Why The Right Guitar Players Are Using The Wrong Amps

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[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

I’m using the wrong amp because I can’t afford the right one 😂 Let me live man

[@MashaT22]

I’m playing air electric guitar through an air amp for the same reason, lol. Can that be wrong?! Amazing what results when you have no moolah!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@jasondorsey7110]

If a peavey is the wrong amp for me, I don't want to be right!

[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

@@jasondorsey7110 Peavey is never wrong. Love me a Mississippi Marshall.

[@pacovl46]

So in other words, you’re transfinancial! You know, a rich guy trapped in a poor man’s body, just like me? 🤪

[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

@@pacovl46 I’ve been transitioning for the past 3 years 😂 Ever since I had my first kid I went from financially comfortable to financially very uncomfortable

[@louaguado995]

I used to be a guitar volume control always on 10 player when I started out as a teenager. Then I finally discovered turning down the volume control on my guitars not only drops the volume but also cleans up the gain. Since then I've stopped using distortion/drive pedals and only use the gain built-in my amps. I'm currently using Blackstar tube amps. They're low priced, high gain, and sound great to me. It's cool seeing you discover things that I searched for 20 years ago. 😁

[@NickJardine]

Wow, are you me? Hah. I play a Blackstar HT-1R MKII, no pedals, just ride the volume. Love it! I also was always a volume/tone on 10 as a kid. Now I’m starting to realize the benefits of them!

[@treastonschmuckley5111]

This dude is the most innocent wholesome guitar guy I've ever seen on KZbin. He always posts stuff that I already know about but I'm really glad he's making content and I will always support him by being subscribed

[@MashaT22]

Totally on point. It’s kind of like dressing in a black shirt and pants. You can totally dress it up or make it casual depending upon if and how a person buttons/unbuttons, rolls/unrolls sleeves and/or pants cuffs, and/or accessorizes. When a person experiments and tweaks their outfit, they can come up with dozens of looks. Same thing goes for getting a clean tone with high gain channels on high gain amps - if you tweak the amp knobs, guitar knobs, decide to pair with a pre-amp, EQ, and/or other pedals, you’ll get a really nice tone. Makes perfect sense!

[@rockerbuck967]

Joe Bonamassa was the guy that taught me that the knobs on a guitar DO THINGS besides turning them all the way up. It took me years to learn that. Since I can't play at higher volumes anymore, I use a little Yamaha THR10 and thanks to Joe's videos, every time I turn it on, it makes me smile. 10 watts man.....I wish I had leaned that years ago. Just know this - tinnitus is real, and it never goes away. Protect your ears at all costs.

[@Durkhead]

Lipoflavinoid works

[@gregmiller7123]

Right there with you! Years of too loud concerts, cranking my amps and working with power tools has left me hearing ocean wave sounds constantly. Now I wear hearing protection even mowing the yard and found great ear plugs (Eareasers) that let you hear talk but clamp down the extreme levels. My current amp of choice is a Marshall Origin 20C combo…a tube amp that can be switched from 20W to 5W to 0.5W…perfect for any setting except an arena! Good luck with your tinnitus!

[@Utubewrk123]

I protected my ears. My dad lost a lot of his hearing in the army when they didn’t him ear protection. So I was super careful. Then a Dr. gave me a rx. I have severe tinnitus from a med now. It’s awful.

[@ashwitherington9695]

You are by far my favorite KZbin creative. I watch every video you do! Keep it up! You make me excited to play guitar!

[@torijones9992]

This is such a great topic!!! Thank you brother!

[@michaeldschutte]

I had a Marshall DSL40. Had great clean tones from the clean channel, and cleaned up so well with the volume knob

[@PooNinja]

I can play without distortion, I choose not to. 😂 Great vid sir

[@PooNinja]

A friend of mine recently saw John Fogerty in concert. He was using a Bogner Herbert for his clean sound. 🤘🏽

[@JamesMasonKulp]

chord changes lookin snappy nice work mike

[@NickJardine]

This is very good timing! I’ve recently been debating if I should dive into the pedal world (never owned pedals). However, I’ll continue to ride the volume/tone knobs on my guitar with my Blackstar HT-1R. All the dudes I look up to from the 60’s/70’s/80’s got there clean tone from rolling back the volume.

