EOengineer
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It could be worth taking a look at Ceriatone. Their Marshall inspired stuff is second to none. They have some channel switching options than basically give you a couple Marshall’s in one amp.
My taste in amps is shifting
- Thread starter metropolis_4
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metropolis_4
Rock Star
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A JVM refresh would be
That would be amazing. Maybe Marshal could get over the whole “100w heads must be the size of a 4x12 cab” mentality
Ceriatone has been on my radar ever since I discovered they made a Black Flag model. It’s very possible I might go with something from them
newholland
Roadie
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- 746
i love a superbass AND a bassman. ! superbass is a squidgy sludgy awesome beast that just makes you feel twelve feet tall in leather pants. a bassman.. well its an angular square wave rock crusher if you want it to be. or its a fender if you need to wear a collared shirt.
ill usually choose a simple fender (or a mark) over a marshall.. but ill play anything.
ill usually choose a simple fender (or a mark) over a marshall.. but ill play anything.
Chocol8
Shredder
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I like Marshall’s and Fenders and other brands, but I have found I do NOT like low wattage tube amps whether 6v6 or el84’s nearly as much as big bottle amps in the 35 watt plus range.
Tweed Bassman or JTM 45 absolutely kill the lower wattage tweeds and 18w Marshall. In BF fender tones, the Super, Bassman, Twin, Pro etc. kill the Deluxe IMHO as well. And yeah the 50 and 100w Plexis are something you just need to experience to realize no 5 water is going to get the job done. There is something about big bottles and bigger iron that feels different to play, even attenuated.
Tweed Bassman or JTM 45 absolutely kill the lower wattage tweeds and 18w Marshall. In BF fender tones, the Super, Bassman, Twin, Pro etc. kill the Deluxe IMHO as well. And yeah the 50 and 100w Plexis are something you just need to experience to realize no 5 water is going to get the job done. There is something about big bottles and bigger iron that feels different to play, even attenuated.
newholland
Roadie
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- 746
i think theres something to this- but i also think that an 18 or less watter is gonna do a different thing on purpose. those amps are fantastic into mics and you dont always need the bottomless low end into a ribbon mic to get to a happy operating point for recording or live. that said... just throttling the living hell out of a 412 and flapping your pants legs will always be the sport of the elected.
and i dont disagree that big iron amps are just so much damn fun .
keef
Groupie
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- 87
Spot on with the Bassman. I have a Tweed and a Blonde head.
EOengineer
Rock Star
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I LOVE my lowly Bassman 50. It’s been modded so the preamp is stock AB165 and the power is AA864. It also has a negative feedback switch and PPIV master. It sounds like a great Bassman that can really crunch up at lower levels when you want it to.
It’s set up like this:
Those blondes sound AMAZING.
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keef
Groupie
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- 87
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My first truly great amp was a '67 Bassman bought new in '68. I played it for a long time through a matching Fender cab, and used it on combo organ as well as guitar. A Maestro fuzz and Vox wah rounded out the rig. It was pretty sweet! Whoever mentioned the Bassman is definitely knowledgeable.
For a long time afterward I was mostly a Mesa and then a Two-Rock player, using versions of their Onyx amp. It was their two-channel model, had that Dumble clean and slightly pushed sound, but also could get a bit Marshally when the lead channel was pushed. Great amps, but as with the OP, my tastes changed a little after about a decade. I don't know why, but I wanted to get back to more basic tones.
In the last 12 years I've put together this rig; it's kind of a mishmash of different sounds as taste and needs have evolved, but WTF, they're all sounds I like!
I'm not a high gain player, but can head in that direction if that's what a client wants (though I just usually hire a high gain player and try to do it the right way!).
1. PRS HXDA. It's an actual clone of Duane Allman's 'Live at the Fillmore' Superbass, switchable to a Superlead - as someone mentioned above about the Superbass and Superlead similarity in parts allowing one to be converted to the other, PRS' amp guru decided since the parts weren't all that different, why not make them switchable?
So it switches progressively from 'DA', the Superbass, to 'HX', the Superlead. It sounds very authentic. I have it loaded with NOS Mullard preamp tubes, and NOS Siemens EL34s. When it's set to 'DA" with the right guitar, you can hear right away it's that 'Live at the Fillmore' tone. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up the first time I played through it. Has a nice sounding master volume as well.
They borrowed Duane's amp from its owner who apparently worked for the band for a long time; The Allman Brothers were PRS amp endorsers until Gregg Allman's death, when the band more or less dissolved, so they were able to get their hands on the amp easily. It's a very interesting amp!
Doug Sewell, the amp's designer suggested trying the Siemens NOS tubes if I wanted to come as close as possible to the NOS Mullard tones without spending a fortune. I got some, it was good advice.
