Is there an amp that can get these sounds?

[Mark Davis]

I have always loved the way a Tainwreck can go from clean to dirty with just a turn of the vol knob. But the clean sounds of the Trainwreck arent as good as the clean sounds of a BF Fender.

Is there an amp that has the same sparkling clean sounds of a BF Vibrolux with the dirty sounds and the ability to get grit just by picking harder like the Trainwreck can do?

[sabby]

I'm sorry if this seems flip or off-topic, but what about a BF Vibrolux with a nice fuzz pedal?

[Rick S]

Mark, the short answer in my opinion would be no. You can probably surf around and find a hundred websites with products claiming to do just that. It's something that has been a big part of the marketing hype since the channel switching amps came out back in the 70's.

Whenever a design for anything is optimized to best perform a particular design goal, it always comes with limitations. Take aircraft for instance. You can design an airplane to be very fast and highly maneuverable like an F-16, but you can't expect it to haul a load and have short field capability like a C-130. Kind of like asking for a car that goes 0 to 60 in 4 seconds and gets 50 mpg. Any combination of the two goals has to be a compromise.

Same goes with amps. You can optimize from input jack to speaker to perform a certain task, or from there you can compromise. Whether the compromise is good enough is up to the particular user.

I think the reason so many of us use pedals is because we tend to choose an amp that best performs our primary performance needs, and use the pedals to stray away from that when the need arises. I suppose that's what I'll continue to do, until I hit it big and have a roadie to haul a a BF Vibrolux, Trainwreck and tweed for me.

[Mark Davis]

Ya thats what I was thinking thats why Eric Johnson uses 2 sets of amps Fender Deluxe for clean Marshall for crunch.

I havent kept up with whats hoing on with amps hardly at all in the past 15 years figured they might have come uo with something new by now guess not? LOL

I do love the way the trainwrecks breakup and sustain.

[pbenn]

Mark, what about a blonde Bassman with an A/B box?

[JohnnyCrash]

The problem is where you like your overdriven tone... right on the edge of that cliff where a twist of the volume knob will go either way - I like it there too!

Being on that verge of breakup will mean you wont get the cleans of your BF Vibrolux...

+1
I second the idea of using two amps.

[dibber124]

YES!
A DPDT switch in a nice metal box and two amps will save a lot of time and money. I'm building a "Mr. Clean" Bassman / Deluxe/Princeton/ hybrid to go along with my weird Champ based heads. Two amps will do it for me, do not want to start collecting OD pedals. Sometimes the solution to a problem can be almost too simple to find.

[TexGoneNW]

I could be wrong, but I think one of those 65 amps might do this for you. Send a private message to TeleTubby and I'll tell him you'd like some feedback (he's not around much anymore). In the meantime, check this out at:

http://www.65amps.com/amps.htm

"65 – SoHo (20 watts) – Designed to be a super-functional amp for working players and enthusiasts who desire widely varied tones in one amp. The SoHo can transition seamlessly from the best of American tones to the sweetest British tones via the “Bump” function and NOT switching channels. The Bump will radically shift the tone-stack functionality achieving astonishing renditions of dozens of excellent, natural sounds..."

...AND, it looks like you may be in luck, with the 65 Amps carried by Guitar Resurrection!

[TexGoneNW]

Oops...sez Bakersfield...I thought you were back in Texas.

I think TeleTubby had a Divided by 13 amp, not a 65.

I think it may have been this one:

http://www.dividedby13.com/jrt915.html

...which actually has two power amp sections.

[celeste]

It seems mostly to me that the amp development being done in the commercial world is pretty stagnant or off in the modeling arena. In the DIY world some pretty cool stuff is being done. If you are up for a build, you may want to look at the Melissa here
http://vtg-amps.com/Melissa.html
and with a PPP output stage, here even used for classical
http://vtg-amps.com/Melissa/JohnsMel/

[Bill Ashton]

...the English magazine. They liked it a lot. For the price, I guess they should!

I will paraphrase...

Subtitle: Is it time to consider getting that second mortgage?

Build Quality, Sound and Value for Money, 5 stars

We liked: One of the best sounding, and loudest, small amps
money can buy.

We disliked: the fan on this sample is a little noisy

Caption under image of control panel "The JRT 9/15 is better suited to the organic player who cntrols from the guitar."