[@mickster965]

Great video! I recently got the Laney lionheart 5w head and have been using the drive channel to get my cleans. I thought I was a weirdo till I saw this video

[@billseldenright9078]

Love your vids

[@atonofspiders]

You're right. My rig involves 3 always on maxed out boosts into an almost always on big muff through a DSL50 lead channel. Understanding amp controls, Manipulating the guitar controls, splitting coils, all of that glorious mess somehow cleans up, even sparkles like a clean tone at times. It took time to understand for sure but now I've got the full range of the guitar right in my hands without needing to click between one sound and another. Also my pedalboard has slightly more space for modulations without any drive pedals taking up space

[@jorgesilva6454]

Take a look at the Roland Jazz Chorus. A classic one 👌

[@jeremyfried5463]

I use a peavey valve king 212 combo. I use the lead channel with the gain turned to about 25% and the volume turned up then control the tone using the volume on my guitar. It also an attenuation control on the back that can control it from A to AB sounds basically classic to modern tones.

[@unusualmuse]

Ty Tabor is the absolute master of this volume knob technique.

[@vayabroder729]

That is an art that those players you mentioned as well as Pete Townshend with The Who did with Hiwatt stacks and Gibson SG Specials live. He worked that volume knob and would get beautiful clean and almost acoustic like tones and would turn up to growl and scream.

[@gabrielfadel8325]

I have a boss katana, for clean tone, i like to use Clean tone Bass 6 Mid 5 Treble 4 Gain 0 Volume (amplifier) 5 Master 7 or 8 (I don't use the effects to study, but the presence is nice to use around 4 and 6)

[@DE-GEN-ART]

im using a 50's fender bass master and its so old and finicky but god damn when the tubes warm up the gain is fucking amazing, its got that classic fender tone.

[@mrboris5390]

The victory amps like the Kraken are really interesting. They feel like a good combo between clean and super heavy.

[@obsoletecd-rom]

Found Mr. Anderton.

[@MsEcko95]

I have the same thing with my DSL1 combo (yeah, it's cheap and small and 8", I know). It's so sweet to use the red channel to play some bluesy tones

[@badGamr]

I have been playing my 63 Tele into my 1964 Deluxe reverb since 1976. All jazz, all the time. Good to know I am using the wrong amp. Oddly it gives me the exact tone that I want. Odd...

[@mikajegou7106]

Well I have a fender Princeton, love the cleans, the overdrive is a bit muddy, but with a JHS 3series pedal you can get a really modern metal tone as well as some subtle distortion, almost overdrive. I think that the pedals you use can really help.

[@shanebooth1365]

I just got a friedman pink taco and a vox. I'm actually surprised just how well the pt cleans up with the volume knob on the guitar

[@DaveSheremata]

I’d love to see what you find in a Mesa Boogie Mark IV… it’s actually REALLY unique, with two gain pots and two “masters”.

[@brandonwilcox9316]

Try a mesa mark iv. Itll do the crystal clear clean thing but you can push that clean channel and nail those old pushed fender sounds but the lead channel is also insanely high gain to the point the manual even warns not to turn the gain all the way up because it will oversaturate. That same high can channel will also do some beautiful clean or lightly driven tones. Also the way the eq works just breaks most people’s brains.

[@lukaslmguitarcorner]

PRS MT15 also has a great clean channel. I play about half the time on that one with a nice reverb pedal

[@clarissaanaferreirasieiro2127]

Fender Deville 4x10 1994 clean tones are the way to go , good old school , loud , affordable , with an attenuator, loud box or lion tamer is just an amazing underrated amplifier, is just perfect.

