best amp for clean chicken pickin?

HOWDY,

This my first post actually, my name is Rick and it's nice to meet you all. I usually hang around the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum, and I'm happy to find another guitar place here on the web.

I used to play electric years ago but nowadays mostly flatpick on my D-18. I've now caught the Tele bug and would like to give it a go. I'm not as much into the overdrive sound, although it would be nice to have if I needed it, but was wondering if there's a particular amp, or type of amp that is better suited for good clean, country, chicken pickin type playing.

Sorry about all the commas.

Rick

Hey Rick,
Let me respectfully suggest that the greatest country pickin amp of all time is the Fender Twin Reverb. I have a Silver Face, 'cause I like playin' loud and clean, but a Black Face will do you just as well, just a little less clean headroom on average. All other amps come second, in my informed opinion. No offense intended to owners of lesser amps.
Welcome, Hoss. I'm new here, too.

No argument about the Twin Reverb. It is the ultimate clean amp. But the size and weight can be a showstopper. The Deluxe Reverb would be the logical choice for a more portable amp. Plenty of bright Tele tone, but not the sheer power of the Twin.

Welcome.

As a blues-rocker, I'm after different tones, but almost universally, when asked for loud & clean & TUBES, you'll get Twin Reverb. Blackfaced ones are the more valuable, though the Silverfaces are thought to have more headroom. Fender also made a variant of the reissue '65 Twin that came with a single 15" speaker rather than the 2x12s--see it here http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=2173000010

I've never tried one, but it's rare to hear people discuss the AC30 without words like LOUD and/or HEADROOM, but the Twin is theoretically close to triple the power (which is NOT triple the volume). But take note--Tube amps require a bit of volume to sound good, and a Twin or AC30 turned up enough to get the tubes singing will be pretty dern loud. And, it's also said that an AC30 without Celestion Blue speakers is not quite the full effect.

If tubes are not required, the Roland JC-120 seems to be very popular. There are also a slew of digital 'modelling' amps that are useful for mimicing a whole lot of tones, from ultra-clean to hair-on-fire-high-gain, all for silly little money, and from little bitty home practice units to tour-ready stacks.

Given all this information, however, unless you're playing on large stages, the Princeton Reverb (15-ish watts, 1x10 speaker) or Deluxe Reverb (22-ish watts, 1x12 speaker), either original or as reissues, are top of my list to add to my collection.

Happy Hunting.

yep. a twin reverb is the way to go...but like Billm said, you can get by with a deluxe reverb if you don't need quite so much power. they're a bit lighter too.

Or a Vibrolux Reverb. Two 10 inch speakers, two 6l6 power tubes
and about 35 to 40 watts.

Au Contraire, mes amis!

The best country chicken-pickin', spankiest, chimiest, shimmery-est, head-cutting amp is the Dr. Z Stang Ray (http://www.drzamps.com/stangray.html).

I just got mine, recently, and I've owned everything over the years. This amp is glorious!

Just my humble opinion, others may vary!

Ward

chicken=twin...

So, Gabe, what you're saying is "Kentucky Fried Twin"? LOL...

And I'm saying "Chicken Fried Stangray". LOL

Chicken pickin' is yet another style I can't seem to play(one of countless), but for clean tones Twins can't be beat. Anybody got a a back brace?
At lower volumes all my Teles match up real well with a brown Vibroverb with 2 tens...but ya gotta throw away the stock speakers. Even with Tubbies I bet it only weighs half as much as a twin, and the volume is manageable. Takes well to pedals if you want to kick it up some.
I saw a guy in a club once with a SUPER LOUD MARSHALL, a 1x15 cab and an old Fender reverb unit. He plugged in a tele and twanged all night. One of the better sounds I've ever heard. Funny. I think the plexi volume was @ about 2 or 3.

WARDPIKE, just went to the Dr Z site and listened to the Stang Ray. The GAS begins yet again. Heading down to FAT SOUND here in town to check one out soon...my wife's gonna kill me.

Hey brother, I know the feeling. When the Stang Ray arrived... my g/f looked at me "Another one? Are you nuts?".
With 22 guitars and 6 amps, she has a point.

We need help. You need a Stang Ray, I need a twin. LOL

Is it Brad Paisley that buys a Dr. Z head its own bunk on the night train? I saw it in Guitar magazine recently... orange... worth the whole train probably...

Twin Reverb is the king Fender amps!

Au Contraire, mes amis!

