Amp virgin- What do I buy for dreamy sound?

[acertainstar]

I'm new guys... not just to offsetguitars.com but to guitars in general. I was a keyboardist for christ's sake.

I've been playing for about a year now and have completely fallen in love with Jazzys and Jaguars and the dreamy shoegaze sound of delay, reverb and distortion...

I've got an MIJ CAR 1994 Fender Jazzmaster which I love dearly but it's teamed up with the crappiest $50 60-watt amp you've ever heard. (Kinda' works for some of the music I like to play, surprisingly.)

Team all this up with the only effects pedal I own, (Tiny $30 Digitech multi-effects processor) and I'm lagging behind in the potential sound I could reach!

With the music I've been making at home with free Audacity, I've bypassed my crappy amp and just connected my effects pedal to the line-in of my computer via the headphone jack- surprisingly getting decent demo-quality stuff (Listen here: http://www.myspace.com/loverdowned)

BUT- Today I went to Guitar Center to test out the new Jaguar HH and plugged into some random Marshall amp... I was f'ing blown away! The sound was truly beautiful and now I know that a good amp is just as important as a good guitar!

If any of you out there are into the shoegaze scene, I would seriously appreciate some good advice on what sorts of amps to look into buying. I need warm, wet and dreamy- something delicious for lots of delay, reverb, chorus and distortion... and I litterally know NOTHING at this point on what to search for.

Watts?

Amps?

I have no idea.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help!

[Gw10101]

man, that stuff sound gret! very cool.

beware though, i was a keyboard player for years in various electro/industrial bands, always dabbling in the guitars, a few years  ago i  the bullet and  bought some decent guitars and amps, then pedals. and then started a kind of shoegazy band.

it is a dark and expencive road.

my advice would be for you to grab something like a fender hot rod deville, it is a great loud amp that takes pedals like a champ and it dosn't kill your budget. and imediatly after that i would go and buy a line 6 dl4, a verbzilla, and a vintage rat reissue. although from a lot of the sounds i have heard on your myspace i would suggest maybe a tube screamer or other low gain overdrive. i think that would make for a shoegaze starter kit. you already have a great guitar. and song inspiration. you should be good to go.

lol, now go get a bass player and a drummer.

but i really think that the hot rod deville is a great amp for just about any one (who isnt afraid of pedals) it is kind of a work horse, not to hard to maintain, it is loud enough for just about any type of setting. it isnt as finiky as an ac 30, or as expencive as a marshall jvm/jcm. a lot of touring bands i know use them. hell, brian aubert of silver sun pickups uses one of those.


hope this helps.
greg

[RumorsOFsurF]

The perfect amp for virgins:






Seriously though, I like Fender amps...Especially Silverface early 70's models.  Even a Deluxe Reverb (22 watts) would be plenty loud for most gigs.  A Hot Rod Deluxe would be a cheaper way to go, and they sound good too.  People talk trash about them, but I've had zero probs with mine.

[RumorsOFsurF]

I'm pretty sure you want a larger Fender tube amp from the blackface or silverface era, or an amp modeled after one of those amps. 

A Twin Reverb would be a good place to start if you want A bad back and hearing loss. 

Fixed. 

(I love my Twin, BTW).

[acertainstar]

Thankyou all... I'm starting the research now! (And looking for a drummer and bassist!) Seriously a big help- thankyou again!

[BenHagerty]

The perfect amp for virgins:






Seriously though, I like Fender amps...Especially Silverface early 70's models.  Even a Deluxe Reverb (22 watts) would be plenty loud for most gigs.  A Hot Rod Deluxe would be a cheaper way to go, and they sound good too.  People talk trash about them, but I've had zero probs with mine.

Where did you find this amazing amp?

Yeah, go for the hot rod deluxe, I might get one

[analogsystem]

Fender amps are the way to go for dreamy music.  I wound NOT recommended anything from their hotrod series though.  The cheapest bet is to find a silverface twin and some pedals.  If you look around enough you'll find one for $500 or so.  This will be the loudest amp you'll ever need too 

[peasy]

i have a copy of a 59 fender bassman that my friend built for me, and it has the most gorgeous warm but sparkly clean sound i have ever heard, don't know what a real bassman would be like compared, but i would imagine just as gorgeous, and with pedals this thing is just lusssshhh, stick a big muff or a rat in front of it and crank it up and it rocks. but yeah anyway, as people have said, go for a valve fender of some sort, they are just the best.

[parry]

...A Hot Rod Deluxe would be a cheaper way to go, and they sound good too.  People talk trash about them, but I've had zero probs with mine.

+1 here too. For the price-range (and availability of used), it's tough to find a better deal.
Especially if you're still trying to get it all figured out...

[glimmertwin]

The Hot Rod Deluxe is a decent amp but when I think of dreamy sounding amps, Hot Rod doesn't enter my mind.  Plus for the price, you can stand to spend  a little more and get something that really suits the genre.  I mean you can snag a used Hot Rod off ebay for $400-$500 but you can also snag a used Silverface Fender Pro Reverb(basically a lower wattage Twin Reverb) for $600 if you hold out for a deal.  I scored a Silverface Vibrolux Reverb with replaced speakers for $500 on ebay a little over a year ago.  There are deals still out there with a little patience...

[wooderson]

A Fender Twin is a lot of power - if you're recording/playing at home, you're going to be in neighbor-bothering territory very quickly. If you're gigging, different story.

If it were me, I'd start by looking at lower-wattage Silverface/Blackface Fenders - Champs, Vibrochamps, Princetons, Deluxe Reverbs. 5W-20W

[Pingu]

and a vintage rat reissue.

I have the Vintage Rat, and though it sounds great through my amp it just won't play nice in recordings, results are always tinny and overly harsh, at least using my SM 57. I find myself recording clean and adding VST distortion as needed.

As for amps, +1 on the Fenders. Or, if you want to continue plugging into the computer, the Adrenalinn 3 amp sim/muliteffect. More surreal than dreamy, but still.

[wooderson]

It's not about breakup or distorting, though. Your clean sound is going to be superior if you can push an amp more than '1' or '2' on the volume dial. A Deluxe Reverb will get you Fender clean without being turned all the way down, and won't start to break up too early.

[Regan]

Fender offers dreamy reverb!!!!!!! I love my '66 Vibrolux Reverb!

Regan

[bubbles_horwitz]

i've found the twin reverb reissue can achieve decent guitar center volumes at around 3 or 4.
that's loud enough to hear yourself over the metal wankers, but not loud enough to be one of them.
the twin reverb is a fantastic amp. it gets my vote. followed closely by a super reverb.