Best Sounding Rig

[GrindthatAxe]

If nebody knows guitar amps, or at least read the newest guitar one, They'll tell you that the best sounding amp (s) would have to be mesa. I for one have played boogies and was not impressed with the sound. I would like to hear back form the proud owners that beleave they have the most killer sounding equipment so it may take off some of the strain of doing so much homework on finding that perrfect tone. newhere from you thrash metal guys to the classic rockers. i wanna hear about the prestieen cleans up to the gains that sound cranked to 11, pedals and effects, down to pickups and strings. I use marshall amps and dunlap overdrive for for that over the top but still tight sound. hit me back if ur at all intersted

[orangekick]

Mesas are excellent amps, but they can be a bitch to dial in right. If you tried the Rectifier series, the controls are active, so it can go straight to yuck in no time flat. Mesas also sound better when they're cranked and the speakers that you play them through have a huge impact on the overall sound.

This being said, I play a Mesa DC-5 head through a Soldano 4x12 cab that has 2 Celestion Vintage 30's and 2 Celestion G12-H80's. The two different kinds of speakers have different peaks in their frequency response and tend to fill in for each other where one is lacking. I also find that Mesa cabs tend to be really dark, that's why I have the Soldano cab. I have tried tons of amps and I keep coming back to this seris from Mesa.

[lonewolf]

I bought my 1st Boogie in 1984, a Mark IIc. It was OK, but only had superclean and superdirty. I think this is when my 1st tone slump began. I missed my Marshall 100W stack. A few years later, I went to a Mark III which was a little more versatile, but still, lacking. I used that amp for a few years and then started into the rack&stack stuff.

Since then, I've had most of the rack mount pre's ever made, including the Triaxis. This is supposed to have circuits from the I,II,III,IV and Rectifier models. The Triaxis is the most overrated, overpriced boat anchor ever made. Its supposed to be the encyclopedia of tone, but all I got was a few clean "thru" sounds that clip your power amp, several variations of that same open-throttle boogie sound and one super-saturated non-harmonic feedback generator. Don't get me wrong, these things sound great on rhythm, but they are sorely lacking for solo tone.

On the other hand, the EL84 2020 power amp really kicks ass. Its can be as loud as a 100W solid state amp, but at 20W/channel, you can overdrive the power tubes and get this creamy, greasy poweramp overdrive...

[Griff]

Hey axe, mesa is good when I was in a band with J.D. he used a mark 3 mesa it sounde very good with his les paul. later on he wanted a combo and was looking at a few differant things and he decided on a jcm marshall combo. that is a good rig as well. but we were doing classic rock at that time and it fit well for what we were doing and both amps mesa and marshall sounded great in the mix. but thats only my opinion I always liked a nice warm sounding tube amp marshall, mesa and fender. all sounded good in the mix. another friend used a budda amp wich is made in cal. they sound great in the mix and really put out for a low watt amp. they are all tube as well. myself i used a jcm marshall and liked it and I used laney tube amps as well and liked them it all depends on what sound you want

[DMFJ03]

http://www.geocities.com/deathmasterfunkjae/gear.html

There is the link to my gear, my Mesa cabs are first on the list. My cabs sound fantastic! A lot of people have told me that they love my rig. I couldn't be happier with the tone I get. I like punch, and it gives it to me.

[lonewolf]

http://www.geocities.com/deathmasterfunkjae/gear.html

There is the link to my gear, my Mesa cabs are first on the list. My cabs sound fantastic! A lot of people have told me that they love my rig. I couldn't be happier with the tone I get. I like punch, and it gives it to me.

Couldn't agree with you more about their cabs, J. I've had a pair of 1x12" Thiele Roadready cabs with Celestion 90's in them for 20 years. They're hard to beat.

[HurricaneBob]

I ve heard new rigs sound like junk, and old rigs sound like gold. Its not what you have, its the soul playing it.

[songsmith]

I'm currently playing a early-80's Peavey T-15 short-scale guitar and mid-50's Oahu (Valco) lap steel (via AB switch) through a 100W Hughes & Kettner Attax 80 solid-state amp. I get a really nice early-70's clean tone, very full on the low-mids and chimey on the high-mids. The dirty tone is adequate for classic rock, not the Holy Grail, by any stretch, but the H&K is probably the most flexible amp I ever owned, sound-wise... it also has a modern-rock scooped mid setting, but I never use that. The main feature for me is plenty of bottom, pretty loud (although I'm not a loud player, really), and the damn thing's practically bulletproof. I've dropped it a few times, and even put 220V into the AC... it blew a fuse, prompting me to add a back-panel fuseholder instead of an internal one, but I put a new fuse in, plugged into a 110V socket, and rocked on. It's kinda heavy, but worth it.
I don't really use pedals much... not against it, I just haven't had good luck with it. Oh, and I like to practice with my Johnson J-Station modeler, but can't get a good onstage sound with it... very sterile and plastic sounding unless you use the headphones, then it sounds great.
The short-scale guitar is kind of a cool surprise for me... I thought I'd lose low-end, but it turns out that the string isn't tightened as much to reach pitch, and vibrates more freely and "widely" and actually gives a very hot signal. The single-coil pickups are very P-90-like, and the only thing they don't sound good on is slide... but I think that's how the guitar's laid out. I bought the damn thing at a second-hand store for $75 including a gigbag, cleaned and set it up, magnetically shielded the body cavity, and it's my Number One. I actually posted on here awhile back to see if anybody ever used the Peavey T-series, but nobody responded, so I took a chance.

