Was there any amp that you played that you HAD to buy on the spot?

[Gearopenia]

Only one for me was the SC30 in Showercurtain right after Matchless went outta business.
I should have bought the store out!
There were like 3-4 amps left on clearance.

 

[Steve Ouimette]

Yes. 1960's Epiphone Emperor 6T.

 

[rusty]

blackface pro reverb w/ c12n's...my first non-reissue fender "experience" -- that was the day my obsession began!!!

 

[ThunderSqueak]

I am new hear and admitting this might lose me any cred that I might have... but to answer your question....

I was wandering around town doing my monthly "pawn shop crawl" and trying out new amps when I plugged a strat that I pulled off the wall into a large dirty amp that looked like someone stored it in a barn. With a tiny bit of fiddling, I was amazed at the sound I was hearing. I had not heard of this brand nor model before. I pulled it away from the shelf and looked inside to see what tubes it used, since they didn't sound familiar.

Not a single one in sight, a SS amp? So, I haggled them down to 100 USD and walked out with my new amp. It has some of the best cleans I have ever heard, with a very nice edge on them if I dig in.

The amp? A LabSeries L7.

 

[nmiller]

Went into a store to try out a few guitars, but came away with my Heritage Kenny Burrell. Exactly the sound I had always sought, and the price was darn good as well. Warm cleans with tons of headroom and smooth reverb that doesn't detract from the dry signal.

 

[alberob]

My Zagray!.I haven't played anything else that comes even close.I also had to buy my Red Iron Bronx Amp.That is my stereo set up ,best 3 knob amp I ever played.

 

[Aslan]

My Bad Cat Cougar 5, I tried it on a whim at GC and the tone and drive was exactly what I've been looking for over the last few years. I use it with my Bad Cat Unleash and I can play any size of venue.

 

[Jaredz28]

There have been a few, " woulda shoulda coulda" amps but the one that came home was a Nolatone Junebug. I was looking heavily at the Dr. Z line as I was gassing for a maz 18. I couldn't convince myself to pull the trigger and part with the rest of my amps. Made one more stop on the way home and was blown away. Put a down payment on it, scraped together some cash and sold everything but my gigging amp and ended up playing nothing but the Junebug for years until my last purchase which was another Nolatone.

 

[Birddog]

I went into GC years back looking for a new acoustic. I plugged several in through a Marshall 50 watt acoustic amp. Ended up leaving with a guitar AND an amp.

Expensive afternoon, but I still love that amp for acoustic gigs.

 

[dingdongditch]

Version one Dr Z Mazerati.

 

[bobcs71]

Yes, I went to try out guitars and came home with a pricey boutique amp that I couldn't live without. I kept it for almost a month.

 

[SuperReverb2]

The first real deal 1965 Super Reverb that I ever plugged into. Never heard anything like it. Bought it on the spot. Kept and played it for the next 20 years.

 

[DISTORT6]

Yes. Used SLO-100. There was no way I was leaving without it. I keep going back to that amp.

 

[jimmyohio75]

Only once. I walked into my local GC and they just got in a used '59 Fender Bassman LTD RI. I played it for 5 minutes and walked out with it. I knew if I left without it I would not sleep until I acquired it.

 

[ThePenwellCrash]

Roland JC-120 -- my early days. First time I heard the cleans on this amp, I knew I had to sell whatever other crap amp I had and get this. It served me well for several years.

Mesa Subway Blues -- still early days, but this was my first love affair with tube combos! Sold the JC-120 for it. Played this one for several years too

Fender Princeton Reverb -- Silverface, long before the RI's ever came out. We're still affordable then. But man oh man! This thing ignited a fire in me. Sold the Mesa to buy the PR!

My journey since has brought me over a dozen beautiful amps (mostly vintage), some I've kept, some I've passed along - but I haven't had another immediate "AHA!" moment like I did with the three above. My reaction to them was certainly dependent upon where I was in my own musical maturity, but they were each just right for their time and they were each same day impulse buys which totally paid off

Interestingly, I think it's about time to come back around to the Princeton Reverb

 

[bdm]

Silvertone 1482, $120. I played 5+ years of shows with that and a Tele. Definitely got my money's worth out of it.

 

[Badside]

Mark IV
I was into metal at the time, and it did a perfect Master of Puppets tone.

 

[C-4]

I've bought amps that I was happy I did buy sight, unseen after reading about them. I had no possible way to do it otherwise.
However, I have never been able to play enough different amps, like Bogners, Splawns, Reinhardts, Bad Cats, and on and on or other really boutique-type amps in order to make a decision on the spot. I would love to be in a position one day to be in one place that had enough different types of amps that would allow me to choose one after just playing it for a short time.

There are so many really great sounding amps now, but if they are restricted to only doing one or two things really well, without having to stop playing and re-dial a different tone in, I could not live with it. My needs are for being able to get several great usable tones without having to touch the amp after dialing it in. Just the work I am doing that calls for this type of usage.

Yes, I would like to try a Kemper or AXE-FX, but I am lucky enough now to be able to use a Diezel Einstein 50 watt combo, or a Marshall JMD for my work and get really great tone from both amps.

 

[dave12]

Went to the shop to try a Matchless SC-30 and ended up playing a Bad Cat TremCat.

My friend and I were both convinced that was the amp for me within 10 minutes.

 

[GUITVOX]

Marshall Studio15 for me.
First low volume amp I'd tried in twenty years that had a raw rock sound no pedals. It was labelled "little fatty" in the shop.
I was so keen for it, I drove from UK to Cologne Germany to buy it. Still have it today.