Anyone else bought an amp because of a guitar hero's opinion?

[PapaB]

Has any one ever bought an amp, primarily because of advice from a guitar hero???

I just read an article last night on a British website where Joe Walsh states: "I was aware of Carvin in 1960, I used the vintage amps and had some really good luck with them, I didn’t pursue the guitars, but tried out the vintage amps, and I really liked them. I have not blown a Carvin amp up yet, and I’ve tried.”

Today I bought a Carvin Belaire 212, Tweed (actually Tolex with a Tweed look) Vintage 50 watt amp: US made, very clean, tiddy, loud, and with incredible clarity clean, and lively distortion, for under $700.00!!!

It sounds great with Fender guitars. And it'd be a good companion to my AC30, played together.

Anyone else done something as foolish? I mean, I saw it, strum a few chords, played three blues riffs, thought of what Joe Walsh said, and bought it!!! Lol. Left the store feeling like a million bucks.

(Full disclosure: I did buy the extended 3 year warranty, in case he's wrong! Lol.)

[OffYourFace]

Of course but usually just Marshall, Fender or Vox.

Carvin amps are ok... they just used a lot of cheap parts (pots, transformers etc) most of the time. You'll find opamps inside usually too.

My first tube amp was a Carvin X100B in 1992. It sounded great once I changed the tubes with something of quality and changed the speakers. Back then the chinese made tubes they used sounded thin. It never did die on me tho haha

[DeathJag]

Well... once I found out what Dick Dale and all the other surf bands were using, I just had to get a collection of brown fenders.

[PapaB]

Dick Dale .... Surf Music, right? That's a great sound. The sound of California for sure.

[Embenny]

Well... once I found out what Dick Dale and all the other surf bands were using, I just had to get a collection of brown fenders.

I don't love those amps because specific players used them, I love those amps because the first time I plugged into one, it blew away all my previous conceptions of just how good an amp can sound. It doesn't hurt that it was simultaneously the moment I discovered harmonic tremolo, which to this day remains a point of utter fascination for me. I don't understand why it's not more popular. It's my favourite type of modulation I've ever heard.

[panoramic]

I lusted after the tone on Teenage Fanclub Bandwagonesque and Thirteen and it lead me to buying a blackface bandmaster and an 80's rat pedal. I wouldn't say it was a guitar hero thing as much as a realization I could get a sound I wanted CHEAP at the time and so ouila I did.

Aside of that I have owned some gear because other "hero" dudes have used it.

[DeathJag]

I don't love those amps because specific players used them, I love those amps because the first time I plugged into one, it blew away all my previous conceptions of just how good an amp can sound.

That too haha! I was coming from a silver face twin so it wasn't a huge difference, but enough to make it utterly mesmerizing. I agree about that harmonic tremolo, it's sooooo fun. Also I love harmonic tremolo because it automatically comes after the reverb, which the combo amps don't do! This is why I got Tim at milkman to build me a stereo harmonic tremolo unit, and it works like a charm! This way I can have outboard reverb and harmonic tremolo into separate channels.

I don't know if this qualifies as a hero thing, I just love the sound of classic surf guitar. I just love the sound of the classic surf guitar. Did I mention that I love the sound of the classic surf guitar? If not, I just have to say how much I love the sound of a classic surf guitar.

[Surfysonic]

I don't love those amps because specific players used them, I love those amps because the first time I plugged into one, it blew away all my previous conceptions of just how good an amp can sound.

That too haha! I was coming from a silver face twin so it wasn't a huge difference, but enough to make it utterly mesmerizing. I agree about that harmonic tremolo, it's sooooo fun. Also I love harmonic tremolo because it automatically comes after the reverb, which the combo amps don't do! This is why I got Tim at milkman to build me a stereo harmonic tremolo unit, and it works like a charm! This way I can have outboard reverb and harmonic tremolo into separate channels.

I don't know if this qualifies as a hero thing, I just love the sound of classic surf guitar. I just love the sound of the classic surf guitar. Did I mention that I love the sound of the classic surf guitar? If not, I just have to say how much I love the sound of a classic surf guitar.

Various surf bands and Brian Setzer of The Stray Cats turned me on to Fender brown amps. I appreciate and love Fender tweed and some black amps, in particular, I have a special place in my heart for a '65 RI Twin Reverb and my '90s Fender "Custom" Vibrolux. I never tried a Fender silver amp - maybe one day. The Fender brown amp has my favorite Fender tone. Harmonic tremolo is pure heaven.

Brown amps I have or have had (foolishly moved on)...

















I love Fender brown amps not just for surf, either. They do everything I want for all kinds of music - punk, rockabilly, alternative, etc.

Hero-wise, I'll admit I'm fairly clueless as to what amps most of my heroes used outside of generally Fender or Vox amps. Love my Vox AC15C1-TV despite it being quite the boat anchor.



