The big 3 amp sounds

austint01

I guess reading the title you know what sounds I mean, Fender, Marshall and Vox.

I'm fairly sure that not all amps have are sonic derivatives of these 3 mentioned, but why did these become so iconic over others?

They are all very identifiable and sound very different, but what else has its own flavour that hasn't been pigeon holed? Mesa? There cleans seem robust, but not sparkly like fender. What about Laney? I tried a VC15 and loved the cleans.. couldn't quite put my finger on if it sounded like something else.

So what's out there that has its own sound?

guitarfishbay

(In Before ICBM) - Mesa Rectifier

digitalscream

Soldano Decatone. I can say this quite categorically - I'm not entirely sure I can even describe it accurately. It sort of takes the best bits of American and British high-gain tones and mashes them together. It's lurrrrvely.

IanSavage

Orange. Have quite a 'nasty' distortion that's hard to get with anything else, with the right guitar and in the right context they can sound amazing.

stickyfiddle

The Laney VC stuff kinda sits in the middle of the 3 big ones, trying (and largely succeeding) to get close to all of them at its extremes.

That said, I would say that there's at least 2 distinct flavours of Marshall, the plexi thing and the JCM800 thing.

And Mesa dirt is something else entirely, though I can't make it work myself.

gubble

Roland Jazz Chorus

 

 

samzadgan

Matamp/old orange is also a completely different sound and is not a derivative of those three. 

Soldano is a genius...i think he was one of the first and the best and blending the best of both worlds and added his own spice to it such that his amps could be put into a whole other category too ...SLO100 is up there as one of the best amps ever made i think...(of course @digitalscreams decatone is up there too )

I always thought mesa boogie was based on a fender to start with, and the dirt was based on a more compressed and scooped marshall JCM...maybe its just a myth...i read somewhere they started out by dismantling a fender and reassembling it with the changes in dirt side.

guitarfishbay

I thought the Mark was Fender based and the Recto was Soldano based.

Gassage

I'd add Hiwatt. But then I'm biased- but it's certainly not derivative

Cirrus

Crate. There's no way you can get the sheer horror of that white-noise-through-an-AM-radio-with-ring-modulation distortion from any of the big three.

austint01

Can we throw someone YouTube clips in here that epitomises each sound? Hopefully it will be an education to me

guitarfishbay

Off the top of my head this is the best example I can think of for a Dual Rec.  Just huge -

Live -

Studio - 

dogload

I play a Selmer Treble & Bass 50 so I think that should be there

Danny1969

Gassage said:

I'd add Hiwatt. But then I'm biased- but it's certainly not derivative

I had a Hiwatt, a custom 100 was my first amp but I can't remember it being anything other than loud and clean, I mean really clean as in you had to use pedals to get any other sounds at all. Are they all like that ?

The Mesa sound is on it's own I think, certainly got it's own distinctive charactor 

Cabicular

and the early Marshalls were just a copy of the Fender bassman circuit IIRC

Gassage

@danny1969 Oh yes. But with a chime and depth that no other amp comes close to.

MatthewShreddery

Just want to say that this thread has great potential...

ThePrettyDamned

Gassage;389717" said:

@danny1969



Oh yes. But with a chime and depth that no other amp comes close to.

I always thought that about the fender twin reverb, silverface one at least (only one I've heard).

Do they sound like a fender tonally, or do they have their own voice? Genuine question, I've never heard one in the flesh (lol see what I did there?).

Cabicular

Ampeg Jet 20w Combo
Bad Cat Hot 30R Combo
Blackstar Artisan 2x12 cab
Blackstar Artisan 30 30w Combo
Blackstar Artisan 30 H  30w Head
Blackstar Artisan 15 15 Combo
Budda Superdrive 2x12 Combo
Budda 2x12 Cabinet
Dr Z Carmen Ghia Head
Dr Z MoBo 2x10 Combo
Dr Z MAZ 38 Head
Eden Genesis 15W Combo
Egnater Tweaker 15W Combo
Fender Twin Reverb RI Combo
Jet City JC100AH 100W Head
Jet City JC20AH 20w Head
Marshall 4 x 12 Cab
Matchless DC30 Combo
Matchless King Kobra Amp
Orange 1x12 Cab
Orange Tiny Terror 15W Head
Orange Tiny Terror 2 15W Head
Orange Dual Terror 30W Head
Orange 2x12 Cab
TC Electronics BH500 Bass Head
TC Electronics 2x12 Bass Cab
TC Electronics 2x10 Bass Cab
Two Rock Jet 20 Combo
Two Rock Exo Cab 1x12 Cab
Two Rock Exo Head 15w Head
Two Rock Gain Master 22w Combo
Two Rock Studio 50 50w Combo

Cabicular

Sorry ... that's my current Amp inventory. If anyone wants an opinion on any of them let me know

Cabicular

oops missed the

65 Amps London head and 1x12 cab

The

Randall Nuno Bettencourt 30W combo

 is also missing