Amps with Mojo!

[Jay-]

Sovtek MIG 60. I believe produced in an old military bunker and co designed by the original inventor of the AK-47. (joking aside) its build in an aircraft hanger.



Last Amp Ill ever own. No more looking for the "Holey grail" because I got it.
Iv caught the amp drinking my beer, its got a bad attitude.

[vitreouswindows]

Vero amps. Musically and visually. Grand vibe. My favourite.

[Pasta4lnch]

Originally Posted by Jay-

Iv caught the amp drinking my beer, its got a bad attitude.

nice! sure is purdy!!

[burrencrawler]

Originally Posted by guitarwes

Hopefully this isn't too similar to other threads. I'm a firm believer in the search function!

What are some good guitar amps with Mojo? Ya know, like a '65 Twin, or nicely modded JCM800, or AC30.

I'm thinking about a (Limited Edition White) Hot Rod Deluxe that I'd be able to get a good deal on, but am afraid that it'd be a waste of money and would rather get an amp with more mojo.

Ideas?

Yes:
Hiwatt DR103 100W head into Hiwatt 4 X12 Cab
Marshall JMP 100W (much nicer than JCM800 anyday, you can mod it if you are into the polishing turd philosophy).
VOX AC30
Boogie Mark I
Ampeg Portaflex 12" Speaker
Fender Vibrolux (Even un-blackfaced is lovely)
Fender Bassman 100W
Musicman 65 (with solid state preamp)
Then if you are into hand built Soldanos and all those other Beaner seriously kickass amps too like Neil Young and ZZ-Top use....)
Vox AC15 (better for studio some say than the AC30) There's a few... Quentin.

[seaneldon]

Jay, I just picked up a Sovtek MIG60 from fellow gearslut jchristopherhughes on a whim/out of boredom/because I was jealous of your's. I used to tour with one and enjoyed every minute of it, but dumped it when the right Bassman came along.

VERY happy I got this amp. Serious go-go-juice. I had a new name-plate made that reads "SOVIET TENSION", because that's just what it sounds like to me!

[Jay-]

O good for you seaneldon. I sold my stock 4X12 drivers and have not replaced em yet (moving) was glad to get the $200 LOL!! I love the matching 4x12. Its a wonderful "No frills" amp.

guitarwes, Erm, I sold my Hotrod it was just to LOUD. I did like the tone but in the end everyone sells those things. Did I say it had a nice sound? The volume knob is deliberately messed up to provide 80% of volume at level 2 so kids walk in and go "Hell at level 2 its guna be so loud at level 11" Yeah it goes to 11. The cab was to small on my 2X12 and the buyer has had it for sell for 2 years lol.. small town.

[wesarvin]

Lol... yeah I ended up buying then selling the Hotrod in less than 3 weeks. It never sounded that great and was too loud. I didn't feel like doing a mod and will rather save up for something different down the road. Maybe an old Marshall JMP Mk. 2 or a Divided by Thirteen. Thanks for the advice everybody, and on resurrecting this thread!

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by theGeek

I really like Matchless amps.

me too,and I agree with Firemoon, Hiwatts are my favorite amp the randall rm100 can be very nice with the right modules

[Nu-tra]

VHT Sigi X

[FFTT]

Discovering Mojo in a music store is just about impossible.

Most will not let you try the amps wide open to find that Mojo zone.

I've heard vintage Champ circuits with plenty of Mojo through the right
signal chain and many old Fenders that definitely "get it" with the right player.
I still prefer a vintage Vibrolux Reverb to almost any other Fender.

One of the coolest amps I ever heard was Magic Ampification's hand built
Supro for that perfect Led Zep 1 tone and his A/C 15 was to die for.

I'm still very impressed with my Bad Cat Hot Cat 100R through various speaker options, but the Mojo starts at 10:00 and above.

For rock, the Reeves amps give you old school, hand wired, mil spec Hiwatt, but again
your volume needs may vary.

My next amp will be a Reeves

Divided By 13 still rocks for Fred's attention to detail.

I'm not at all impressed with any of the newer PCB Fenders.
My 2nd Blues Deluxe just died on me for no apparent reason.

I've been hearing more and more good things about the CA Suhr OD 100
and would still love to hear the Category 5's and the very cool offerings
from Red Iron Amps, Pure 64 and Louis Electric.

Reinhardt builds just about the best Marshall circuit you can get these days, but I've also heard good things about Germinos. Either would be better than any current
Chinese Marshall.

For affordable, hand wired amps, Ceriatone still offers some of the best reproductions at very reasonable prices.

So much depends on your volume needs and your location, stage or studio,
clean headroom vs. OD, number of channels, FX, style of music and most of all,
the players ability and the guitar.