The best country chicken-pickin', spankiest, chimiest, shimmery-est, head-cutting amp is the Dr. Z Stang Ray (http://www.drzamps.com/stangray.html).

I just got mine, recently, and I've owned everything over the years. This amp is glorious!

Just my humble opinion, others may vary!

Ward


Oh yes. I have played for close to 30 years, 90% country. The Fender Twin was always the standard for me. The first Dr Z I played was a Maz 38 and I was blown away. I ordered the Stangray without ever hearing it. The Stangray is now my standard country amp.

Peavey Nashville 400 baby, Clean Machine...

You'll need a compressor in front of pretty much anything [IMO] to really poink well. ;)

Peavey Nashville 400 baby, Clean Machine...

You'll need a compressor in front of pretty much anything [IMO] to really poink well. ;)

Although, I currently use a compressor, The settings are almost 0. With the Stangray up loud enough it would be quite easy to go compressor free and still get that nice chiken-pikin sound.

To the OP (if he returns):

What is your budget?
Where will you use this amp (home, basement, practice, stage?) now and where do you see it being used in the future?

Your answers to these ??'s are pretty important if you want the "best" amp for you.

Although, I currently use a compressor, The settings are almost 0. With the Stangray up loud enough it would be quite easy to go compressor free and still bet that nice chiken-pikin sound.


I can't pick that even personally. ;)

It is almost like when I take a breath I increase attack on the picking.:shock:


You Dr.Z has a little less power than a NashV400, turn the 400 up too loud and your ears will bleed. ;(

And the 15" speaker doesn't help... Well it does help depending on how you look at it. :mrgreen:

Twin Reverb

I can't pick that even personally. ;)

It is almost like when I take a breath I increase attack on the picking.:shock:


You Dr.Z has a little less power than a NashV400, turn the 400 up too loud and your ears will bleed. ;(

And the 15" speaker doesn't help... Well it does help depending on how you look at it. :mrgreen:

That has been my biggest challenge with Fender Twins and high powered amps like peavys, over the years. To get the amp to sound full and good you need to get the volume to a certain point. Between the club you play, other band members and the health of your ears you just can't push a twin to where it sounds great, in most situations. In a bigger venue your just going to mic anyway. In the past year I have converted to lower powered amps and now its much easier to get the amp to the sweet spot.

IMHO my current amp blows them out of the water for twang and clean chicken pickin....... I use an old MusicMan (also made by Leo F.) HD-212 One Fifty which is like a "Twin on Steriods". It has all the features of a Twin except it's a hybrid with a solid state preamp section and four 6L6's to the power amp. Unlike the Twin, it doesn't have a tremolo which most people usually don't use, but it does have a built in phase shifter which totally kicks butt in the chicken pickin sound. I just crank the shifter on a touch on slow speed and it really adds punch. Also unlike a Twin, the first channel is usable! I plug my pedal steel in there with a Boss Digital Delay and get one of the best "Ralph Mooney" steel sounds I've ever had. These amps aren't made anymore but you can find them if you look. I had a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue that I traded for my MM because it was just a much better amp. As far as weight? I've never even considered that when looking for any amp! That's what handtrucks are for...........JH in Va.

To the OP (if he returns):

What is your budget?
Where will you use this amp (home, basement, practice, stage?) now and where do you see it being used in the future?

Your answers to these ??'s are pretty important if you want the "best" amp for you.

Budget will probably be up to $600.

For now I just want to get reacquainted with the electric, so a practice amp is all I really need. I would probably play it at church too, but that's mostly just strumming pretty sounding A2 chords and that sort of thing. Certainly won't need a big amp for that.

I guess my long term goal would be to eventually be in a band of some sort, someday, but that's a couple years out, at least.

..... In the past year I have converted to lower powered amps and now its much easier to get the amp to the sweet spot.


golfnut, having to really crank the amp to get good tone is a concern of mine. Could you please elaborate on these lower powered amps?

Hey Mcgannahan,

Sounds to me like you want a Maz Jr. 18 watt. I have one, and it's also a killer chicken pickin amp.

But your budgetary constraints preclude owning that one... so I think you're in low powered Fender or Peavey land. You might also consider a Mack.

Ward

golfnut, having to really crank the amp to get good tone is a concern of mine. Could you please elaborate on these lower powered amps?

