Those are Musicman Axis guitars.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Splawn Competition 50W

Splawn makes a hell of an amp. Not familiar with the Competition, but the Nitro is a modern classic.

The competition is a single channel version of their Quick rod. It's a modded JCM800 style of lead channel. Think Ride the Lightning. The Nitro is in the same category as your 6505 with a modern voicing and crushing lows.

Suggestion……

PRS Forums!

quote:

Originally posted by Butch 2340:
Those are Musicman Axis guitars.

Yes, but the sunburst and darker blue ones are the pre-Axis EVH ones - pretty rare and pricey.

quote:

Originally posted by TannerBoyl:
I love Fender amps. I currently have a ‘59 Bassman Reissue, a ‘72 Champ and a ‘68 Princeton Reverb. I purchased a reissue spring reverb tank a few years ago and it switched between the Bassman and the Champ.

If I were going to have one amp, I’d go with the Princeton Reverb. It’s a great little amp and it’s more power than I need.

In terms of a guitar, I love Gretsch. I have a 1960 6118 Double Anniversary. I bought it years ago for $1200. I saw one on eBay a months ago for $1800. It’s a great way to get into a vintage guitar without spending a ton. For whatever reason, the Double Anniversary isn’t as collectible, but it is a great guitar that looks awesome. The downside is that many of the older Gretsch guitars have binding rot, which is an expensive fix.

I also have an Electromatic. I got a good deal on a 5422TG a few years back. It’s a Korean made guitar. It sounds good and it plays well.

If Paul Reed Smith guitars interest you, check out the CE line. This is the bolt-on neck line. I really prefer the feel of the Pattern Thin neck. If you shop around, you can find deals on the CE24s. I own two from 2021: a solid body and a semi-hollow. I can’t tell much of a difference in sound, but switch back and forth on which one I like more.

Good luck with your search!

Agreed. A Gretsch though a Princeton Reverb would be dynamite, either clean or with some crunch.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
... A Gretsch though a Princeton Reverb would be dynamite, either clean or with some crunch.

I was actually doing a little research into the '57 Custom Champ 1x8" 5-watt combo. I was thinking in-home, the ability to lift it into distortion would make less power better? I dunno though. Still just researching.

Also planning to do a lot more research into modelers. But man, I have sooooo much to learn about,.. well,... everything. Which is great!

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
I was actually doing a little research into the '57 Custom Champ 1x8" 5-watt combo. I was thinking in-home, the ability to lift it into distortion would make less power better? I dunno though. Still just researching.

Historically speaking, yes. These days, however, there's all kinds of gain and boost on tap. What you want is to buy a Klon Clone off Mark123 if he's still building pedals. Put that in your signal chain and you can push any amp at any wattage at any volume to something very usable. If not, any boost or drive peal will do it, and there's only a million options on the market. It hasn't been necessary to push an amp to breakup via volume for a long time.

So you're saying over drive it on the input with a pre-amp of some sort?

We call them effects pedals or stomp-boxes, but yes, that's what that is.

Here's two higher end options as examples:

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...rent-overdrive-pedal

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...tate-overdrive-pedal

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
... A Gretsch though a Princeton Reverb would be dynamite, either clean or with some crunch.

I was actually doing a little research into the '57 Custom Champ 1x8" 5-watt combo. I was thinking in-home, the ability to lift it into distortion would make less power better? I dunno though. Still just researching.

Also planning to do a lot more research into modelers. But man, I have sooooo much to learn about,.. well,... everything. Which is great!

Yes, a Prince can get a little loud when pushed. Not call the cops loud, but louder than your wife might like. But the sound is so good.

After you get a compressor, a pre-EQ (critical), some overdrives/boosts, some modulation i.e. chorus/flange then delays (tape, digital, bucket brigades) and then those bitchin’ cool reverb’s…

You gotta Lotta pedals, wires and batteries/power and noise.


Guitar f/x pedals are to guitarists, as make-up is to women.


(300 amps, 2000 cabs, 200+ effects, routing all in one box. Stereo too. Seamless )

Overdrive pedals are such a rabbit hole. After lots of trial and error and money, I settled on the cheapo, but totally solid Boss SD-1 for the rare times my Marshalls need a little more grunt.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
Guitar f/x pedals are to guitarists, as make-up is to women.

You can, and I think most guitarists do. When you get it out of your system, you're either left with one multi fx you like, plus that one boost or distortion you can't replicate, or you're like me, with a boost and distortion in the front end and a reverb in the fx loop, and that's it. Less is more.

