What amps are you using for cleans?

[if6was9]

Haven't seen much discussion on this here lately and it's something I've been giving some thought to.

Looking at getting a nice "clean" amp for the studio since I've got a wide range of the dirty spectrum covered. Probably won't be for a good few months but no harm in G.A.Sing!
Been looking at Vox AC15's and Roland JC120's.
I've liked what I've heard from AC30's in the past and the 15's seem to have a good rep. JC120's always seem to come up in talks and don't cost and arm and a leg.

I've recorded a good few modern Fenders and just don't seem to like them. Only fender I can really say I liked the tone of was an old 70's combo that a band brought in.

What do you guys use? I'd like real amp suggestions rather than sims

 

[JeffTD]

My Tiny Terror generally handles them quite well, but it'd be really hard to go wrong with an AC15 or 30. That'd rule for dirty and more indie/rock distortion tones in addition to cleans, as well.

Personally, I'm not huge on the JC120's. They're super clean, but it's the kind of clean you might as well get from an amp sim, IMO.

 

[amarshism]

Jc 120 and mark v. Definitely feel you on the jc 120 Jeff. I still love it though.

 

[Josh Burgess]

Not really into the Vox ACs at all. Too distorted for me. I don't really like that dirty bluesy rock tone.

I tend to like the JC120, Fender Twin, and amp sims of both of those amps. haha. I agree amazing clean tones can be had from amp sims, but I find amp sims don't give the greatest clean tones going into a closed back 4x12 cab. With the jc120 it comes with a cab/speakers specifically made to excell at producing beautiful clean sounds right there in the room. so, if you're using an amp sim it'd sound best straight to the PA, but if I was using an amp sim (like the Axe-FX) live, I'd still want to mic the cab for distorted stuff. Then again, trying to run both a 5150 and jc120 live for distortion/cleans and effects for each comes with its own set of complications...

I still want to get a JC120 though. =P

 

[TomMartin]

Mark IV
1 x 12 Mark IV
3 Ch Dual Rectifier
Triaxis through any of the above power sections

Pretty much anything anything except my 5150...
(Pretty much anything with Mesa or Boogie written on it)

 

[Melb_shredder]

Mark IV... Spanky fender feel with mesa balls! Love it

 

[GRStudios]

Egnater Rebel 30,Fender Super Reverb and Vox AC30.

 

[MetalSound]

Axe Fx

 

[gabriel g.]

My framus cobra has an amazing clean channel. You get fender super cleans up to indie grunched cleans with it.

 

[nowherecatastrophe]

love the cleans on my orange rockerverb 50 - i tend to use the dirty channel with the gain down actually, the clean channel only has treble/bass controls.
triaxis has great cleans as well!

ive used modern AC30s before (the current production ones made in china) and they just sound weird..very stiff and brittle IMO.

 

[greyskull]

Ac30

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I'm using a voodoo modded 70s silverface bassman 100 head.

Side by side it sounds nothing like the original bassman (I had it side by side with another stock bassman 100 silverface), for my purposes I'm ok with it though. I like the way mine sounds as a mod better than I did the original one.

 

[Trevoire520]

Peavey XXX or Orange TH30 here. Also try swapping out the ECC83's for 82's. Much nicer clean sound as it's a lower gain tube, less hard sounding.

 

[mickrich]

Triamp 2 into orange cab is my usual.
DSL100 has really nice cleans too.

 

[Revson]

The Mesa Studio Preamp has some pretty nice clean tones. I would like to get a Fender Twin for a dedicated clean amp though.

 

[BLUElightCory]

I can't live without my AC15C1. Such a great amp - absolutely gorgeous cleans and great dirty tones. You can use it like a head into a 4x12 for big, open rock tones. The only thing it doesn't really do is tight/heavy tones. But if you want those swirly, chimey cleans you aren't going to beat a Vox or Vox-style amp.

If you just want a straight-up glassy, warm clean tone, a great Fender amp is a beautiful thing. A good Twin Reverb or Bassman with some single coils will always give you something useful.

 

[rispsira]

yea now im using axefx for quick laying of ideas but i gotta say i havent heard anything beat the triaxis in clean so far but thats just me.

I also like my mark V but havent compared it to the TA. My bassist has the JC120 but havent had the time to test it yet. Otherwise as the guys here said id definitely at least try Vox

 

[B36arin]

Fender... I have a Twin Reverb of my own and we have a few old ones in the studio as well(Super Reverb, Bassman 100, Dual Showman Reverb). It depends a bit on which character I'm after, since the cabs are quite different. The Dual Showman Reverb cab is 2x15", the Bassman cab is 4x12"(with strange angles), the Super Reverb is 4x10" and the Twin is 2x12". The tube wear also varies, so the amps sound quite different even though they all have that beautiful Fender character.

 

[Josh Burgess]

Are brand new Fender Twin Reverbs and Roland JC120s still good buys? I always see people online saying that older versions of both had more headroom and were cleaner. Is there any truth to this or do they still get the job done for really nice cleans at pretty good volumes?

 

[Sloan]

The Fender Super-Sonic sounded very nice when I tried it out.