BTW, this thread should probably be in the Tech section. Just my opinion.--------->JMS

[lonewolf]

I ve heard new rigs sound like junk, and old rigs sound like gold. Its not what you have, its the soul playing it.

You are 100% right Bobby, and that brings up an important point. For many guitarists, an amp's sound is only half of it. The other half is the response or "feel" of the amp that is only apparent to the guitarist playing thru it. If an amp responds well, you could call it "soulful". If it doesn't have good feel, the guitarist could spend half his energy fighting the amp rather than concentrating on the music. I consider the Mesa/Boogie 2020 power amp to be the most "soulful" power amp I've ever played thru.

[Punkinhead]

When I was working at Music Haven, we saw more Mesas in the shop to be fixed than almost any other amp...They can sound like a beast if you know what you're doing but, they are overpriced and cost too much money to repair to me. I will pay $1800 for a good amp but it better be reliable....


I'll take a 1986 JCM800 run through a Lead1960 cab with a MXR Distortion+ in front of it any day over a Mesa...just my opinion though

[orangekick]

I hear lots of people saying that they see Mesas in the shop all the time and mine has never given me any trouble. The most trouble I've ever had turned out to be a set of bad power tubes. The only amp that ever gave me trouble was a Marshall.

Mesa's bass equipment is top notch. I really like that stuff. It's very solid and it sounds great.

[bassist_25]

I've yet to hear a Mesa system that I don't' like. On the other hand, it's been hit and miss when it comes to Marshall tones that I've dug; I've heard a lot of crappy Marshall tones in my day, and I'm not all that old. Though to be fair, a lot of the blame can be placed on the person turning the knobs. If you're doing stuff like scooping out all of your mids and misusing shelving controls, it doesn't matter what you're playing through; it's going to sound like crap. A lot of people don't understand the original purpose of an EQ, and that is to compensate for the different variables of a given room as to bring out the natural flat timbre of the instrument being played. That's not to say you can't use your EQ to color your tone (I do), but the first thing you should do is get the flat sound of your instrument to come through. Then decide if you want to color the tone with EQing. Wow, I kind of sound condesending with that, which I didn't mean to, don't want to come off like I'm lecturing guys on tone.

Anyways, even though we're talking about guitar rigs, my bass rig is

BBE B-Max preamp
QSC RMX850 power amp
Furman Conditioner
Avatar Neo 4x10 cabinet

I'm pretty happy with it, even though it's still not the sound I'm hearing in my head (I might as well face facts. I'm an Eden guy and I won't be entirely happy until I have an Eden). I was facing a huge conundrum when purchasing a preamp. The two choices came down to the tried and true SansAmp RBI and the B-Max. I decided to go with the B-Max and I couldn't be more happy. The SanAmp, while still an excellent pre, has more of the SVT thing going on, and I've never been much of an Ampeg guy. The B-Max is more Hi-Fi and modern sounding. If I wanted a more traditional sounding pre, I'd probaly go with an Eden Naviagator, SWR IOD, or Alembic F-1X. The Eq took a little getting use to. Lows and high controls are cuts and mids is a boost (plus the mids has two other knobs for further EQing). It has an onboard Sonic Maximizer, and a compressor that is very surprisingly very good. My only compliant with the unit is the fact that both the balanced and unbalanced outputs use the same level control. I may want a lot of stage volume, but then that means the sound tech is getting pummeled with a strong signal back at the board.

I've been hearing a lot of great things about Avatar, and being the po college student that I am, I decided to give the cabinet a try. I've been very impressed with it. It's easily on par with any mid level cabinet out there (GK, Hartke, Genz Benz, Ashdown, Peavey) though it's still not on the same level as the top end stuff (Eden, Aguilar, Bergitino, SWR). My main compliant has been with the cross-over. I'm going to be upgrading that one of these days. The horn is very harsh and hissy. I like the neodynium speakers because they are so light. It's great how everything's becoming so compact nowadays. With the new neo speakers coming out, and companies like Schroeder with their designs and Accugroove shoving as many different speaker configurations as possible into a single box, hauling equipment is no longer becoming a hassle.

