Some hopefully interesting info about guitar amps;
The classic sound of the
Fender Bassman which Roland Jazz Chorus
JC160 mimics but in a more modern solid state sure cleaness. This sound is clean and tight perfect for Rockabilly and funky Jazz Fusion but may be too hard sounding for classic rock tones for most including myself.
THe
JC 120 which has the clean sheen and oomph of a loud non saturated Fender Twin Reverb is believe it or not also considered a classic amp tone.
If you want full bodied clean tones that won't breakup at high volumes the JC120 is the sound to go for. Hint: If you have to use a JC120 for a gig. Simply click on the overdrive knob and leave it at it's minimum position. Almost like switching and OD1 pedal the amp will start to sound soggier almost like a saturating tube amp. Nice
The hard to find classic
Vox AC30 is the amp to go for if that edge of the cliff clean into breakup sound is what you'd die for. It's got a very musical roll off of the mushy lows that's the trademark of classic Brit bands. The extreme musicality of these claasic British amps range from Beatles into REM into U2 into Queen. I've only heard and plyed through one and man I do wish I own one of these hopefully one day.
The
Twin Reverb is a very loud amp but when it reaches that stage of clean into breakup once experienced everything else pales in comparison. Lotsa low end oomph with a top end sheen to die for. Only the very experienced articulate players can bring out the true magic that these amps have. Incorporating a seperate master volume the modern Twin reverbs are more volume friendly these days.
Marshall Head and 4 x 12 Speaker Cab come in so many flavours now but the real classic tonal character of these british amps is only achieved when coupled with 4 x 12 cabs. The fine balancing act of pre amp against power amp distortion into type of speakers provide a very wide range of classic rock tones be it with Strats or Les Paul type pickup configurations. These amps sound very cold and hard at bedroom levels but past the threshold ccording to an old friend " the sound of molten gold man!"
Modelling Technology Amps IMHO A brilliant idea by the manufacturers. However, it has also created alot of confusion among many disgruntled inexperinced users who mostly never developed experience and understanding of the real amps these simulations offer so instead they get turned off and simply dismiss them as fake sounding. While it's true that many of these simulators are simulators of the real thng at best they also offer a great pallette of tonal colours for users to explore and discover what suits them best for their style and music and later on perhaps move on to make more accurate decisions about plonking serious cash for the right amps.
I guess there's more but that's it for now. Hope this has been somewhat helpful.