2. PRS DG30. David Grissom worked with PRS on this amp. He wanted a combination of the tones of his Tweed amps, his Hiwatt and Vox. So it has the tone stack of a Hiwatt, 4xEL84Ms in the power section (a higher-plate voltage variant of the EL84) similar to a Vox, a GZ34 rectifier, and this one came from the factory with NOS Brimar 12AX7s. The power tubes are NOS Russian military. They did this for the first 20 made. The amp sounds like nothing else I've ever played through. It's a single channel amp, and it sounds different depending on how you set it up. I think it's a phenomenal amp. I generally run it old school, with the Master Volume nearly full up, using the gain control and guitar controls for volume, but the Master actually sounds quite good and is useful when needed (which, if you're sane, is often - sometimes I'm sane, sometimes not).
3. Mark VII. You all know this amp, I got mine a couple of months ago and love it. The thing blows me away every time I use it. I think this one would be a desert island choice. The tones it can produce are (IMHO) spectacular.
4. Mesa Fillmore. This is a Tweed based amp, I'm sure everyone here is familiar with it. The clean and gain tones are wonderful, and different from the Mark and the Lone Star. I installed a set of NOS GE preamp tubes that I think improve the amp's warmth and give it a slightly more vintage vibe. It's subtle, but the change made me love the amp more.
5. Mesa Lone Star. This is really based on a Black Panel Fender, but with more of a Mesa-style midrange, and more or less goes in Mesa's direction from there. I wasn't certain I'd keep it until I loaded it with NOS RCA and GE preamp tubes. I also installed NOS Siemens EL34s just on a whim (it's got a switch to do that) and liked the lead channel of the amp a lot more. Thus it gives me different tones from the Mark VII though I can get extremely close to its clean tone with the Mark. The lead channel is quite different.
I compose and produce ad music using these amps, and sometimes deadlines get a little nuts and there isn't much time to swap cables around and try different cabs, so I got a Swiss KHE amp switcher. It doesn't suck tone, it's transparent, switching is by noiseless relays. It can handle 8 amps and 4 cabs. The switching is instantaneous, so I when I dial in a sound, I can try each amp with every cab at the flick of a switch, which is actually pretty convenient in the heat of a session (especially with clients breathing down my neck). I generally set up a mic on each cab during production sessions so I'm ready to roll without wasting any time.
I've got some pedals that are self-explanatory.
This is my setup, it's all in one fairly long shoebox-shaped room. There's nothing particularly special about the room - it's a typical basement space that I hung acoustic treatment in, but it sounds very good in both areas, and I've done a lot of ad work here (as well as my own stuff). I call it Studio Craptastic for obvious reasons.
Recording area with amps, etc.
Workstation
For a long time afterward I was mostly a Mesa and then a Two-Rock player, using versions of their Onyx amp. It was their two-channel model, had that Dumble clean and slightly pushed sound, but also could get a bit Marshally when the lead channel was pushed. Great amps, but as with the OP, my tastes changed a little after about a decade. I don't know why, but I wanted to get back to more basic tones.
In the last 12 years I've put together this rig; it's kind of a mishmash of different sounds as taste and needs have evolved, but WTF, they're all sounds I like!
I'm not a high gain player, but can head in that direction if that's what a client wants (though I just usually hire a high gain player and try to do it the right way!).1. PRS HXDA. It's an actual clone of Duane Allman's 'Live at the Fillmore' Superbass, switchable to a Superlead - as someone mentioned above about the Superbass and Superlead similarity in parts allowing one to be converted to the other, PRS' amp guru decided since the parts weren't all that different, why not make them switchable?
So it switches progressively from 'DA', the Superbass, to 'HX', the Superlead. It sounds very authentic. I have it loaded with NOS Mullard preamp tubes, and NOS Siemens EL34s. When it's set to 'DA" with the right guitar, you can hear right away it's that 'Live at the Fillmore' tone. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up the first time I played through it. Has a nice sounding master volume as well.
They borrowed Duane's amp from its owner who apparently worked for the band for a long time; The Allman Brothers were PRS amp endorsers until Gregg Allman's death, when the band more or less dissolved, so they were able to get their hands on the amp easily. It's a very interesting amp!
Doug Sewell, the amp's designer suggested trying the Siemens NOS tubes if I wanted to come as close as possible to the NOS Mullard tones without spending a fortune. I got some, it was good advice.
2. PRS DG30. David Grissom worked with PRS on this amp. He wanted a combination of the tones of his Tweed amps, his Hiwatt and Vox. So it has the tone stack of a Hiwatt, 4xEL84Ms in the power section (a higher-plate voltage variant of the EL84) similar to a Vox, a GZ34 rectifier, and this one came from the factory with NOS Brimar 12AX7s. The power tubes are NOS Russian military. They did this for the first 20 made. The amp sounds like nothing else I've ever played through. It's a single channel amp, and it sounds different depending on how you set it up. I think it's a phenomenal amp. I generally run it old school, with the Master Volume nearly full up, using the gain control and guitar controls for volume, but the Master actually sounds quite good and is useful when needed (which, if you're sane, is often - sometimes I'm sane, sometimes not).
3. Mark VII. You all know this amp, I got mine a couple of months ago and love it. The thing blows me away every time I use it. I think this one would be a desert island choice. The tones it can produce are (IMHO) spectacular.
