A Vox AC30 or a Blackface Twin (ideally both) for me.

Everyone's different - I like to hear other people play 'Wrecks and Dumbles, but I know they are not for me. Same with Marshalls and Tweed Fenders.

FOR ME

as far as traditional tube amps go ....anything with "Fender amp tone"... thats reliable can travel well

Princeton reverb or Deluxe reverb or one of many fender clones made by boutique builders

however

the most desirable amp for me in a practical sense ...

is a fender ish sounding amp (solid state) compact yet with a big sound that can run off penlight batteries or 12V ....for 3 - 5 hours or more at full volume . like the new Roland street cube... 50W off 6 penlights with 2 x 8 " just really expensive right now for a solid state amp ......

But already invaluable/desirable to me is i already i own 2 custom built battery amps wih fender preamp pedals and 40W into a single 12" and another with 40 W into a 2x12" ...these are invaluable to me and sound great just a bit heavy as they run off 12V motorcycle batteries ....the roland sounds the lightest option so far but still to demo one ....

:? yikes Keira, very particular needs! But it makes perfect sense for a very mobile rig... Although batteries can be a pain if they go flat during a show I guess...
This would be ideal for a mobile tube amp: http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Grid1_To_Unveil_the_Worlds_First_Lithium_Battery_Powered_Tube_Amplifier_At_NAMM_2010


But the price... 4000 USD ???

On a practical level, the amp I can afford.
My wishlist definitely includes a Vox AC30.
Versatile and robust with good tone for Strat and LP

Mesa Boogie 5:50 Express



Built like a tank and more than enough power & tone

Try one out..

Fender-like cleans.
Subtle to heavy crunch.
Perfect High-gain...

Extremely versatile!
Perfect amp imho. (If you take volume and portability out of the equation...)

The Vox AC30, Fender Deluxe Reverb and the Marshall JCM800 are probably my favourite sounding amps, but if someone told me to chose only one example of any make, year and model in history for myself it will have to be an old 54 Tweed Bassman like Rory Gallagher played.

Fell in love with the Bassman and Burn channel on my Fender Supersonic 60. No idea what a real Bassman sounds like though. But if I can choose an amp I'd probably say Mesa Mark IV and a Marshall JTM45. For practice rehearsals I'm thinking of getting an Ibanez TSA30 again.

Splawn

Nitro or quickrod...



Or a rodded jcm800

For looks alone, I'd totally go for a Dr.Z or '65 amp', as I think they look really, really cool, but practically, a pair of handwired AC15's would be 'my ideal sound'. Having said that, my old VHT 12/20 was a fantastic sounding amp, and I kind of wish I still had it! It just had a really great tone, and was super flexible!

Regards
G!

I really like the dirty sound of all proper Oranges and would like to invest in a Rockerverb someday.

However something that is boutique and still a dream to me is a Bad Cat amp. They seem to just sound unbelievable.

GuitarDoge wrote: I really like the dirty sound of all proper Oranges and would like to invest in a Rockerverb someday.

Will a rockerverb be that different from your thunderverb? Ive heard that thunderverbs are more for metal than the rockerverb. My Jim root has a rockerverb preamp...

psyx wrote:

GuitarDoge wrote: I really like the dirty sound of all proper Oranges and would like to invest in a Rockerverb someday.

Will a rockerverb be that different from your thunderverb? Ive heard that thunderverbs are more for metal than the rockerverb. My Jim root has a rockerverb preamp...

My main reason for the upgrade would be for wider EQ control and reverb. The Thunder 30 I have has only got a single knob for the dirty channel. I would actually have to do a proper comparison between the Rockerverb and the Thunderverb (which is quite different to the Thunder), but from what I've heard the Rockerverb has the sound I want.

Hmmm. The most desirable or the one I want most?

Dunno exactly what I'd go for yet. Haven't played enough amps to know.

I'd go for something 15-20 watts with a single Brit voiced channel 12" combo, probably with a G12H (55) and some sort of attenuation/power scaling.

Now, who makes one like that? Laney get close but not quite...

I've played one of these a long time ago...and i still keep dreaming about it.

Psean wrote: Hmmm. The most desirable or the one I want most?

Dunno exactly what I'd go for yet. Haven't played enough amps to know.

I'd go for something 15-20 watts with a single Brit voiced channel 12" combo, probably with a G12H (55) and some sort of attenuation/power scaling.

Now, who makes one like that? Laney get close but not quite...

8) I had this problem some years ago. YOU know what I did in the end ne?

Just putting this there too

ez wrote:

Psean wrote: Hmmm. The most desirable or the one I want most?

Dunno exactly what I'd go for yet. Haven't played enough amps to know.

I'd go for something 15-20 watts with a single Brit voiced channel 12" combo, probably with a G12H (55) and some sort of attenuation/power scaling.

Now, who makes one like that? Laney get close but not quite...

8) I had this problem some years ago. YOU know what I did in the end ne?

EZ, what would you suggest be the best way for somebody with little electronics experience to go about? Building something from scratch using a kit, or buying something close to what you want secondhand (like the Laney for instance) and modding it?

chris77 wrote: EZ, what would you suggest be the best way for somebody with little electronics experience to go about? Building something from scratch using a kit, or buying something close to what you want secondhand (like the Laney for instance) and modding it?

I wouldn't go the modding route myself. Most modern amps have printed circuitboards so modding them is not easy or possible at all, in most cases.

If you can get a kit with ample instructions (e.g. Trinity kits) then I would say go for that. My Tweed was easy peasy to build because of the really awesome instructions that came with it.

If not, (and this was the case with my 18 watt), I built up 'experience' by building and rebuilding (3 times because it didn't work) a pedal O_o. Then I did loads and loads of reading and looking at other people's build threads before Thomas finally convinced me to build my own amp. So I did. One needs to be really really meticulous, not only because the amp is dangerous to work on while it is powered, also because you can easily let the smoke out.

I highly recommend building an 18 watt combo (or head, if you have a cab already), but unfortunately the good kits are expensive and working without a kit like that is more tricky (although this is basically what I did in the end).

Maybe Thomas, Shaunf, others can weigh in on this too.