What is Your Grail Amp? Will You/Do You Own it or Will You Just Play Modelers?

[Deadpan]

I always loved Mesa Rectifiers. Have/had many and it's a love hate relationship. Would love to have a Rev C but wouldn't pay the prices people ask. My favorite of so far is a Rev G Triple.

Now that I have many amps I see finding the perfect amp is a very complicated subject. Problem is, I find joy in so many but they all have their limits. When I pick up a new amp often I find myself thinking this may be my new favorite. Could be the honeymoon effect, but it does leave a lasting felling.

In the end I would have to break up my grail amps into categories. So my grail amps really are favorites.

Marshall type: Friedman JEL100

Modded Marshall: Monomyth modded 1987x

Mesa for versatility: Electra Dyne

Mesa heavy: Rev G Triple

Fender: Silverface Band Master

Vox etc: Matchless HC30

Modern high gain: Armored Sabot V3 with adjustable additional gain stage.

This list is made on the emotional effect of playing them. The contributing factors are probably feel, sound and possibly advertising. Psychoacoustics are a bitch haha!

Note, everything is subject to change!

 

[mk5]

Have it. 1969 Marshall Super Lead 100 Plexi. Haven’t played it out in a while but it is everything I think a Marshall should be. Formerly owned by EJ and then his tech after that. It was a GC score that wound up being way more than I bargained for. Sounds tremendous!

I also would like to add a Dirty Shirley to the stable. I love every clip I hear of them!

 

[TSJMajesty]

Mine has to be stereo. When I'm feeling like I wanna hear the echos coming off the trees in the woods behind my house, I wheel my 2 4x12 Recto cabs out onto the back porch, and run the Tri Axis/2:90/Axe III. It.Is.Amazing! (And takes care of any urges I have to try/buy a Mark V or JPIIC.)

 

[itchyfingers]

I love me some old tweed amps, and had a small epiphany when I played my friend's 57 Vibrolux for the first time, as in - I'd found my perfect amp. Beautiful cleans, guitar volume acts like a saturator. It's what I want to hear from my guitar and what I want to feel under my fingers. It took me a few years, but I finally talked him into selling it to me. It was my gigging amp for awhile, but I wanna keep her looking as fresh as possible, and playing shows is hard on gear no matter what. So now its the "dry" side of my wet/dry home setup, always run at reduced voltage of about 100v and usually loaded up with some sweet NOS tubes. Turns out this was Dean DeLeo's bedroom amp for about 25 years, he probably wrote several STP tunes with it...

She still looks pretty good for a 65 year old lady.

 

[Piing]

Axe-FX III and "FRFR" speakers for me. These refined amps are expensive, and heavy, and occupy a lot of space. And the most important feature: modelers allow you to crank the gain at home or to use headphones. If you crank up the gain with real amps, you would be killed or exiled by your family or your neighbors Not to mention hearing loss issues. And the Axe-FX allows to customize advanced features that would require modding the amp components, sometimes beyond physically impossible limits.

 

[dronerstone]

It had been the Ampeg VT-22/V4 for a really loooooong time. Ever since I found a used VT-22, I believe it's a GREAT amp, but it's on the heavier side, and servicing is a PITA, if you even find a tech who understands what it is, also it's not fun to lug around...

These days, my favorite is the LAB L5. I have two of them, and there's no amp in the world that I could think of loving more than these old fellas. Sturdy, versatile, decent weight.

 

[DrewJD82]

This is easy for me to answer in terms of guitars, but amps are a whole different story. I love way too many tones equally to be able to pick just one, which is why I went with modeling. I’d most likely have to run some kind of EJ-type setup with several different amps to pull off the tones I most commonly go for. Unless someone has a Mark IIC++/IV/Plexi/BE-100/Twin/Bassman all wrapped up in one head!

 

[sleewell]

verellen skyhammer

they are pretty rare now and for the prices they have been selling for i will just stick with my helix lol

 

[JiveTurkey]

My grail in general is heavy metal. I like other things; but metal is where my heart is. That feeling took hold in the 80s, before my grail amps were in production.

