I thought it would be interesting to learn what you guys..and gals use for your amp of choice...tubes...mods...tell all...

I use a 2005 Fender Hot Rod Deluxe... I did a lot of rewiring...per the Vandeberg Mods here on the net...stock speaker, all tubes are JJ's from Antique Electronics Supply out of AZ...great folks there... I talked to a tech there until I got the tubes (numbers) I liked... I also have rebiased the amp to about 74 to 76 Ma... it comes fromt he factory waaaay to cold at 60 Ma... changed the v2 ax7 to an at7 so the HOT side is not outta control...yet now days I find I don't use anything but the clean channel...and maybe my 1982 Ibanez Tube Screamer...

I am the third owner of a 1953 Fender Deluxe...5b3 circuit...she is a great amp....rca tubes...all origonal except I had the caps changed out..and all resistors that were outta tolerance replaced...ooooh and a three prong cord on her... here is a photo of the Tweed...

I got the Tweed Deluxe for FREE... I helped someone out by selling off thier guitars and amps for medical bills...this lady's husband had passed...and left lots of cool stuff behind... and i got this! wow...

L:ast year I splurged and bought her a road case...so deserving for her to be in it ya think? another pic... so I havent posted my main ampo...a Hot Rod Deluxe...'cause...they are a dime a dozen....but after modding mine..and fixing issues she had...(the HRD) I love the amp...and a nice size for giging...not to bulky not to heavy...

Dang!!! Now THAT is a score! Must be awesome to play thru that thing.

I don't gig. Depending on my mood it's either the Super Champ XD or the Peavey VK.

de Lisle 15P. 15 watt 1x 12 combo.

With expanded control panel option.

15 watts. 2 x EL84 for power (I run the tubedepot 7189 preferred series) with a pre-amp of 12ax7 (don't remember what's in there right now, but a lower gain version to increase headroom) and an EF86 (EH NOS).

The expanded control panel option gives me separate controls over the gain of the pre-amp tubes.

A hellatone, avatar's modified G12H30, serves as the 12".

My only regret is that I didn't have the scratch to have Jer put his tube trem in.

I use a SCXD. Quite funny little amp and still loud. It has GT 6V6 tubes and lots of functions. Some say it's a toy but I disagree. And I have an other amp to prove it.

My other amp is a Victoria Regal II. Hand wired and supposed to be the bees knees. It's really good but I would not say ten times as good as the SCXD. It does cost ten times more. The Regal will survive small disasters and the SXCD won't but you can buy 9 new SCXD if they die, for one Regal.

Funny thing is the possibility to put all kinds of tubes in the Regal. There are two single ended amps inside and you can mix power tubes. No matched pairs needed. All orphan tubes can be plugged in. I bought it, to get a two watt amp with a serious speaker. But I still didn't try low watt tubes.

The Regal is ideal to test how a tube sounds. Just plug and play.

Ruby 6L6 tubes sounds very harsh and cold.

TAD 6L6WGC-STR tubes are also unpleasant, harsh and cold.

Radiotron NOS 6V6 sound very nice and warm.

NOS RCA and Tung Sol 5881 have the best response ever. Because the Regal is single ended, you have some bias hum. The more powerful the tube, the louder the hum. Especially the 5881 hum quite loud. But because the hum does not get louder when you open the volume, I would really recommend these tubes for louder concerts. The tone is full and balanced.

SCXD:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Regal II:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/243...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/243...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/243...

Note: none of this played by me.

Pignose. Why? what else could you possibly need.

In no particular order, the regular gigging amps are a 55 Tremolux, 65 Princeton Reverb, and 66 Vibrolux Reverb - I am pretty close to buying a 67 Deluxe Reverb in a mismatched cabinet that may replace all of the above. I have a number of big vintage amps too, but I don't use them much at all anymore.

-I mostly use my 1960 Tweed Deluxe and if it would have enough power for every situation that would be the only amp I ever needed.
-I have a 1965 Deluxe for situations where I need a bit more power or more cleans.
-My 1960 Tweed Champ is for home use and when I go to a friends house and play. -My '63 Blond Bassman was my main amp from the late 80s until a couple of years ago. But I just don't feel like dragging it around anymore and I don't need the power. I recenty sold my '63 Showman head. I basically never used it so I sold it to get the '65 Deluxe.

Very nice Deluxe btw, Rick!

Rehearsal amp is a silverface Vibrolux Reverb. Currently the usual gigging amp is a Peavey 2x12 100W Valveking combo with upgraded speakers (one Celestion GT 100, one Eminence Wizard).

