Amp suggestion please

[guitarman1956]

I like the clean and overdrive sounds of my Marshall 2204, but need to switch sounds on the fly. I need the following:


2 Channels
Clean of the 2204
Overdrive of the 2204 with a little more gain
Effects Loop
50 watts

So, what you think I need: Mesa? VHT? ????

thanks for your suggestions

[TheGuildedAge]

I just sold a 2204 for the same reason. Killed me to do it, but I needed more options.

Mesa has their own sound, not real marshally, although the stiletto is nice. Vht makes great amps to, as does rivera. Zinky Blue Velvets come to mind, a 50 watter. Prosonic heads are cool, regret selling mine.

However, those are more saturated, gain wise. I am interested to see if anyone makes an amp with jcm800 on one side, clean on the other. Shiva maybe?

[pureoldsound]

I have to say a Rivera...It will give you that Marshally sound out of the British Channel and gives you a nice blackface type of clean on the American side.....

[1973Marshall]

I think Rivera's are a little more "Fender-y" in their take on Marshall
seeing that you are cool with the Marshall's clean I would steer you to the VHT Pitbull or Bogner Shiva

[go7]

+1 for Rivera

[rastaman]

Get another 2204 and a switcher. Loops are nice, I guess you could mod.

[marshallnoise]

You could use your volume knob. Or buy a Laney! GH50L.

[pureoldsound]

The Rivera Suprema, can give you that Marshall type of sound out of the British side...There are some clips on their site....

[mkl13]

+1 on the Bogner Shiva

[ToneLounge]

In the spirit of this board, and applying my solution to your needs : Egnater MOD50 with SL or SL2 for gain, and DLX for clean and blues.

[RonnyLee]

TopHat or Rivera.......

[riverastoasters]

Originally Posted by guitarman1956

I like the clean and overdrive sounds of my Marshall 2204, but need to switch sounds on the fly. I need the following:


2 Channels
Clean of the 2204
Overdrive of the 2204 with a little more gain
Effects Loop
50 watts

So, what you think I need: Mesa? VHT? ????

thanks for your suggestions

How about two Marshall 2204s and a head switcher?

It's not really my cup of tea but it sounds like what you are describing. EDIT: I see it's been suggested.

As for all the Rivera suggestions, my problem with that is the guy likes a 50 Watt Marshall JCM800 "clean". I don't think Rivera has made any amp that has a clean side that is like the JCM800, with the possible exception of the Bonehead, where you could use two of the drive channels and call one of them "clean", and use the real clean channel for something else. If somehow you could get a Knucklehead K-55 with two Channel 1s that would work pretty well. The Bogner EL34 Shiva is an interesting choice, but that clean channel doesn't really spring to mind when I think JCM800.

It is possible to use the gain boost on the Rivera Channel 1s to get those two sounds out of the one channel, if he doesn't need separate EQ.

A couple other things have occurred to me, one of them is the Electroplex Rocket. The other is Cornford MK50H. These don't exactly grow on trees.

I think the head switcher using tones that the guy already knows he likes makes a lot of sense. Among other things, he can keep going at a gig using a pedal for the drive sound if one of the amps fails.

[02Singlecut]

Find a Rivera Knucklehead 55....... Send it to Paul or Jr. and have the boost mod done on the clean channel. I have a buddy here in Seattle that has one and had it GAIN mod'd and boost mod'd = Marshall Killer!! My other suggestion is to find a Yamaha Y-50 (I think) the one designed by Mike Soldano. It nails a 2204 with a better GAIN channel. The Yamaha's are aound 300 to 400 bucks......!!!