What lead you to your tone.

[venaleschatology]

Saw a similar thread somewhere else. Thought it was interesting. Forgive me if its been done before and I've missed it in my scanning of old threads.

What is your amp history? From the first **** box practice amp dad bought you when u decided you wanted to be Jimi Hendrix to the rig you have today. Why did u make the changes? What influenced you and what were the milestones on your Tone Grail quest (also, what lead you to Boogie). Any plans for the future or have you got the perfect rig?

This is the place to waffle about your tone, how good it is and how you discovered it....as if you don't want too.

ME:
1. Started playing cos a friend taught himself a few licks on the guitar when we were 15 and I thought I could do the same. Thought it was a bit silly to waste money on a tiny useless practice amp so I bought a 30 watt Sound Art (I think) solid state amp. It's distortion was rubbish but its clean was lovely for the price although I didn't appreciate it at the time. Nice reverb too and it had this mini mixer on the back for separate mic (with separate reverb) and CD inputs which was awesome for jams at the time when we had no gear.

2. Fender Blues Junior. First one out of my mates, and indeed at school, to get an all valve amp. Was ganna buy some kind of fender modeling amp, which made more sense given my interests in such a variety of music and my distinct need for modern distortion. But I got swept away by the salesman who said Class A was what all the professionals used and that I'd never need another amp, not to mention the amazing fender clean tone and reverb which I had never heard before in person. I certainly never regretted it. I regret selling it now that I'm into a bit of blues. Any with a stomp box or two I got some pretty satisfactory modern tones out of it.

3. Yorkville Traynor YCV-40. Bought it off ebay cos it was so **** cheap, and I loved the very clean chimey tone (my fender was not very clean...good for leads, not for strumming away). Also liked the idea of amp switching. Once again, I got sold on the clean tone although, this was the first time I bought an amp with a distortion usable for my purposes (punk and its various ******* children). Still have it today, but not for long. My latest Boogie has well and truly trumped it.

4. After becoming obsessed with ebay and guitar tone (dangerous), I started to put together a rack setup: Mesa/Boogie Dual Recto Pre, Mesa 50/50, Pod Pro, 10 band eq, G-major --> 2 2x12 custom made cabinets. I had already become a tone nut and a mesa boogie diehard but I'm not sure how exactly. I was moving towards heavier music. This is when I discovered my ultimate tone. Dual recto brutality blended with Marshall plexi smoothness (I used the Pod to model the plexi) running in stereo through dedicated cabs. It was brutal and melodic, with punch for palm muting and perfect tone for strumming. Individual notes had this odd sound like they were being recorded and played backwards to harmonise with my forwards tone. Sounds odd but it would make sense if u heard it. Once I had found it, I lost interest completely. It was all about searching for the perfect tone for me, not playing guitar and I got bored once I found it. Stopped playing for about a year.

5. Somewhere in there above I bought a THD univalve clone cos it was cheap and I wanted to play with the valves. It was one of the better decisions I've ever made. Its fantastic, I still have it today and its brilliant and it lead me to my love of KT-66 valves.

6. A year later (about a month or two ago) I got back into playing and amps in a big way. Just bought a Mesa .50cal + 1x12 combo. Its brilliant. I wanted to replace my rack setup with something more practical (and with a better clean tone) and its absolutely perfect and even lighter than my friends Marshall MG-30. I never wanted to powerup/setup all that gear and it made playing and especially gigging, jamming and recording very tidious, so much so that I didn't do it or I took my Traynor instead. Made worse by all the stepdown trannies I had (I bought american gear and shipped it to AUS cos it was cheaper. It was also too loud. I lent it to a friend to play a gig at a medium sized club and we couldn't get the tone he wanted because we couldn't put the MASTER volume past 2 without the sound engineer cracking it about the PA overloading. Now I'm looking to get the old tone I had (Recto/Plexi), with my .50cal+ which is not proving to be easy.

In the future I think there will be either a Marshall combo to mix with the .50cal (I'm thinking a a TSL-60, they're cheap and apparently not to bad for a Marshall) or a Jmp-1 preamp, to try and get my ultimate tone back.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Cool thread indeed! Here's my tone quest:

1. Started playing guitar when I was 10 years old on a three string (three were missing) classical acoustic i found in my attic. Had it restrung and learned some Silverchair on my own from tabs (Frogstomp was a great grunge album in the mid-90s).

2. I soon upgraded to an electric guitar in the form of a USA made Peavey Predator (strat copy) and a Fender Bullet amp. My dad paid half. Took lessons for a year and got pretty good quick because I had nothing but time to play after doing homework in middle school. I got a Zoom 505 and then replaced it with a BOSS ME-33 and used it to record to my PC when I was bored. The tone was not that good but I made some neat songs anyway.

