We all build pedals and I have been wondering what we all use to run those pedals through.
I have been thinking about building another amp and want to get a feel for what everyone uses and why, if you feel so inclined to divulge.
I didn't get it specifically to serve as a 'pedal platform', but I use my Panama Shaman pretty much exclusively. It has a great clean channel, a killer distortion channel, a decent FX loop, and at 20 watts it's just powerful enough to hang with a drummer for a jam session while also not pissing off the neighbors too badly when I'm playing alone.
I've used an Orange Tiny Terror for the last decade. It suits my clean and dirty bass and guitar testing needs.
Vox AC30 for me.
Didn't buy as a pedal platform, bought because it produces my favorite amp sound.
I am thinking about getting an AC15 as well.
I like using my Princeton Reverb as a pedal platform.
Blackheart Little Giant ... even managed to hold onto two 1x10 matching cabinets. Currently unmodified and I may well keep it that way. I don't particularly feel the need to carve this amp up to make it "better"
I take a different approach to this. I say find an amp with a clean tone you like, then find pedals that play well with it. Or, considering our hobby, socket things and tweak to your liking.
I've never played an amp that sounded bad with all pedals, but I have played some great amps that sounded terrible with some of my favorite pedals but good with some stuff I don't use. It's all about figuring out what works well together and what sounds good to you.
I'm a weirdo who likes solid state amps. My favorite is my $15 flea market find (not counting the $150 speaker). It is a 40W 1×12 combo.
My sound is my two fender flavored amps. I run both clean on the edge of breakup. I use my tungsten buckwheat (tweed) and my vintage sound sc35 (blackface). More often than not it's the blackface I play when testing pedals and playing in general. I think that's what you see in a lot of demo videos as well is a bf of some kind. Of course mine has a TMB tone stack and a celestion speaker for more tonal range and flexibility. My tweed can give me the darker marshally type sound as well which I love for trying with boosts and fuzzes. But I agree with comments above about some pedals are better suited for certain amps and some work with anything. I don't buy into the pedal platform thing. Even the so called neutral toned amps are based on something and it's likely a fender, vox or Marshall so I say pick whatever speaks to you and throw every pedal in front of it and make noise.
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Quote from: Thewintersoldier on November 18, 2020, 01:41:03 PM
Even the so called neutral toned amps are based on something and it's likely a fender, vox or Marshall so I say pick whatever speaks to you and throw every pedal in front of it and make noise.
Aren't Marshalls even based on Fenders?
And EBK, I have played some really amazing solid state amps. Maybe its a discussion that deserves it own thread sometime.
Quote from: Matmosphere on November 18, 2020, 03:12:52 PM
Quote from: Thewintersoldier on November 18, 2020, 01:41:03 PM
Even the so called neutral toned amps are based on something and it's likely a fender, vox or Marshall so I say pick whatever speaks to you and throw every pedal in front of it and make noise.
Aren't Marshalls even based on Fenders?
And EBK, I have played some really amazing solid state amps. Maybe its a discussion that deserves it own thread sometime.
I know the jtm45 is pretty much a bassman clone with uk parts and the plexi is another play on that.
I will clarify why I am asking, for almost ten years I have used my Jtm 45 build and a Mesa Ta-30. About three years ago I added an Allen Accomplice and then a 50 watt plexi and now the 18 watter. As with everything I discover about playing guitar my thoughts of what i would like because so and so plays it are not what I actually enjoy playing. For instance I love fuzz faces especially theough a marshall but really prefer a tonebender and that is something I would have never tried until i built it and dinked around with it.
Now with me focusing on the youtube videos and showcasing builds, I am interested in what others use. I also am looking to change up the format of my videos with some new video gear I got and thought a lower wattage amp might be a better idea. I love my jtm 45 but when I am playing and recording for a couple of hours with it, my ears hurts. The plexi is the same way but when your wife buys you a chassis for your birthday you gotta build it.
