OK, this is more out of curiosity than anything, but...what are the amp heads out there with the most clean headroom on the inputs (not the power stage)?
Thinking back, my problem with the Bogner Ecstasy Red pedal I had was that I didn't have an amp which was capable of properly handling the volume difference from the pedal in its clean (=bypass), heavy rhythm (pedal=on) and solo (pedal=on with volume and gain boost engaged). The Jet City and Martamp Roadstar would do the first two, but just went into preamp clipping when trying to get enough volume for solos. The amps themselves were clearly capable of generating that much volume, they just couldn't get the volume range from the input alone.
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It is not strictly the first stage that overloads.
The front end ECC83 section usually has a grid bias of a volt or so so it should not start to "bend" until the signal is about 1V peak to peak or about 800mV rms and that is pretty hot from a pickup, tho' of course many humbuckers will kick out 2 or 3 times that.
However, that 0.8V will be boosted up by at least 30times and so the next stage is going to be hit with 24V rms or some 66V pk-pk! THAT will create some dirt!
A very great deal of the "art" of guitar amp design is in getting the interstage levels and response shapings just right and WHAT is right will be at the whim of the builder.
Vive la difference!
Dave.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Otherwise consider a 100w HiWatt head - DR104 - and with the input gain down below half these heads sound magnificent, with headroom in spades.
Want light, cheap, characterful and clean? HH IC100... These sound way better than you may think and are built to survive a nuclear attack (or rehearsal room teenagers, whichever happens first)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I've gigged that setup no end of times.
Those Ecstasy pedals are probably the least pedal sounding pedals I've encountered. Very very nice.