[@solan417]

My AC30 recently blew up and have turned to my 5150 lll stealth for a do everything amp took so playing around but it really has a great clean sound

[@roybroad7627]

Would love to see you play the Marshall 2525c I think you would love it.

[@rickclark4714]

The best tones are with a gain-up massively overdriven amp but guitar volume knob backed off, and the tone knob tweaked to taste. Works on any decent amp. But beware, it could interfere with pedal acquisition syndrome.

[@Jestersage]

Good question, actually. I basically had 3 amps over my guitar journey. a Traynor TRM30 (practice amp), which was given out to my friend's kid. A used Blues Junior, which sound good... until my parents complain, it is too loud, and I want something far more distorted. I eventually settled into a CPB150, which should be consider one of the first modeller-platform amp, and for me, pair it with Metal Muff and I am in my own heaven.. As of now, I only use my Blues Jr as a speaker cab.

[@socalwill9876]

The Archon is the shortcut to the Steve Vai sound, though that rendition of Master of Puppets might set the record for EQ-knobs-in-lowest-position. "The Fender Sound" and most other manufacturers' clean tone are different things, once you accept that a lot of possibilities open up; I like a massive clean so I'll add my vote with the others here going for the Mesa Mark, tethered to whatever the largest cab available is, e.g. Mesa Oversized 4x12 👍

[@t.l.h.7704]

I was never able to get a great clean tone with my 5150 but possibly with a reverb and eq pedal.Bridge single coils were awesome and turning the gain down, volume up on the neck pickup could get BB King tone.

[@djencode]

I just picked up the Orange Super Crush 100. God tier clean tone. On par with a Cannabis Rex Deluxe Reverb for me. I'm a metal guy and forever I swore Orange wasn't for me but this amp converted me. It's so good.

[@markmcgibbon2101]

My Friedman JJ Jr has a lovely voxy type clean channel. Not very versatile though. 3 way switch, dark, chimey and more chime. You can get a nice pushed clean out of the BE channel though. The Jerry Cantrell modded channel is pure saturated dirt though but that’s its purpose. The nicest clean amp I have is a Supro Thunderbolt. Cleaner than clean, 2 controls, volume and tone, 15” speaker. It’s louder than a jet plane, takes pedals fantastically and weighs about as much as a small car. Love your content 👍🏼

[@chadmorral1326]

My 76 twin reverb with a master volume has an awesome distorted tone.

[@BDMusic2021]

Hold on, who’s that you’re texting?!😂 I was just watching arrested development lol

[@Dan-mi7hn]

Fender champ,vibro amp ,Marshall studio 15 ,will do.

[@oreally8605]

I think Alex Lifeson of Rush ( now defunct) uses the prs amp. No? I forgot the name of it. Its a tube amp.

[@muzishan95]

I played a Jet City (by SOLDANO) a while back and I have always enjoyed a “pushed” sound or edge of breakup type tone…I always run an EP booster by xotic with my strat - Seymour Duncan ssl-1 I believe they’re called. Anyway… after a show one day a guy came up and was asking me what I was running because I had a great “Mayer tone”. I was floored!! I hadn’t thought of it but obviously, he’s an influence on me and what my ears look for. Needless to say I was very happy that I was even in the same ballpark as that great tone from that great guitar player! 😅

[@flybywire7284]

Loved my Vox AC15HW1X but you do need multiple pedals if you can’t have it wound up to super (seriously) loud levels where it then shines. I also have the MkII Archon and whilst it is a modern metal amp, it does have a rather nice clean channel and it sounds fantastic for modern, mid heavy metal styles. I am a big fan of it and it is one of the best practice amps around even at 50w. I can only imagine how good it would sound clean into something like an Alnico Blue speaker and an open back cab vs a V30 4x12.

[@robg1996]

My Orange tube amp sounds amazing clean. It’s so subjective but you can get great sounds from most amps especially if you are a good player.

