What Have You Heard or Played Lately that Made You Go, "WOW!"

[tele salivas]

Originally Posted by Axis29

I am VERY intrigued by the new Fender Excelsior. Can't wait to try one in person!

I think you'll dig it John, it's toneful and a lot of fun.

[Green Lantern]

Over the course of a couple weeks, I've been decking out my Pro Reverb with old tubes. I've got RCA black plates in it. It gets some pretty gnarly overdrive with those, and the cleans are really good, too. I've also got some Telefunken in the preamp section, which are excellent. I've currently got some Sylvania 12at7's on the way for it.

[jebbo]

Well, my 66 Super Reverb has always had a "holy crap" kind of sound. Last weekend I went to an "outdoor gig" (that's the key words), and I took my Billm modded Blues Junior. I played it unmiced and cranked that thing up. It was almost as good a "holy crap" sound as the SR. (Notice the almost in the previous sentence.) I was very impressed with the Junior though. I think it could pair up with the SR on stage. SR for clean and the Junior breaking up a little bit. I've actualy done that combination at home before, I'm still thinking about a gig with that setup. I never realized how much of a difference those Billm mods made until I cranked it up. I've always had the Junior at church so I couldn't turn it up very loud. The money and time for those mods was worth it. I'm glad I have experience with tube amps though. The waiting list for Billm is almost a year long.

[iCarry]

I have a number of amps but nothing that rocks with gain. A bass player friend sold me a Peavey VTM 60 head with the matching 4 x 12 cab for $200. What a deal for me. It's actually pretty versatile, cleans up with guitar volume but rocks hard when needed. Try one, I'm having fun with it.

[Marcus T]

Just did a bunch of diligent research looking for a small tube amp. Found a used Blues Junior green board, and scooped it up, anticipating the oncoming Billm mods to make it great. It's home. It smells like cigarettes. But it sounds decent.

2 days later, I walk into my local Long and McQuade. There is the Excelsior. I plugged it in, cranked out some riffs. Sounds great! Kind of a one trick pony though. I'm still happy with my purchase.

Then yesterday I go back in to Long and McQuade. (I'm a glutton for punishment) Sitting there is a brand spanking new, Fender Super Champ X2 head hooked up to a Mesa 2x12 cab. "Interesting," I think.

I plug in and let 'er rip.

O.M.G. This thing is incredible. It was so good, I had people gathering around clamouring to see what was making this sweet, sweet sound. Even the guys in the store came over saying, "What is that thing?"

Now I'm lost. do I sell the Blues Jr. before I do the mods and grab a Super Champ X2 combo? Did that Mesa Cabinet make THAT much difference in the sound of the amp? Do I ACTUALLY like it better than the Blues Jr.?

Grrrrrrrr......I have to stop going in that place.

[Jim Dep]

First real "WOW" in a while for me. I picked up a used Seymour Duncan Twin
Tube Classic SFX-03 stomp box ( tube pre amp) and plugged into the
Power Amp In jack on the back of my Peavey Stereo Chorus 212 amp.

By bypassing the Peavey's SS preamp section, I now had the configuration of a tube pre amp combined with 270watts of power amp. WOW !! Those weird military spec tubes that Seymour Duncan uses in these, with the high voltage plate sound amazing. This makes the SS amp sound like a tube amp, and they make my tube amps sound even better.

I love the sound of my Peavey SC 212 anyway, but with the Seymour TTC hooked up with it, now, playing with the EQ, it can sound like a vintage Marshall cranked up, but at low volume. A great amp now sounding like a great old tube amp. WOW! Just freaking WOW!

[AdamCaudle]

I plugged into my amp with a shorter cable and man was there a tone difference. I also retubed the power section of my AC30C2 and it no longer pops and whistles. It sounds incredible.

[IdahoPicker]

My 78 Pro Reverb is treating me good. Running a ToneBone Classic with the 7dB mid-boost engaged: distortion heaven!

[eugenedunn]

Just installed a beefy 100-watt, 8-ohm, 15-inch Altec Lansing 421A speaker with Dia Cone assembly into a Thiele type sealed back cabinet.......it displaced an Electrovoice 15.

Wow, like the thread says..............

[Timbertea]

Originally Posted by Ringo

Believe it or not ( in my best Jack Palance voice!)
A Roland Cube 80xl and a Boss OD3.

No it isn't going to replace my tube amps, 66 Fender Deluxe Reverb and Hinson Z28 style head, BUT ...

I have been getting some amazing tones out of the Cube, the Boss OD3 works really well with the Cube too.
I don't like all the amp models,but the JC Clean, Tweed, Vox and Marshall models sound great, the onboard reverb , chorus, phase, flange, tremolo all sound great, still working with the delay but it's good.