3. Upgraded my amp to a Peavey Express 112 (woohoo!).

3. Shortly after I found an Epiphone Les Paul for $400 at the local music store and put it on layaway the next day. Not sure why I was attracted to this guitar so much. I mowed lawns and made payments for the next 6 months to pay for it.

4. Traded the Peavey amp for a Crate GFX212. I really loved this amp even though it was solid state. The effects were so trippy!!! Haha. I liked having effects on the amp - very convenient. I finally started playing/jamming with some friends so the fun level really started increasing around this time.

4. About 6 years ago I customized my Peavey Predator completely and once it was done I sold my Les Paul and Crate amp and bought my first tube amp - a Peavey XXX 212. What a revelation! It sounded SOOOOOO good! I had it for several years and gigged/practiced with it a handful of times.

5. Sold the MFX units and started putting together a pedalboard.

5. I became a big Dream Theater fan and started loving Petrucci's tone and talent. Played his sig EBMM guitar and thought 'i'll never be able to afford a guitar like this'. Well, a year later I had a full time job and some extra cash, so I bought one!!

6. This is where it gets good... I heard a friend's Mark IV and was blown away. I had to have one! Signed up on here and found a medium head 'B' version for $799 without footswitch. Bought two thiele cabs to go with it. Traded the medium head for a shorthead 'A' version with footswitch and roadcase STRAIGHT UP (no cash with trade!). Gigged it a few times, but found it too tight and sterile for my tastes.

7. Traded the Mark IV head and roadcase for a Roadster head (again -straight up trade just had to pay shipping for my amp). Sold a thiele and traded the other for a 3/4 back cab. Awesome amp, but my band broke up so it was too much amp for home use....

8. Sold the Roadster and cab and tried to make an F-30 combo work as my main amp. Nope, not what I was looking for. Sold it...

9. Bought a Rectoverb combo - awesome amp! It's one of Mesa's best!

10. Traded a few pedals for a BOSS GT-8. Got it hooked up using the 4 cable method and was instantly impressed. Once I got the amp control feature to switch my amp channels I was a believer! I sold my whole pedalboard within the next two weeks.

11. The Rectoverb combo started sounded too lifeless and plain after a while so I sold it...

12. Bought a Stiletto Ace combo. Very unique amp. Too bright in the end so I sold it...

13. Bought a DC-3 shorthead and two recto 1x12 cabs. This amp is perfect! The clean channel is just clean enough with the volume rolled back and breaks up at full volume using the right amount of gain. The lead channel is Mark IV-ish without being so tight and sterile. I love it! And the funny part is that it is the least expensive Mesa amp i've owned!

14. Now i'm working on using stereo effects. I just bought a Crate Powerblock to use with my GT-8...

That's my story and i'm sticking to it...

 

[dmt]

1. I started with a Ibanez GIO "Strat Pack" that came with a Ibanez 10W practice amp. This thing sounded really trashy, but at the time was good enough for distortion and a cold sterile clean.

2. I got so sick of breaking strings on the Strat that I went out and bought an Ibanez Iceman IC300. Still the same ratty amp but I started searching for a better distortion via stomp boxes. The very fist pedals i bought were a Digitech Whammy IV (i still use) and a EH Hot Tubes. I ended up returning the Hot Tubes simply because it was too much for my little amp. This was a ritual that I would go through for some time.

3. After I graduated High School, I had the chance to buy a Boogie (obviously). A friend of a friend who was a music teacher had a Simul-Satellite that he wanted to sell. At the time I had no idea what that amp looked like or anything I just knew that it was a Boogie, all tube, and really good. I didn't have the money, but I wanted it. I was on a quest to get a tone similar to Adam Jones of Tool. Something that was organic sounding and beefy. After my first year at RIT (Rochester) I decided to get the amp. It was still unsold.

At the time I lived in NYC with my mom and the amp was in NJ. So I called my friend and asked him to give me a ride from the train station. I left and told my mom I was going down town for a few hours and instead hopped on the train to NJ. NJ Transit was about $15 roundtrip so it was affordable... We went and met the guy at his practice space which he owned and gave lessons. He gave me a guitar to use and left me with the amp. First thing I notices was that there was no gain channel. I was a bit disappointed but I had read plenty about tube amps, or at least enough to know that cranking the **** out of it should give you some good tone... needless to say he was in the middle of a lesson and asked me to turn it down, but I was impressed none the less. Volume trumps distortion.

I figured that I could get a decent stomp box now and the that tube amp would make it sound godly... I went across the street to the atm and pulled out $550 and paid the man for the amp. I had no idea how I was going to get it to Rochester without my mom finding out. This was a secret buy. My buddy promised to ship it up to me ASAP. The next night he called me up and tld me a nother firend of his who of all the things in the world worked at RIT in the IT dept agreed to drive it up for $50 towards his gas. Done deal. Th first week of my sophomore year I had a bomb tube amp.