I'm sure a lot of my heroes used Marshall amps, too, but I've never really been interested in a Marshall. Like a Fender silver amp, I guess I should try one out some day.

[s_mcsleazy]

kinda. i keep trying marshall jmp combos because on of my favorite recorded guitar sounds is on vs. - mission of burma and that's what roger miller used. i still can't bond with them but god damn does roger get a lot out of them mica - mission of burma

i will admit my love of SF twins comes from this clip of talking heads. psycho killer

edit: while not why i bought mine, i always loved how much steve turner from mudhoney used to talk up SF bassmans.

[PapaB]

I'm gonna have to try a Fender Brown before I kick the bucket. Lovely amps, all gorgeous. Did not know Stray Cats played these too.
As for the Mica song, what sound! So multi-dimensional. The Talking Heads too, the Alvarez (12 String maybe?) sounds so good thru the amps.
Lastly, Embene I agree with you on the tremolo on Fender amps. It's my favorite effect. I like the fact that one can control the sound of it: hold the note, and it rings. Kill the note, and it stops. It's very precise. Very rhythmic, like strumming an acoustic guitar ....

[Surfysonic]

I'm gonna have to try a Fender Brown before I kick the bucket. Lovely amps, all gorgeous. Did not know Stray Cats played these too.

Setzer played a Blonde (brown early '60's era) '63 Fender Bassman. From Guitar World (article date is March 29, 2018):

Fortunately, Setzer’s main rig has remained pretty much consistent since then: a 1959 Gretsch 6120 with PAF Filter’tron humbuckers, 1963 Fender Bassman head with matching Fender 2x12 cabinet and an echo/delay unit—initially a Boss DM-2 Analog Delay (or an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man in a few instances) before Setzer adopted his mainstay Roland RE-301 Space Echo in the early Eighties.

The key to Setzer’s tone is pushing the Bassman’s volume up to the limits of its clean headroom where just a slight amount of overdrive emerges. This provides just the right balance of thick, full-bodied tone and the Gretsch’s characteristic jangle and twang. In the early days when he was using analog delay pedals, Setzer plugged into the Bassman’s Bass channel as its higher output gain paired better with pedals, but when he got the RE-301 he switched to the Normal channel as the RE-301’s built-in preamp provided the desirable gain he prefers up front while allowing the amp to maintain a cleaner overall tone. Setzer usually sets his delay to a fast slapback setting (between 60 to 120 milliseconds) with a single repeat. Use up to three repeats if you want more of a reverb-like effect.

[stevejamsecono]

Less of it being an opinion and more just a straight line to what I actually wanted. For years I was convinced that fender amps + pedals is what I wanted because I thought I needed a clean tone underneath it all. Most of my big heroes were amp gain people and I could never totally understand why any myriad of nice drive pedals through nice clean amps didn't do the same thing the same way. Finally got to crank up a Plexi in a big empty studio room while making my first record and the way forward became abundantly clear...

[stevejamsecono]

kinda. i keep trying marshall jmp combos because on of my favorite recorded guitar sounds is on vs. - mission of burma and that's what roger miller used. i still can't bond with them but god damn does roger get a lot out of them mica - mission of burma

A lot of that sound is that weird humbucker in the Lead Is, I feel like. They were reasonably high gain for the time and have a specific mush to them. When they did the reunion tours he used a Lead II with a Barden hot rail in it that sounds a bit better/more distinct, imo.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I don't think I ever paid much attention to what amps most bands used in my formative years, the exception being The Beatles, because their amps were so visible, raised up on chrome stands, and all the same brand. Consequently I wanted an AC30, but when I got one it was just a head with a home-made cabinet, so I was never satisfied with it. Plus neither the tremolo or reverb worked on it.

I think on the whole specific users haven't figured much in my amp choices. H/H combos and Roland Jazz Choruses were used by all and sundry in my day, and generally considered good amps, so I encouraged my friend to buy the scaled-down Cube version of the latter, and eventually picked up a VS Musician for myself. My previous bandmates had played whatever was available through "the catalogue" - a FAL and a Calsboro. Nobody in the bands I was in as a yoof knew much about or was particularly bothered about amps. Decisions were driven purely by price and availability.

I should probably be able to make do with what I already have at this point, but I've started hankering after a Princeton Reverb recently, more due to the good write-ups I've read on here than anyone in particular who uses one, though.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Hmmmm. Actually no.
My guitar heroes might have pushed me towards Fender Amps…and hey I bought a 2x15 diagonal Bassman cab partly because of John Dwyer but never the exact models of amps. And also because I couldn‘t find a Dripedge Showman like Hendrix had on some shows… but a Dripedge Bandmaster is close enough (for me). I have blonde/oxblood Amps and cabs because they look awesome in the first place… and only partly because of the Surf Bands of the 60s.
Also: I tried Marshalls for that reason (Frusciante, Hendrix,…) but never liked them enough (tonally and aesthetically) to buy one.