What I have been working towards the last month is selling all of my commercial pedals, an amp and cabinet, three guitars and my fractal ax8 to pickup a couple lower watt amps to setup in my closet and keep miked up at all tomes.
A tweed deluxe is one option I am heavily considering, and of course what you all have to say.
And yes we should talk about solid state amps and just good alternatives to tube amps. I love the j rockett animal into a dsm cabsim, i use that to write quite a bit.
Bench amp is this crappy little solid state Harmony that I put an old Fender HRD 12" speaker in and it sounds REALLY nice and totally neutral so works well for testing and setting up pedals.
I just finished rebuilding a Traynor TS-25. I used to have one of these when they were new and have been looking for another one since. Not at all neutral but a cool amp and stupid loud for 25 watt SS. Hard to believe it's 40+ years old.
Live it's a Peavey 6505 mh 20 watt tube amp. Cleans on this thing are ridiculous and torturing the front end with a compressor and booster cuts a wide swath of tones.
Just for home and practicing with friends, I use an AC30CC Head and 2x12 cab as well as a Roland JC-77 2x10, and sometimes a Pignose
I'm a big fan of the JTM45 as well, but it does make the ears bleed after a while. I've been meaning to research lower wattage 6v6 iterations but I'm not sure my wife agrees that I need yet another amp. ;D I really like the Matchless Spitfire clone I built earlier this year. Pretty damn loud and more headroom than most 15(ish) Watt amps I've built. Some complain that it's too bright though, so that's something to take into account. You really can't go wrong with a 5E3 or Princeton Reverb IMO. The Princeton might work with a wider range of pedals since it's a bit stiffer and seems to break up a bit later. That being said, I wouldn't personally choose an amp based on how it reacts with pedals. I'd rather choose the pedals based on how they work with the amp.
I like my Low Power Tweed Twin. I don't have a lot of experience with other amps, though.
Peavey Special 130 and Fender Princeton (non reverb) black face. I'm running my electric pianos through them so maybe not that helpful to you guys. They sound great through that Peavey though.
Quote from: thesmokingman on November 18, 2020, 01:03:18 PM
Blackheart Little Giant ... even managed to hold onto two 1x10 matching cabinets. Currently unmodified and I may well keep it that way. I don't particularly feel the need to carve this amp up to make it "better"
Mine too, it's a great amp.
Fender deluxe 112 plus took pedals really well and through the Power amp in on the front an ADA MP1 sounded amazing.
Quote from: gordo on November 18, 2020, 05:50:25 PM
Bench amp is this crappy little solid state Harmony that I put an old Fender HRD 12" speaker in and it sounds REALLY nice and totally neutral so works well for testing and setting up pedals.
I just finished rebuilding a Traynor TS-25. I used to have one of these when they were new and have been looking for another one since. Not at all neutral but a cool amp and stupid loud for 25 watt SS. Hard to believe it's 40+ years old.
Live it's a Peavey 6505 mh 20 watt tube amp. Cleans on this thing are ridiculous and torturing the front end with a compressor and booster cuts a wide swath of tones.
I think most people who are pedal junkies like us are using a higher headroom cleanish tone as our base so that's a good place to start with whatever amp you use. Unless your showing a pedal that's made to use with a pushed amp like a treble booster or certain fuzzes then make sure that's a requirement. I wish that people showed the pedal used with different types of amps more instead of just one amp. Another thing is alot of people don't play at loud volumes anymore so I thi k it's important to show what it's like thru a real speaker at volume and a speaker sim. So many people are so focused on showing off their playing versus letting everyone know what the gear actually sounds like
And don't forget the choice of speaker is essentially an eq which has final say as to how everything sounds
Right now I'm using the Princeton but most of the time it's my 70s silver Champ. Perfect amp for testing pedals ( for me). The Champ has developed some tube rattle though. Need to fix that.
I use a Fishman Loudbox Mini as my bench amp. Then when I actually have a few min and get to play a few songs I use a Peavey Prowler. The Peavey is a 45 watt tube amp and the Fishman is a 60watt solid state. They both work well for pedals. I love the clean and lead channels of the Prowler.