I paid $350 new for the Cube80XL, got a like new Boss OD3 for $50 and it's the most fun I've had in a long time.

And I'm running my Roland GR55 synth into the aux input in the back, it's a neutral input so the GR55 sounds good through that.

I believe it. I spent a day playing a Roland Cube 80XL, a decent Yamaha Hollow body w/ P90's, and a well loved & setup Ibanez Artcore. I had an absolute blast with the amp, and I spent very little time dialing in to find about a half dozen tones I thought were outstanding. It had some decent effects too. I spent half the time dialing in what I wanted as I do on almost all of my tube amps, and more time playing. It wont replace my vintage Ampeg for a handful of sounds, or necessarily my Bandmaster, but I could actually live with the thing full time if I had to, and be quite happy. I haven't said that about a solid state in a long time.

[buefordwilson]

I had a good craigslist find a little bit ago. It's a Kay model 504 with an 8" speaker. I believe the year on the schematic inside it says 1962. Has all of the original tubes from what I can tell. Just replaced the two 12ax7s and my gawd does that little guy rip with some beautiful tube saturation. Crank it back down and enjoy the unbelievable tremolo on it too!

Other than that, I recently completed a Weber '57 low powered Tweed Twin clone with a couple of adjustments and I have never been happier with my gigging sound.

[richey88]

Originally Posted by Middleman

There is a guitar center, not saying where, that has one of the best modern DRRIs I have heard. I have played it side by side with other DRRIs and it has an enhancing quality and sustain which can make an average sounding guitar just sound amazing. I was playing a telecaster the other night through it and had I not known I would have bought the guitar based on the tone I was getting. I then swapped to another DRRI and the tele sounded mediocre at best. It is a one of a kind amazing sound Fender amp. I am negotiating trading my DRRI in along with some cash to get this amp.

I think the reason it sounds so good could be the fact that it has been in the store longer than most amps and has been broken in well by a lot of players. It definitely has a wow factor.

We played (last Fri.) a club we had not been to in a while.I have one of the 1st year DRRI ('92? I forget, I did look it up and it was the 1st year they came out), and I got to do the "magic six" setting (w/ volume at 5) on channel 2, and WOW. I usually don't get to play that loud and it was like a new amp to me. Being an early DRRI having a good break - in period is essential. The new one in my local GC does not have the same snap at all. Nice, but not the WOW factor. I reccommend getting that amp MM. When I hit the fuzz at that setting for some Hendrix I almost fainted!! Love these amps!

[ac15]

For me that would be my 62 Deluxe.

I have discovered that it works best with guitars that don't have a lot of midrange and have lower output pickups, because it overdrives easily and has a lot of mids.(my Tele or Jerry Jones Shorthorn, rather than P-90 guitars for instance).

As far as pure rock amps go, it's very hard to beat.

[ac15]

Originally Posted by fezz parka

There's a thread in Other Guitars. It's a Bigsby Clone.

Actually Bigsby was looking at doing reissues and I saw some prototypes at a local guitar show a year or so ago. Been looking for them ever since and just found this (no affiliation). There are a few other models as well including at least one with a vibrato. The dealer selling these says they only have a few of the prototypes left:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bigsby-BY50-...126#vi-content

[Flakey]

Originally Posted by buefordwilson

Other than that, I recently completed a Weber '57 low powered Tweed Twin clone with a couple of adjustments and I have never been happier with my gigging sound.

Gawd I wish I had the talent and guts to build one of these

What speakers are you using?

[gpasq]

I played some steel on a recording for a local artist recently. Rather than playing through an amp, I went directly into a Line6 HD500 and direct into the board. It sounded _amazing_ when I heard it played back in the control room.

[Nafees]

I was playing a Vox ac15 cc1 amazing amp.

[Jim Dep]

Originally Posted by Nafees

I was playing a Vox ac15 cc1 amazing amp.

+1 For being age 14, or any age really, you've got a good head on your
shoulders.

[refin]

My new DRRI.

[tele salivas]

Originally Posted by buefordwilson

I had a good craigslist find a little bit ago. It's a Kay model 504 with an 8" speaker. I believe the year on the schematic inside it says 1962. Has all of the original tubes from what I can tell. Just replaced the two 12ax7s and my gawd does that little guy rip with some beautiful tube saturation. Crank it back down and enjoy the unbelievable tremolo on it too!

Other than that, I recently completed a Weber '57 low powered Tweed Twin clone with a couple of adjustments and I have never been happier with my gigging sound.

Those, my friend, for my left nut. You don't need an extra left nut, do you?
Those are outstanding. Really nice job on that low powered TT! Beautiful.
Keith Richards uses both circuits, one for recording, the other for live. Are you a Stones fan?