Amp models for ‘90s gig?

[metropolis_4]

I remember the Mesa Mark IV being highly coveted in the 90’s, and if you looked you could find a good used Twin Reverb for $400. For dirt people would stack 2 tube screamers. Then the OCD became the big thing. I can’t remember if that was the late 90’s or early 00’s though.

The OCD was ‘00s but the FullDrive was late ‘90s

I’ll probably have to throw one of those in the mix

 

[Stone]

Gigs started piling up and I had to get something. I was all set on going with an amp, but once the gigs started coming in and I saw the FM9 was available I knew right away it was the right choice

Thats awesome, Curious as to what you use in these gigs for monitoring ? IEM ? Wedge ? Powercab?
I hear that those Redsound's are really awesome, light small and powerful

also would be awesome to see some pics of your gigs

 

[ragingplatypi]

The OCD was ‘00s but the FullDrive was late ‘90s

I’ll probably have to throw one of those in the mix

That’s right. I saw the Fulldrive a lot back then. That’s just a variation on the tube screamer though, right?

I got the Sparkle Drive around that time because back then it was all about true bypass and bitching that the Ibanez and Boss pedals weren’t built well (when they actually were).

 

[pipelineaudio]

80's maybe...The essence of 90's sound was to lie and claim you were using no effects, overdubs, or headphones during tracking

 

[pipelineaudio]

The first POD I ever saw was before they were available for sale, working on a Rob Halford album in 1997. We compared it to every other amp sim we had at the time and one of the Shrapnel guys, I think Ray Riendeau refused to give it back, as they said they wouldn't be for sale for quite some time. I think it wasn't til '98 that I saw them in the stores, so not sure if its a good reference for 90's sound

 

[pipelineaudio]

Given the epic thread that got locked at Ultimate Guitar about how Smells Like Teen Spirit was the first hit on the POD, I'm not taking any chances

 

[metropolis_4]

Thats awesome, Curious as to what you use in these gigs for monitoring ? IEM ? Wedge ? Powercab?
I hear that those Redsound's are really awesome, light small and powerful

View attachment 19254

also would be awesome to see some pics of your gigs

Mostly IEM, sometimes wedges. I’ve been curious about those Redsounds!

That’s right. I saw the Fulldrive a lot back then. That’s just a variation on the tube screamer though, right?

I got the Sparkle Drive around that time because back then it was all about true bypass and bitching that the Ibanez and Boss pedals weren’t built well (when they actually were).

I’ve heard it’s a variation on the TubeScreamer, and I’ve also heard SD-1. It’s definitely in the TS family. Sparkle Drive was another great one from that era!

I'd go with the original POD Bean (1.0, not the 2.0 upgrade) or Johnson J-Station.

I don’t know if I’m ready to revisit memories of ‘90s digital gear

Maybe I could bust out my old Zoom Player

 

[JiveTurkey]

Mostly IEM, sometimes wedges. I’ve been curious about those Redsounds!



I’ve heard it’s a variation on the TubeScreamer, and I’ve also heard SD-1. It’s definitely in the TS family. Sparkle Drive was another great one from that era!



I don’t know if I’m ready to revisit memories of ‘90s digital gear

Maybe I could bust out my old Zoom Player

That 4040

 

[Sascha Franck]

Amateur . I had the Zoom 9000 with foot controller. The ultimate 90’s fly rig! (Which didn’t matter, because I was 17. I wasn’t flying anywhere.)

View attachment 19276

I still own this and used it as an emergency thing around 8 years ago.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Super typical sound…at the time you could spot them from a mile away in mostly advertisement soundthingys

I always thought of it like a kinda pimped Rockman sound. Still, one personal anecdote is that 2 folks (guitar playing mates) were almost raving about my sound after a local festival gig. "Man, buying that MkIV was a great decision, killer sound!" - they couldn't see the amp on stage, though and what they didn't know was that the Boogie went down pretty much directly before the gig, so I was running the Zoom into one of those super small wannabe-fancy Gallien-Krueger heads. It's actually been quite a suitable sound as it was some fusion wankery gig - so that compressed tone was just what it needed in the 90s. Yet, goes to show that believing is believing. Was quite funny when I told the two guys. One reaction was "Oh well, yeah, I thought you were a little generous with the compression and gain" or something like that.

 

[ragingplatypi]

In the 90’s I also saw a few people coax a great tone out of a Peavey stereo chorus 2x12. I don’t remember what they were putting in the front end though.
I listened to lots of Peaveys in the 90’s. Not the 5150s. Either folks making do with the solid state amps, or the tube amps that were always really good. One friend had a Peavey tube amp that looked like their solid state offerings- I think the element of surprise made it sound even better!

 

[metropolis_4]

That 4040

These things are why I laugh when kids today complain about not having a 10” touchscreen for editing.

“Do you even know how much better that Kemper screen is than anything we had back in the day?! In my day we had two 7 segment LEDs!”

 

[metropolis_4]

I always thought of it like a kinda pimped Rockman sound. Still, one personal anecdote is that 2 folks (guitar playing mates) were almost raving about my sound after a local festival gig. "Man, buying that MkIV was a great decision, killer sound!" - they couldn't see the amp on stage, though and what they didn't know was that the Boogie went down pretty much directly before the gig, so I was running the Zoom into one of those super small wannabe-fancy Gallien-Krueger heads. It's actually been quite a suitable sound as it was some fusion wankery gig - so that compressed tone was just what it needed in the 90s. Yet, goes to show that believing is believing. Was quite funny when I told the two guys. One reaction was "Oh well, yeah, I thought you were a little generous with the compression and gain" or something like that.

I have a very similar story. Once my Bad Cat was in the shop and I played a gig with a POD XT Live.

A friend who was a major gear hound came up to me after the show and said “that Bad Cat sounded killer tonight!”

He was actually kind of mad when I showed him the POD

 

[Sascha Franck]

I have a very similar story. Once my Bad Cat was in the shop and I played a gig with a POD XT Live.

A friend who was a major gear hound came up to me after the show and said “that Bad Cat sounded killer tonight!”

He was actually kind of mad when I showed him the POD

Yeah, got quite some more similar anecdotes.
Even if the record company had booked us into a big ass studio, I recorded some stuff at home for one song of the first album of our band back then, because I just knew that the very sound I was getting from my strange assortment of halfassed modelers and what not (the very infamous Zoom, some bits of GT-5 and what not) would be just perfect for that particular song, especially in case I could give it some DAW tweaking myself (which wasn't possible in the rather snobby studio).
I did then come up with a completely made up story of me visiting a guy who would be running a studio with some special sound artillery and that it'd be this very song that needed some exra treatment. Rest of the band, producer and record company were amazed by the results. And I'd take any bet they would've never accepted my tracks had they known how crappy I slapped them together.
I only revealed the truth to them when the recordings were finished and the album went out for mastering already. We had a pretty good laugh - well, in fact, just the studio owner didn't, but as he had no say in all this, we laughed at him as well.
(Unfortunately, I don't even have a copy of that album anymore, never got released in a serious manner, either - need to get ahold of it somehow...)