The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary

View Poll Results: Which Amp sounds best with a Gibson Les Paul?

Voters
31. You may not vote on this poll
  • Fender Twin Reverb

    12 38.71%
  • Fender Super Reverb

    6 19.35%
  • Mesa Boogie Electradyne

    4 12.90%
  • Mesa Boogie F50

    4 12.90%
  • ENGL Thunder 50 Reverb

    0 0%
  • RIVERA Chubster 55

    1 3.23%
  • RIVERA Clubster 25 Doce

    2 6.45%
  • Peavey Classic 30

    4 12.90%
  • Mesa Boogie Subway Blues

    4 12.90%
  • Fender Deluxe 112 plus

    2 6.45%
  • AER Compact 60 III

    0 0%
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Posts 26 to 50 of 51
  1. #26

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    I agree with you and this helped me simplify the problem of buying my first ever archtop guitar (although lot of people would say they sounded different this way or that way which to their ears is probably true :-). I thought that the New President was 1/4 of the price of an L5 and did not sound that different and I could make it sound to my taste with different amplifiers/pickups/EQ and saved myself $4K. Plus the German build quality is more consistent than Gibsons. I later purchased Max405's Heritage Johnny Smith and a couple of other nice archtops (Peerless and Epiphone) and I am set for life.

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  3. #27

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    Interesting and gives me ear fatigue but fun. Maybe in the listeners end of this there is not a huge difference between any of them? To me I agree with SS a Les Paul makes a fine jazz guitar, please no fenders of any kind for me. I was surprised that the Twin did not grab me at all but maybe the Super Reverb was my favorite nice on the neck PU. I thought the AER was pretty nice too really. I also found the Clubster 25 to sound better than it bigger brother and I have no idea why but it clearly did in my book. The Mesa's were fine not I have completely forgotten but I guess the 2 that stand out are the Super Reverb and AER.

    There a specific prayer in the Church called lectio divina where we read over and over a passage of scripture to maybe hear what stands out and what is the Lord telling us. This exercise reminds very much of the same details and level of engagement with ears instead of direct thoughts from God. It also tells me that probably just like guitars in the end we obsess way to much over the details and things that make very little difference. The Twin did not grab me but just put Kenny B with his Super 400 in a twin and what.............WE GOT A WINNER............

  4. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by medblues
    I agree with you and this helped me simplify the problem of buying my first ever archtop guitar (although lot of people would say they sounded different this way or that way which to their ears is probably true :-). I thought that the New President was 1/4 of the price of an L5 and did not sound that different and I could make it sound to my taste with different amplifiers/pickups/EQ and saved myself $4K. Plus the German build quality is more consistent than Gibsons. I later purchased Max405's Heritage Johnny Smith and a couple of other nice archtops (Peerless and Epiphone) and I am set for life.
    Heritage Johnny Smith is a 'killer' guitar!

  5. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by helios
    I like the Electra Dyne best-it sounded different, but in a good way to me. I recall Kevin Eubanks played one on the Tonight Show.
    My Mesa has treble, bass, midrange, presence, and EQ-sliders (not to forget a clean & fat switch)-so if you can't get tone you like, it's not the amp! There was no amp I truly disliked in this roundup.
    BTW-No one does a shootout/comparison like Makam--Thanks!
    Thank you helios!
    The Mesa Electradyne is 'to die for'. It makes everything so good and sweet ! If it didn't have that weight, which you think is built on the floor

  6. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by makam
    Heritage Johnny Smith is a 'killer' guitar!
    Yes, it sounded very to fine me acoustically as well with thinner carved top. Since I had other archtops with good electric sound and not as good acoustic sound, I had the pickup and all the electronics stripped from it and converted to dedicated acoustic archtop. Lighter and louder.

  7. #31

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    Cool video!
    I've played through of a few of those amps, the video does a pretty job at giving an idea of how they sound. It confirms how I remember those amps sounding in any case.
    My favourite was the Fender Twin. Looks like that Twin has JBLS - that's probably why it's a bit brighter and open sounding than the Super.
    The Mesas were surprisingly underwhelming. Kind of boxy. That said, in a band setting that wouldn't be all that noticeable.
    The Solid State Fender actually was one of the better sounding amps!

  8. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by entresz
    Cool video!
    I've played through of a few of those amps, the video does a pretty job at giving an idea of how they sound. It confirms how I remember those amps sounding in any case.
    My favourite was the Fender Twin. Looks like that Twin has JBLS - that's probably why it's a bit brighter and open sounding than the Super.
    The Mesas were surprisingly underwhelming. Kind of boxy. That said, in a band setting that wouldn't be all that noticeable.
    The Solid State Fender actually was one of the better sounding amps!
    Twin has original Fender stock speakers, no JBLs. You are right about Mesa Boogie, it is unfair for them to put the mid control in the middle, but if it were not so, the review wouldn't be so objective! Those who have played with many amplifiers, know that Mesa with proper tone stacking can be heard or approach the blackface sound at 70-80%, but the opposite does not happen! Ok you have to spend a whole evening trying settings and read the manual, but its essential! And that's where I enjoyed and enjoy the versatility of Electradyne or even the little Subway Blues !!
    The poor solid state Fender Deluxe 112 plus is a big surprise, as I think can handle many guitars in different styles so good !

  9. #33

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    I just put a poll at the beginning of the thread. So don't forget to vote...

    The reason doing so, I think it would be good to put a vote in the thread and try (time allowed) in the near future, to play with the 3-4 amplifiers that will be distinguished, but this time having the tone settings where in my opinion they sound better!

