I have been playing for about 25 years. My main clean electric rig is a preamped 1968 twin reverb head into a power amp into a custom 1x12 cab with a jbl e120 speaker. It will rattle your fillings with clean power.

I mention this because I have a very nice Whitworth .375 H&H I would trade for a vintage Mesa boogie amp.

Whatcha got?

I'll bet yours goes to an 11. Sorry, I just had to say that.

It's called a twin for a reason. Why use a single speaker when it's designed to pump 2 12's?

Yeah man...1990 PRS Custom 24 and Boogie/Charvel parts guitar I put together in 1988 that is the main axe. They run into a Crybaby, then a Tube Screamer, then into a Fender Deluxe.

Have never been happy with my amps...mostly because I’ve never owned a JCM Marshall...but have owned Mesa/Boogie, Metaltronix ADA MP1 w/QSC power amp, and Fender.

You ought to hear the setup that Joe Bonamassa uses these days. I saw him live in September. He was using 2 Overdrive Specials by Dumble.
They'll melt your face and recharge your soul.

Fender Deluxe Reverb and Marshal DSL run in a wet/dry set up.

Mainly a Fender guy. Just had a custom "Strat" type of axe built by Wicks Guitars in Ft. Worth. Photo of it in my Trophy Room thread.

Les Paul Custom "black beauty" for me. Mine has a 3rd pickup installed.

quote:

Originally posted by Smokin Joe:
It's called a twin for a reason. Why use a single speaker when it's designed to pump 2 12's?

300 watt speaker, and I am just using the preamp, powered by McIntosh power amp. It is a smaller version of what jerry Garcia used.

It certainly powerful enough to run more speakers, but the volume is a little easier to mange this way.

My strat electronics are almost exactly what he used in his guitars.

Collin, I have a question. I've not been playing as long as you but I've studied the subject pretty in depth and something you said over in my trophy room thread picked my interest.

I stated I like to crank my amps to 10 to which you replied, I just need to get a bigger amp as you never crank past about 6.

I suppose it depends on whether you are after a clean or saturated (distortion) tone but when using tube (valve) amps, trying to achieve the SRV, Bonamassa, KWS type of blues tone, that advise sounds exactly 180 degrees out.

My approach is to crank the amp and go down in wattage size to manage the volume level. Sort of like a sports car having a power range of RPM, and selecting the gear to determine speed. Use the gear selection to get the appropriate speed for the driving condition while maintaining the RPM's in the optimum power band.

So a cranked 5 watt amp will give the same type of saturated tone as a cranked 100 watt amp, but at a lower volume. Of course that's simplified as the higher watt amp has more head room and will be less likely to fart out in low frequencies, will be respond differently to being pushed by gain / boost pedals, etc.

My two amps, running in wet/dry, are still way too loud when cranked, even in the new man cave. I deal with volume with a Black Cat Unleash attenuator on the Deluxe Reverb and a volume pedal in the effects loop on the Marshal DSL. That allows me to get the cranked, valve cooking, saturated tone I like, while having complete control over the volume levels of each amp separately. Of course, at some point, you stop moving air as you reduce volume, which defeats the purpose.

What say you and the other slingers out there?

Also, any of you guys hooked on That Pedal Show yet? Only available on YouTube. New show each Friday. No advertisements. No traditional reviews. Just neutral comparisons showcasing how pedals / amps / guitars interact with each other and occasionally an artist or two will drop in and share insight.

Just to get you started, here's a link to their Wet / Dry show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSz7GrRdHc0&t=4069s

Your correct on all fronts.

Attenuators work, but in my opinion contribute to a degradation in tone.

My rig is extremely clean, but there is a fine level of grit you can dial in at much lower volumes than if I was running the power section. It will stay clean even at big time volume, with one 300 watt speaker. It is a great pedal platform as well, so overdrive and distortion I use really high quality pedals, but kept to a minimum, running the pedals through my guitar’s on board effects loop. Another incredible jerry Garcia innovation.

There are a lot of really sweet boutique low wattage amps out there that you can get incredible SRV/Bonnamassa, Duane Allman style tone. In my mind a much easier way to get sweet rock and roll tones at a manageable volume level.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q59LudYw8Uw

Here is the rig rundown with jimmy herring, the lead guitar player for widespread panic. He runs a wet/dry rig, and is one of the best guitar players in the world. No effects other than reverb, with all of his dirty tone coming from cranking the amp, and clean from the guitars volume knob and a volume pedal.

Jimmy and his faux slide technique. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n2W5JnUGyKg