Best Amp for a Les Paul?
Peter Eddey
the right amp to get the best from the guitar. I presently have a Fender
Princeton Chorus, but I would like a substantial upgrade. I have been
thinking about a VOX AC30 (because I am in time warp musically) but I am not
sure if this would be the best for the Les Paul. I need some power (but not
too much - I don't play professionally) and a good clean sound as a base
upon which I can build other sounds (e.g some "crunch" and some distortion).
I like to play a bit of everything but blues would be my main line. While I
don't have a lot of money, I am prepared to pay a few extra dollars to get
something good.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Peter Eddey
Macquarie University
T. Joshua Herbold
I don't know exactly what would sound _best_ w/ a Les Paul, but
my roommate plays a '72 Les Paul goldtop through a Fender Bassman
head and a Marshall 4x10 cabinet. IMHO, this setup sounds pretty
good. He also uses a Boss chorus pedal occasionally. I think it
sounds great w/ the chorus. The crunch w/ the Bassman is pretty
heavy, and the clean tones are sweet. Like I said, this may not
be the best sound, but you might wanna check it out!
josh.
The Mushroom
I play a Standard through an AC30 and I guess I live in the same time warp as you :-)
Arnie.
Jean-Christophe MONIER
Last year, I've sold the Fender amp. and purchase a brand new
MARSHALL VALVESTATE 80V combo.
For me, who play a lot of Blues, the MARSHALL & LES PAUL CUSTOM
sound very great, very perfect couple for play Blues.
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NINTRENT14
(T. Joshua Herbold) writes:
I play a 1971 Deluxe through a Musicman HD-130 Tube head and a Peavey
Black widow 15" bass speaker and it sounds great. I like it much
better than through my marshall (jcm 900 dual reverb and two 4x12)
Mark Lewis
I play a Les Paul Standard through a 50W Marshall half-stack and for
home use quite frankly it's too damn loud. I used to play through a 30W
amp and these will give you plenty of volume (remember 100W is NOT twice
as load as 50W). AC30's are great amps with better clean sound than
marshalls. Read some of the recent threads related to them for more
info.
Mark.
- --
.-------------------------{ From: Mark Lewis }---------------------------.
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Tom William Cordea
On a similar note, I use a 1990 Gibson Les Paul Standard with
Gibson HB-lead pickups (I'm not sure if this is the exact name
for the pickup) in the bridge. I play through a Peavey Classic
50 (4x10) combo. I have in the past played exclusively through
a 4x12 Carvin X100B amp setup but, I have found that the 4x10
setup really lets my Paul "cut" through! Sounds great IMO!!!
Tom Cordea
Jim Collins
I've used several amps with a Gibson Les Paul, some worked well, others
were less impressive. I used to have a Marshall 2553 head (50 watts, with
25 watt triode mode, lead mode, effects loop) with a couple of 2x12
Marshall cabs. This was a good Les Paul setup, but I didn't much care for
the lead mode.
A Marshall Bluesbreaker (reissue) amp. 45 watt, 2x12 combo with tremolo
and no reverb. This is not switchable, but it has two channels, a bright
and normal, with two inputs per channel -- a normal and a slightly higher
gain input. This amp was born to play with a Les Paul. Clapton used the
original of this amp with a Les Paul during the Mayall days. The only
drawback is the lack of reverb. This is a drawback for me, but possibly
not many others. Fender and Kendrick make great reverb units.
A Fender Twin Reverb reissue. The ultimate clean amp -- not to mention
loud and heavy. If you like it clean, this is the guy. Unfortunately, at
85 watts of bruising finesse, it was too powerful for me.
An old Fender Pro Reverb. Think of this as a 40 watt version of a Twin.
Great sound with a Les Paul, if you like the classic Fender clean. This
will not give the Marshall Bluesbreaker sound.
Fender '63 Vibroverb reissue. This is a fabulous amp for single coil
pickups, but it is harder to get a big, cleanish sound with a Les Paul.
Humbuckers will turn this amp to mush very early. However, once I put
Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups in a Les Paul, this mush problem
cleared up remarkably. Those pickups have more mids and somewhat less lows
than Gibson's '57 Classics (which I loved through the other amps
mentioned). This gave the Les Paul much more definition through that amp.
Still, as much as I like the Vibroverb, it would not be my first choice
with a Les Paul.
And, a Fender Vibro King. Nah, you don't want to hear about that.
Jimmy
Paul S. August
>From: ped...@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au (Peter Eddey)
>Subject: Best Amp for a Les Paul?
>Date: 1 Jul 1994 02:19:51 GMT
>I have recently purchased a Gibson Les Paul standard and now need to find
>the right amp to get the best from the guitar.
[snip, snip]
I play my 79 LP Custom through a Marshall JCM 800 50 wattt 1/2 stack and it
has LOTS of crunch, long sustain, etc. Like the other post said. WAY TOO
LOUD for a home amp...
Paul
Huh? What? Can't hear you, I've been playing my Les Paul again.
aditya rao
--
Aditya
5011 S. Dorchester
Chicago IL 60615
312 624-0725
William G. Sacks
: [snip, snip]
: Paul
I missed the original post, so I'm not sure if you specified the
application which you're looking for, but I'd recommend a number of
different amps for the LP:
-Fender Vibrolux/Tremolux/Deluxe all crank out between 25 and 35
watts, and have plenty of excellent headroom which you can exploit with
the sustain of the maple top.Turn 'em up for that classic American
overdrive...I've used a pair of Tremolux heads for a number of years now,
and have recently played through a friend's glorious '60 Deluxe. Tone to
be reckoned with.