  10. #34

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    While these clips are somewhat helpful. They can be very misleading as well.
    WHAT Tones are you trying to achieve? Which Speakers are you using?
    Where are you gigging? What do you want to deal with in terms of portability?

    Basically a Fender Twin Reverb is the gold standard we all grew up with. But Mesa Boogie has circuits in some of their amps thatemulate and go further as well.

    And then there are newer alternatives like Fender Tonemaster, Boss Nextone and Quilter that can do this same thing without tubes and are way more portable.

    Also recording vs live, direct vs microphone? Way too many good options nowadays,LOL !

  11. #35

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    It's not the tools, it's the craftsman.

  12. #36

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    Agreed, but it helps!

  13. #37

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    The Twin Reverb with what appeared to be JBLs sounded wonderful with the Les Paul on the neck pickup. The Super Reverb didn't sound half bad, either.

    I always did like those combinations. (I played Fender amps when I owned a Les Paul.)

  14. #38

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    Hard for me to pick. My Les Paul never met a Fender amp it didn’t like. For me Gibson guitars and Fender amps is a marriage made in heaven. By the way I have a Fender Deluxe 112 amp. It is a fantastic transistor amp. You can get them cheap ($200 -300 depending on condition).

  15. #39

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    The surprising thing to me was, regardless of amp, I preferred the middle/both pickups selection on the guitar. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, because that's what I usually select for most of my playing on my two most-played guitars--nice Telecasters. Its been years since I had one, but I preferred the same pickup combo on my Les Paul most of the time.

  16. #40

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    My vote isn't so much the Fender Super but the later master volume linear circuit silver face. Sounds good with any speaker size and combination.

  17. #41

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    Hi,

    First: Fender Twin Reverb, what a presence!
    Second: Peavey Classic 30
    Third: Fender Deluxe 112 Plus, the pleasant surprise, it reminds me the Eighty-Five I use.
    Last edited by balthazar; 03-16-2021 at 05:12 PM.

  18. #42

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    The only one's I didn't much like were the Super Reverb, the Engl, and AER (perhaps some confirmation bias there, given that I've never liked either AER's or SF SR's in person; the Engl was too distorted for my jazz preferences). The others were different flavors, but all tasty. For me, the big shortcoming of the test is that it's not telling you how the amp/guitar combination sits in a band mix. It's also not giving any sense of relative volume. So, e.g., at those settings I might like the Twin in the video, but it might be impractically loud, or that sparkle/sheen that sounds good on the video might be ice-picky in the room and/or cause it to get lost in the cymbal wash. Or the Subway Blues might sound really nice and fat/warm here, but too quiet for a louder band and/or not cut through because it's overlapping too much with bass and piano frequency response.

    John

  19. #43

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    So, all the amps sound the same and all the guitars sound the same. I wonder if we can get back to making music....


  20. #44

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    Quote Originally Posted by icr
    So, all the amps sound the same and all the guitars sound the same. I wonder if we can get back to making music....
    Oh come on man! The '92 Ovation acoustic/electric didn't sound anything like the others :-)

    That was pretty hilarious.

    I was thinking about all this the other day. Amps: there's dozens of makers with several models each. Then there's an endless selection of speakers. And tubes for the ones that gottem'. Guitars: even more makers with far more models each. Then pickups, strings, picks and on and on. So we've got hundreds or thousands of variations to dream about, even without mixing in acoustic options.

    Compare that to piano or horn makers and them that play 'em. I've know a several sax players. All played Selmer. So... reeds and mouthpieces. Done.

    We're obsessed with gear because of marketing. Now, I'm an old-school guy who earns the $$ while my wife does most of the shopping. The other day I stopped in to get some dental floss and I was floored by all the options. What the hell? When did that happen? It made me think of all us poor guitar doofuses endlessly looking for the right thing.

  21. #45

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    I can easily think of a guitar collection of 30 instruments that would just be covering the basics..

    Still not there!

  22. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by ccroft
    Oh come on man! The '92 Ovation acoustic/electric didn't sound anything like the others :-)

    That was pretty hilarious.
    Hey, I thought the Gretsch was a little different too!

  23. #47

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    Quote Originally Posted by ccroft
    Oh come on man! The '92 Ovation acoustic/electric didn't sound anything like the others :-)

    That was pretty hilarious.

    I was thinking about all this the other day. Amps: there's dozens of makers with several models each. Then there's an endless selection of speakers. And tubes for the ones that gottem'. Guitars: even more makers with far more models each. Then pickups, strings, picks and on and on. So we've got hundreds or thousands of variations to dream about, even without mixing in acoustic options.

    Compare that to piano or horn makers and them that play 'em. I've know a several sax players. All played Selmer. So... reeds and mouthpieces. Done.

    We're obsessed with gear because of marketing. Now, I'm an old-school guy who earns the $$ while my wife does most of the shopping. The other day I stopped in to get some dental floss and I was floored by all the options. What the hell? When did that happen? It made me think of all us poor guitar doofuses endlessly looking for the right thing.
    Option anxiety is a real thing. It helps fuel a number of industries. For the few who prefer the simple, humble life, there are monasteries and the like; for the many who just can never get, have, or experience too much, there is... well, look around. And I'm keeping my guitars and amps and books and movies and spices and minor vices because I wish to and because I can, thank you very much. And I hope the same for like-minded individuals.

  24. #48

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    Nice to hear them back to back. The Twin was best for me followed by the Deluxe 112. The Clubster 25 came a very close third and surprised me how good it sounded compared to its bigger brother. the others were nice but sounded to muddy of flat for my taste. YMMV.

  25. #49

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    The Super for me (warmer than the Twin). That said, the 112 and the Mesas were really good.

  26. #50

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    I thought the Super also had the best bridge sound.