Super High Clean Headroom for Live Looping.

[Boy_Narf]

Hello Everyone,

I've been on a quest for a while now. Wasted a bit of money, and more than enough of my time. I'm in need of an electric guitar combo that has an EXTREME level of clean headroom. I'll list what I've tried below. Nearly all of them didn't have enough headroom with the exception of the THR100H which is not even close to 100 watts volume wise, and the 65 Twin which was very harsh at higher volumes and got a bit "warm" for my liking.

Primary guitars are a Les Paul Jr. and a Stratosonic Jr. (Single P90 in both of them).

Right now I'm looking into the Quilter stuff. I have been intrigued by their new Frontier cab, and either the tone block 201, or the pro block 200. I don't have any chance to try one out however so I'm hesitant to drop that kind of money on something I can't test. These do seem to fit the bill however.

I know you folks are all about cleans here and I've used this forum quite a bit during my research, but it's time to finally ask for some help. First off I don't play jazz. I play progressive metal and need a squeaky clean high-headroom amp that can handle multiple layers from my Rang III. Lots of amps have enough HR with just one guitar playing, but after I add a few layers with the Rang, they all start to get overly warm/muddy. During my quest, I've come to discover that I prefer a bright full range solid state clean tone. Tubes have their place that's for sure, but not in this project.

If anyone, can give me any recommendations on an amp that could make the cut I would REALLY REALLY appreciate it. Really only looking into combos at the moment (don't want to haul another head/cab), and around the 60 lbs mark would be great. Not interested in tube emulation or anything like that. I can make pretty much any tone work as long as there is a decent EQ on board.

Thanks!

Amps I've tried:

Traynor YCV40WR
65 twin
68 twin
112 mesa combo
Victory V40
Traynor Iron horse (straight into the power amp)
Yamaha THR100H
Egnater Tweaker 15
Ibanez TSA15
Bassman 500
Blues DeVille 410
Peavey Bandit 112.
AMT F1 --> ELX115P
JC40

Amps I've yet to test but intend to if I can:

Twin 65 Custom 15
Mesa Electra Dyne 90 watt combo
JC120
Special Chorus 212
Roland GA212

[TedBPhx]

You should try the Boss Katana. Many like it, some don't.

[wzpgsr]

An old Lab Series L11. 200 watts, should have gobs of clean headroom.

[pingu]

Some here have Quilter stuff I believe
so you'll probably get an opinion or two here !

Just looking at it technically , I would think that
very high headroom , needs very high wattage
so the Quilter might well be the way to go ...

Good luck

[medblues]

Alto TS110a with a Wampler Black '65 (or similar) in front of it. 600 W of clean headroom.

Evans RE 500: Evans RE300 | Products | Evans Custom Amplifiers

Or a high watt bass combo of your choice. I am presuming with layering, you will not use reverb.

[Boy_Narf]

Thanks for all the replies so far! Few options I've not heard of. Keep them coming!

I'm setup with an A/B rig via a Startouch ST1.

A: Strymon Timeline, Strymon BlueSky, Rang III Left --> Clean Amp
B: Straight into Rang III Right --> Tiny Terror, Port City OS212V

I had considered the pedal/preamp into a powered speaker thing. I still have the AMT F1, as well as a set of EV ELX115P powered speakers, but together they sound like complete garbage. Not sure why but the tweeter can't handle the pedal at all. It crackles like crazy, even with a completely clean setting and low gain. Probably would do better running into a board first and then into the speakers, but I don't want to be hauling my PA rig along side my guitar rig.

I looked into the Katana, but don't think it will have enough power at 100 watts.

I've also run through a few bass combos and was not overly happy. The Bassman 500 was alright, but lacked presence (it's a bass amp after all). I also own a Traynor SB500H/TC1510, and a SB115, but they both sound awful with guitar.

I just remembered the the SR JAM400 (friend had the 150 a while back), which might fit the bill. I think it's more of a PA than a guitar amp meaning I would still need a preamp/cab modelling pedal of some sort.

The Evans looks great, but wow! By the time I get that bad boy into Canada we are talking about some serious coin there.

[Hammertone]

Peavey Session 400, Session 500 or any of the other high-power pedal steel combo amps Peavey has made for years.
Dirt cheap used, very clean, very loud.

Useful info here:
Peavey.com

[Tomcat]

Hi, I can strongly recommend Groove Tubes Solo 150 Combo: the cleanest clean channel at high volumes I ever heard:
BTW It's not easy to find, they changed the name to Soul-O later due to legal argue with Peavey.

