Best Clean

[theGeek]

So.. clean guitar tones.. What amps get 'em? Which one do you guys think is the best?

[octatonic]

Matchless DC30 is awesome.
Deluxe Reverb is great.
Fender Bassman is excellent- but it is a gritty clean.
Some people like Boogie cleans- the DC5 has a nice clean sound.

I love my modded Prosonic but you guys are sick of me going on about it, so I won't (But it rules).

[Jonboy79]

Most amps that get a good clean tone are amps you probably already know about, minus the boutique ones fftt is sure to come on and mention. I really enjoy the cleans of most fender amps, Vox AC30's and I also love the clean of my Boogie DC3.

[la grange]

335 into twin blackface

IMHO

oli

[peeder]

I prefer cleans over anything else personally. I don't have an amp that can't do a good clean. Most good amps do a good clean. Rarely any chance of a good flavor if they can't do a solid vanilla.

My upgraded DRRI might be my favorite at the moment, though the hand-wired Marshall is very good clean too. Fat trebles on the Marshall.

To get a clean, everything has to be right with the amp, cab, and speaker. Tubes, etc. have to be very good. The speaker and cab are critical. Ironically, debugging a crunch tone may improve a clean...because exactly, the clean has to be great for the distortions to work well.

A lot of people have never heard what a guitar and amp can do (in person at least) because relatively few people know what to do to coax the best tone, even if it's just a few knobs total. They don't even seem aware of the tone knob on the guitar for instance. And many just don't have any taste, and their heroes don't have any taste either.

[kafka]

Boogie Mark and Reissue series - particularly with Simul-Class.
Fender Twin Reverb

[theGeek]

Marshall has a very distinct clean. Its not my favorite but it has a place. I'm leaning toward the Twin Reverb or the Jazz Chorus.

The idea would be to run the Marshall as my dirty channel and then with an ABY Box I could switch to the clean OR run them at the same time.. SRV style... I'm not that good... but I'm a gear head.

[1979]

The 1960-1964 era Fender Bassman. I have owned a bunch of amps, I have a 63 fender bassman- best clean amp I've heard. My particular 63 bassman is second only to 62 bassman I heard which sounded better-but was a little noisier.

cheers

[nbarts]

For how much?

[Pasta4lnch]

the most pleasing clean tone I ever got was though a fender vibro-king. might have been the re-issue. I just couldn;t stop playing it. It owned the phrase "buttery" smooth!! I've been dying to get my hands on one ever since . ..

[Benmrx]

Hoping to get some good clean tones from the Roland Jazz Chorus I just picked up. However, IMHO a nice volume pedal can be a very nice thing to have for clean tones. I've gotten some killer clean tones from old Marshall and Hiwatt amps with a volume pedal in the chain.

Also, when recording a clean tone, it can be nice to mic the strings of the actual guitar and blend it in with the amp.

[nedorama]

Fender Princeton Reverb with:
Deluxe Reverb Output transformer
Mazda NOS 6v6, Mullard preamp tubes
Jensen reissue 10" speaker
closed back 1x12 cabinet in extension speaker



Also, surprisingly, the Mesa Rectoverb does clean well.

[sethmeister]

There are tons of amps capable of getting great clean sounds. Depends on what flavor you like best and how much overhead you need. AC30's are great for chime, sparkle and jangle. Fenders offer gorgeous cleans all over the board from grindy tweeds to loud clear twins. Then there are older marshalls - a plexi isn't exactly "clean" but with single coils and the guitar's volume rolled back a bit you can get some incredible thick cleanish (think Jimi) tones. Even Boogies can offer decent cleans - my Mark IV gets a nice bouncy shimmery clean sound with the right guitar.

Then there's the whole panoply of boutique gear, most of which are interpretations of classic (marshall/fender/vox) circuits with new features.

If I could find one "best" clean amp I'd sure free up a lot of space in my room is all I'm saying!

[kafka]

Originally Posted by sethmeister

Even Boogies can offer decent cleans - my Mark IV gets a nice bouncy shimmery clean sound with the right guitar.

I've always felt that Boogie's clean sounds were better than their distortion sounds.

[sethmeister]

Originally Posted by kafka

I've always felt that Boogie's clean sounds were better than their distortion sounds.

If you like that kind of sound, sure! I just prefer the Fender sound.

Have to say in my opinion the best thing Boogie's ever done is that hot singing liquid lead sound you can get out of a Mark IIc+

[Unclenny]

Clean.

Seems to me that it's never really clean.......just varying degrees of subtle distortion.

I say that because after recording my last few tunes with mostly acoustic guits I fired up all of my studio amps today (Carvin VT112, Peavey C30, Pro Jr., Blues Jr.) and just tracked some stuff clean.... no pedals (OK EQ pedal, mid cut, volume pedal).

