How many guitar amp families are there? which one is your favorite?

[lukeII]

Was thinking about this one last night how many types of different amp design and singular tone families or categories do you think there are in amp world? So far I have the following down in terms of amp familes i.e. amps with their own voice although other amps may be either clones or largely inspired by anyone or several of the following.

- Fender Tweed
- Fender Blackface
- Plexi Marshall
- Modern Marshall
- Vox types
- Matchless
- Dumble types
- Mesa Boogie Vintage (MkI etc)
- Mesa Boogie Modern (Dual rec etc)
- Soldano
- Hiwatt
- Trainwreck
- Supro

If you had to think about it and choose only one of the above (or a category I missed) which one would you choose as your favorite?

I could pick several but if it had to be only one it would Fender Blackface.

If I missed a category of if one of my categories is unworthy would be interested

[TimH]

I think I'd go vintage marshall...if you go back far enough in the lineage you get some fender cross over so good cleans AND dirty is available.

[blastastick]

From that list I guess Soldano, since I play mostly High Gain stuff now.

[theanalogdream]

maybe this should be posted in the amp section? lol

[lukeII]

Good point I forgot I was in the effect section. Just wait till a kinly admin shows up and moves this

[cjs42079]

am I retarded or does the subject line make no sense? anyway plexi marshall is my answer

[lukeII]

edited and cjs42079 you are not retarded.

[big mike]

Moved to proper forum.

[mobis8]

I would say vox types as of late. I am starting to get haunted by the chimey cleans I am getting right now, and I can still go into aggressive territory by pushing the amp, or with a combination of pedals...

[Scott Auld]

I like cleans that break up and get grindy when you dig in, so I play an AC30. So put me down for VOX.

But... I like to LISTEN to lots of different amp sounds. :)

Also, I would probably have included the Matchless and 'Wreck amps into the VOX family but maybe I'm mistaken; you put them in their own categories which seems like brand division, not family division ... but then it's your list.

[lukeII]

Scott,

I hesitated a lot about putting Matchless down as a seperate category because the principles that govern those amp designs are so heavily influenced by Vox. Thing is I don't think a Chieftain sounds anything like a Vox aside from some chime and same goes for a Clubman. The DC30 is obviously the really vox inspired amp in the Matchless range. I am no trainwreck expert.

[dorfmeister]

So where would Orange, Matamp, Laney, Valco, etc. fit into this. How narrowly/broadly do you define "family"?

Was thinking about this one last night how many types of different amp design and singular tone families or categories do you think there are in amp world? So far I have the following down in terms of amp familes i.e. amps with their own voice although other amps may be either clones or largely inspired by anyone or several of the following.

- Fender Tweed
- Fender Blackface
- Plexi Marshall
- Modern Marshall
- Vox types
- Matchless
- Dumble types
- Mesa Boogie Vintage (MkI etc)
- Mesa Boogie Modern (Dual rec etc)
- Soldano
- Hiwatt
- Trainwreck
- Supro

If you had to think about it and choose only one of the above (or a category I missed) which one would you choose as your favorite?

I could pick several but if it had to be only one it would Fender Blackface.

If I missed a category of if one of my categories is unworthy would be interested

[greggorypeccary]

Fender BF/SF. I've had a SF Princeton for about 20 years now and spent the past few years on the amp merry-go-round buying/playing/selling. Finally realized that I was always looking for the clean Fender tone and picked up a SFDR last spring. It felt like home. Glad I tried a bunch of others because I got it out of my system, but now I just enjoy playing the amps I have and not "wanting". The Princeton for at home practice, the DR for gigs.

[doc]

I'd probably put it something like this:

1. Fender
a. Tweed
b. Blackface/Silver
2. Marshall
a. JTM/Plexi
b. Modern
c. High Gain (includes Trainwreck Express and others based on this style)
3. Vox (includes Matchless, Trainwreck Liverpool, etc.)
4. Solid State (Polytone, Roland, Crate, Gorilla etc.)
5. Hybrid (Legend, Music Man, some Peaveys, etc.)
6. High Gain Fender derived (includes Dumble, Soldano, Mesa)
7. Vintage/Boutique Non-Fender (includes old Ampeg, Gibson, other octal preamp types like some Alessandro
8. Digital/Modeling

[doc]

Oh, my favorite is a Trainwreck Express copy, but if I could only have one I'd be tempted to take a Dumble type instead so I'd have a clean pedal platform as well as an overdrive channel.

[brack23_5]

blonde/brown fenders for me

[Mad_Scientist]

Isn't the Soldano SLO100 based on a hot rodded JCM800? Wouldn't that put the Soldano in the Modern Marshall family?

I'd go with the Orange "family" as my favorite BTW.

[cameron]

Isn't the Soldano SLO100 based on a hot rodded JCM800? Wouldn't that put the Soldano in the Modern Marshall family?

I'd go with the Orange "family" as my favorite BTW.

I agree the Soldanos would go in the same taxon as the modern Marshalls.

I wonder if Orange has a single category of its own? Vintage Orange amps, I'd put in the same category as Hiwatts. Some modern Orange amps would go in the Vox category. Other modern Oranges, such as the Rocker- variants, might have to go in a category of their own.

[lukeII]

So where would Orange, Matamp, Laney, Valco, etc. fit into this. How narrowly/broadly do you define "family"?

family I define as amps having their own tone that sets them apart from other types. No pretention to my list I hadn't thought of those brands although I kinda had Orange, Lany and Matamp down in the Marshall type category. Valco I have never heard in person. Happy to add those to the list if you think they are there own thing.

Someone else said Soldano is basilcally a modern Marshall which is a fair point. Thing is Soldano's seem far and above modern Marshall to me and kinda of their own thing.

[Timbre Wolf]

It makes more sense to me to categorize amps by their power section design (fixed- or cathode-bias class AB, or single-ended class A, with long tail pair/split load/paraphase inverter), tone stack design, gain stages, negative feedback, tube types, and speaker cabinet statistics, rather than brand names. Am I all alone in this? :(

- Thom

[Rod]

So where would Orange, Matamp, Laney, Valco, etc. fit into this. How narrowly/broadly do you define "family"?
Orange, Laney and Matamp are Marshall variations....Valco is a Supro varient..

[fyrwyr]

Naylor's are sort of a Marshall with a Fender power section but very refined/dialed in NO pedals needed;)

I put them into their own family for sure.

[FFTT]

If I could own only one, I'd take the Dumble, then sell it for a bunch of great amps and guitars and upgrade my studio completely!

[doc]

Isn't the Soldano SLO100 based on a hot rodded JCM800? Wouldn't that put the Soldano in the Modern Marshall family?

I'd go with the Orange "family" as my favorite BTW.
Soldano is kind of a mix between a preamp similar to a "high gain Marshall" into a power stage that is Fenderlike. Although most hear it as a Marshallesqe sound I think its structure is more similar to a Dumble or Mesa in that they also have extra gain stages pumping into usually 6L6 style tubes. You could also argue that some of the Mesas or Dumbles that use EL-34 tubes fall into the high gain Marshall camp, so there is definitely some blurring of the line. One very valid part of the argument that Soldano is in the hot rod Marshall arena is the preamp EQ and voicing is more Marshall, so I would not "go to the mattresses" to keep it in the Fender camp.

[jacobhf]

I'm a Vox guy, they just have the sound.