4. The first thing I did of course was crank the **** out of my amp and piss off everyone in a 1/4 mile radius in the dorms and probably startle a lot of small furry animals... So I traded some herb for a DOD American Metal stomp. Terrible little thing with no hope for any control over the distortion. Volume, Presance, Gain. The gain above 1 Oclock was mud and the presence didnt do anything.

5. I later got a Zvex Fuzz Factory. That worked for a lot of things. I still use it a lot.

6. Later I got a Marshall MG10 amp to test out what a "stereo" setup would sound like. Along with the Ibanez 10W amp I had it actually sounded really good. Blending two amps with dissimilar distortion was cool. By this time I had also bought a DOD rack compressor and an Ibanez AD202 delay, and an Indian made Boss PH2r phaser clone and a Dime Wah. Still searching. I got a THD hotplate to alleviate the need for severe volume and get overdrive from the tubes. I was using the compressor to push the tubes into over drive and it worked fairly well but was hard to control and get a reliable tone. I eventually replaced the Iceman stock DiMarzio made Axis pickups with a set from a friends Studio Gothic Les Paul. Sounded alot clearer and stronger.

7. I went home and left my still secret amp in storage for summer. I took my delay and two practice amps. I still didnt like the distortion but it worked fine. I bought an Ampeg B2 combo off craigslist for $450 or so and started hunting for distortion pedals. I bought an Ibanez Super Metal (SM9) and a Sonic Distortion (SM9) and ran them one into the other as I had read that SRV had gotten his tone from running two Tubescreamers in tandem. I found a way to balance the two pedals gain so that I was getting a beefy tone from one and a trebly tone from the other with out too much feedback. This was the essence of my tone for a while. I later bought a Ibanez Graphic EQ (GE10) to use as a clean boost or boost for one of the other Ibanez pedals. I alos got a Ibanez Flanger (FL9) and a DOD rackmount 15 band stereo EQ. I changed the pickups on the Iceman to Bill Lawrence L500XL and L500R. Much improved tone.

8. I moved out to an apt and brought down all my stuff from storage, namely my Boogie. This was the first time i had set it all up in one room all the amps. I now had a true stereo tone. I ran the line out form the THD hotplate to the Ampeg input to capture all of the Boogie tube goodness. This was my setup for a long as time. A somewhat complicated, unstable, messy setup. I later built a wooden rack for all the rackmount stuff I had. I also bought a 1980 Gibson 335-S Deluxe Professional Silverburst. This is my favorite. Factory coil-tap and original Dirty Fingers pickups. Overwound, high output, bright when needed via coil tap.

9. I bought a Mesa Boogie Quad Preamp and retired the Ibanez distortion pedals (except for the GE10 for clean boost) and re arranged the pedalboard. I also cleaned out the signal path of my rack stuff. The Compressor is barely used, just to add some punch to the Ampeg, same for the 15 band EQ. only one side of each is used and only for the Ampeg. Both are DOD Series II rackmount effects and are noisey and tone suckers. I experimented with my small stash of preamp tubes to find a set that I liked. Thats pretty much it.

Old Rack:

New Rack:

Newer Rack:

Old Pedal Board:

New Pedal Board:

Older Rig:

Old Rig:

Added Quad:

Guitars:

Chronological Purchase Order:

1. Ibanez HGio from Strat Pack (Not shown)
2. Ibanez Iceman
3. Ibanez Bass
4. 1980 Greco SA-900 ('57 ES-335 Lawsuit copy) [gift from President of Pokemon USA]
5. "Fender" Squire Strat
6. Washburn 7 String
7. 1980 Gibson 335-S Silverburst

 

[LSC123]

Good thread indeed.

I started playing guitar by dicking around on a used acoustic at the house of a family friend that i used to go to after school (5th grade elementery) while my parents were at work. That lead to me asking my parents for a guitar.......and heres the chronological order

