Amp Help

[guitwitit]

Need some help and figured you guys would know.

I have a les paul standard with burstbuckers. I need a good clean amp so I can do some jazzy things. But I also need to be able to hit a OD pedal and get a nice overdriven sound....back off the guitar's volume and get clean again.

Don't have the cash for an expensive boutique amp. Was thinking about a Fender. But Fender makes (made) so many amps that I don't know where to start.

Super Reverb? Deluxe Reverb? Twin?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Guitar Dave T]

Where are you going to be playing? Living room? Coffee shop? Restaurant? Small, medium or large live music venue? Do you plan on micing it or playing it off backline volume only?

Anyone who answers the OP without bothering to find out first is just playing "my favorite amp is... (blah blah)", and guess what? Nobody cares!

 

[guitwitit]

Thanks for the input. It's going to be used at rehearsals (not mic'd) and at small venues mostly mic'd but sometimes unmic'd.

I'm playing a lot of fusion jazz type stuff but also gigging in a classic rock covers band. So, I need to go from clean to dirty, hopefully with a pedal. My clean sound needs to be REALLY clean. And then, hopefully, if I hit a light OD, that will sound cool as well.

That's kind of my idea. Bad idea?

 

[teleman1]

Super clean spells Twin or some older Mesa Boogie. And those spell hernia. How loud are these rehearsals????? Or should I ask, how loud is the drummer>

I'd look at a Radial trimode for your overdrive pedal.

 

[guitwitit]

Thanks teleman. A twin was my instant gut reaction but, there are so many options in the Fender amp world that I wanted to make the right choice.

I definitely need something with lots of clean headroom, but if I step on an OD pedal, I need a good overdriven sound. Not gainy...just a nice overdrive.

 

[Hulakatt]

grab a SF fender. which one depends on the volume/headroom you need

 

[guitwitit]

Older Mesa...like a Mark I? Does it have a lot of clean headroom?

 

[harpinon]

Some thing its a hunk of crap (but considering the money issue) the Peavey Classic 30 to me has pristine cleans, lots of headroom and does well with rolling off the guitar vol.
The older ones seem to have better crunch while the newer ones seem to have a little more "shimmer" to the cleans.

 

[Guitar Dave T]

For fusion style, I'd recommend:

1. Either pedals
2. or a channel Switcher with a great, smooth overdrive that reacts to touch and dynamics
3. With enough wattage to provide pristine cleans and some bottom end with overdrive tones. Also 30-50 watts.

Just about any Fender amp over 30 watts, silverface, blackface, Hot Rod Deluxe/Deville, will cover you on #1 and #3, but there are NO stock Fender amps that do a real good job with #2 for fusion. For your application, I'm not sure I'd go higher than 40-50 watts.

In my experience, some great pedals that marry well with clean Fender amps for fusion lead tones:

1. Hermida Zendrive
2. Jetter Gain Stage Red
3. Anything else designed to provide D-style tones with clean Fender amps.

If you want the touch sensitivity of a boutique channel switcher on a budget, I picked up a cheap, used 40-watt Hot Rod Deluxe and shipped the chassis to Jim Price at Omega Amps with $250. His modification made the clean channel more dynamic, like a blackface pro reverb, and he actually made the un-useable drive channels beyond useable. Ultra touch-sensitive, great range of everything from fusion to blues to rock tones.

I still keep the pedals for backup and for one sideman gig where the band leader supplies stock Fender amps, but otherwise it's strictly the Omega.

 

[kidmandude]

Fender 4x10 Bassman?

 

[Aslan]

For the money a Hot Rod Deluxe will fit your requirements and is reasonable in price, I would look at the new Hot Rod Deluxe III, Fender has refined the amp to improve it's performance.

 

[teleman1]

guitwitit What state are you in????? ie of America?

 

[mgarrison99]

Check out the EL84 based amps for a different flavor than Fenders. Still have nice cleans, but take other pedals well since the mids aren't scooped so much. Carvin BelAirs are nice and you can scale down to the Nomad for less wattage. Laney also makes some nice heads and combos that are Voxy without the price. Both can be had used for less than $400 and new in the $550 to $750 range.