If you already own an amp you like you could try putting an attenuator on it. Myself, I didn't have alot of luck with the Dr Z airbreak but I didn't give it much time either. With the Stangray it wasn't really necessary to attenuate.
I could never get a Fender twin above 2 or 3 without getting major volume complaints. At home in my music room I would blast the twin at 4 or 5 and get some great fat sounds. At lower volumes I found the twin thin and lifeless. I guess I've found that I don't really want to be that clean. You need to push those tubes a certain amount to get nice thick sounds. My stangray is still a loud amp and some gigs I can't get it above 2. But even at that volume I dial in a bit more bass tone and its fatter sounding then the twin ever was. Normally I can play with the ray on about 3 to 3 and ahalf. For me the real sweet spot is about 4. Still leaves me lots of clean head room with an amazing tone. I tried the Dr Z air break but it didn't sound right to me. It didn't seem to attenuate much on setting 1 to 4. On bedroom level the sound was terrible and fuzzy. After I returned it I was given a tip to place the speaker cable in the 8 ohm jack instead of the 4 ohm that the speaker cab usually goes in to. By then I had already returned it. To get that little bit more of volume to get it to 4 wasn't really an issue.
To me the attenuator solution takes care of pushing the tubes but depending on how much you attenuate can take away from the speaker crunch.

The music man is an inexpensive way to get great clean chicken picken sounds. Twins are great if you can find a sf for a good price. The music man's have become a passion of mine... great for the bakersfield sound!

I'm not sure if this is heresy around here, but I wouldn't be opposed to a nice solid state amp if it would allow me some decent tone at low volume. When I was a kid I had a Peavey Bandit 65 that I thought had GREAT tone.

It looks like the Fender Super Champ XD might be a good choice. Whatdaya guys think?

Or a Vibrolux Reverb. Two 10 inch speakers, two 6l6 power tubes
and about 35 to 40 watts.


+1 - I have one and it's plenty loud and clean before it breaks up at around 4~5. Obviously not as clean as a TR but much cleaner than a DR.

I'm not sure if this is heresy around here, but I wouldn't be opposed to a nice solid state amp if it would allow me some decent tone at low volume. When I was a kid I had a Peavey Bandit 65 that I thought had GREAT tone.

My guitar teacher, and the other guitar player in his band, are both playing through Peavey Bandit 112s (I think they're $299 at the large online retailers) and they sound flat out great. These amps do a really nice clean, are cheap and easy on the back.

I think is would be a good idea for you to check one of them out.

Cassady

In the past year I have converted to lower powered amps and now its much easier to get the amp to the sweet spot.


And a lot easier to lug around too. :shock:

I'm not sure if this is heresy around here, but I wouldn't be opposed to a nice solid state amp if it would allow me some decent tone at low volume. When I was a kid I had a Peavey Bandit 65 that I thought had GREAT tone.


Major heresy. Having said that I'm seriously considering a good quality solid state as a back up. Would be nice to have an amp around for practice and to back up my tube amps. I figure I may be about 5 years away from not being able to or wanting to carry my tube amps. Although I have to say that my Stangray head and cab are much lighter to carry then any Fender Twin. I got rid of my Twin close to a year ago and it was just getting way too much pain bringing that up and down my stairs.
I'm not sure what to look for in a solid state but I know it won't be Fender or Peavey.

Major heresy.

I'm not sure what to look for in a solid state but I know it won't be Fender or Peavey.

Look here: http://www.pritchardamps.com

If I had the budget justification I would be looking seriously at Pritchard.

The web site has lots of demos, like This Tele one, among lots others (http://www.pritchardamps.com/clips/demo_clips/128MB/15%20TB%20funky%20blues%20L.mp3)

The music man is an inexpensive way to get great clean chicken picken sounds. Twins are great if you can find a sf for a good price. The music man's have become a passion of mine... great for the bakersfield sound!

What are they worth? My GC has an old beat-up one for $600 right now.

Anyone ever played one of these Peavey Windsor Studio amps?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Peavey-Windsor-Studio-20W-1x12-Tube-Combo-Amp-481660-i1386608.gc

Hate to be the proverbial turd in the punchbowl here, but IMHO the best amp for chicken-pickin' is your your right hand technique. Any clean amp- tube, solid state or coal fired-will work fine if you get your chops together. I've cp'd through every kind of backline, including a Marshall stack in a farmhouse-turned-concert hall in Iceland. Probably one of the best, clean, thunky sounds I ever got! One of my fave CP amps is a Vox AC30 with Alnicos. Go figure.

