Where Is The Demarcation Line?

[FrankBlack]

So the thread on the new Ibanez WT80 Wholetone amp started me thinking about the thought process of gear acquisition. The main issue raised for this amp (and many other amps) is the weight. At 38 pounds it certainly can be transported, but who wants to drag it on the subway or bus of a major city or lug it up or down flights of stairs, etc? So, I was wondering if everyone has a hard number of amps for certain uses and what those categories of use might be? What are your criteria? Off the top of my head I can think of a few for me:

1) Small, lightweight with good tone. Something you can take everywhere without a fuss. What constitutes "lightweight"? I guess that is up to you. For me it is 20ish lbs. or less. This is your "go to" amp. Something like the ZT Club or Fender Champion or smaller.
2) Battery powered for events with no guaranteed power, dirty power or where it is just easier to avoid running a power cord. Maybe the Crate Limo for this one?
3) Medium-heavy/bulky amp that sounds great but you don't want to lug around all the time. You'll take it out if you must, but it is a bit of a pain. Maybe the new Ibanez WT80 or your Fender Reverb series fits this cat?
4) Your best sounding amp for your concert at Carnegie Hall and you don't trust the sound guy. Weight doesn't matter. You don't take it out for anything other than a special event due to cost or difficulty or weight. Roland JC-120 or Fender 65 Super Reverb or whatever? Maybe that hand-wired boutique amp you bought?

I don't consider "practice amp" to be a category as I'd use as I'd use any amp I owned for practice, but you might consider it a category. I'm sure other categories could include big venue amp, power required, band vs. solo, second input/microphone, etc.

How many amps (guitars) do we need? (The answer, of course, is always "One more.")

[Elias Graves]

I use a diminuitive Champ 600 exclusively now. I don't play for more than a handful of folks, though, so it does fine.
Looking at something bigger now, and a leading contender is a Tech 21 Blonde pedal and an EHX 44 Magnum power amp into a cab.
Amp rig on a pedal board!

EG

[pingu]

1 AER Compact 60
2 looking at getting Hiwatt Busker Amp
HiWatt amplification, the legend lives on
3 Blues jnr
4 N/A

[jzucker]

my best sound is with my Gries 35 watt 1x12 combo. Unfortunately, for really loud gigs it's not clean enough. It's also 40lbs which while not an anchor, is still a bit heavy to lug up and down stairs.

I also have a couple Raezer's edge cabs and a markbass head that I use which makes for a more portable and light setup. It's not quite as sweet sounding or versatile as the gries though.

[mangotango]

1) Henriksen Jazzamp 10
2) Roland Micro Cube - the "around the house" amp.
3) & 4) Vox Valvetronix 60. Funnily enough I took this to the rehearsal with the quartet this week "for comparison purposes", not having used it for ages - and ended up using it all night. It wasn't even as heavy as I remembered it, though the fact that the sax player lifted it in from the car to the studio might have helped! Bigger, warmer sound, more appropriate to that line-up.

Tonight, however, I have a big band gig. Clean is the order of the day and with 5 brass, 6 saxes and a piano to fight with, the Henriksen is it.

Horses for courses.

[mr. beaumont]

My 1 and 4 are the same now, my henriksen/redstone cab.

I have a 2, a microcube, for lessons.

I guess my 3 would be my polytone. I'm never getting rid of that thing...plus, my tele sounds better with it than the henriksen (all my other guitars sound better with the henriksen)

For recording, the next thing I'm going to experiment with is blending the sound of the henriksen and my SF princeton. So is that another category--specific for recording?

s far as practice at home, it's almost always done on an acoustic these days.

[JensL]

1. AER Compac60
2. Old Peavey, forgot what it is called and haven't used for years...
3. Fractal AxeFX+Polytone+mackie powered speaker.
4. '78 Fender Twin, but 42 kgs. is just way too much for one piece of gear..

I think it is 50/50 with 1 and 3 when I play. And I am going to replace the polytone and the mackie in that rig but I did not figure out what yet
Jens

[jzucker]

Jens, you could get permanently banned for running an axefx into a polytone

[JensL]

It actually sounds better than I thought it would
I know it is sacrilege but you gotta work with what you got..

Jens

[Little Jay]

1. '84 Session Rockette 30 (130 euros and I love it to death. It is sooo responsive and reacts like a tubeamp.)
2. Artec MA3T, only for practise and hotel rooms though.
3. My Fender Blues Deluxe
4. 70ies Gyatone Twin Reverb copy with Jensen C12Ks, sounds and weighs just like a Fender

This is what I have at the moment, and it all fits the bill very well.

[nado64]

Last year, I used a gigbag to carry the guitar on my spine.
And something like that for the amp :


Now, it's no necessary, I have a heavy arm.

1/ jazz-chorus 20watts.
2/
3/ vibrolux blackface.
4/ A bass amp, I have tried an old ampeg (B15n, i believe). I dream again about it. Or an old Gibson with two alnico speakers.

[msr13]

1 & 4. Acoustic Image Clarus + RE 12ER
2. Acoustic Flattop
3 & 4. Headstrong Lil' King

[kenbennett]

I have always been a one-guitar, one-amp man. And, to me, there will never be a reason not to play an all-tube amp. I used to carry around a Fender Super, before that a tweed Bassman.

The Super is a little heavy at 65 lbs. So for a while I used a 50W Sovtek head with a 4-10 closed-back Marshall cab, dividing the weight between two pieces.

With modern sound systems, where everything is mic'ed and monitors are liberally employed, I can get by, not just get by but benefit, from a smaller amp.

In the '90s I played a Peavy Classic 30 at a house gig. The club owner made me turn down. I was also the sound man. I wore a wireless guitar, so I could wander to the back of the room and tweak the mix. It was just right in the room, but the stage was aimed right at the bar, and the club owner was also the head bartender.

Later, in a louder band in bigger clubs, I used a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Sound men made me turn down. They want all the control. And sound guys are good these days. You'd be a fool not to trust the sound man at Carnegie Hall.

Lately I've been playing acoustic a lot. I just plug into the mixer. If the sound ain't right, I fix it myself. We operate sound from the stage.

I have a 30W Vox modeling amp that I have used for recording at home and playing jazz in the coffee houses and restaurants.

At my last studio gigs I used a Fender Vibrolux. That is a sweet amp. And it sort of defines my demarcation line: 40 watts, 40 pounds. Give or take a few.