We have a couple threads going at present covering amps – bigalthethird's What kind of amps do you have? topic and hummingbird_rose's Amp-y suggestions thread.
So I thought what the heck. I've been meaning to post direct audio comparisons of some of my amps for months, I have most of them in the same place for once, and it seems a good opportunity.
So what to play? I found in my looper a 4-minute program I used last year for a compressor shootout. It covers a wide dynamic range, lots of techniques (sloppily, of course), and single coils and humbuckers in various combinations.
It comprises variations (maybe simultaneous parts, played linearly rather than stacked) on a musical theme I've been hacking away at, which I think ought to be called "Hummingbird Suite" in honor of the young lady's inspiration.
The whole sequence plays from the looper through each amp in turn, with overdrive kicking in and out – and some reverb and other knob-twisting along the way.
I set the amps to my usual tone, and turned them up to where they just start to exercise...louder than I usually get to play at gigs, where I end up with enormous headroom, but not screamin' blues-gig loud. It works out to about a third-to-half the way up on all the amps.
Dirt: Two of the amps have switchable distortion channels (on the Peavey Classic 30, it shares the tone stack and has separate gain and volume; on the Fender Concert, it has a separate tone stack) – so that's what I used for dirt.
On four of the amps which lack dirt channels, I used a Digitech Bad Monkey, set for the most transparent tone possible, and with just moderate dirt.
On the tweed Princeton, I used no pedals - instead I cranked the volume knob back and forth for the various sections, which takes the amp from clean to overdriven bark.
And I didn't get the dirt switched at exACTly the same place every time...but probably close enough.
Reverb: The Princeton has no reverb, and the Silvertone's reverb is horrible; on those I used the E-H Holy Grail. Everything else used its own reverb, set to a moderate level most of the way through, but cranked up (to about 75%, usually) in a twang section for reference.
Tremolo: Nope. Four of the amps have it (though it's useless on the Ampeg Portaflex), but I forgot to mess with it. Sorry.
Recording: The Edirol stereo recorder was set about 8" off the floor and a foot from the amps in all cases. Resulting files were normalized - which you might at first think levels volume differences between the amps. But, strangely, there really ISN'T much perceived volume difference, even across a range of amps from 4.5 watts to 60 watts.
Go figger.
The contestants, in order of rated power.
• 1957 Fender 5E2 Princeton: 1-6V6GT power tube (original), 8" speaker (original), 4.5 watts
• mid-60s Ampeg Reverberocket GS-12-R: 2-7591 power tubes, 12" speaker (original), 18 watts
• 1978 Fender Deluxe Reverb (recently rebuilt to blackface specs): 2-6V6GT, 12" Jensen Special Design, 22 watts
• 2003-ish Peavey Classic 30: 4-EL84 tubes, 1-12" Peavey Blue Marvel, 30 watts
• mid-60s Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve: 2-6L6 power; 2-12" speakers (replacement), 45 watts
• mid-60s Ampeg Portaflex B212-XT: 2-7027A/6L6WGB tubes; 2-12" speakers (not original, appear to be 70s-80s Fender Jensens), 50 watts
• 1986 Fender Concert II (Rivera-design): 2-6L6, 1-12" Celestion something; 60 watts
Settings
• Princeton: Vol: 6-11 (of 12); Tone: 6
• Rocket: Vol: 4.5; Treb: 4; Bass: 9; Echo (Reverb): 3
• Deluxe: Vol: 5; Treb: 5.5; Bass: 3.5; Reverb: 3+
• Classic 30: Clean Vol: 4-ish (of 12); Bass: 7.5/12; Mid: 7/12; Treb: 9.5/12; Reverb: 7/12; Dirt Pre: 6.5; Dirt Post: 4.5
• Silvertone: Vol: 4; Treb: 9; Bass: 7
• Portaflex: Vol: 4; Bass: 8; Treb: 9.5; Echo (Reverb): 4.5
• Concert: Clean Vol: 4.5; Clean Bass: 4; Clean Treb: 7; Reverb: 4; Dirt Vol: 7; Dirt Gain: 6.5; Dirt Master: 4; Dirt Bass: 3; Dirt Mid: 5; Dirt Treb: 9: Presence: 7 (The Concert has a pull-mid-boost on the dirt channel, which you can hear being switched in and out in a few places.)
Click the pic to hear the amp.
1957 Fender Princeton; 4.5 watts
.
60s Ampeg Reverberocket; 18 watts
.
70s Fender Deluxe Reverb (Blackfaced); 22 watts
.
Peavey Classic 30; 30 watts
.
60s Silvertone Twin Twelve; 45 watts
.
Ampeg Portaflex; 50 watts
.
1985 Fender Concert II; 60 watts
.
What have I learned?
In the signal chain from player through guitar to amp, the player trumps every other factor.
How many times do we have to learn that?
