Blues amp

[JoDen]

Just curious what you guys feel is one of the better blues amps out there.

[birv2]

What kind of blues, what size venue?

Hard to say without knowing some of those variables. There's a big difference between, say, 50's style Chicago blues and more modern blues-rock (which is what most people mean today when they say "blues").

[JoDen]

50's blues old school electric that's what I'm talking about.

[Tim Armstrong]

Yeah, it's way too broad a question to answer.

What kind of blues do you mean? What blues artists do you find have the kind of tone you're referring to?

Tim

edit: you answered the question as I was writing it!

[JoDen]

Let's say Howl'n Wolf

[tedro]

any bf fender...or tweed, or prior.
e.g. Deluxe.

[Mike Simpson]

Depends on the volume level you need. I gig with a 74 Princeton Reverb and I am in a blues band... we play lots of Muddy, Wolf, freddie, Elmore, Jimmy Reed and pretty much any 50's, 60's blues stuff. I like that it has onboard reverb and tremolo. Hubert Sumlin was Wolf's guitar player. In the old recordings he was using a smaller amp and in later stuff it was whatever he had access to... the blues guys were using the newest thing and driving new cars... A lot of the early stuff can be replicated using a Valco or Tweed Fender. Last time I saw Hubert playing at the Rhythm Room in Phx he was playing through a Twin.. I think... he was not trying to replicate anything.

This has a discussion on Hubert's tone
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/arc.../t-688173.html

[jkrischan]

I think the masters could summon their tone thru just about anything, I pretty sure Chuck Berry relied on the promoter to supply amps for his shows. And the old blues masters....I just don't see them sitting around debating what amp sounded most boss, but for me personally tweed or blackface should get you there

[jdaunt]

In his later years Hubert prefered a Twin, but took whatever he could get his hands on for that gig when he traveled. In his Wolf days, he had a few different amps, the Danelectro Wabash that was mentioned in that link Wolf bought him after one of his amps blew or got stolen. I can't remember off the top of my head what that amp was and I'm at work so can't look it up, want to say some kind of Fender though. Here's a shot where you can see the Twin he's playing last I saw him back in January of 2010.

[Larry F]

I think Hubert had a Louis Electric a few years ago. I have always been curious about those.

In Chicago in the 1980s and early 90s, blackface twins were everywhere, along with 335, 345, 355, and the occasional Les Paul custom. Some strats. Cowboy hats and boots a la Otis Rush completed the rig.

[JoDen]

I was just curious because it just seemed at some points they played whatever was available. It just interests me what these artists used.

[tazzboy]

Plenty of amps out there that can do it. Just Pick one and play with it.

[jdaunt]

He had a signature Louis Electric for awhile, but still used mostly Twins live. The Wabash was what he used during the Howlin Wolf era, on stage at least. Who knows what they used in the studio, might have even gone straight into the board like the Motown guys did. But I'd imagine the Wabash was what he would've used in studio too, and he played straight into the amp playing mostly a Gibson Goldtop Les Paul and played without a pick.

[uriah1]

-a deluxe is grindy from the git go
-DRRI has sparkle and do anything
-blues JR.modded w right speaker fun blues
-C30 can be a monster

[JoDen]

Was it a real gritty sound or more of a subtle grit to their sound and I guess I am mainly asking the guys who have seen them live. I've listened to the recordings in mp3 form and I think you lose a lot of the natural sound listening to the music in that form.

[jdaunt]

For that era (mid 50's to early 60s) it was VERY gritty, but compared to guitars now it's pretty clean. Twins are big amps and stay clean at very loud levels. There's some drive to his tone, but not to the point of distortion like we know it today, just enough of the tubes working to give a little edge to it.

[stantheman]

Johnny "Guitar" Watson always used the board too.
Johnny was around forever - I was always amazed that a guy who was right there with Gatemouth and B.B. King was able to re-invent himself and make a fortune in the process. I think that Albert King learned a ton about business economics from Johnny Watson.

[fender62custom]

My 2001 Custom Shop Blues Junior is an awesome blues amp!!!

[old goat]

I saw most of the 60's-70's Chicago players in a little club in Detroit called the Chessmate--Otis Rush (my favorite), Buddy Guy, Muddy, Luther Allison, Luther Tucker. Seems like they all played BF Fenders, mostly Super Reverbs--but maybe that was the house amp. (Anyone else remember that place? They had mostly blues acts, but a lot of the time when we drove by to see who was playing we were disappointed to see that it was just Chuck and Joni Mitchell again. Wonder what happened to Chuck.)

[JoDen]

Great stuff guys I just play at home but would like to get that vibe that that those guys had and still have ,I guess it comes down to playing style more than the gear they used. Well I will be in my basement practicing and probably keeping my little girl amused ( she doesn't know I'm not very good yet) thanks.