4. Mesa Fillmore. This is a Tweed based amp, I'm sure everyone here is familiar with it. The clean and gain tones are wonderful, and different from the Mark and the Lone Star. I installed a set of NOS GE preamp tubes that I think improve the amp's warmth and give it a slightly more vintage vibe. It's subtle, but the change made me love the amp more.
5. Mesa Lone Star. This is really based on a Black Panel Fender, but with more of a Mesa-style midrange, and more or less goes in Mesa's direction from there. I wasn't certain I'd keep it until I loaded it with NOS RCA and GE preamp tubes. I also installed NOS Siemens EL34s just on a whim (it's got a switch to do that) and liked the lead channel of the amp a lot more. Thus it gives me different tones from the Mark VII though I can get extremely close to its clean tone with the Mark. The lead channel is quite different.
I compose and produce ad music using these amps, and sometimes deadlines get a little nuts and there isn't much time to swap cables around and try different cabs, so I got a Swiss KHE amp switcher. It doesn't suck tone, it's transparent, switching is by noiseless relays. It can handle 8 amps and 4 cabs. The switching is instantaneous, so I when I dial in a sound, I can try each amp with every cab at the flick of a switch, which is actually pretty convenient in the heat of a session (especially with clients breathing down my neck). I generally set up a mic on each cab during production sessions so I'm ready to roll without wasting any time.
I've got some pedals that are self-explanatory.
This is my setup, it's all in one fairly long shoebox-shaped room. There's nothing particularly special about the room - it's a typical basement space that I hung acoustic treatment in, but it sounds very good in both areas, and I've done a lot of ad work here (as well as my own stuff). I call it Studio Craptastic for obvious reasons.
Recording area with amps, etc.
Workstation
Last edited:
EOengineer
Rock Star
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- 3,755
Well some of us turned this into a Bassman thread.
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- 346
I think I turned it into a Basement thread.Well some of us turned this into a Bassman thread.
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laxu
Rock Star
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The Mark V 90W has several ways to loosen it up:
- Just add more bass from the EQ knobs.
- Use Variac power which reduces voltages in various points in the amp.
- Use the 10W or 45W setting.
- Do note that 10 -> 45/90W is not a good option as there will be a pop in the switching. 45 vs 90W is fine.
- For channel switching I'd run 45 or 90W, or all on 10W.
- Use the 45W setting with a tube rectifier.
- Use the triode mode for ch3. It sounds and feels different.
Without poweramp distortion is a much more sensible option though because even 10W with the master at 6-7 is over 100 dBA @ 1m volume levels, while 45 and 90W rattle windows. When running those modes without poweramp distortion, it tends to be more "polite" sounding than Marshalls, like it doesn't have those upper harmonics sizzle that makes for that "raw" Marshall sound.
To me Marshalls have a feel that sits right in that sweetspot - they are not too loose, and not too tight so they work for just about anything.
2dor
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,568
TBH their stuff is stellar sounding & every bit as well built as the best of them (Mesa, Friedman).
I have a Ceriatone JCM51 All Access with the Heyboer output transformer on order; can't wait to get it in.
laxu
Rock Star
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- 8,093
I started thinking how much my tastes in tone have NOT changed over the years.
I used the Yamaha DG80 combo for years back at the turn of the century, and my favorite tone on it was the Lead 1 mode which was apparently based on a Soldano SLO. From there I've developed this long lasting love for those kind of high gain, high headroom, Marshall-based amp tones.
I do like a good Vox style amp (and really, really should not have sold that Victory VC35 lunchbox...) but I don't think it would ever be the one desert island tone for me. Even my Mesa Mark V is not that, even though I do enjoy its tones a lot.
I honestly wish more amps went for Vox style circuits for their clean channels rather than everyone just doing Fender Blackface cleans.
I used the Yamaha DG80 combo for years back at the turn of the century, and my favorite tone on it was the Lead 1 mode which was apparently based on a Soldano SLO. From there I've developed this long lasting love for those kind of high gain, high headroom, Marshall-based amp tones.
I do like a good Vox style amp (and really, really should not have sold that Victory VC35 lunchbox...) but I don't think it would ever be the one desert island tone for me. Even my Mesa Mark V is not that, even though I do enjoy its tones a lot.
I honestly wish more amps went for Vox style circuits for their clean channels rather than everyone just doing Fender Blackface cleans.
metropolis_4
Rock Star
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- 4,383
I agree, the best amps I’ve ever owned - regardless of wattage - all had huge over-built transformers. It makes all the difference in the low end response on lower wattage amps.
metropolis_4
Rock Star
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I think Marshall clean tones are too often overlooked as well. Some of my favorite cleans come from Plexis with lower bright caps and JCM800s
laxu
Rock Star
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Not to mention the JTM45.
AutomationBias
Roadie
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- 941
The super bass just felt kind of like a neutered super lead. It wasn't bad by any means, but I think you can get enough of the super bass vibe just by tweaking a super lead. Can't go in the other direction, though.
I've been a die-hard plexi/hiwatt guy since the 90s and then I got a '64 Bassman last year (6G6-C circuit). It's the best amp I've ever had.