I am a modeler guy; but I LOVE amps as well. My grail tones are early 2000s. Strapping Young Lad and those first few Machine Head albums. I owned an early 5150 (which sounded absolutely UNGODLY through a quad of T-75s with eq as boost and noise gate in the loop. I also owned and earrrrrrrrly 2000-01(?) Rectifier. It, too, was UNGODLY. I did what I did and sold them both because I am dumb and also because they made zero sense at each time when I was done with them.

I knew right away I should have kept the 5150. But it went to a good local home. The Recto took a bit for me to warm up to. Mainly because I was dumb about dialing in amps. And coming from the 5150 tone stack to the Recto, well; you know. I flipped through some cabs and ended up with a V30 loaded Carvin 1/2 stack. I cranked it in that basement the day before I was going to ship it out and I have NEVER, before or since; felt such a pang of "WTF am I doing selling this as I did that day. Eh; oh well. They won't fit in my coffin

 

[metropolis_4]

I don't know if I have a grail amp anymore, but the biggest grail amp of my guitar playing life was a Bad Cat Black Cat.

I'll never forget the first time I played a Bad Cat at a store I was completely blown away. I couldn't believe it was possible for an amp to sound that good and I just sat there for hours playing it (driving the store owner crazy).

That amp made a bigger impression on me than any other piece of gear I've ever seen or heard. It was imprinted on my brain.

I finally bought my first Bad Cat (a Cub II) a few years later, and then a littler later I had the chance to pick up one of the first year Black Cats that was made by Mark Sampson himself out of mostly Matchless parts. It was everything I dreamed it would be and more. And I had it during a really fun time when I was doing some work for a couple indie bands and playing big loud rock shows at some of the best local venues where I could really crank my amps.

Best live tone I ever had

 

[metropolis_4]

Actually, to add to that, I've had many more times when I finally got my "grail" amp and it turned out to be a huge disappointment!

Sometimes the dream is better than the reality.


The Mark IV ended up being flat and dull
The Matchless Clubman ended up being shrill and piercing with my Tele
The Dr Z Jaz 20/40 ended up being horrible with pedals
The Hullett 5e3 ended up being completely worn out from over-use by a top session ace
The Vox AC30HW ended up having a faulty design flaw that caused it to drop out in the middle of shows

 

[JiveTurkey]

I love me some old tweed amps, and had a small epiphany when I played my friend's 57 Vibrolux for the first time, as in - I'd found my perfect amp. Beautiful cleans, guitar volume acts like a saturator. It's what I want to hear from my guitar and what I want to feel under my fingers. It took me a few years, but I finally talked him into selling it to me. It was my gigging amp for awhile, but I wanna keep her looking as fresh as possible, and playing shows is hard on gear no matter what. So now its the "dry" side of my wet/dry home setup, always run at reduced voltage of about 100v and usually loaded up with some sweet NOS tubes. Turns out this was Dean DeLeo's bedroom amp for about 25 years, he probably wrote several STP tunes with it...

She still looks pretty good for a 65 year old lady.

I am not a Tweed guy. But I LOVE Tweeds; despite them not being an amp that is ever used for my own personal grail. Something about that spitty, nasty af in the best of ways sound that just

 

[Bob Zaod]

I always loved Mesa Rectifiers. Have/had many and it's a love hate relationship. Would love to have a Rev C but wouldn't pay the prices people ask. My favorite of so far is a Rev G Triple.

Now that I have many amps I see finding the perfect amp is a very complicated subject. Problem is, I find joy in so many but they all have their limits. When I pick up a new amp often I find myself thinking this may be my new favorite. Could be the honeymoon effect, but it does leave a lasting felling.

In the end I would have to break up my grail amps into categories. So my grail amps really are favorites.

Marshall type: Friedman JEL100

Modded Marshall: Monomyth modded 1987x

Mesa for versatility: Electra Dyne

Mesa heavy: Rev G Triple

Fender: Silverface Band Master

Vox etc: Matchless HC30

Modern high gain: Armored Sabot V3 with adjustable additional gain stage.