Given the OP's budget and relative newness to this kind of playing, I think any Fender, Peavey, Music Man or decent Musician's Friend blowout special will work. Add a compressor if you like, but why blow huge $$ until you feel comfortable with the genre. Take the extra dough and buy a couple of good instructional DVDs from Albert Lee or Arlen Roth, or anything from Brent Mason.

Just my .02, but it's in the hands!!:wink:

Right on, Twangmeister. Yes, it's all in the righthand technique. Believe me, being a flatpicker I know how true this is. The biggest challenge going from the Martin to the Tele is going to be playing with a softer touch.

, or anything from Brent Mason.

:


I have that one. Not one I'd recommend for a beginner. Even the Albert Lee which I also have is beyond beginner. Ray Flak has a great one that is more suited for a beginner in that style.

Hey, McG- welcome to the board.

I guess the biggest transition between straight flatpicking and cp is getting those other fingers to work in sync with your pick. You don't necessarily have to pick lighter, but you may want to consider a heavier pick (if you are not currently using one). I use a Dunlop Jazz III and have a fairly aggressive, percussive style in my playing. Contrast that with someone like Will Ray, an astounding player who gets a a percussive, albeit "lighter" sound (and sounds great through any amp, BTW). There's the Albert Lee/James Burton school that depends more on lighter strings and what I consider a "bell-like" sound. Variety is the spice of pickin'.

Do what you most likely did with flatpicking-listen to a variety of players, focus on the ones whose style/tone most appeals to you, and find out what they're doing. There are also a ton of videos on YouTube you can access for free. But most of all, have fun.

I haven't experimented that much with other amps, but I've played through some older Twins and a few Peaveys, and I believe my Music Man HD212 130 is really giving me the best clean tones I've ever been able to get from anything. It's a '78 that I paid $200. for about eight years ago. This isn't meant to be a knock against Peavey or Twin Reverbs, our steel player uses a sweet sounding Nashville 400, and Twins are just all around hard to beat. But if you look around you can get some power and clean tones for less $$ than you might think.

Right on, Twangmeister. Yes, it's all in the righthand technique. Believe me, being a flatpicker I know how true this is. The biggest challenge going from the Martin to the Tele is going to be playing with a softer touch.


There are times when I am harder on the tele then I ever was flat picking my Martin. The big difference for me, going from flat picking to country pickin was using my fingers on the right hand as well.

OK, any amp with some head room, leave the amp on the floor.
A compressor in front, turn the reverb, bass and treble up, up , up... turn the mids down, down, down... roll off the Tele's [yes Tele] vol pot slightly, roll on the tone pot 110%. ;)

Use a heavy pick and make sure your pulling fingers have hard nails.

Then remember the other part about how to get to Carnegie Hall. :mrgreen:

I haven't experimented that much with other amps, but I've played through some older Twins and a few Peaveys, and I believe my Music Man HD212 130 is really giving me the best clean tones I've ever been able to get from anything. It's a '78 that I paid $200. for about eight years ago. This isn't meant to be a knock against Peavey or Twin Reverbs, our steel player uses a sweet sounding Nashville 400, and Twins are just all around hard to beat. But if you look around you can get some power and clean tones for less $$ than you might think.

Many years ago I owned a music man HD115. It had a single 15" speaker. It was very clean. I never bonded with it for my guitar amp. But I did find a great use for it. At that time I had a Roland GP8 that I ran to a Fender Twin and a Roland D50 (Roland GK2 on my Strat) midi'd to it and ran that to my Music man. So I would have the keyboard sounds from the D50 coming out the musicman and the GP8 guitar processor to the Fender Twin. It was a great setup and I thought the musicman served well for the synth sounds.

I like a Twin, Bassman, Pro Reverb, Super Reverb, or basically any big Fender. If you want total clean tone, a Twin will certainly get you there but it's a back breaker so put some wheels on it or use a dolly.

I think I read somewhere years ago, probably in a Guitar Player magazine, that Don Rich played through one side of a tweed bassman and Buck Owens sang through the other side. They would put this Bassman in the back seat of a convertible and go to the next gig.

Personally, I like to hear a bit of OD when my guitar volume is on 10 and roll the volume back to clean things up. I use a Victoria Double Deluxe which I think has a delicious clean tone and is a relatively easy amp to overdrive.

Budget will probably be up to $600.

For now I just want to get reacquainted with the electric, so a practice amp is all I really need. I would probably play it at church too, but that's mostly just strumming pretty sounding A2 chords and that sort of thing. Certainly won't need a big amp for that.

