Auditioned a couple of amps with my band

[Hellavision]

So I've been playing once a week with some guys from work for 5+ years. Playing Hard Rock/Punk covers mostly using my Rocker 30 and PPC212OB with Vintage 30s for maybe the last three years. In that time I've also been buying some nice amps that I've been playing by myself. So I thought I should try them one by one with the band because I really like all of them.

So first out was my latest purchase. A 1970 Laney Pre-Supergroup 60w (or maybe the 60w was never a Supergroup. Don't know the full story).
All knobs on full except bass off and precense somewhere in the middle. Wow. Thats' a great amp. The other guitarist (Marshall JCM2000) got a bit jealous when he heard it. But a bit too loud for the band. Had to put my Palmer Attenuator in line set to 75%. Had a bit of a hard time hearing my leads over the band but it sounded really nice, responded to the volume and tone on the guitar as I wanted it to and I was very pleased. I was ready to swap amps at rehearsal right away after that but decided to keep going.

Next up was my 1966 (maybe, a bit hard to date) Vox AC50. Also needed the Attenuator at 75% or I would take over completely.
Really different from the Laney. Less compressed and more untamed. Really liked it and I was once again thinking of only using this one with the band from now on. But I did have another amp coming up that I knew would be even better.

That was my 1976 Orange OR80. I know this is a beast and I love it. Again; Attenuator at 75% Ready to rock. But somehow after the other two amps, it just didn't sound as awesome as I thought it would. It sounded good. But the other ones did it better. I'm thinking I should get this one looked at because it just felt like it's missing something. I know I've biased it a bit colder than usual so I'll need to check that again. It's also the one I've been playing the most and the longest of these three amps so it might just need new tubes.

After that I had to check out the Rocker 30 again. The reason why this is in the rehearsal studio is the master volume, so no Attenuator this time and... WOW! This amp really rocks. For the sound of my band, it's spot on. It really fits in perfectly with the bass, drums and other guitarist, for the music we play. The rest of the band agrees (except the drummer who didn't hear any differance at all between all of them). So I suppose after all that I'm back to square one. At least for now. I really love the Rocker 30 (Enough to buy two of them) so I'm not really crying over it because I really enyoy the other amps as well.

So now I need to check the bias on the OR80. Maybe take it to a tech. And I do believe that the Palmer Attenuator really makes the NMV-amps sound worse than I know they can without it (it compresses them in a bit of a strange way). So I'll need to try out something different. Thinking of getting a Fryette Power Station. Also want to try out some Greenbacks in place of the Vintage 30s in a cab.

Funny though. I was sure the other amps would blow the Rocker 30 away. And even more sure I'd love the OR80 the best. But with a band... Everything is different... Live and learn... Just thought I should share my experience with you guys. Did anyone else here audition a bunch of amps and what was your favorite?

[Boy_Narf]

COOL!

I'm a big R30 fan that's for sure. Heck I bought two of them When I record with it, I don't have to do a thing to the track. It just seems to sit so perfectly in the mix. Great amp for sure!

[Ronnie Robinson]

Great amps ! Great test!.......Still so many good reports about the R30.

I'd definitely recommend trying the greenbacks, that's what I've been using over the last 6 months after using a V30 and G12h mix in a cab, sounds good and you certainly notice the less effective speakers and the difference it makes in volume.

[Hellavision]

I've been on the lookout for a set of vintage 8 ohm g12h's since I got the OR80. I want 16 ohm 2x12s so I can run two cabs off the 8 ohm taps of my amps if I want to go full throttle. But they don't come up too often so I'm wondering if I should maybe just buy 2 new ones instead. Can' figure out if I should get the 55 hz or 75 hz ones though. Any suggestions? Or maybe one of each?

[lunchbox]

Vintage Laney amps are amazing. I'd love to have an old 60w 'SG'.

Sorry to hear about the OR80. Hopefully you get it fixed up.

[langmurf]

There's a '65 AC-50 on my local CL. $1200. Man! If I had that kind of disposable income, I'd be all over it!

That said, my TTHW continues to scratch my itch...

[a.hun]

Funny though. I was sure the other amps would blow the Rocker 30 away.

LOL!

No, the Rocker 30 is a genuinely great wee amp. And I have a few other very nice amps (including vintage Orange / Vox / Hiwatt) to compare it with myself, have played many many more over the years.

On the OR, yes try different bias levels, but trust your ears. But I'd honestly suggest running it with as cool a bias as you can get away with. Techs who don't know them properly may tend to go for a 'fashionable' hotter bias and kill the sound. (And pretty quickly your valves too).
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Asked my trusted amp tech mate about good / bad periods for AC50s. "They were all good!" was the reply...


