"rediscovering" your amp. anyone have this experience?

[Milo]

I'm that way.. but when I get bored I just turn the knob from Mesa to Bogner to Marshall to Fender to Engl...well.. you get the point. I LOVE the POD HD500.

That being said.. one day I will own a SLO-100.... one day.

I hear you,
I have the old Pod 2.0,and it still has its use (with headphones mostly). How do you run your HD? Signal chain that is.

[MikeSVO]

I haven't had great luck with amps. Or rather, Marshalls. I've had this JCM-900 50w 2x12 combo for years, and I didn't like it much so I stuck it in a corner for a long time. Finally, I brought it to the shop, got new tubes and a bias, plus a run-through for some scratchy pots and stuff. And you know what!?

It's back in the corner.

So I bought another Marshall, this time a JCM-900 SL-X head, 100w. It sounds 'good', but isn't exactly what fires me up. I haven't played it in months.

The head I like the most so far? My $300 B-52 AT-100. It's totally stock, and kinda bright/brittle sounding no matter what you do, but THAT is the amp that I have the 'rediscoveries' with. It's a little workhorse and with 3 channels, it's pretty versatile.

I've also has a couple 5150s, the first version, a silverface Bassman 100 that I just got because it was a deal, some old Carvin thing when I was in high school...haven't really had anything that floors me. But a Mesa...I've avoided them almost because it seems like 'the thing to do', though I think it's time to go shopping.

[PowerTube]

I do a similar thing with my Vetta. A few weeks ago, I replaced my "Favorite" sound of about four years, plus added several new ones and radically revamped some old ones. So yeah, I can relate.

[wilkinsi]

I try not to sell anything if I can help it. 2 reasons - 1. I keep going back to that guitar, and nail a cool sound, 2. the financial loss I make is ridiculously high.

[VitaminG]

we've talked about this before and I know you prefer to buy new, but that is an advantage of buying secondhand. Apart from getting better quality gear for your money, the loss if you don't like it isn't as great, and often not existent. My old JCM900 cost me $700, MUCH cheaper than the $2g they retail for here. Plus made more than my money back when I eventually sold it on the 'bay for $900.

I can relate to the rediscovery thing. For years I've been wanting to sell my old Laney TF300. It's a tube hybrid, 12ax7 in the preamp. Never play it anymore. The couple of times I've planned to sell it, I'll give it a thorough clean down and then fire it up to make sure everything is working properly - don't want to sell it to some kid if it's not working properly.

Every time, I have such a good time playing through it I forget all about selling it. Play it for a while longer, put it back in the cupboard, forget about it for another 6 months.

[Ward]

Every time, I have such a good time playing through it I forget all about selling it.

I'm with you there. I have a Mesa DC-3 I never use, but every time I think about selling it I plug it into a 4x12 and have some fun and then don't sell it. Then it sits unused for months unless a friends comes over and needs an amp.

[markD]

back to the original concept....

yeah, i get that way. though, admittedly, i have been using the same "core" to my rig since 1990....the river M/S series. i have quite a few of them. i have an M60 combo for beating around the house (or for those micro stages), an M100 head that i use with a 4X12, and an S120 head that is the center piece to my stage rig.

i do have other amps, and whenever i go back to one of those, i forget how killer that sound is. for instance, my egnater tweaker is SO awesome for playing along to the TV. it is quiet enough, and i can grab a TON of tones out of it rather easily. it really allows the character of the guitar to shine too. i enjoy that.

when i plug into my '63 fender tremolux, my fender spring reverb unit, and my mxr classic distortion i am taken back to a time when rock was new. it is really awesome to plug my strat, tele, or LP jr into that rig and just play the blues...or old scorpions...or pretend to be blackmoore...or to play funky sounding stuff.

so, yeah - i feel what you are saying. in fact, i am gonna go hook up that fender rig now and jam a bit!!!

[Twitch]

Well, I fired up the old Titan today, jammed on it for about 2 hours, actually had me tweaking knobs on the 6505+ trying to dial out the crap. In no way am I saying the 6505 sounds like crap compared to the Titan, but today, the Titan was a little more pleasing to my ears, until I hooked up the Randall cab and the 6505 cab together, but the Titan sounded better that way too. God, if I have to start toting around a full stack..........

[Shawn Lutz]

Sure happens all the time. Usually is when I come full circle back to my first Marshall, 83 JCM 800 2203 w/6550's. I also have a Ecstasy 101b, VHT 50CL, Splawn QuickRod and a Mesa/Boogie DC5. When I go back to the 2203 and throw an SD-1 in front it always makes me smile. It's the tone I just love and such a simple one trick pony.

[x7stringx]

Well, I dont "rediscover" my old amps, I just go to them when I need something that I know what I have in it. Example, at one point, I owned 7 Mesa amps at the same time plus 3 412 Recto Cabs, a Mark IV, Road King V2, Tri Rec, Solo Rec, Nomad 100, Nomad 45 and a Rocket .44. I've sold every one BUT the Mark IV and the Rocket .44. I wanted to go and try different amps to gig with that didnt seem as tempermental as the Mesa's. I went through a bunch of different amps, ENGL, Egnator, Hughes & Kettner, Peavey, Bogner, B52 and Bugera. I would play one for a couple of months and HATE something about it and sell it for something else while my Mesa's were collecting dust but I would always go back to my Mesa's because I could always get my sound and just knew the amp would deliver. Right now, I use a Bugera 333XL for practice and a B52 AT-100 (great Mesa like tone) through a custom built 4x12 cab (same size dimensions as a Marshall 1960A cab but with 2 England made Vintage 30's and 2 GT12-75's) for gigging but I use my Mesa's for studio work.

[DonP]

I haven't had great luck with amps. Or rather, Marshalls. I've had this JCM-900 50w 2x12 combo for years, and I didn't like it much so I stuck it in a corner for a long time. Finally, I brought it to the shop, got new tubes and a bias, plus a run-through for some scratchy pots and stuff. And you know what!?

It's back in the corner.

So I bought another Marshall, this time a JCM-900 SL-X head, 100w. It sounds 'good', but isn't exactly what fires me up. I haven't played it in months.

I can see why you haven't had much luck with Marshalls. Why do you keep going to the JCM-900 series if you don't like them?

[DonP]

Sure happens all the time. Usually is when I come full circle back to my first Marshall, 83 JCM 800 2203 w/6550's. I also have a Ecstasy 101b, VHT 50CL, Splawn QuickRod and a Mesa/Boogie DC5. When I go back to the 2203 and throw an SD-1 in front it always makes me smile. It's the tone I just love and such a simple one trick pony.

Yes, the sound of gawd would sound good I imagine. One great trick beats a lot of shitty tricks.

[Newc]

I dusted off my Fender RocPro1000 head and Carvin 2-12 yesterday before work.

Still like my racks better

[tonemonster]

Fender Roc pro. I played one of those once.

..................once.

[Newc]

Yeah, it was fine when I needed it in redneck bars where they don't care about tone