and I just finished a home built that is trying for number one, still tweaking.

[Rezdog]

Greetings from the North,

Fender's or Mesa's. I like 'em to sound rich...lol

Rezdog

[guitfiddle0409]

My guitarist has a Matchless.

[BigOldHarry]

Simple: Old twin reverb.

If there's big $ involved, Bogner or Matchless (as if an old Twin isn't big bux enough).

I think I can go the rest of my life without hearing another GD Marshall stack...

[Rezdog]

Greetings,

+1 on that....I'm tired of them too lol.

Rezdog

[anyonefortennis]

Love a les paul into a KT66 driven amp. Old marshall jtm-45/bluesbreaker or dr z rt 66 come to mind. JTM 100 clone for stupid loud if needed.

Matchless or Fender Vibro King (sleeper amp here,... awesome 3x10 new fender build like they used to be!)

[BigOldHarry]

You know, I had a guitar player who sounded GREAT and he played through what I believe was a truely craptacular amp - a yamaha solid state 1x12" combo. There was *nothing* redeeming about this amp, but he was a crazy good player with a really nice old Tele... I really wanted to hear him though a good amp, but even with this crappy rig he sounded great. Sometimes, it's just the player.

[Projectile]

I'm partial to a Marshall Half-Stack even though they are deafeningly loud, and difficult to compete with. I do love that Marshall sound.

I had guitarist that used this horrible solid state Fender amp for years in this metal band I was in. I loved the band, but the guitarist just didn't understand a thing about good tone. I would always insist that he upgrade to a tube amp, or at least to a solid state amp more appropriate for metal, but he just didn't get it. Whenever we went into a studio to record I would always borrow a tube amp and force him to use it. The guy has since graduated from Berklee school of music He's playing with killer professional musicians now, and gigging regularly, but he still uses that same POS amp! Man, I would be embarrassed!

Oh, and he has never owned a stompbox in his life except for a wah pedal. The only effect he ever uses is the chorus and reverb built into his crappy amp, and he's a professional guitarist! I just don't get it.

[Chinguschild]

Pretty much any tube amp. I dont think solid state does it for guitar at all. Now before you think im a tube guy I have never used tubes for bass and really have no intention to.

My favorite setup was what my last guitar player had
Marshall Tube Head into a 4x12 For Gain Channel
Roland Jazz Chorus for the clean channel.

That was an amazing sound

[markkoelsch]

The single greatest guitar amp I have heard is a 50 watt Cornford head a friend has. He has that through a vintage Marshall 412. Spectacular. It helps that he is an awesome player.

Another friend had a really cool rig. He A/B a Roland Jazz Chorus for clean with a Mesa 50 Caliber 112 combo. A beautiful sounding rig.

[Fealach]

My guitarist has enough amps and cabs for a music store. A very cool music store. He changes amps every time he gets bored, or one breaks. I seem to remember really liking when he was using a Rocktron Piranha preamp with a tube power amp. I forget the power amp, but I do remember something went south in it and smoked the Piranha. Next to that, I liked his Seymour Duncan Convertible, until that broke. Now I'm liking the 50 watt Super Lead, not only because it sounds quite good but because it's only 50 watts. When that one broke, he actually got it fixed. He had been running 2 100 watt amps before that. Just to practice.


I suspect my Mesa Rocket 440 might sound even better for the music we're playing, plus it's only 40 watts, but I'm not letting him touch it given his track record for killing amps.

[Kenny Allyn]

Hinsons ... I know you have never heard of them

Robert Hinson is from Memphis and it's amazing how many players use his incredible custom made amps. Actually there are studios as far away as NYC that have them. He just builds the raw chassis and you take it from there. He has many designs, but my guitar player uses a pair of 22 watt 1x12 combos, basically a Vox preamp mated to a Fender Deluxe power section.

... They are handmade and hard to get ... you have to actually know the guy.

[max8899]

tissue box

[Ric5]

[jtc_hunter]

Fender Tweed 40 watt Tube 1-12 w/ an SM57 in front of it. His Previous amp was a Musicman HD130 head w/ a 212 cab.

[Clammy]

Good old 100W Marshalls! Can't beat 'em for tone.

Cheers!

[musicmansf]

Any Mesa. Love plexi's cranked stupid loud too. Not so much the newer Marshall's. Utter crap.