1) red squier strat. This was my first guitar ever which started me on guitar. Started playing it along to whatever i was listening to in that time period. Mostly nirvana. Just learned songs based on the root notes, and then learned chords from that.
2) Bought my first amp. $75 from a friend. Crate 15 watt combo amp with built in "chorus" switch. This was one of those mid 80s crates that actually had a decent tone. That amp finally blew one day during a thunderstorm at my best friend/drummer's house. It was time for an upgrade anyway but i had zero care about tone. This was just during the "i need volume" phase.
3) Bought a 65 watt fender princeton 112plus (cheap solid state). The lead channel was god awful, but it had those good fender cleans even in a solid state. Used that for about 5 years all through middle and high school in my band. For the first couple of years i was using it with DOD pedals for my distortion sound. Then i upgraded to......
4) A digitech RP-5. I still miss that thing. Even though its digital sounding, it really opened me up to tweaking, effects, and what you can do to create you tones past just 3 knobs on an amp. This was my main tone machine from about 1997 through 2000. Then i went to college and had no band, and no need for volume, so i started experimenting with different amps. I was into a lot of Van Halen at the time, so i was drawn to that tone, but i still wasnt sold on it. I always felt that i liked the combination of VH and Metallica (midrange heavy and lack of bass, but also at the same time, scooped and round). So i knew i really didnt like the cranked marshall tones. So i started trying out many many random amps.
5) Crate GLX212 - the 2x12 standard $300 crate combo. I was sick of my princeton's 1x12 65 watt combo'ness, but still loved my Digitech RP-5, so i picked up the crate and used that with the digitech. This was the last of the RP-5. After this combo, i sold both and started moving to amp's lead channels and not floor processors or modelers.
6) Johnson JM60 Marquis. Amp modeler that was way ahead of its time. Bought this to dick aroudn with some tones, and hopefully capture the VH vibe, but ended up starting to get into the boogie models (recto and mark). Amp lacked a little bit of gain (since i was overgaining things back then) for my tastes, so that got the boot.
7) Guitar Research t64rs. Cheap sam ash 4x8" cabinet + 60 watt head. Honestly, i LOVED the tone of the lead channel on this thing. I wish i still had it just to dick around with. This became my bedroom practice amp for the last 2 years of college since i spent more time drinking and not going to class

And then i graduated, moved home, and ended up joining a band with my drummer from HS. And thus began my quest for live rigs.
1) Spent a short time with the Zoom G7.1uT which was a great little floor processor. Used it while practicing with the band to create some cool tones, and some cool effects. A phaser patch on the pedal actually lead to the creation of one of our songs.
2) before our first show, i ditched the Zoom and bought another t64rs and built a cheapo dual head dual cabinet live rig. One head dialed for clean and high gain lead, second head dialed in for alternate clean and high gain rhythm. I switched with a whirlwind switcher, and used a couple of pedals for some tones. Couldnt handle non mic'ed gigs.
3) Moved to rack setups. Behringer Vamp Pro + Crate power block + fcb1010 + 15 band GEQ. All running stereo through the two 4x8 cabs. Great tone, further decided boogie tones are my tone.
4) Vamp Pro + Mesa 20/20 + FCB1010 + GEQ = First boogie Great great tones. I used the mark models exclusively so i knew that was my grailtone.
5) Studio pre + 20/20 + GCX + pedals + Ground Control Pro. First mesa preamp. Still to this day love the studio pre. 20/20 broke up the cleans way too early, so the rig wasnt right for me, the lead channel was incredible though.
6) Mark IV + GCX + Pedals + Ground Control + 4x12 cab.
7) I got sick of having to carry around a rack case plus a head, plus pedalboard, so i went back to rack gear. Vamp Pro + 2:50 + Ground Control - Used this rig for a solid year. Back to mark only presets.
8) My current live rig. DC-5 combo + pedalboard with many assorted pedals. back to pedals so i can switch things on the fly and create tones when they pop in my head when writing stuff.

 

[Don]

-I started playing in 1971 and didn't even get an electric guitar, an Ibanez Destroyer, until 1981! It was months before I bought an amp, a Pignose 30/60.

-Less than a year later, I joined a band and needed something bigger so I bought a friend's year old 1981 Fender Concert 4-10.

-The Concert was heavy and didn't quite have the sound that I was after. The clean was too clean and the drity was too dirty, so I replaced it with a 1966 Vibrolux Reverb in about 1990.

-In the early '90s I had the VR modified with channel switching, cascading gain, EL-34s, effects loop. Yeah, I had this classic amp turned into a Boogie wanna be! Unfortunately, it was only kinda so-so. I shoulda bought a Boogie!

-About 10 years ago I bought a 1968 Princeton Reverb as a smaller version of the VR. I left that amp stock.

-About 5 years ago I returned the VR to stock condition (other than a few small holes in the rear and underside of the chassis). Luckily, the transformers, original Jensen speakers and other cool parts were left intact!

-A couple of years ago I had a clone of a late 1950s Fender tweed Deluxe (5E3) built for it's great cranked sounds.

-Last year I sold the Princeton Reverb at a big profit and bought my Express 5:50. I've kinda gone full circle, back to channel switching and cascading gain, but this is done so much batter on this amp than on the Concert or my Vibrolux Reverb's mods. It's the switcher that I had hoped for 27 years ago!

-Now, I really only use the tweed Deluxe Clone and the 5:50. I take the VR for a spin from time to time. It has a tone that the other two can't get, though it seldom leaves the house.

-I've had a few small practice amps- Champs and such, during this time.

This was all a search for a good, sirty blues sound!

What I've had for guitars is a much more complicated story!