Andy.

[Hellavision]

On the OR, yes try different bias levels, but trust your ears. But I'd honestly suggest running it with as cool a bias as you can get away with. Techs who don't know them properly may tend to go for a 'fashionable' hotter bias and kill the sound. (And pretty quickly your valves too).

Yes. You were a big help when I was biasing it a few years ago. You told me back then to bias by ear and I liked what I heard with it running on the colder side. But I was also worried about burning out my tubes, so that may have made me a bit scared to go hotter... Just starting to wonder what could have been now. Worth trying it out though if I can get some time alone in the rehearsalstudio to really push it and listen while I do it. Should probably bring some fresh tubes first just in case.

There's a '65 AC-50 on my local CL. $1200. Man! If I had that kind of disposable income, I'd be all over it!

Asked my trusted amp tech mate about good / bad periods for AC50s. "They were all good!" was the reply...

I actually picked mine up just because I read that one of the guitarplayers of my favorite band had one. Found one for sale for about $500. Thought "why not?". Just got to try out some clean tones at the sellers place, but they were some of my favorite cleans ever. Got a tech to look it over to make sure it's doing what it's supposed to and not blow up or electrocute me. (it was never serviced by the look of it). The tech complimented the sound a lot and looked a bit sad to see it go. It's a great rock amp that can still be found for cheap. At least here in Sweden.

[langmurf]

There's a '65 AC-50 on my local CL. $1200. Man! If I had that kind of disposable income, I'd be all over it!

I actually picked mine up just because I read that one of the guitarplayers of my favorite band had one. Found one for sale for about $500. Thought "why not?". Just got to try out some clean tones at the sellers place, but they were some of my favorite cleans ever. Got a tech to look it over to make sure it's doing what it's supposed to and not blow up or electrocute me. (it was never serviced by the look of it). The tech complimented the sound a lot and looked a bit sad to see it go. It's a great rock amp that can still be found for cheap. At least here in Sweden.

They aren't too common here in the States. Was kind of surprised to see one on Craigslist. The ad's been up for about a month. Amp looks dead stock on the outside. No gut shots and wouldn't ask unless I were ready to drop the money on it. Just a dream for me.

[pedecamp]

My favorite amp tonally is my Marshall 2204, I get a great rhythm tone out of it and with OD pedals great lead tones. The only drawback its a single channel amp and has no fx loop for a lead boost, I have thought about getting a foot switchable attenuator for this but I haven't been in a band in awhile so I just haven't bothered and do the guitar volume trick for boost.

My next favorite amp is my Orange TV50, loaded with all the right features, 2 channels, fx loop, reverb, built in attenuator, the tone isn't as good as the Marshall but close with the right pedals, tonally its too dark for my liking but with a treble boost its pretty nice sounding. This is a great gigging amp. I was contemplating to replace this amp with a Rocker 15 if it comes out in a head format.

Third in line is my Vox AC15, love the tone of this amp through a cab, I can get great classic rock tones, through its own onboard speaker its boxy and underwhelming. Definitely play this amp through a cab, and with the right pedals I can get great rhythm and lead tones but again no fx loop so no lead boost, I do the best I can with guitar volume knob. I was thinking of trading this amp in for the new Vox AC30 head which feature wise has 2 channels, fx loop and built in attenuator.

Last on my list is my Fender Bandmaster VM, I don't love the tone but its got all the right features to make it a great gigging amp, 2 channels, fx loop, and digital reverb, delay and chorus. I don't really like the gain out of this amp so I set it cleanish and get my gain through pedals. I'd like to replace this but not sure with what, possibly the Fender Bassbreaker 15 head.

So in my last band I've auditioned all these amps and landed on my Orange as the best amp for a band situation. The other guitar player liked it so much he replaced his Marshall DSL with an Orange CR60C.

[Les Paul Lover]

Thanks for the insight Hellavision.

I must admit I was surprised by the Rocker 30 when I bought it.
Admittedly, I had tried it a number of times in shops and wasnt that impressed. I now put that down to non broken in V30s, as I had a similar experience with an AD30 (I owned one with broken in V30s and loved it, just too loud and less practical, if a bit better, than my AD15).

In any case, I lucked out on an eBay auction, and scored a near mint R30 head for peanuts. I only got it to flip it and make a tasty profit..... but once home, it was way too nice to let it go.

I can't honestly rank it between my AD15, R30 and RV50 - they're all pretty different and all have very strong points. In my band, the RV50 probably edges it out for fit, but the AD15 is so practical.... and the R30..... sounds nastier.... in a great way...

Some days, I feel very lucky.