This list is made on the emotional effect of playing them. The contributing factors are probably feel, sound and possibly advertising. Psychoacoustics are a b*tch haha!

Note, everything is subject to change!

I gotta say the Mesa Mark V was probably the best amp I have ever owned. I'd call it a Grail amp for sure. I do want a Badlander now though LOL. Would be cool if Line 6 put one in the 3.20 update.

 

[TimOwens316]

For me it would be the BE100, if I had to sell everything else it would be the one that I keep. So...

AMPS
BE100 (My number one amp)
Dirty Shirley
Quick Rod
1987X
JCM900
TSL50
And a few more not worth mentioning.

DIGITAL
AX8 (My number on digital)
Kemper Rack and Stage
Quad Cortex
And a few more not worth mentioning.

 

[Jarick]

I don't see myself ever owning a grail amp because I just don't ever play amps at volume.

Tonally, there's a few amps I'd love to mess around with:

Friedman BE-100 (or JJ-100)
Friedman Dirty Shirley
Morgan AC-20
Fender Deluxe Reverb
Marshall 1959 Super Lead

But with any/all of those, I'd probably need an OX box at the very least.

Slightly more practically, a Synergy setup would be a lot of fun, with the following modules:
Bassman
Plexi
Morgan AC-20
Friedman HBE

I'd run that with a Helix Rack for effects and switching, along with a Synergy poweramp running into a pair of 1x12 cabs with Vintage 30's. That would be a fun setup.

 

[tekbow]

The SLO was a grail amp, and I genuinely thought I was done. I was just never interested in anything else until I heard Reza's demo of the Gower KK++.

So I got that and I'm genuinely content. I mean, maybe a Mark series to round out the classic hi-gain trifecta, but I don't HAVE to have one like I did the before mentioned.

 

[Deadpan]

My grail in general is heavy metal. I like other things; but metal is where my heart is. That feeling took hold in the 80s, before my grail amps were in production.

I am a modeler guy; but I LOVE amps as well. My grail tones are early 2000s. Strapping Young Lad and those first few Machine Head albums. I owned an early 5150 (which sounded absolutely UNGODLY through a quad of T-75s with eq as boost and noise gate in the loop. I also owned and earrrrrrrrly 2000-01(?) Rectifier. It, too, was UNGODLY. I did what I did and sold them both because I am dumb and also because they made zero sense at each time when I was done with them.

I knew right away I should have kept the 5150. But it went to a good local home. The Recto took a bit for me to warm up to. Mainly because I was dumb about dialing in amps. And coming from the 5150 tone stack to the Recto, well; you know. I flipped through some cabs and ended up with a V30 loaded Carvin 1/2 stack. I cranked it in that basement the day before I was going to ship it out and I have NEVER, before or since; felt such a pang of "WTF am I doing selling this as I did that day. Eh; oh well. They won't fit in my coffin

How do you like the Badlander compared to the memory of Recto?

 

[JiveTurkey]

How do you like the Badlander compared to the memory of Recto?

Badlander is fine. Great compared to itself. Recto memory destroys is though. Especially if we're talking

 

[Whizzinby]

I’ve liked most of the amps I’ve had, and would have been content with more than a few of them if I stopped, (lulz) but I have yet to get an amp that made me stop the tone quest or gear churn.

So the “grail” amp for me is just whatever I’m eyeing next, which at the moment is the Friedman SS v2. (Kidney donation and all)

 

[Elric]

My Synergy+Axe rig is kind of my ideal because I can get any tone I've ever wanted with it and with absolute authority. Mixing the Fractal stuff and the Syn preamps at will on the fly in a single rig is just amazeballs.

The SLO30 is probably going to be a 'keep it for life' amp for me, too. My Driftwood absolutely slays, too.

For amps that I've always wanted mess with but have never had the opportunity, I'd call out the Metaltronix M1000 and Cameron CCV. I do have the Salvation Cameron module which sounds a zillion times better than the Axe's CCV and the Quad Cortex CCV captures I've played, but I still would absolutely jump at the chance to play a real one.

A 'DAR' amp would be fun to kick around just on principle, too.