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RE: guitar amps | from Brian (slidingpast.com)Jun 28 2015 - 19:20

Fulldrive 2 is the only overdrive/distortion pedal I use live. Non mosfet version. I also have a Class A clean boost pedal on my board that was made by Pharaoh, but is discontinued now. However, I have recently acquired an original Zendrive that's pretty damn good.

RE: guitar amps | from BretJun 25 2015 - 16:09

Hey Jeff, my buddy Berke Marye in Austin turned me onto you sometime in 1995 or 1996, giving me the Forbidden EP, and a killer blue t-shirt with IDAHO printed over the state of California. Both of them wore out long ago, but they were respectively my favorite album and t-shirt of the 90s. I just rediscovered your site. And I've moved from Austin and live in Venice Beach now. I would really like to buy some of your music, and definitely a t-shirt (and a beer on me if it ever came up). Any suggestions as to where?
Sorry to litter the message board with a personal message on an unrelated topic, but i didn't see any other contact info. Cheers. bretgum@gmail.com

RE: guitar amps | from NateJun 17 2015 - 07:22

The Fulltone Full-Drive 2 is still, as far as I am concerned, the best overdrive out there. Just my two cents.

RE: guitar amps | from JulienMay 09 2015 - 10:44

God how did you do that ! ;)

RE: guitar amps | from JeffMay 09 2015 - 09:43

I fixed your typo Ron....yes I have that power :):)

RE: guitar amps | from Ron BattleMay 09 2015 - 08:20

Great TONE, not great town!!! ;-)

RE: guitar amps | from JeffMay 07 2015 - 23:15

Cool thanks Ron I'll look into the Rothwell!!:)

RE: guitar amps | from Amp around $1000May 07 2015 - 18:49

I've been playing an AC15 for the past few years and I absolutely love it. It gets great tone at low volumes and is still loud as shit! Couple that with the Rothwell Heartbreaker, some cool reverb, and it's IDAHO 101!

RE: guitar amps | from Ron BattleMay 07 2015 - 18:46

I highly recommend the Rothwell "Heartbreaker." It's not a distortion pedal, but rather a classic overdrive. It works extremely well with the Vox AC30 or AC15. I have one and use it religiously.http://www.rothwellaudioproducts.co.uk/html/heartbreaker.html

RE: guitar amps | from jeffMay 05 2015 - 12:46

Thanks Pierre !! I will try out all of these that you mentioned. Hoping something can beat my Fulltone Full-Drive 2 that I've had since the 90's !!

RE: guitar amps | from PierreMay 05 2015 - 00:50

Hello guys, if I can just chime in I'd say the Wampler 30 something in "30 watts" mode seems to give a rather convincing "distortion with tubey headroom" tone. All demos I've heard tend to make me think it would do. The Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret MKIII is really nice for a slightly more compressed Marshall tone and the Love Pedal High Power Twin, or the Love Pedal Les Lius in Twin mode are really good for a nasty, Fender-tweed tone (think Keith Richard). IMO all really good distortion pedals, rather convincing as tube amps emulation, but none of those has the power, the charm, the chime of a good British 15 watter (whether Vox, WEM or Marshall).

RE: guitar amps | from jeffMay 02 2015 - 20:04

I've been playing that same Deluxe all day today that I played at the Fez :) So much of the magic happens because of these old tubes and speakers both of which are not being fabricated any more with this inherent quality. Maybe I'm just an old fashion guy.....I still mainly shoot film :) Since I'm going to have to play whatever amp they give me on the upcoming EU tour I find myself in the market for a good distortion pedal that can give me some semblance of something or other. ...most likely the deluxe re-issue (if I'm lucky) won't break up too well on its own? Have you heard of the Wampler 30 something pedal Trevor?? I'm so hooked on my AC-15 that I'm being swayed by the fact that it claims to sound like one.

RE: guitar amps | from TrevorMay 02 2015 - 13:32

I remember your Deluxe, Jeff- I think I saw you play one at The Fez in NYC back in the 90's. Of course, I remember because I have one myself. Great amps, but even the non-reverb amps are pretty pricey.

Brian, I hate to say it, but the sound is mostly in how you play, not what you play. Anecdotally, this point was driven home when I was recording with my old band, and the other guitarist's tone was making me sick with jealousy. Having just recorded an overdub with my rig (jazzmaster, Fulldrive2, 6V6 equipped bf Deluxe (non-reverb model)) I borrowed my friend's (tele deluxe with WRHB- the real ones- into a Sunn head running 6550s). We were all pleased.

The next day, we realized we'd forgotten to label track was which, and even our Grammy winning friend who was recording us couldn't tell the difference between the tracks. I was kind of shocked that a 6V6 (which is pretty low power in the grand scheme of things) and a 6550 (usually used in bass amps like an SVT) could sound so similar.

That being said, of course, you might want to check out:

Fender Blues Junior: a fairly simple preamp to go into an EL84 power section. These are plentiful and cheap, and there are tons of mods out there for them, so if you buy one now, you can upgrade it as the years go by- though it will sound pretty great right off the shelf.

I'm a huge fan of the Allen Chihuahua- ridiculously great sounding reverb. You might want to look for one used, or you can save yourself a few bucks and build it from a kit. That's what I did (the EL34 version) and I couldn't be happier. My Deluxe sort of stares at me angrily while I play through the Chihuahua.

RE: $1000 budget. regular sized gigs. Jeff Martin buys ___ amp? go! | from jeffApr 21 2015 - 17:08

Bill Sanke my go to guy for all things vintage gear had me buy a '66 Fender Showman amp head. It was around 700$. I'm going to use it with a Marshall 8x10 cabinet with a think silver back speakers?? not suer exactly. I couldn't live without my 60's Vox AC10. That really is the Idaho guitar sound. None of these setups could be had for 1000$ of less though. I would think some kind of Fender Deluxe with a Vox bulldog speaker could be had for around 1K?? That's what I used live..... Well that's my 2 cents for now. Good luck Brian!!!. I'm sure Bill Sanke would talk your ear off about this stuff i bet he wouldn't mind if you emailed him bsanke@mac.com. He really is a fountain of knowledge in this regard :)

guitar amps | from Brian Apr 16 2015 - 20:21

I'm in the market for amp and have been having good discussions with different folks. I seem to come back to Jeff and Dans tonal qualities and dynamics to run from straight cleans to squawking melodic feedback and over driven rhythmic picking back to lush open spaces. I figure your opinions carry some weight ; )

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