I've recently been playing a few new amps in store, working out what I like and don't like (because I'm the kinda person that finds most sounds useful, so narrowing it down is hard!).
I've worked out that, almost always, single channel amps sound better.
Jcm800, Laney gh50l, fender bassman reissue, Marshall jtm45 reissue... They just sounded better than multi channel amps.
They seemed to clean up better, and all of them were great with even stupid pedals (you wouldn't believe how decent a bassman 2x12 sounds with a metal pedal, though the speakers seemed to break up a lot at volume).
Is there a reason for this? They tended to have a bit less noise, too.
My favourites were the gh50, bassman and jtm45 btw. I think high gain my favourite was the Laney, just pure saturation. But it wasn't so good for cleans, the jtm45 was ace at cleans and crunch and with a pedal, saturated up quite nicely too.
Comments
The chances of any amp having two channels I love are pretty well zero, so I'm buggered if I'm paying for the other one.
I tend to prefer amp distortion over pedals. Pedals always sound thin and weedy at a band volume and in the mix. Amp distortion really kicks and cuts through. for the breadth of sounds I need, a single channel amp would not do it for me.
Another helpful sitting on the fence post from me
The best heavy channel I've heard remains the 6505+, which is a channel switcher, but the cleans on it are not amazing. I tried a 5153 50 watt and still prefer the cleans on the jtm and bassman, though they were nicer than the Chinese 6505+ combo.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
In fairness, I see why people would want the convienience of a multi-channel amp. But thats why I'm trying to buy the Micro terror head off the classifieds. Have my DT into a 212 and MT into a 112 and an ABY switch at the end of my pedal board. Make 2 singles into a 2.5 channel setup? Perfect
Vintage v400mh mahogany topped dreadnought acoustic FS - £100
Vintage v400mh mahogany topped dreadnought acoustic FS - £100
The vh100 sounded immense, but again, voiced a bit differently and had more noise than the gh50. It also didn't clean up as well, though with channels that really doesn't matter - more highlights the circuitry differences.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
all over that! I have come to the same decision. Single channel amps just sound much better and i think its because there is less going on in the circuit and its simple...what ever it is...a sinlge channel amp is awesome.
as far the dirt side...i've personally never liked amp distortion, and have always prefered pedals...having said that...i've gone through a lot of pedals to get to the dirt pedals i've had recently. There were a lot of shit ones, and if i compared them to amp distortion i would have prefered amp distortion. But with the last few dirt pedals i've had, all of them have been much better than any twin or 3 channel amp i've ever had.
I like the idea of single channel amps, but am with Drew in that I need more from an amp for the type of stuff I play, and pedal gain stages don't do it for me, other than for lead boost.
Sticking with the Laney theme, I recently picked up a TT50 head having owned both a head and a combo before. It's very versatile head with three channels, two master volumes, MIDI etc and a load of tone sculpting buttons on every channel. And it sounds IMMENSE on every channel. The clean channel is one of the best I've heard from any amp, the drive channel is 70s classic rock all the way, and the lead channel is more of the same into higher gain JCM800 territory but without going daft.
A TT100 head went on eBay today for £300 Buy it Now and tempting though it is, I'm happy with the more pushable 50w format but it'd be a terrific bargain for someone in the know.
How does it compare to other amps?
And what's the internal build like? This is the one Laney now I've never played, that isn't an 80s model.
The vh100r us actually one of the best sounding amps I've heard, 4 channels of great sounds, but it was a bit noisy - I'd definitely want a gate...