Get the June issue of GUITARIST, Mark!

[del]

oh man, thoses divided by 13 amps .. since i saw richard thompson play one on the grizzly man dvd, i'm dreaming about one. But at those prices i ll never own one lol. His guitar straight into the amp .. droool

[Telenator]

I was going to suggest a Divided by 13 amp too.

I also love my new Savage Glas 30. It does everything you're asking but it costs about $3000 new.

Truly the most touch dynamic amp I have ever used. I'm still getting used to playing through it and will not gig with it until I can get smooth when playing it. This amp brings out everything you touch and requires a very steady hand. It's kinda like the "Telecaster of Amps." Play it skillfully and you will be rewarded with tone to die for. Play it recklessly and will want to stop their ears.

[BrianF]

Originally Posted by sabby

I'm sorry if this seems flip or off-topic, but what about a BF Vibrolux with a nice fuzz pedal?

This is the classic solution with a clean amp. Vibrolux Reverbs get some nice grind on their own with just a boost pedal...but can be colored even more with one of the zillions of distortion pedals out there.

[jumpnblues]

Mark,

One of the best amps to get what you want might be the Tone King Comet II. Listen to the sound samples on their website. Very impressive.

Tom

[TexGoneNW]

Maybe even the Dby13 won't do what you're looking for, Mark, but it's the only new design I've seen that seems to attempt to bring the concept you mention to reality.

[Chris S.]

Mark, I haven't had a chance to play through either the Tone King or the Divided by 13 in person yet, so I can't comment on those. But I did spend a fair amount of time playing through a good friend's Two Rock amp, and the cascading gain stages would let you go from a reasonably clean tone to a wonderful "amp on the edge of exploding" sound, just with the volume knob. Now, I can't tell you what YOU will think of their clean tone, but I was impressed.

Of course, the Two Rocks live in a pretty pricey neighborhood. (http://two-rock.com) Me, I've got a couple of Joe Barden-optimized Fender amps (including a SF Vibrolux Reverb), and a Fulltone Fulldrive 2.

Hope it helps, CS :-)

[stantheman]

It sounds like Mark III Boogie is what the doctor ordered. I know there's been a lot of resentment by Fender loyalists to Boogies but as Scotland said not too long ago - when he finds another Mark III he'll probably sell most of his other stuff. I believe Nick Fanis wants his Mark III to go to "The Great Beyond" with him. The Mark III is/was Mesa's "biggest BANG for the big buck."
It really has never been blown away by any other amp to this day and it was introduced in The 80's. Mesa came out with a later "Mark Issue" but not too many people gave up on their Mark III's.

[Mark Davis]

I liked that 65 amp.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The amp I use now does cleans ok. What I will probably end up doing is getting a small tube amp for the crunch and keeping what I have for the clean sounds.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

Is there an amp that has the same sparkling clean sounds of a BF Vibrolux with the dirty sounds and the ability to get grit just by picking harder like the Trainwreck can do?

Depends on your definition of "grit"--if the spread between your clean and your highest level of distortion is too wide, then it's hard for picking dynamics alone to cover it. And even if there was, you have trouble getting that balance at a variety of volume settings. The power amp has to be just a multiplier of volume and not a contributor to the distortion characteristics, otherwise when the drummer starts getting excited at the gig and you need to turn up, the cleans start to go away, or vice versa when you try to play the amp at "home" volumes.

I find that having hotter than normal pickups helps for that sort of setup. If you can dial in the amp so that you've got your clean sound with the guitar volume on 7 or so, with just a hint of distortion when you dig, you can turn it up on the guitar when you want the higher distortion sound.

[Ten Brooks]

Mark,
I recently heard a Bogner 2x12 combo that was the cleanest-highest headroom amp I have heard. Sounded like a Twin. Then, the overdrive is absolutely phenomenal. I don't know about the volume knob control, but it has two switchable channels. Pricey, it lists for around 3,000.00 I think.

[david henman]

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

I have always loved the way a Tainwreck can go from clean to dirty with just a turn of the vol knob. But the clean sounds of the Trainwreck arent as good as the clean sounds of a BF Fender.

Is there an amp that has the same sparkling clean sounds of a BF Vibrolux with the dirty sounds and the ability to get grit just by picking harder like the Trainwreck can do?

...this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkv0cmA9y0

-dh