 

[reilly]

I decided to start playing guitar when I turned 16 in 1996, my dad played back in the 70s so I got to start off with some really nice gear. He gave me a Guild Starfire iv hollow body which I later sold for a American Strat, He also has a 71 Gibson Goldtop Deluxe which is IMHO is the holy grail of guitars. Anyway I have had a ton of guitars but am now playing an LTD h400 with Rio grande Pickups. My next guitar will either be a EB Musicman Axis or an ESP Eclipse II.

Amps in the order that I can remember.
1. 74 Fender twin (my dads amp) I played this a few years.
2. Fender champ 1x10 combo
3. 60s Fender baseman Head
4. Marshal VS100 Head
5. Marshall Artist 3032 Head
6. Hughes Kettner tube 100 Head
7. Laney GH100L Head
8. Orange Head
9. Line 6 Flextone II 2x12 combo
10. Mesa Maverick 2x12 combo
11. Randall RM100 Head
12. Mesa Mark IV 1x12 combo Current

That's all I can Remember from the last 13 years

 

[jdurso]

1. Ibanez Toneblaster 1x10 combo
2. Marshall Valvestate and Marshall MG 4x12
3. Mesa 2 Channel Recto and Mesa Traditional 4x12
4. Added Roland JC120 for cleans in addition to Mesa Halfstack
5. Mesa Rectoverb 1x12 (with JC120 for cleans)
6. Mesa Tremoverb and Mesa Standard 4x12 (with JC120 for cleans)
7. Mesa Mark IV and Mesa Standard 4x12 (with JC120 for cleans)
8. Mesa Triaxis/2:90 and Mesa Standard 4x12 (with JC120 for cleans)
9. Line 6 Vetta (had to sell entire rig to help get rid of college debt)
10. Added Basson 2x12 to pair with Vetta
11. Mesa Roadster Head and Basson 2x12
12. Added Mesa 4x12 Halfback to pair with Basson and Roadster
13. Added Diezel 4x12 to pair with Basson and Roadster
14. Added Mesa Roadster 2x12 to pair with Basson and Roadster
15. Added Mills Afterburner 4x12 to pair with Roadster


wow..... this is the first time in a while i mapped out that journey. Thats not even including fx.... good thing is over all those swaps I've never really lost much money (if any), aside from my initial Mesa purchases. I will say however my rig has never sounded better so its worth it.

 

[xT00BZRG00Dx]

1. Fender Frontman 15R came with a Fender Starcaster starter pack, sounded bad but I didnt realize it at the tme. It broke after 3 years
2. Roland Cube 60, pretty good amp, great second amp, died on me after a year
3. B-52 AT-212, great amp, died after a month though
4. Peavey Valveking 112 for like a week, I exchanged my AT-212 for it since they are discontinued, crappy amp, was only temporary anyways
5. Mesa Mark III Red Stripe, Marshall 1960A (tommorow Mesa Rectifier 2x12) great amp all around

 

[pokerrules47]

Oh man, this is a wicked thread

My guitars/amps, listed in order, and I am sure I have missed some

1) bought a profile electric, no amp, I was 14 and working as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant
2) borrowed my friends single ended home made tube amp. sounded like garbage, but we found a phaser pedal to make it sound better
3) parents felt bad, and bought me a peavey audition amp. Loved this little guy even tho you had to push a button to get distortion. parents got pissed a lot because I played it loudly
4) changed the speaker in the amp, to achieve a better tone. Put in an 12" scorpion
5) upgraded pickups in the profile to dimarzios
6) bought a bc rich warlock platinum (traded the profile)
7) moved to ottawa, ended up with a randall half-stack and a ada mp1 because a guy owed me money. Jammed with an ACDC cover band, but didn't really fit in (should have stuck with them because they did quite well).. Put seymours into the bc rich and
8) guy that owned the randall/mp1 managed to get the money together to buy it back (I had given him the option). Went back to the audition, but found a boss rod10 distorion to front it. Played a friend's studio .22+ through a vert 2x12 for a bit, loved it.
9) Moved to montreal, started shopping for guitars to replace the profile. Found an american made warlock in a pawn shop. bought it.
10) started playing in a metal band, one of the guys had an old carlsboro amp. it was a 2x12, and when fronted with the rod10, it came to life. We worked hard, started getting things moving, then all hell broke loose when our lead singer's drug addiction took him down
11) found another bc rich, bought it. found a studio .22 (not the plus) and bought it.
12) started playing in another metal band, didn't go anywhere
13) got hard up for money, sold both american bc-rich and the studio and moved back to ontario
14) started into another band, lead guitar had a marshall jcm 800 lead series 2x12, he got sick sold me the amp
15) used that for a couple of years.. .loved it, used the rod10 on it. Eventually stopped playing in bands and could not justify the 800, sold it for some effects and cash/recording time
16) played with my rod10/alesis microverb into my computer for a few years. got the itch for an amp again so found a used studio .22+ online and bought it
17) used it for a few years, then started jamming with another band, needed a bit more power, so sold the .22+ for a rectoverb
18) sold the rectoverb and bought a carvin legacy and a 2x12
19) new chapter, on the hunt for a new amp. Looking for roadster or possibly a mark iv. Would consider a 3 channel dr but can't really use the 100w of them.