[@Dzamora612]

This video feels like “so I learned how an amp works” but totally get it, same thing happened to me I just didn’t know what my amp could do and just wanted to replace it

[@jimfischer5670]

Check out the EVH 5150s, the green channel has an amazing edge of breakup tone if you dime the gain. Have you tried a Marshall JVM? That is my current favorite amp, it covers a lot of ground.

[@MrTPF1]

Marshalls are known for their high gain tones, but their clean channels are beautiful. Very versatile amps.

[@cstrebe1]

6505 Plus head and 412 cab with Celestion Creamback speakers. I use my headrush mx5 into it 4 cable method for ambient effects like delays and reverb. I am pleasantly surprised. Turn down the volume on both neck and bridge humbuckers and favor the rhythm channel.

[@michaeldschutte]

One of the kings of using a distorted sound for cleans is Andy Timmons. His sounds are some of the best I've heard

[@heneverreturnasahorse9773]

55 years ago I played an Airline piggy-back that probably had the best sound of all my amps. My Fender journey started with a silverface QuadReverb in '74, a blackface Pro Reveb, silverface Deluxe, Princeton Reverb and a Rivera-era Super Champ. I have an amazing solid-state 60s Sho-Bud with 1x15 that is the most 3D solid state amp I have ever played and owned. They all sound good, but the most 3D, beautiful sounding amp I own is a early 2000s Carr Slant-6 with 2x12s. Now that I'm at the end of my gear journey, I only play clean and usually use the small Fenders...they are good enough! I am convinced that I could easily use any of the 90s Peavey "Transformer" solid-state amps and be perfectly happy now that I have no more need to play at ear-spliting volumes!

[@farqueleyou7578]

Even this old metalhead with his Marshalls uses a Fender 2x10 for cleans, because those speakers were meant for cleans and they sound ethereal in a way that Celestions just can't.

[@DeadKoby]

I build amps..... I made some designs I'd never heard before. It's a blessing, because you actually explore it, instead of just making it do that one thing.

[@misterknightowlandco]

The moral of the story is to learn to use what you have instead of learning what to buy

[@cybermexi-8100]

A high gain amp that can do cleans well are the Mesa Boogie Rectifiers. They're THE high gain amp of the 90s and 2000s but have great clean sounds

[@scotthornsey]

The cleanest clean tone I've ever used is my Ibanez RGMS7 upgraded with Instrumental Pickups (20k+ output) on split inner coils through the high gain channel of a Peavey Invective profile in my helix but with a volume block set at 20%. Sounds like an ice pick, it's so clean it hurts

[@brentporter9324]

I’ve bought many amps because I thought I knew what I was looking for… boy was I wrong haha Turns out what I want is headroom that I can manipulate when needed…

[@sgholt]

I am sticking with my 65 re-issue 1x12 Princeton reverb... ;p

[@PNWGuitar]

Mexican tele into the od channel of a peavey 6505+ with the volume rolled down to half 🙌

[@adventureswithopensource8525]

In the end how does it sound in the mix. Would anyone notice. A free plugin vs expensive anything . After all talyor swift is popular. Based on her great guitar tones. Great video and thanks

[@Chaseracing]

You need to try a Mesa Boogie Mark Five Twenty Five

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

Oh, most certainly. I'm definitely using the wrong amp and that's half the fun! I don't usually get the sorts of sounds I'd necessarily want to imitate from somebody else's playing. But I do get the sorts of sounds that make me think about my music in a new way and help me to jumpstart my own creativity.