A great amp will get you better tones, but it will also expose weakness in your playing technique, and problems with intonation.

Those of you who can afford to buy right now are in great shape as far as bargain hunting.

Enjoy the quest

[Meriphew]

Originally Posted by seaneldon

Jay, I just picked up a Sovtek MIG60 from fellow gearslut jchristopherhughes on a whim/out of boredom/because I was jealous of your's. I used to tour with one and enjoyed every minute of it, but dumped it when the right Bassman came along.

VERY happy I got this amp. Serious go-go-juice. I had a new name-plate made that reads "SOVIET TENSION", because that's just what it sounds like to me!

If I'm not mistaken, that amp was designed by amp guru Tony Bruno. Bruno makes a few amps that have serious mojo - the UG30 and the Cowtipper come to mind.

[Jay-]

I was watching on youtube the first MIG-60 batch (300) had low powered transformers and only put out 30 watts and it was saggy, and crusty and AWESOME and they called it "Mig-30" the most rare Sovteck.

By the time the second batch came out they fixed the issue and called it "Mig 60" but the 30 is the one worth the most.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by Nu-tra

VHT Sigi X

I wish you lived in NY

[Nu-tra]

I'm telling ya! The sig x with a port city 2x12 cab loaded with tone tubbys or whatever

Originally Posted by Musiclab

I wish you lived in NY

[Igotsoul4u]

I might sound like a broken record, but I won't stop until someone gives it a try and lets me know if i'm crazy or not. I bought a Laney Lionheart 5watt class a combo on halloween and I have played it almost everyday since then. For me, it has made playing so much more rewarding. I have been rediscovering old pedals and hearing the true magic of newer ones. The amount of dynamic range is very wide so I felt like i could play more expressively. The clarity of the attack is so well preserved and can be surrounded with a huge variety of tones. The overdrive is super flexible all the way up to a pretty convincing marshallesque metal tone. I am also an engineer and my main goal for this amp was not for me to play it, but to use it on recordings in favor of the parade of hot rod deluxes and valvestates that I am growing to hate. This allowed me to let other guitar players check it out. The one band had a kid that was using an SG and I caught him just strumming power chords with his eyes close after which he noticed me looking and said "the tone is so incredible, its just like....perfect." As an engineer I have no problems getting an incredible sound everytime. The low wattage allows for tones that would require higher volume levels at a much more smile inducing level that won't shock the mic or the neighbors. It fits perfectly in the mixes for the 2 bands that used the amp leaving an ideal hole for the bass guitar to occupy. My guitar playing friend whom I highly respect for his playing and knowledge of equipment was 100% sold on the amp and would buy one if he didn't own a 67 Deluxe, JCM800, and a nice Penn 1x12 combo among a few others. He said the lionheart reminded him of a carr or his penn. The important thing is that he's comparing the amp to other amps several price catagories up. I scored mine for $700 and was able to find many around for far less then the $999 mark listed in most places. Try and tell me I'm crazy. I almost want to buy another as a backup.

[wesarvin]

Originally Posted by Igotsoul4u

I might sound like a broken record, but I won't stop until someone gives it a try and lets me know if i'm crazy or not. I bought a Laney Lionheart 5watt class a combo on halloween and I have played it almost everyday since then. For me, it has made playing so much more rewarding. I have been rediscovering old pedals and hearing the true magic of newer ones. The amount of dynamic range is very wide so I felt like i could play more expressively. The clarity of the attack is so well preserved and can be surrounded with a huge variety of tones. The overdrive is super flexible all the way up to a pretty convincing marshallesque metal tone. I am also an engineer and my main goal for this amp was not for me to play it, but to use it on recordings in favor of the parade of hot rod deluxes and valvestates that I am growing to hate. This allowed me to let other guitar players check it out. The one band had a kid that was using an SG and I caught him just strumming power chords with his eyes close after which he noticed me looking and said "the tone is so incredible, its just like....perfect." As an engineer I have no problems getting an incredible sound everytime. The low wattage allows for tones that would require higher volume levels at a much more smile inducing level that won't shock the mic or the neighbors. It fits perfectly in the mixes for the 2 bands that used the amp leaving an ideal hole for the bass guitar to occupy. My guitar playing friend whom I highly respect for his playing and knowledge of equipment was 100% sold on the amp and would buy one if he didn't own a 67 Deluxe, JCM800, and a nice Penn 1x12 combo among a few others. He said the lionheart reminded him of a carr or his penn. The important thing is that he's comparing the amp to other amps several price catagories up. I scored mine for $700 and was able to find many around for far less then the $999 mark listed in most places. Try and tell me I'm crazy. I almost want to buy another as a backup.

Don't feel bad about a sub-$1K amp! I started this thread asking about amps that had a special "something" to you. It doesn't have to be a coveted boutique special, but rather an amp that has a certain vibe that you can't get away from (in a good way).

