Do quality channel switching amps exist?

luckystrike

It's always been a compromise or a trade off in my experience.

1. You crank your Vox AC30, Marshall Plexi or Hiwatt but then aren't able to switch to a quality clean sound. So you try overdrive pedals and have the amp set to clean. No pedals sounds as good as a cranked overdriven amp
2. You buy an amp with 2 channels - Orange, Fender deville etc and find that one channel is inferior or they share the same EQ and can't be tuned to perfection.

StefB

I can't wait to see the answers to this, great question.

olafgarten

I'd say most Mesa's are quality channel switching amps, usually each channel has it's own EQ and there are enough volume controls to match the channels.

pintspiller

Sometimes we, as guitarists, expect to sound like an album track when we play. But there's multiple guitar tracks and engineers riding the faders and adding other effects as required and the soundssof the rooms. Some sounds and changes of sounds aren't obtainable by the player and his equipment alone

RiftAmps

Quality? Yes.

Exceptional? No.

Somewhere in between? Maybe.

My own opinion of course, but I find that there’s always an element of compromise in a channel-switching amplifier. 

FelineGuitars

I like it this way

digitalscream

Yes, Soldano. The SLO doesn't have a weak spot, and neither do the Hot Rods.

By extension, the Jet City amps are just as good - especially the JCA22H, which doesn't have the loony effects loop of the 50H and 100H.

Ultimately, though, this is one of the reasons I've gone down the Helix route. No need to worry whether an amp has the right combination of channels, because you've got all of them.

ICBM

Most Mesas. My personal favourite is the Trem-o-verb, but there are other good ones.

Rivera - do the Fender-clean, Marshall-dirt thing better than a Mesa, but with a less defined character of their own.

But as RiftAmps says there is always *some* compromise - at the very least, you may prefer different speakers for your 'perfect' clean and overdriven sounds.

The only way to have no compromise at all is to get both amps and an A/B box...

timmysoft

Mesa Dual Rectifer, Brunetti 059, Diezel Vh4/ Herbert, Marshall Jcm2000 DSL, Soldanos. Take your pick 

slacker

luckystrike said:

It's always been a compromise or a trade off in my experience.

1. You crank your Vox AC30, Marshall Plexi or Hiwatt but then aren't able to switch to a quality clean sound. So you try overdrive pedals and have the amp set to clean. No pedals sounds as good as a cranked overdriven amp
2. You buy an amp with 2 channels - Orange, Fender deville etc and find that one channel is inferior or they share the same EQ and can't be tuned to perfection.

Any kind of preamp gain or boost or overdrive pedal is a compromise if you like a valve amp at saturation. However it's not one or the other. Blending both for me works. Try running the amp at the point of breakup when playing hard. Now add an overdrive specifically designed for an amp that's working hard (TS, Klon(e) etc).

PolarityMan

RiftAmps said:

Quality? Yes.

Exceptional? No.

Somewhere in between? Maybe.

My own opinion of course, but I find that there’s always an element of compromise in a channel-switching amplifier. 

I beg to differ. My Diesel VH4 being a case in point. Best high gain rhyhmn tone in the industry. Outstanding cleans. Easily competitive crunch channel, all 4 channels have dedicated equipment and dedicated loops.

TTBZ

Haven't owned one so can't speak for reliability but tonally I love the Marshall JVM. The orange OD channel is just huge. I'd have one if they were more portable.

ecc83

"I My own opinion of course, but I find that there’s always an element of compromise in a channel-switching amplifier. "

I suppose someone COULD make an amp with two identical channels and EQ up to the PI and switch them? No compromise but many people would feel short changed I think paying for essentially the same thing twice!

Just found the book! The Series One 200 has two channels each with gain, volume,  TMB ISF then a master resonance, presence and VC.  The whole lot can be switched via MIDI.

Dave.

PolarityMan

TTBZ said:

Haven't owned one so can't speak for reliability but tonally I love the Marshall JVM. The orange OD channel is just huge. I'd have one if they were more portable.

Ive got one....sounds are pretty good but its not in the VH4's league and general noise issues and switching lag puts me off it a bit...its not a bad amp but its definietly an example that has some compromises..apparently much better in the JS model

Axe_meister

The Egnator tweaker comes pretty close, with two identical channels you can tweak to your hearts content 

richardhomer

Much dependent on what you want in terms of clean/dirty sounds. My old MkIII Boogie had stellar Blackface Fender-like cleans and a great, fat, mid-biased drive channel - but there’s a fair chance that neither sound will represent someone’s personal ‘ideal’.

In my experience most single-channel amps do their thing better than half of most two-channel amps....

digitalscream

So, simply-put...there are three possibilities:

1 - You haven't done enough research.
2 - You haven't defined your requirements tightly enough, and then not done enough research.
3 - You actually don't want a multi-channel amp.

hywelg

There was one in the classifieds last I looked.

Redplate Aurora.  

Kebabkid

Mesa Mark V 25 but one of the best I've heard recently is the Suhr PT (Pete Thorn) 100 - 3 channels of goodness (clean, crunch, lead)

Wazmeister

Play a Redplate.

octatonic

Kebabkid said:

Mesa Mark V 25 but one of the best I've heard recently is the Suhr PT (Pete Thorn) 100 - 3 channels of goodness (clean, crunch, lead)

I have had the 50W Suhr PT50 for almost 10 years now and have no intention of changing amps.
When I got it I sold half a dozen amps, although I got an Axe FX soon after as well.

The best thing about tit is the FX Loop, which doesn't sound shit at low levels.