The addictive Matchless sound.....what to do?

Vintage-T

I've become totally addicted to the Matchless Channel 1 & 2 emulations in the Helix.

This has got me pondering, unfortunately for me, pondering generally costs money.

Now I do not have anywhere near the dollar required for a Matchless, so that's off the table. But a ballpark amp would be of interest. 

I've come down to a few options.

1. Just stop now and continue to enjoy the Helix versions, they're blooming good.

2. An AC 10, 15 or 30? Worried that the lovely cranked sounds won't be achievable even at gig volumes anymore though.

3. Maybe the UA Ruby (but is this any different really to the Helix?)

4. Maybe a Ceriatone Muchle$$ DZ 30? But importing from the States likely to also be horribly expensive.

5. A Bad Cat or Morgan....but which?

6. Something else? A pedal (Big Trees?), a different EL84 amp that'll get in the ball park? I love the snarl of it, especially channel 2.

Any suggestions?

Moe_Zambeek

Gigging? An AC30 with MV might work. Rift Blackhawk? 

Not gigging? Big trees is great for home use in that kind of vein. 

andy1839

What about a Victory V4 Copper?


Or the amp itself?

darthed1981

I love guitarists...

"I'm so happy with the thing I already have, that I'm thinking of changing it..."

Vintage-T

Moe_Zambeek said:

Gigging? An AC30 with MV might work. Rift Blackhawk? 

Not gigging? Big trees is great for home use in that kind of vein. 

Defo gigging 

Vintage-T

darthed1981 said:

I love guitarists...

"I'm so happy with the thing I already have, that I'm thinking of changing it..."

Yup! It’s practically the most dangerous period when you think you’re happy

LastMantra

What I was going to say too ^  

If you're really happy with what you have why get something else?

koss59

The good news is the Helix patches sound nothing like owning a real Matchless so you might hate one if you got it

But seriously, a Badcat is the closest you can get and pretty cheaply sometimes too.

stickyfiddle

darthed1981 said:

I love guitarists...

"I'm so happy with the thing I already have, that I'm thinking of changing it..."

And specifically replacing that thing with a fancier thing and immediately trying to make it as close to the previous thing as possible

Dodge

stickyfiddle said:

darthed1981 said:

I love guitarists...

"I'm so happy with the thing I already have, that I'm thinking of changing it..."

And specifically replacing that thing with a fancier thing and immediately trying to make it as close to the previous thing as possible

This.

Had an AC30, replaced it with a Matchless DC30 to find the ultimate Vox AC30 tone.  That turned into several other Vox-like amps including another Matchless and a few Cornells.

Many thousands of £ later, it turns out the ultimate Vox AC30 sound is a Vox AC30.

The Matchless sound to be is much harder, more dynamic and less forgiving than an AC30.  A lot to do with the massive filtering, the mismatched output transformer and the choice of speakers. I think the only other company that does this is Bad Cat.

A Bad Cat Black Cat 30 (non reverb) is the same amp as a Matchless DC30 and usually goes for considerably less on the used market.  Still not a cheap amp though.  You'd be looking at £1500+ minimum.

Danny1969

I have a Bugera BC30 which is a bit Matchless like .. paid £250 for it 

duotone

I remember Paul Davids (YouTuber) saying he pretty much left his Line6 Pod on the Matchless DC-30 amp which it modelled. Years later, when he could afford it, he bought a Matchless DC-30!

Wazmeister

Just buy a Matchless.

Live they have to be heard to be believed.

Vintage-T

Wazmeister said:

Just buy a Matchless.

Live they have to be heard to be believed.

If i had the means dude i would. One day maybe….

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

I have a Bugera BC30 which is a bit Matchless like .. paid £250 for it 

This is probably the closest for the least money.

Habanero

By coincidence I watched an old ‘That Pedal Show’ episode yesterday called ‘EL84 Amp Magic’ where they compared an AC30, AC15, Victory and Matchless.

slacker

The early bad cats have matchless components in them and the later you go more divergence.

I've got an 01 black cat 02 lightning and a Morgan and all sound similar. For not gigging you need pedals which I'm not listing as that's another rabbit hole.

NickB

I have fallen down this very same rabbit hole. I bought a used Ceriatone Dizzy 30. It’s loud, too loud for the average pub gig so you’ll need an attenuator to get it to the sweet spot. It’s heavy, even in head format. It’s difficult to dial in. I sold it and bought a Victory VC35 Copper. Which I sold. My advice for what it’s worth. Save your money. Sonic experiments are expensive. 

If like me, you’re using a Fryette Powerstation and a cab, stick with the Helix models, whilst they lack the depth and je ne sais quoi of the real deal, in a band mix the difference is negligible. 

But if you must then I would go for the Victory Copper V4 amp pedal. It’s got the 2 notes built in as a bonus. 

stickyfiddle

I have a BadCat Cub which gets pretty close in vibe. But even that is too heavy for me to be arsed with it, so I usually use a Tonemaster DR instead for gigging...

Cirrus

I kind of made my own (sort of...);

The AC30cc series have a 1x12 model. I got one of those, modded it to run on 2x el84s, put nicer transformers (still rated for ac30 power levels) magical mojo caps and resistors in key areas and left everything else the same. To my mind, that's basically into the matchless camp - oversize transformers and ghosts haunting the coupling caps. I usually compensate for the impedance mismatch that results from pulling half the power valves, but discovered that the impedance mismatch sounds glorious (thought the 1972 celestion silver alnico that produced it might have something to do with it)

The total cost of amp and upgrade parts, excluding the old speaker, was about £650, but obviously does require soldering/ circuit knowledge.

Supportact

I gig with an AC15cc1 (with an upgraded speaker and reverb pan) and I'm perfectly happy with it. This thread is a reminder that I must on no account try a Matchless.