[Ron]

... a lot of the blame can be placed on the person turning the knobs.

Back when I was running house systems I worked wih a band whose guitar player had a new amp. I'm not sure of the brand, but it had a sweepable midband. Well the guitar sound was horrid during sound check, with way too much mid (which IMO is hard to do with a guitar, usually it's the "scooped out" bodyless opposite). I walked up on stage and asked what was up with the sound. The guitarist replied "I don't know, but Ive got both mid controls the whole way down and there still is too much".

Some people will get that.

[Punkinhead]

I think the end result is that it doesn't matter what you have if you suck...I've heard terrible of every kind of amp. I've also heard the same things sound phenomenal. When Steve Vai played with Frank Zappa, he was often given a shitty amp by Zappa and made to play through it. I'd be wiling to bet if it still sounded like shit, Vai wouldn't have been there anymore. I think a best amp is truly personal thing IMO. I don't see how anyone can justify saying anything is better than something else and consider it anything more than their own opinion (not including some obvious exceptions).

That has always been my belief really. I'll swear by and older 5150 and the JCM800 but, I'd never expect anyone else to just the same that I can't stand how I sound with a Mesa behind me.

[bassist_25]

Excellent point!

We guitarists and bass players get hung up on gear because there's so much out there. Speaking from a bass player's perspective, I know that one's tone has about 75% to do with his or her technique. There's a reason why violionists spend years perfecting their bowing technique or trumpet players try to find the best embouchure.

[Matt_22]

I play a mesa dual rec. I have nothing but great things to say about that amp. As stated above "its the person turning the knobs". I go for a metal sound and there is nothing on my amp past the 1 o'clock position. When tuning in a mesa READ THE MANUAL, and remember less is better. When I record with that amp it is at a volume level you can talk over. The recording come out great. The amp must be set to play at loud volumes or quiet volumes with a tube amp because the volume will add a natural gain to your tone. I've heard marshall amps that sound great(all tube amps) and I've heard marshall amps that sound like crap. I always wanted to try a diezel head. Used by adam jones. I think he has a perfect sound but I head he has enough pre amps to fill a truck.

[Griff]

Excellent point!

We guitarists and bass players get hung up on gear because there's so much out there. Speaking from a bass player's perspective, I know that one's tone has about 75% to do with his or her technique. There's a reason why violionists spend years perfecting their bowing technique or trumpet players try to find the best embouchure.

I can totally agree with you on this Paul. as well as you said in a previous statment about turning nobs. some people make the mistake of chaining to many pedals in line and using to many effects and that will kill the tone of a good amp and playing style is alot of it also being a bass player I can say alot of it is hand technique. I found out years ago you can't make chicken salad from chicken shit

[KMFDM ROB]

My rig is,

Mesa Boogie Triple Recto- (depending on where I'm playing) 1 or 2 Marshall JCM900 4x12 1960 cabs, with Celestion G12s).
Boss NS2 (sometimes I use this)
Boss GE7 (Rarely used anymore)
Boss BF2 (always used)
Boss CE2 or a CH5(One of the other is ALWAYS in the rig)
Crybaby wah (*soon to be replaced with either the tremonti wah, or the ZW wah, both sound excellent, and I need to play them side by side)
Boss TU2 (great tuner pedal, easy to see)

I used to take my Korg DTR2 EVERYWHERE, but the TU2 pedal does what I need, and I don't need the rack.

I use Everly strings, and Dunlop SHARP TORTEX 1.35MM Picks.

That said,

Almost ANY tube amp can go to crap with just a slight turn of a knob. There are nights that I hate the sound, then others I love it. Different clubs, different acoustics. A slight change in the eq here, means another one here.

Now, the Mesa having active controls, you kind of ball park figures that are good, then you go from there. My Mesa can go from death to daisies in a second, and it sounds great at both.

I used to have a JCM800 2210 100W 2 channel with FX loop head, man that amp sounded great, and was loud. The distortion was to die for, but the clean sucked some series balls. I sold that, kept the Mesa and have never looked back.

The only other amp I really want is a Diezel VH4S. I played on in California, offered the guy, 1000$, my Mesa, and my Marshall for it, and he said "if they sounded better, I would". The Diezel sounded great, the 5K$ price tag is unrealistic. I hear overseas you can get them for the price of a rectifier here.

The rig does a large part of it, but your guitars do a lot too. I love a Seymour duncan Distortion pickup in the bridge, and a Jazz in the neck. I've not tried the combo in my PRS, because I think it sounds great as is. Different body woods, different veneers or caps, are all going to affect the tone. Hell, even the amount of rack shit or foot pedals you use are going to change the tone.

I love my amp, for the 3 channels (I actually use all three) the volume it can attain, the road worthiness, and the fact that it sounds great! You may hate my amp. What's the best rig? The one that sounds awesome to you.