software

Every few years I ask myself this question and I never really arrive at an answer, so I'm going to try and quantify it for my own benefit. I thought maybe others would like to do the same.

Let me start by saying that I have owned a number of amps (stacks with tube and SS preamps. tube and SS power amps; tube and SS combos). I'm not religious over the SS tube debate, but I gotta say that I've heard way more good/great sounding tube amps than solid state amps (to my ears), especially at perfomance levels.

Having said that, I'm always embarrassed to tell people what my main amp has been for the past 20 years. It's an old Peavey Bandit (first generation) with an Electrovoice SRO speaker. While I can't say it's THE tone I'm looking for (too sterile clean; like most SS amps; my old JC-77 being an exception!), it comes closer than anything I've ever owned and I think I finally figured out why.

I like an even tone, lots of bass, lots of mids, lots of top-end. This equates to full and loud. My amp somehow sounds quot;biggerquot; than most combos I've ever heard. I like tight distortion and overdrive sounds, like you would typically get from a decent solid state pedal. I run my amp clean, and although I've owned a couple of amps with 12AX7s in the preamp section, I've never liked the overdriven sound as much as what I can get from a pedal. What my amp lacks is the warmth and response of a good EL34 power amp section. (I've always preferred EL34s in my tube power amps, I've owned amps with 6L6's but always found them too bright on the top and too soft on the bottom; especially Fenders!). But, for the most part, I like what I hear coming out of this old SS amp and it inspires me to play more and better. My genre/playing style has varied over greatly over the years and all my other amps have come and gone. This one is definately the most versitile amp I've owned.

PS. one last thing about my Bandit. It has never let me down. Ever. In 20 years, and I bought it second hand then, it has never had one trip to the repair shop. I've never owned another piece of equipment this reliable.

I've been trying to find something that could cover great clean ups for latin chops, crunchy thick Classic Rock sounds, 80's Rock(/Metal) and full out modern Progressive Metal while still sounding articulate and harmonically rich. My current rig nails these sounds for about 80%. My favorite combination being my Jackson KE2 and ENGL Powerball into a Marshall greenback loaded 2x12. It doesn't do classic Rock or (hotrodded) plexi tones well at all, though it does sound very articulate, harmonically rich and tight and covers all the other tones I mentioned just fine. The bottom end is awesome, though I do have to tame the top end on channel 3. Another thing it doesn't do is the smooth almost woman-ish tone. That's why I'm currently looking for a (small) amp that can.

I like my gear because my tone is still evolving. One day I'll want to play sorta overdriven blues, the next day I'll be playing death metal. Between my Seymourized Schecter, my Warmoth, and my Roland Cube 60, I can do that with no trouble. Sure, I'd love to own a tube amp, but I'm afraid to buy one because I know at some point I'll get tired of the lack of versatility.

I like my tone right now because I don't hear anything WRONG with it. I can stop thinking about it and just play.

I love a BF Fender amp tone that is warm,round,and full overall,but clean..I then like to just add my effects to this tone...It seems that each and every amp I own,including my Vox Valvetronix and my Cyber Twin,are dialed up to sound like a BF 2x12 Fender combo amp...Funny thing is,I actually own 2 BF Fender combo amps,and my Pro Reverb is the one that simply has quot;The Tonequot; out of all the amps I own...

For my overdrive/distortion type tones,I like the mids and crunch of an old Marshall,but with the warmth and lowend and low mids of a BF Fender tone and with not too much gain...In other words crunchy and cutting but with added fullness in the lows and some decent headroom so I can still retain great note articulation and yet still get sustain...

I also like a warm singing Mark 1 Boogie tone for some of my lead work and I find I can get close enough with a variety of modded pedals..

I like my amp 'cuz when i've got it dialed in just right, the responsiveness to my guitars is SICKENINGLY beautiful.

switch to a neck single coil, roll the volume to like 4 and hear the cleans...turn on my Hot Rails, volume up to like 8, feel the sweet OD. I mean this could easily be done with a channel-switching clean/dirty amp, or just by using my DS-1 but this way i feel like the notes are my words and the possition of my switches and knobs are my voice...i can sing, bark, growl, yelp, quack, and 'meedlymeedlymeedlymeeeee'

I'm thinkin i should get an amp more suited to this style but I don't know or care...the bassman works fine when it works.

-X

I like an articulate top end, but not too ice-picky. I'm incredibly picky about my tone through a tube amp, if it doesn't quot;do it for mequot; I continually mess with EQ. I don't like to have a woofy low end that's my biggest turn off, next is the piercing high end.

The next thing I listen to is the gain tone. How much it has and the quality. I don't like it when the gain tone sounds like a note with stuff put around it. That's a big deal to me too.

I like my Z because it has the right portions of the qualities above, my only beef is I wish I had some more gain at lower levels. My amp is a major component in my tone, It is a large part of my present core tone because its tone is distinctive.

Luke

I have a Mesa/Boogie Tri-Axis preamp, Mesa 50/50 power amp, and a Marshall 1960 cab as my main amp. I like it because it is very versatile and natural sounding. I always have a really warm sound. I can get real vintage sounds, ultra clean tone, or heavy and thick tone that still has good note definition. It took me years to appreciate it. I bought it in 1997 when my idea of good tone was pretty narrow.

I think it has too many options, though, and an unconventional interface and sound shaping that took too long to get used to.

Now that I have figured it out, I love it though.

Despite this, I'd like to switch out the speakers in my Marshall cab at some point. The stock Celestion 75's are a bit harsh.

Now, with Pickups, that's a different story. I'm never satisfied. I've had several Duncans. I was a C-5 user for a few years and just switched to Andersons on my main guitar. There's only about 20 other pickups I want to try out too.