[@atombombtom8615]

If you want an amp with Heart, try a Swart

[@thetanman2233]

My main amp is a Marshall SV20H, based on the old Marshall Super Leads. No master volume on em so you gotta crank em to get the best sounds. That amp taught me more than anything how to ride my guitars volume control. As a younger player with solid state amps and cheaper tube amps, that’s a nuance that’s lost on ya

[@Kabayoth]

Tube amps: for the life of me they've been more trouble than they're worth. I have one in my bedroom which is a cube about three feet on a side. Peerless sound, but hauling it around gouges the drywall in any establishment. And the Bassman clone is 40 pounds of glory, but dialing it down to club levels either means more gear or anemic sound. Solid-state is roundly scorned, but Quilter makes a great amp. My Mach2Pro took months for me to figure out. Out of the box it was nothing but fuzz. I still recommend Quilter though. The tone is great once accustomed to the idiosyncratic nature of the amp.

[@ediththeband]

It's funny, live I use Fenders, Vox's etc. and use pedals for gain but recording I always use Marshalls, even for clean tones. They just sit in the mix in a certain way when I record or do demos that I can't get out of my clean, pedal platform amps... Especially for EOB tones.

[@UNKUHNOODLES]

Your apartment kinda looks like a simulation!😜

[@Travendoesguitar]

My soul is too dirty to play clean. Therefore, I only play with metal zone.

[@markkindermannart4028]

Not having too much cash at the time I once bought a solid state Fender Frontman 2x12… it’s mode is dull ice pick or sharp ice pick. Terrible. I have a Mesa Boogie Lonestar that was awesome until it kept blowing circuits and the cost to ship it to Mesa from Hawaii is ridiculous. I picked up a second hand Fender Champ (black knobs, USA) and it’s a great practice puppy but obviously limited. So my current go to is a PRS Sonzera 50. I know it gets bad reviews and some justified, but the longer I have it, the more I’m getting used to it.

[@dust17111]

Had to pause and answer the first two questions, so as a metal rock primarily type of player . I seek high gain and tightness so I can chug palm mute but when it comes time to sequel still have enough overdrive to push the gain to do so . I've had several amps over the years that didn't just cut it , they sucked. My first amp was a peavey that seemed to be more of a speaker but it did have a gain option lol it sounded horrible this was 1999 , second amp I had for years was a crate practice amp and for I believe 120$ it did the job for years till one day it stopped working in 2019 I had that crate since 2006 , I would go to guitar stores now and then try different practice amps and never find any as good or as good in my price range . I remember trying a mini orange micro terror cause mastodon is associated with it and was like wtf this isn't like mastodon at all . The orange micro terror might be as bad as the 1999 Peavy amp , boss katana is supposed to be all the rage but I prefer my fender mustang it's my favorite practice amp , and my joyo zombie and mt-15 are all I need now love em !

[@Hbomb731]

Hey man, here’s a concept.. ok, you have “clean” amps that take pedals really well. Add you overdrive, distortion, metalzone.. etc. Then you have your high gain amps. Why not have a “clean” pedal for those amps? That way you can crank your amp to 12 and still get that warm clean sound you want? Thoughts?

[@samburns6612]

Mike you need to try The Bud by Henricksen

[@zackjackson5562]

Glad to see you are starting to get into some doom metal. Deathklok forever bro!!

[@TobyKBTY]

I’ve actually never used “clean” channels, I always just dial down the volume pota and tone as needed on my guitar to fit. Dynamics, control, fiddling with pots goes a LONG way

[@nicholasgeffert]

First! Keep Rockin' the Gospels Mike, appreciate the uploads 🎸🎶

[@jamlemon]

Always preferred the cleans on Marshalls to be fair. Love my Fender guitars and in theory I should like Fender amps too but I guess I’m a Marshall guy.

[@TheFenderman1983]

Same. Love the cleans on my Marshall. Has a lot of head room. My Fenders started to break up too early and was hard to keep it clean and chimy.

[@troyarnzen3750]

I have a mesa boogie mark iv this amp is as clean and stays clean at volumes matching a twin, and you know how loud and clean a twin is.

[@marcsullivan7987]

I’ve been gigging w my Mark IV for 30 years

[@troyarnzen3750]

Great amp right, I keep going back to it.