All four amps through Voodoo Labs Splitter.

Sounded pretty clean until I tightened up on my chops and then it got pretty grungy.

Choose your amp(s) and then play it the way you want it to sound.

[Dragonrex]

I'm going to jump in after spending a day in a room full of boutique gear. I played a 65, a couple of BadCats, a Matchless, a Carr Rambler and a Carr Vincent (now called the Viceroy).

All the amps sounded great. I'm not sure I can give a very technical description of the clean tones, since many sounded similar, but I ended up leaning heavily towards the sound of the Carr Rambler and Vincent.

The Rambler was very sweet, lots of headroom, lots of harmonics, bright but with plenty of bottom. I thought it had the best clean sound in the room, but if you're not into the more Fender-like cleans, this may not suit you. (I know, not very specific or scientific but it's what I was hearing that day!)

I loved the Rambler, but as I was seeking a little more edge, I went with the Vincent. The two amps seem to have a lot in common, and the clean is very similar to the Rambler. If I were looking more for a clean sounding amp, I would have gotten the Rambler for sure.

As you can tell by my other posts, I'm in love with the sound of the Carr amps. I'm eager to hear a /13 but they just haven't been in my neck of the woods yet.

God luck to all on your own personal tone quests!!

~J

[peeder]

Be aware that a cabinet is just like a studio monitor in that where it is placed in the room and relative to the listener will be critical to how it sounds. Also be aware that a guitar amp is just like a mic pre (and moreso) in that it will have a specific interaction with the pickups on the individual guitar.

Hard to find absolutes in the world of guitar tone.

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by peeder

Hard to find absolutes in the world of guitar tone.

Absolutely!

But it IS one of life's most enjoyable quests.

[FFTT]

Cleans at what volumes?

For recording, you can get cleans with rolled off guitar knobs with 1/2 watts.

More typical, performance amps with 2 or 4 6L6's, EL34's, 6550's, 4XEL84's or KT series tubes are going to deliver more live clean headroom with drums.

At lower volumes in a proper recording situation, a pair of 6V6 or EL84's can deliver remarkable results, but at those lower volumes.

For ultimate cleans you also generally need some good 'ole Amish Iron and speakers
built for cleans or late break-up.

[theGeek]

I need cleans at stage volume. I'm tempted to go with something smaller and quieter and just mic it.

[Manyrains]

I didn't know there was anything else besides a Twin.

Oh, until I switch to my DR.

Then i go crazy trying to decide.

[theGeek]

just tried out a mesa rectoverb... NICE! A lot of clean headroom especially for a 50 watt 112. So its definitely on my list of stuff to buy.

[FFTT]

Red Iron Amps has a new offering called the Clean Machine, you
might want to talk to Paul Sanchez about a build that gets you exactly what you want.

His prices for hand built true point to point are more reasonable than many
of the PCB Big Logo knock-offs.

[theGeek]

yeah, I've got a guy who will copy pretty much anything.. I was just sort of looking for a starting point.

[lemon67]

CLEARLY if you want pristine cleans you get a Hiwat, but like someone mentioned, a Matchless would do the trick great. But I have a Vetta 2, which does all the above and way more :P

[theGeek]

I've stepped out of the Line 6 world back to all analog and I'll never go back.

[TRW]

Aside from the normal weapons...

Fender DR, SR and Twin
AC30 etc

Fuchs have a clean machine coming out based on the Dumble SSS
Two-Rock Classic Reverb is very nice, but very very expensive.
Bruno Cowtipper is well-worth a look but expensive...

The best studio amp I have ever heard is my Blueverb. It does it all. Clean like the best classic fender - can be expansive, can be twangy, can be dark and plummy, has an amazing reverb that can be 100% wet, useful for very ambient stuff or as a studio spring verb! Overdrives like a Marshall with some Dumble DNA.

An amp I lust after trying is the Komet (Trainwreck stuff) which also sounds like it does amazing clean tones as well as all the sick OD.

-T

[Master Tang]

Which guitar would you most likely be playing the clean tones on?

The Tele? or the Paul?

[FFTT]

The Red Iron Amps "Mil Spec" was the amp I was referring to, but there's
also a tremendous interest in his TW inspired T-Rex and the new 6550 powered Bronx.

This is investment quality stuff at unheard of prices at the moment.
Still well under $2000.00 for these all hand wired, true point to point heads.

When you have some of the best amp techs on the planet and players alike
raving about tone, it's worth checking out.

If you don't mind waiting nearly 3 months for your order, the Suhr Badger 30
would be another fantastic choice, but that's $2000.00 for the head.


For even bigger cleans, the Reeves Custom 50, CP 504 or the 100 watt
Custom 100 or CP103