I think the two most important times in my life were when I tried the studio .22+ and then when I purchased the rectoverb. Major tonal differences and influence on me

 

[toneguy86]

Interesting thread. I have used, owned and borrowed more gear then I could ever remember, but here is a stab.

First Real Amp: After using a bunch of friend's gear, including an old Gibson combo I wish I had today, I ended up buying a solid state Acoustic 150 head with a huge 215 and a horn Acoustic Cabinet. For those that don't remember, Acoustic was an amp company popular in the early 70s. They were loud...that's about it.

Next: I needed a real guitar amp, and after trying a bunch of different things, end up with a Gibson Lab series because BB King used one. It wasn't the worst amp I ever owned, I just was never able to get anything of substance out of it. BB sounds great through the things--I just never could.

Next: The Lab gave way to a Music Man RD head. Now this was not bad. It at least had a tube power stage. It sounded amazing through a Marshall 412 cab--not so great through several others. I borrowed the Marshall cab for awhile, but ended up owning a beautiful Legend wooden 212 cab--it looked great but didn't sound great.

Marshall phase: It wasn't mine, but for awhile, when I was playing in a classic rock band, I borrowed a Marshall JCM 800 stack. Loud and proud baby. Nobody ever complained they couldn't hear me, but I am sure my current reoccuring back issues began during these days. Wow!

Next: A pretty nice Dean Markley amp. Now...for a lot of folks here you may not know that Dean Markley actually made amps. They did and they weren't bad. The gain stage needed some work, but overall, the amp sounded pretty good. With a good pedal this thing smoked. However, I still didn't have the sound I wanted. I played through a bunch of old Fenders at this time and...well...it was much better. Unfortunately I didn't have the cash for a vintage box so...

Fender Stage II: A solid state amp that had some good points and sounds, but it was still...solid state. Warm sounding? No. About this time I started working with guy who collected vintage Fender amps (mostly blackface Twins and Super Reverbs). I also got hooked up with some people who owned a music store that turned a lot of different amps, so....

My vintage phase: By luck, timing and connections I ended up owning 2 older Fender amps that I paid $200 a piece for--A silverface Vibrolux and a Blackface Pro Reverb. I also was offered a 112 combo version of the old Music Man I used to own, so I got that too. I mainly used the blackface Pro with a tubescreamer as my stage rig for years. It was good. The Vibrolux became my harmonica amp after I took up harp. Eventually though I decided the Pro was best left at home (I didn't want to risk it to some numbnuts and a pitcher of beer) so I started using the Music Man set fairly clean with the tubescreamer for dirt. This rig worked well for awhile, but eventually I tired of the limitations of the Music Man.

Peavey Classic 30: A short lived system. A nice, portable and fairly decent replacement for the Music Man. I only used the gain "channel" set relatively clean for rhythm and added the tube screamer to that for meat. Not a bad rig. In fact, one festival I played during this time elicited some compliments from the sound guys on how good my amp sounded and how easy it was to mix me with the smaller amp, verses some of the other guys on the bill with some of the cranked boxes they used. However, it was a temporary situation as I had heard the grail and had my sights set on it.

Mesa Lonestar 212 Combo: I started looking at unloading most of my amps in favor of one good amp that would cover everything I needed. I had read glowing reviews of this amp, had heard others play them and had sat for hours in my favorite music store working one over. I finally decided to go for it when I was offered a really decent trade in price for the Fender Pro and the Music Man. I still have the Silverface Vibrolux and use it as a harp amp primarily (although it has been on a couple of recordings as a guitar amp too).

My kids need gear: I am now entering the phase of my life as a parent where my kids want gear. For my youngest, he is getting handmedowns--right now my wife's old bass rig--an Gallien-Krueger 800RB head and Aguilar and Hartke cabs. My oldest now has a Blackheart Little Giant mini stack as well...but wants an Orange amp (originally a Tiny Terror, but his wattage jones has grown a bit recently)

My wife needs gear: I mentioned the handmedown that went to my youngest son (he's 11). The amp that replaced it in my wife's bass arsenal is a Mesa M-pulse Venture 600 combo. She loves it!


For now I think I am done. The Lonestar is doing everything I need right now. I do like the Stilleto Ace though and might find the need to add a head to my rig.

Mark

 

[injected]

I've been playing for about 2 years exactly.