Rick, I also have an SD-1. I think that, or an OD-1 is an essential, and arguably some of the most owned pedals, ever.

I have a TS clone and Orange Squeezer compressor clone I soldered up from byoc and that's it.

I have several amps and guitars. I use a Princeton reverb reissue and usually a PRS or a Fender telecaster. I started building also, a few Martin replicas and working on a 335 right now. I have been eyeing a Gretsch Chet Atkins used at the local music store. I started 2 years ago and enjoy it quite a bit. Good luck on your journey.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
We call them effects pedals or stomp-boxes, but yes, that's what that is.

Here's two higher end options as examples:

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...rent-overdrive-pedal

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...tate-overdrive-pedal

If you're running an overdrive pedal, does it really matter what the amp is? Or is the combo amp then just a clean lift of the pre-signal for output to the speaker.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
We call them effects pedals or stomp-boxes, but yes, that's what that is.

Here's two higher end options as examples:

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...rent-overdrive-pedal

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...tate-overdrive-pedal

If you're running an overdrive pedal, does it really matter what the amp is? Or is the combo amp then just a clean lift of the pre-signal for output to the speaker.

There are two ways they get used.

Traditionally, the mild-to-medium crunch of a turned up tube amp is mostly from the power amp tubes being driven into distortion. Since the power tubes are the ones that drive the speaker, pushing the power tubes hard enough to distort means it’s going to be loud.

An OD can be used as a boost pedal - to amplify the input signal to the amp to drive the amp’s preamp tubes into distortion. Guitar amp volume controls are usually after at least the first preamp stage, so you can play it loud with extra preamp distortion, or you can turn the amp down and reduce the volume but still have some preamp distortion.

Preamp tubes aren’t just smaller tubes, they are a different type of tube, and preamp distortion does not sound the same as power amp distortion.

An OD can also be used as a distortion pedal (usually with less distortion available than something actually labeled a distortion pedal). In this case, you’re using the distortion that happens inside the pedal, and the sound coming out of the speaker will have the distortion from the pedal even if the amp itself is running perfectly clean.

There are a very, very few pedals that use tubes, but nearly all of them use transistors to generate distortion. Transistor (solid state) distortion does not sound like tube distortion.

In practice, people almost always use some blend of both these approaches with OD pedals (some distortion from the pedal and some extra preamp drive from boost from the pedal) but how those get balanced is very much personal preference.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
If you're running an overdrive pedal, does it really matter what the amp is? Or is the combo amp then just a clean lift of the pre-signal for output to the speaker.

Short and sweet answer: Yes, it does. Everything in the signal chain affects the tone, everything. I can put the same pedal set the same way in front of five different amps set the same way with the same guitar and cables and not one of them is going to sound the same. Also, your terminology is off, it’s “boost,” “push, or “drive” the amp. You’re the only person I’ve ever seen use “lift” in place of those.

Maladat explained it well, the only thing I would add is that to get power amp distortion, you’re typically talking volume levels where your wife is coming in and telling you to turn it down. Even at five watts with a tube amp, for that level of power amp distortion, you’re past hearing safe volume. Unless you’re playing jazz or something absolutely clean, preamp distortion is a good thing. You can put a drive in front of a clean channel to push it just a bit and sweeten up the tone and attack for blues, or put a drive in front of a drive channel with the pedal set for nothing but volume to take your amp’s natural distortion to a whole new level, and tighten up the attack, and shape the mids.

In the world of electric guitar, you’re not just playing the guitar, you’re playing the amp also. It’s as much an instrument as the guitar, with it’s own voicing and characteristics that players will either seek out or avoid, based one where they want to go, tonally. A Super Reverb is a great amp, and you can amazing clean sounds out of it that may comparable to an AC30, but neither amp is going to respond to attack the way the other will. Hit the Super real hard and it’s not going to open up and bloom the way the AC30 will, and either one is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for.

We're going back a good many years, but I actually have an A.S. in Electronics Technology, and this was far enough back (barely) to where they actually still taught tube theory. Oh man, I'm dating myself! I still use the phrase "inter-electrode capacitance" as a BS term to sound all super smarty pants in a joke or whatever. I remember using the o-scope to look at class A amps vs, B etc, and over driving into the clip.

Like most things though, I've forgotten more than I remember. But it's helping me to follow what you're saying.