-Mesa Trem-O-Verb, which I just got my hands on, and have
recently pulled some power tubes to take it down to 50w. So many
potentially cool sounds, especially with the right set of humbuckers,
that it's hard to imagine anyone *not* finding at least one usuable tone
from it. Not the 80s-style, "processed" Boogie sound which so many
high-haired metal bands (ab)used to no one's good...
-Orange Overdrive 80, which aren't all that easy to find, but
which give complex overdrive that can compete with any master volume
Marshall I've ever heard. Old style cruch and singing sustain... Jeff
Beck swore by these through his "fusion" period in the 70s.
-HiWatt Custom 50, pre-80. Tremendous volume for a 50w amp, with
great high end response and a very distinctive gain circuit. Want to know
what these sound like with a LP? Check out almost any live Who recording
from the 70s. Good stuff, and often cheaper than the Marshalls.
Scott Freemire
William G. Sacks writes:
> -Mesa Trem-O-Verb, which I just got my hands on, and have
> recently pulled some power tubes to take it down to 50w. So many
> potentially cool sounds, especially with the right set of humbuckers,
> that it's hard to imagine anyone *not* finding at least one usuable tone |> from it. Not the 80s-style, "processed" Boogie sound which so many
> high-haired metal bands (ab)used to no one's good...
Run that by me again... "pulled some power tubes"?
Can you explain that little bit please?
Can anyone else comment, is this cheap fun for any amp?
Since the kids came it's been: Master = 1/2 to 1
Thanks,
Scott
--
*****************************(d...@csg.mot.com)*********************************
Steve Cowell
>
>
>William G. Sacks writes:
>
>> -Mesa Trem-O-Verb, which I just got my hands on, and have
>> recently pulled some power tubes to take it down to 50w. So many
>
You may reduce the power of a 100w amp to near 50w by pulling two of the
power tubes... *don't* pull them both from one side, but one from each
side, to retain both halves of the waveform.
This doubles the primary impedance the output transformer sees, so either
cut loose one speaker (in Twin-type applications), find another way to
double your speaker impedance (unplug one of the 4x12 cabs), or switch
the speaker impedance switch one click *down* (run it at 8 ohms for
a 16 ohm cabinet). This preserves the impedance/turns ratio, to keep
the loading on the final tubes the same.
This is more critical in Marshall amps, and may not be necessary in
Fender applications... if you want to keep it kosher, do the speaker
impedance when you do the tube impedance. Read the Tube Amp Book for
more on this... you will miss some 'sag' since the power supply is
more than willing to put out all the current two tubes can handle.
This translates to less of a compression effect, described by some
as 'harsh'.
--
Steve.......scowell@aoc.nrao.edu................
Tremolux
you have the speaker impedance selector set correctly. Failure to do so
may result in too high peak voltages developing on the plates which will
cause pin-to-pin arc over on the EL34 sockets. I've seen this happen.
When it does, you find another amp to play for the rest of the gig, later
you replace the damaged tube sockets and you replace the EL34s because the
arcing damages their base. Once a carbon track is formed, it's all over.
I'm not sure why, but Hiwatts seem to be particularly sensitive to this.
I think they run the EL34s at a fairly high plate voltage.
John.
David Morning
>I agree with Steve. Please note that on Hiwatt amps, it is critical that
>you have the speaker impedance selector set correctly. Failure to do so
>may result in too high peak voltages developing on the plates which will
>cause pin-to-pin arc over on the EL34 sockets. I've seen this happen.
I've never had this problem with a Hiwatt, and that includes running into both
an open and short circuit.
>When it does, you find another amp to play for the rest of the gig, later
>you replace the damaged tube sockets and you replace the EL34s because the
>arcing damages their base. Once a carbon track is formed, it's all over.
>I'm not sure why, but Hiwatts seem to be particularly sensitive to this.
>I think they run the EL34s at a fairly high plate voltage.
~480 volts, much the same as everyone else. Maybe you're thinking of old
Marshall Superleads which came with a pretty marginal output transformers
David Alan Forsyth
>Subject: Pulling tubes? (was Re: Best Amp for a Les Paul?)
>Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 21:12:44 GMT
>William G. Sacks writes:
>> -Mesa Trem-O-Verb, which I just got my hands on, and have
>> recently pulled some power tubes to take it down to 50w. So many
>> potentially cool sounds, especially with the right set of humbuckers,
>> that it's hard to imagine anyone *not* finding at least one usuable tone |>
>from it. Not the 80s-style, "processed" Boogie sound which so many
>> high-haired metal bands (ab)used to no one's good...
>Run that by me again... "pulled some power tubes"?
>Can you explain that little bit please?
>Can anyone else comment, is this cheap fun for any amp?
>Since the kids came it's been: Master = 1/2 to 1
Just slightly off topic (I can't help with tube pulling)
I usually play my accoustic after kids bedtime and sometimes really thump
it, they sleep (even go to sleep) while I'm playing and stir and roll over
when I stop.
You turning down for the kids, the wife, or your own hearing? (-;
Hope it's for all your hearings, actually
>Thanks,
>Scott
Keep playing
David Forsyth da...@iwr.ru.ac.za
Institute for Water Research Rhodes Unversity South Africa
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