-On my 14th birthday, we don't have that much money.. my dad asked me what I wanted. I really had no interest in guitar, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I asked for a guitar, we went down to a local shop in downtown San Diego that only sold acoustics. They had ones that were $10k+ but the one I got was like $120. It's a "Stage 1" guitar, the brand is owned by Michael Kelly. I still use it to this day, haven't replaced it with another acoustic.

-After like 4 months of acoustic I wanted an electric. I didn't know what I wanted, people told me to go epiphone, some fender, etc. I went with an Ibanez RG120 because it was cheap and I was a complete metalhead (still kinda am) and I kinda knew ibanez was just for metal.

-I dropped my iPod video 30gb in the toilet, quickly pulled it out, and sent it in for repair. Luckily they didnt find out it had been in water, however, instead of giving me another one, they gave me a $300 refund! How cool was that?! I bought from musiciansfriend a Line 6 spider 1x8 15w combo.. and a zoom gfx-3 multieffects because I wanted to have it all. Haha. I thought it sounded great at the time.. but i didnt really have an ear for anything.

-I used this same equipment for about a year.. maybe more before I wanted to go tube. The power of the internet persuaded me. I sold the multieffects for as much as I paid new.. to some kid. Haha. I bought a Peavey Ultra Plus 120w head and an Avatar 2x12 with vintage 30's. I loved it.. but it was too loud and lacked character and really heavy. Also bought some pedals, an 80's Boss CE-3 chorus, sounds great.. and an ISP Decimator.

-Like 2 weeks ago I sold the PV rig for as much as I paid for it - - $700. I went and bought a DC-5 combo off another member here and I love it. I forgot how I found out about mesa. My english teacher let me borrow his .50 Cal+ one time for a small gig so maybe it was that way. I really liked the dual rectos/roadsters/express's at a local store here so that turned me on too.

Now I need to start putting away money for a good guitar. Don't know what I'm gonna get yet.. maybe some kind of ESP or Ibanez S Prestige.

 

[SonOfIAm]

1. Started on acoustic at 10yrs old. Parents didn't like rock music so electric guitars were out of the question
2. Married and got my first electric at 22, an Ibanez RG-340 and a Mako Pirahna 8" practice amp. Discovered fx pedals a few months later and bought a DOD Super Overdrive, Flanger and Digitech Digital Delay/Sampler.
3. "Upgraded" to a Peavey Audition 110 and got my first Strat, MIM Deluxe Player's Strat at 32.
4. Bought a Line6 Flextone II Plus and started my journey through several guitars at 38 and and ended up settling on my Strat and a Schecter C-1 Classic but held onto a few others for kicks and giggles. Started playing at my church and found out that I really wasn't much of a guitar player. Started working on scales, exploring chord voicings, music theory, etc... but was still obsessed with finding the right gear for what my definition of great tone was.
5. Entered the world of high-end guitars when my wife bought me a PRS Brazilian McCarty. Soon after entered the world of amp modelers and fx processors for playing at church, we needed stage volume to be at a minimum. At that time, not a real guitar driven type worship.
6. Bought my first tube amp, a Fender Blues Deluxe. Way to loud for home use so I sold it to buy other gear.
7. Over the last 3 years purchased a Fender American Deluxe V-Neck Strat and American Deluxe Tele. Ended up bored with their tone so went on the quest for different pickups and now are both loaded with Kinmans; Blues set in the Strat and Broadcasters in the Tele. Bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe since we started playing a more guitar driven style which warranted a better tone. I tried placing the amp under the stage and mic'ing it and it worked pretty well, but I still wasn't happy with the tone, playing a Tonelab LE through the Hot Rod so I sold the HR and bought a Fender Cyber-Twin. That got me closer.
8. Started doing my research on amps and pedals (discovered boutique pedals which is another story of its own) and decided that I wanted to get at least 90% of my tone and distortion from my amp so I found a Rivera R100 Duo Twelve but the distortion wasn't what I was hoping for and found myself back to relying on pedals for my distortion. Back to the drawing board so I did some more amp research and discovered the Lonestar Classic as played by Andy Timmons. I was under the impression that all Mesas had the "heavy metal" undertones (nothing wrong with that, just not my cup of tea) on all of their amps so I never considered one before. Andy Timmon's playing changed all of that in 3 minutes!
9. Finally, last year at the age of 42, I sold my Cyber-Twin, Rivera and one of my guitars to buy my first Mesa, a Lonestar Classic 2X12 Combo and entered the world of tone bliss! I have my collection of guitars down to just 3; My V-Neck Strat, Deluxe Tele and my Breedlove Acoustic. I have recently acquired another Cyber-Twin, the SE model this time. I like their versatility and they really don't sound that bad. I have my pedals down to a Barber LTD, an MXR Phase 90 and an Eventide Timefactor Delay. I'm considering a chorus but don't know for sure.