[@Douglas117955]

I have a modded mark iii++ my first actual tube amp, that thing kills

[@troyarnzen3750]

I'll bet it does sound great, I've been using masa boogie amps since 2002, I have a rev. G duel rectofier, this was my first boogie, about 2 years ago I tried a friend's mark iv and loved the tone, I found a mid 90's model and have been very impressed with the mark series ever since, I still love my marshall amps though.

[@rosembermorales1995]

Line 6 spider has entered the chat.

[@al271987]

I’ve played Egnaters, Fenders (including classic style and more modern like the Bassbreakers), Marshalls, Jet City stuff, some Peaveys, and probably a few more tube amps. I’ve settled on a Quilter as a clean platform and I get all my dirt from pedals. Yup, a solid state amp plus pedals. I genuinely prefer it that way. Maybe there’s some tube amp that had a gain structure that could completely blow me away, but so far I’ve been let down by most amp gain. And yes, I have played them loud enough. Maybe I’m weird but I think the whole tube thing is a bunch of garbage. My solid state Quilter is lightweight, so very loud, dynamic as can be, and with pedals does so many great sounds. You guys can have your tube amps, I don’t want them.

[@TranscendentBen]

The amp dont matter to me, I got a Metal Zone Pedal and it's all I need. I think it cleans up with the guitar volume between 0 and 1, actually I'm just guessing cause I never tried to get a clean tone. I really wanna get another Metal Zone for the output of this Metal Zone, and see how much sustain I can get. Rock On.

[@logical_nonsense42]

Try an engl, they have incredible clean tones

[@stug5041]

I can’t get over how different you looked playing Metallica - so uncomfortable lol. Then back to the blues and it’s like - this dude’s feelin it haha

[@maxwellblakely7952]

You need to spend time with JCM 800

[@CultrCnnundrm]

my very first amp was the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe V2... I didn't like it at all. Why? It had no chill!!! I had to keep it are a barely 1.5 because if I hit 2 then the volume jumps to a 10. That's not head room. That's offensive. So I sold it to a friend and bought my dream amp... A Bad Cat Cub III 40 of which I still have and of which I love using... the sound is completely different and of course, the Cub III hand wired model (before they completely changed their production line) has such lush clean tones and w/ the K-Master volume, the power amp and pre-amp section work rather independently of one another to a certain degree which is a joy to play around with... so yea.... Fender Hot Rod Deluxe V2... not the best amp out there at the time...

[@pacovl46]

Marshall JVC410

[@ToneDeth.]

arrested development!

[@4through6strings]

HEY JOE !

[@nataliebeach6148]

Orange. I've never liked them. There is something about the eq curve and the character of the overdrive.

[@jessemaguilar]

Jimi doesn't does anything anymore.

[@Douglas117955]

Why not go all out and get a mesa boogie badlander? Is it high gain? Yes. Is it fun? Oh yes. You'd be surprised how good it sounds clean/pushed.

[@Douglas117955]

Or a custom audio od 50/100? Or even the new soldanos, some wizards maybe, since they are based on silver jubilees. A friedman BE deluxe? The old mesa marks? The possibilities are endless

[@edhornby4885]

Just don't look at the electric meter when it's running...

[@shanewalton8888]

I dunno. That PRS is “meh” at best. Keep saving up for a Princeton. (Or get a Bass Breaker).

[@ro307805]

It sounded awful. Were you on the neck pickup with the tone turned down?

[@thomaslthomas1506]

Marshall JTM 45.....

[@Krippinvirus]

barley figured this out?

[@kenthhamner2641]

I dislike amps if I don’t like the way they overdrive!

[@ranchgod7103]

Cube gang 😂

[@jamesrobertson5025]

Lot of PRS gear, have you got some tie in or endorsement. 😂

[@ja5304]

Please stop watching me shop for 100w Mesa boogie multi watt heads sir

[@RevGerryRM]

If you notice, all the good bands are from the 70's!!!

[@ushnicyuvnikof2748]

Like this dude would know 😂