I'm trying to steer clear of "Which XYZ 3001 converter as the next upgrade from POS 3000 due to lower jitter specs?"-type of a thread. It's all about the magic you've found in certain amps and for what applications they have found the best fit.

So congrats on the amp!

[FFTT]

It helps knowing you think the Fender HRD is too loud.

It's hard to nail down what you're looking for between clean headroom
or crunch to lead tones, so I'm going to assume that you want better lead tones
at somewhat reasonable volumes.

Are you playing with live drums?

The more we know about your situation, the more we can do to help you narrow down your choices.

You've also hinted that your budget is rather limited.

In that situation, you may be better off going for a well cared for used Silver Face
Fender and save enough to have it refurbished and voiced by a good tech.

In the 18 - 30 watt offerings new,
I'd still check out the Reeves Custom 18 and 30
with power scaling.
www.reevesamps.com - Home

The Reinhardt 18 and JKC33
Amps

and the Category 5 Tsunami and Ivan
Category 5 Amplification :: Custom Hand Made Boutique Amplifiers for Guitar

I've also seen some great deals on the Suhr Badgers
so there's another possibility.

[TopGun]

Originally Posted by Jay-

Sovtek MIG 60. I believe produced in an old military bunker and co designed by the original inventor of the AK-47. (joking aside) its build in an aircraft hanger.



Last Amp Ill ever own. No more looking for the "Holey grail" because I got it.
Iv caught the amp drinking my beer, its got a bad attitude.

Now that is mojo, i also think a lot of old fenders have tons of mojo as well.

[FFTT]

The New 65 Amps Stone Pony looks really interesting.

Just starting to come into 65 Amp dealers.

They say it's very Stonesy!

[waveformlifeform]

Sovtek MIG 100: like a Marshall JCM 800 lead with more mojo.

There's one on eBay right now if anyone's power hungry:
Sovtek Mig 100 All Tube Lead Guitar Amplifier Head - eBay (item 320323949270 end time Dec-15-08 21:26:17 PST)

[burrencrawler]

Hiwatt Dr-103
Ampeg Portaflex B-12
MusicMan 65 watt 112 (with tranny preamp!)
Vox AC-15 and AC-30
Marshall JMP and JTM (much nicer than JCM unless you are into metal)
Mesa Boogie Mark I
Fender Bassman 100 Watt
Thats all for me, thats why I kept them all! stikestikestikestike

[finn]

Do yourself a favor and get an original tweed deluxe. You'll never be sorry, or lose money on it. Hard to get a bad sound out of it.

[Mad John]

Originally Posted by Meriphew

If I'm not mistaken, that amp was designed by amp guru Tony Bruno. Bruno makes a few amps that have serious mojo - the UG30 and the Cowtipper come to mind.

+1 on the Bruno Amps...PURE GENIUS!!

[octatonic]

I'm into 65 Amps these days.

[Jay-]

Originally Posted by octatonic

I'm into 65 Amps these days.

Crap, I only have two amps.

[JCRockit]

Originally Posted by guitarwes

Hopefully this isn't too similar to other threads. I'm a firm believer in the search function!

What are some good guitar amps with Mojo? Ya know, like a '65 Twin, or nicely modded JCM800, or AC30.

I'm thinking about a (Limited Edition White) Hot Rod Deluxe that I'd be able to get a good deal on, but am afraid that it'd be a waste of money and would rather get an amp with more mojo.

Ideas?

Yeah sold my hot rod deluxe a long time ago... I had a 59 vibro tweed that i preamped with a pod. AWESOME sound. Near perfect blend of digital and analog. Unfortunately I eventually fried it... Ive been hot for Supros lately. How about a Fender vibrosonic with a 15" isnt that what SRv used ???

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by Jay-

Crap, I only have two amps.

Ha!

65AMPS // the unmistakable sound of a generation

I have a Soho HP in case you were wondering.
It is amazing.

[InstituteOfNoise]

I've had the op to test drive a pile of vintage amps the past few weeks and 4 of them I'm adding to my mucho mojo list are a Park 75, early 60's Fawn Vox AC-15 (new ones can't hold a candle to this), mid 60's Marshall JTM45 and late 60's Marshall Super Bass.

[delcosmos]

These days, I'm in love with my 1968 Fender Bassman-Amp connected in to a Dr. Z 2x12 cab.

1962 fiesta red + Fender Bassman= PURE MODJO.

Best regards.

delcosmos.

[FFTT]

Check out the clips at Magic Amps

The PERFECT A/C 15 available straight up, with TB or EF86

Mike's Z series vintage Supro builds are also getting all kinds of well deserved attention.

This is serious fine stuff!

Magic Amps - Home