However, I've acquired a Fender Frontman 100W 2x12 combo and I'm in the process of rewiring the amp/speaker connection to turn it into a 2x12 cab (with emergency amp section) that I can use with either an old Traynor YBA-1 50W head, or a vintage Burman 100W head. Then if the old amp head plays up I can at least get through the gig by plugging in the Frontman's amp section.

I use a 63' Blonde bassman with NOS tubes and my Blondeshell '63. The 6G6-B bassman I feed into an early custom shop Tonemaster 212 w/ dual V30s. The blondeshell 63' runs into an original 64' bassman cab w/ dual V30s and a Tophat 212 sporting a mismatch of a Scumnico and G12H30.

for late night noodlin' I have a blackface vibrochamp w/ a 10" greenback and merc mags fat champ OT.

Love my Fender Frontman Reverb with a Jensen speaker. I use my Gretsch 5222 for clean. I have a Peavey that I never use.

In no particular order:

Marshall JCM900 4101 100w 1x12 combo Marshall JCM900 2500 50w head w/ 1960A 4x12 cab Marshall JCM800 4104 50w 2x12 combo Peavey Session 400 210w 1x15 combo - for those times you need mind numbing clean sounds.

For larger venues, I use my '68 Fender Super Reverb . . . my pride and joy!

For smaller venues, I use my Ampeg J20 ( basically a Fender Brown Deluxe in Ampeg Clothing)..

Several years ago I scored a Pignose G40V at a swap meet that the previous owner changed out the stock speaker to a Mojotone AlNiCo 10" and upgraded all the tubes. This little box is very LOUD.

I also have a VOX AD30VT Valvetronix modeling amp and a Gretsch G5222.

I've been jonesing for a Egnater Rebel 20 tho really bad.

I have a lot of 50's & 60's amps but mostly I use a blackface Princeton rvb or a ZT lunchbox

Lunchbox is fantastic for what it is. 9 pounds and stupid loud for its size. Shockingly good sounding, and feels and responds like a vintage tube amp.

I gig all the time with a Roland Cube "Street" battery-powered affair (we play drink-side jazz at quiet restaurants).

My favorite amp is my Victoria 5112, which is a SF1 Champ circuit in a 1X12 tweed Deluxe cabinet.

My other amp is a Boogie 50w Rect-O-Verb that feels like it's bolted to the floor, but is fun for flapping my pantlegs when I'm tired of drink-side jazz and Showtunes and want to kick out some jams.

...for everything...'nuff said...

I've been using a Fender Blues Jr III for the past seven months, and really like it. I replaced the V1 preamp tube with a Tungsol tube, and I think it made a nice difference in tone. In my opinion, the BJ III is a big improvement on the previous versions. I recently purchased another 15 watt tube amp on an ebay auction, and I'm looking forward to gigging with it, and posting it here on GDP.

A stock Mesa Mini Rectifier. Cleanest clean, dirtiest dirty, and lots of stuff in between.

Mini Rectifier 25

I'm running a Fender G-DEC 3 THIRTY with upgraded Eminence Ragin' Cajun 10" speaker along with the standard Fender tweeter. I'm running the line outs of the G-DEC directly into the power amp of my Kustom KB100 bass amp completely bypassing the preamp so I can blend in some of that beautiful 15" low end. I find the tone phenomenal since I can control the amount of 15" speaker I want with the volume knob on the KB100.

I have become a big proponent of modern solid state amps and their incredible reliability with virtually no maintenance not to mention the excellent tones and features you get with them.

I just play at home, but got the tube amp bug about 15 years ago. Here's a recent fave that was one of the first I bought:

It's a Jan. '64 head (regrilled) on a mojo 1x12 cab. I switch the cab between a 4 ohmJBL E120 or an 8 ohm Emi Tonker.

Here's another:

A '61 Fender Super, with factory original s.s. rectifier - possibly ex-Barney Kessel. It has a dymo label on the back that says "Kessel" which is why I suspect that. Never been able to find a photo of what amps he used.

Got a bunch of others - blackface, silverface, a tweed champ assembled by 'Lily' (my daughter's name), a couple kit amps I've built, a '70's Ampeg GU-12, red Carmen Ghia, and one beautiful Hiwatt!

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe - Bought it used in 2001.

A Deluxe Reverb is getting some use these days. A Gibson Explorer from the '60s-- about 12 watts-- works well in small venues.

Most of my gigs lately have been acoustic, however, and I usually just plug the G400JV into the board or play through a mic for bluegrass gigs.