[gitman]

Go hybrid : a preamp of your liking (Sarno makes a Twin-type tube pre and Steel players love it) driving a solid state poweramp -

Jerry Garcia used an Alembic pre and McIntosh tube and/or SS poweramps. No combo amp will do what you want in my honest opinion .....

[Smooth Jazz 64]

If all fairness for the set up you're looking for. Have you considered using a Marshall 150 watt amp?

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[Boy_Narf]

Yea I've looked at a few higher wattage tube combos, but they are either super heavy, or way up there price wise. Plus every single tube amp I've tried is too warm at higher volumes and loses clarity, exactly why I was looking into SS.

[Hammertone]

And the wind … cried … Hartley …

[MaxTwang]

Hi, I can strongly recommend Groove Tubes Solo 150 Combo: the cleanest clean channel at high volumes I ever heard:
BTW It's not easy to find, they changed the name to Soul-O later due to legal argue with Peavey.

Soul-O's are possibly the best sounding clean and edge of breakup amps I've heard, up there with a Jim Kelley. I tried to buy one years ago but an employee at the store was saving up for it and refused to sell it.

[Boy_Narf]

Wow cool amp! If I ever see one in person I'll make sure to give it a shot.

I just stumbled across a Peavey Stereo Chorus 400. Looks to be the late 80's/early 90's model. I believe it has a set of 130 watt amps in the combo (one per speaker). Have read a bit about these in some of the Twin/JC vs threads.

Any experience?

[Pat Clare]

A small PA system may work

[Boy_Narf]

Hey!

Yea actually had planned to run my AMT F1 into a Q12 a few months back, but after testing it with my ELX115P (apparently warmer sounding than the Q12) I was left un-impressed.

May still take the F1 into a store and test it with a bunch of different speakers. Might not hurt to look into other preamps too.

[Boy_Narf]

Just hooked it up again to one of the 115P speakers and it's crackle city, and not even 50% gain/volume/pedal output. No way it's loud enough to hang with a drummer, but it did sound great this time. Very odd though. I had these speakers setup last weekend for a dance show and was getting plenty of out put just from my laptop. I was actually asked to turn it down several times as it was a "classy affair" haha. Anyway, I guess the tweeters in these can't handle output of the F1.

[Hammertone]

I just stumbled across a Peavey Stereo Chorus 400. Looks to be the late 80's/early 90's model. I believe it has a set of 130 watt amps in the combo (one per speaker). Have read a bit about these in some of the Twin/JC vs threads. Any experience?

It's particularly good for super high clean headroom for live looping, if that's important. Worth what, $100? $200$

[pingu]

Quilter Amps

How about 800 watts ?
Should be enough !

[Boy_Narf]

Hey folks just wanted to report back. I traded my current gen Bandit for a red stripe bandit and swapped out the speaker for an ET90. While the tone is nice (especially with the ET90), it still breaks up on the clean side. I have been using my Traynor SB500H and TC1510 (with the tweeter rolled in a touch) and it sounds really great! It has a sterile hi-fi tone that just doesn't seem to break. The issue is portability. I think the cab is around 85 lbs. I think a light 210 cab with 250 watt RMS (not program) will do the trick. Still on the hunt for one, but I'm getting there. I think the markbass traveller 102P @ 4 ohms would do the trick. Could stack it on top of my Portcity and have a decently portable setup. $$$$$ though, and I've never seen the 4 ohm version used.

Thanks for the help guys.

P.S. That quilter 800 watt head would probably fit the bill, but I don't even want to consider hauling a cab with 800 watt power handling

I have still yet to try the Katana, but will give it a rip next time I'm in the store. Doubt it would be any cleaner than the Bandit though.

[fep]

I use a Quilter micropro200. It's 100 watts and loud through the 8" speaker, when I plug the 12" cabinet the amp is 200 watts. That's a lot of headroom.

[Boy_Narf]

Hey folks,

What about something like a Mesa Rosette? 300 watts, dual 8" speakers. I would assume it has been designed not to break. They even advertise it as an amp for the stand-up bass. Anyone try one of these guys with an electric guitar?

[jzucker]

You should try the Boss Katana. Many like it, some don't.

doesn't have a huge amount of clean headroom. I'd estimate it to have about 50% of the rated power. You have to turn the gain up to 50% to get loud and then there is some grit to the tone.

[jzucker]

why not get a bass amp and 1x12 full range bass cabinet?

[Boy_Narf]

I emailed mesa support and they advised me the Rosette has as much headroom as one of their 50 watt tube amps. I tried one a while back and it got dirty too quick, so I guess that one is out of the picture.

Yes the bass amp is so far working the best. I'll keep an eye open for a lighter cab that can handle the SB500H (250RMS so shouldn't be hard).