-Mike-
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Of all the amps I have, I find I use the Marshall 18W replica more than anything else when testing pedals. But I highly value my vintage Marshalls and Fenders and more modern Mesas for seeing how things interact with different voicings.
Quote from: madbean on November 19, 2020, 05:21:40 PM
Right now I'm using the Princeton but most of the time it's my 70s silver Champ. Perfect amp for testing pedals ( for me). The Champ has developed some tube rattle though. Need to fix that.
I remember building the peacekeeper or dangerzone and playing them with a marshall style and it didnt gel and then with my Allen Accomplice it was magic. I assumed you had used the fender as the pedal platform, glad i was right.
Quote from: Thewintersoldier on November 19, 2020, 01:25:55 PM
Quote from: gordo on November 18, 2020, 05:50:25 PM
Bench amp is this crappy little solid state Harmony that I put an old Fender HRD 12" speaker in and it sounds REALLY nice and totally neutral so works well for testing and setting up pedals.
I just finished rebuilding a Traynor TS-25. I used to have one of these when they were new and have been looking for another one since. Not at all neutral but a cool amp and stupid loud for 25 watt SS. Hard to believe it's 40+ years old.
Live it's a Peavey 6505 mh 20 watt tube amp. Cleans on this thing are ridiculous and torturing the front end with a compressor and booster cuts a wide swath of tones.
I think most people who are pedal junkies like us are using a higher headroom cleanish tone as our base so that's a good place to start with whatever amp you use. Unless your showing a pedal that's made to use with a pushed amp like a treble booster or certain fuzzes then make sure that's a requirement. I wish that people showed the pedal used with different types of amps more instead of just one amp. Another thing is alot of people don't play at loud volumes anymore so I thi k it's important to show what it's like thru a real speaker at volume and a speaker sim. So many people are so focused on showing off their playing versus letting everyone know what the gear actually sounds like
You make a really good point here, I like playing a clean amp and using pedals to muck it up or hitting something dirty with fuzzes. I am going to try tomorrow to run my Mesa TA-30 into a Two Notes live and run out to a 1x12 that is mic'd up. That way there would be speaker sim and actually amp sounds, not sure how it is going to turn out and I am sure phasing will be a nightmare but that would be a great way to use multiple speakers that I don't actually have. Plus that amp is a million sounds in it which would be like trying a pedal through multiple amps.
Here is my success from today, moving the shelves and junk around to shove this 1x12 in there to set up the mics and sound panels in the closet. 50 watt plexi sounded very tame in there, so I am going to keep with using higher watt amps for now and look to acquiring a princeton and tweed deluxe.
Also a preview of the EOO3 that is long been on the to do list.
(https://i.imgur.com/q7wiNmc.jpg)
I use a Fender Excelsior with an Emminence Big Ben installed. I know that's not a common choice. I think it works well with pedals because the preamp has a very simple tone stack and the speaker isn't very peaky. All the frequencies you'd want are there.
Quote from: Thewintersoldier on November 19, 2020, 01:25:55 PMSo many people are so focused on showing off their playing versus letting everyone know what the gear actually sounds like
God help it if you want to hear a good higain rhythm tone and the person demoing it is a blues noodler or shred wannabe!
Quote from: Muadzin on November 22, 2020, 02:34:23 PM
Quote from: Thewintersoldier on November 19, 2020, 01:25:55 PMSo many people are so focused on showing off their playing versus letting everyone know what the gear actually sounds like
God help it if you want to hear a good higain rhythm tone and the person demoing it is a blues noodler or shred wannabe!
I agree but good rhythm playing is much more difficult than halfway decent soloing/lead playing.
My question is
what would actually show off what a piece of gear can do?I have considered trying to make a series of videos or something that would highlight DIY circuits to highlight some of the really cool circuits that people have made, but I don't want it to be at all about me.