I am constantly tweaking and refining and always looking to improve my tone. I am ashamed to admit I had spent so much more time in the pursuit of the gear to get my "perfect" tone that I had neglected my playing to the point where now that I have "great tone", I am unable to fully enjoy it by just opening up and playing what's in my heart and head; however, that is changing a little bit everday because now that I am close to the "tone-in-my-head", I find it hard to put the guitar down.

 

[halfnote]

I had a roommate when I was 21 that had been an upright bass player in a rockabilly band called The Uglies. He only played acoustic instruments and is an amazing musician. I played only acoustic for about 6-7 years. Been on electric for 5-6.
Here it goes;

Fender M-80, grey carpet covering and red knobs, paid 30 bucks for it. Awesome amp.
Crate 2x12
Marshall MG 2x12
Fender Blues Deluxe 1x12 tweed, first tube amp, i had this one for a while.
Fender Twin Reverb RI, knew nothing about it, I just loved the way it looked, vintage fender.
Fender Evil Twin 100 watt RI, awesome.
Fender Cybertwin 2x12, got this one at a music store blowout for 300 bucks
Fender supersonic 1x12 combo, love that one
Mesa Roadster 2x12, I wasn't really ready for it.
Ampeg superjet 1x12
Fender Supersonic 1x12 again, told you I loved that one.
Trace Elliot Speed Twin C50 1x12 in Red, If you find one, buy it! They are usually relatively cheap and is a rediculous brittish tone. Huge high gain rippin tone!
Trace Elliot Speed Twin C100 2x12 in Robins egg blue, won this one on ebay for 408 bucks, mint condition.
Mesa Stiletto Trident
Mesa Rectoverb
Mesa Dual Rectifier 3 channel
Mesa Tremoverb head
Mesa Stiletto Green Combo
The current rig;
Mesa Custom Roadster 2x12, Extension 2x12 that I built to go with the Roadster, couple a pedals and a souped up strat.
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/76/l_fdba02d74eed4e0f985b42434fb3649f.jpg
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/54/l_5d8de707cc5140d4a11690d8fa6a942f.jpg

Just want to say if anyone knows Jaime Moore (the bass player) maybe somewhere between Boston and Portland, ME
Let me know

 

[LTE]

Started guitar 3 years ago, had a micro cube/squier strat. Learned the basics and some RATM songs.
Got a gibson flying v and a boss gt6, got into the effects are awesome phase
Got a line 6 spider, thought it was awesome
Started listening to Satriani, got a RG1570.
Got a fender supersonic ,first tube amp, about 1 1/2 years ago. Loved its clean, liked the overdrive, but when played loud jamming with friends, gain got too grainy and ice picky.
Conjoined all my musical tastes (jazz, prog rock/metal, blues)
Inspired by Petrucci's LTE/DT tone looked for a mesa.
Traded my fender for a DC5 last summer.
LOVE IT!

but i went through stages with that.
Inital AWESOME stage.
Messed around, sounded bad
found a good setting, then suddenly woke up to it sounding horrible x10
Found my "hopefully" final settings

 

[Anonymous]

Been playing for a few years, so here's my chronology:

1. Guitar Rig through speakers
2. Peavey Practice 10" combo - used around when I was still on Guitar Rig
3. Behringer modeling half stack - used a little while after
4. Line 6 Spider III - bought when I was sick of the modeling software and crappy Behringer tone
5. Basson B412 - bought after seeing rave reviews; still have, but I ripped the speakers out and am replacing with some Celestions
6. Mesa Dual Rectifier 3 channel - first real amp; had it for a few months then sold when I got frustrated trying to replicate tones
7. Mesa Triple Rectifier 2 channel - a good improvement, but I was still playing through the Eminence Legends which I hate!
8. Engl E530 - bought used in preparation for college and sold when I got my Diezel; wish I hadn't though...
9. Crate Vintage Club 30 - planned to use with the Engl preamp for live stuff; sounded alright
10. Diezel Einstein combo - neat amp, but lacked balls; couldn't get the distortion I wanted
11. Mesa Rectifier 4x12 - Love this cabinet! Instantly turned my Triple into everything I had wanted! Still never fails to blow me away, and I plan on getting another!
12. Bogner Ecstasy 101b - Took a while for me to learn and set up correctly, but this thing is fucking gorgeous!
13. Avatar 2x12 - Nice cab that I used for a while with the Bogner. Great tone, but I'm short on cash so I'm trying to sell it.

Currently I use the following:
Bogner Ecstasy 101b
Mesa Triple Rectifier
Recto 4x12

I find that for recording, I can't ask for much better of a setup! With the two amps, I can cover so much ground and though I don't plan on not trying out new gear, I never plan on selling those things.