I guess my long term goal would be to eventually be in a band of some sort, someday, but that's a couple years out, at least.

You can find nearly new Deluxe Reverb Reissues for around that price. And the weight is HALF of that of the Twin (about 40 lbs as opposed to 80+) and although only something like 23 watts, they are LOUD and sound awesome. You can't go wrong with one of these.

Also, one of my all-time favorite amps I've owned that had a both a great clean as well was my Ampeg Reveberocket R12R. Mine was a reissue and from what I understand Ampeg has discontinued it. It was great though...50 watts, 1x12, fairly lightweight and would break up nicely when you wanted it to. They are pretty easy to find used and you should come in under budget with one of them.

Hey Mcgannahan-my older brother, guitargeezer hangs out on MGF.
I would say that twangmeister has it nailed. You need something that has some clean headroom. But the ideal situation is to start working on the hands.
Here is a site that you can get some pretty good instruction from for fairly cheap.
http://sizzlingguitarlicks.com/

I'm just a newb, but I'll agree with sizzlingguitarlicks.com or moderncountryguitar.com I really like Doug's style of teaching, he talks alot, but I guess I like it better that way...

I will say the Vibrolux reverb because the punchiness of the 2x10's. They do loud and clean but with punch that serves chickin pickin very well.

Au Contraire, mes amis!

The best country chicken-pickin', spankiest, chimiest, shimmery-est, head-cutting amp is the Dr. Z Stang Ray (http://www.drzamps.com/stangray.html).

I just got mine, recently, and I've owned everything over the years. This amp is glorious!

Just my humble opinion, others may vary!

Ward


+ alot!

Definitely a Fender Twin Reverb, but for something a little different you may want to try a Mesa Lonestar Classic, I have been using one for all styles effectively for the last few years with no issues. :cool:

Definitely a Fender Twin Reverb, but for something a little different you may want to try a Mesa Lonestar Classic, I have been using one for all styles effectively for the last few years with no issues. :cool:

Not sure how the classic is for clean. I had the Lonestar special and it did not have even enough clean headroom for a small club. Maybe for a bedroom. It did have an awesome overdrive tone though.

My rig:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2051/2582203041_d34cc2866f.jpg?v=0

Not sure how the classic is for clean. I had the Lonestar special and it did not have even enough clean headroom for a small club. Maybe for a bedroom. It did have an awesome overdrive tone though.

My rig:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2051/2582203041_d34cc2866f.jpg?v=0

The Mesa Lonestar Special is whole different animal. The Lonestar Classic has tons of headroom.

Thanks everyone,

I'm leaning toward the Peavey Winsdor studio amp. Looks like a lot of bang for the buck. Unfortunately, GC doesn't carry them in the store for me to try out. Anyone payed through one?

Or a Vibrolux Reverb. Two 10 inch speakers, two 6l6 power tubes
and about 35 to 40 watts.

Another +1 on the VR. But you might want to "Twin-ify" it just a touch:

- Add 2 ceramic 10 inchers that won't give it up early and really push some air (Emi Ragin Cajun is a personal fave of mine).

- Go to a "stiffer" tube rectifier if it's a silverface. Or simply step up to a solid state plug-in rectifier.

Your budget is definitely within striking distance of a silverface VR. The 2 modifications above aren't necessities.

I really dig Deluxe Reverbs, but the 6V6's just give it up too soon, IMO. Much more of a RnR or blues amp. Also, it really seems that you need a pair of speakers to get the max pop and push.

I really dig EL84 amps like in the Z line, but I find that they compress really early. Add alnico speakers to the mix, and they compress really early. I know that there are legions of Z devotees, but it can be a bit of an awkward departure from the more obvious CP choices like the venerable Twin Reverb. Just something to consider.

Bravo, 11 Gauge,
Why is everybody afraid of wattage lately? It's like a scamble to underachieve any volume or clarity. I'm not a hard rocker, mostly play jazz, but even when I'm called on for the Blues CD tour type gig, I get plenty of tube overdrive from 50 watt amps without resorting to earplugs.
Deluxes sound GREAT, but for country clean at less than Twin weight, a Vibrolux seems like a reasonable compromise. Compression is one thing, but when full on tube distortion happens, that ain't chicken pickin no more, gotta have some headroom. Carr amps do a good job at medium/ low volumes, but it's hard to surpass the sound that defined the genre.
Ever hear a Vibrolux with Peavey speakers?