Solid state amp and rudutch's Steely Dan post causes epiphany

[Don]

Last Monday at GC's President's Day sale I picked up a Roland Blues Cube 30 amp with an Eminence Tonker speaker in it for $69!

At that price, I figured I'd try it with my band and, if I liked it, either use it as backup or leave it at our rehearsal space or, if I didn't like it I could let my son and his friends thrash it.

Well, I tried it Thursday night and liked it. A lot! It's not as dynamic as my Princeton Reverb or as lush as my Vibrolux Reverb, but once the band kicked in, it wasn't a problem at all. In fact the versatility of the master volume and channel switching was a plus.

The amp had a nicer clean tone than I've ever heard on a solid state amp (might be the Tonker speaker).
The overdriven tone wasn't bad either.

Dirty or clean, it was much better sounding than any Pro Junior, Blues Junior, Blues Deluxe or any smaller, lower priced tube amp that I've ever played (again, it might be the Tonker)!

I've always said that a good amp doesn't need reverb. This one doesn't have it and doesn't need it.

I've been a tube amp snob since the beginning. I haven't used a soild state amp since I fried my Pignose 30/60 playing in a garage band in 1982!
I replaced that with a slightly used concert 4-10 and never looked back.

Then rudutch posted a link to Don't Take Me Alive by Steely Dan with awesome, nasty cranked amp tones!

This got me thinking that I really just use my old Fender amps for their clean sound, using a solid state pedal to get my dirty tones.

Think about that, paying a premium for a wonderful old Fender amp, and then overdriving it with a $100 solid state device!

I ran downstairs, cranked my PR to 10, grabbed my Les Paul and beat the snot out of that little amp.
It wasn't a Deluxe, but it was real good. Anywhere between 7-10 on the volume was raunchy with my Les Paul, dirty with my T-Style, less so with my Strat, and downright unsanitary with my ES-135.

There were no sounds like that in the Blue Cube!

I'm going to get the parts today that I need to build an AB box and set up the PR dirty and my VR clean and see how I like it.

I've been told to use a tweed Deluxe without an overdrive for many years now and have wanted one forever.

Hmmm...

[pc]

I'm going to get the parts today that I need to build an AB box and set up the PR dirty and my VR clean and see how I like it.

Amen. If you can get the levels so that the cranked PR isn't overpowering the VR, that would be awesome.

Even my DRRI cranked is a think of beauty, hairy and thick with the Strat, and positively singing with crunch using the Thinline (humbucker) Tele. Problem is that it's just too danged loud onstage to use it that way when I'm already miking the amp to the FOH.

[Rickenjangle]

I've been using a SS Vox Pathfinder 15R in church for a couple months now on a weekly basis, and it isn't perfect, but it's pretty darned good for a $99 amp - and it's light, and it LIKES to be played at lower volume. Perfect for mic'ing and sending to FOH when we don't have a drummer.

Lately, I've been triggering an Alesis SR16 drum machine with my feet while playing lead guitar, and the only other instrument is acoustic guitar. That little amp shines in this situation...I can't remember when I've been happier with a $100 piece of gear (pedals not included).

[Don]

I reached the same epiphany years ago. I still use a clean boost (Bad Bob), but it's left on all the time (I actually leave it in the back of the amp) and I use my volume control on the guitar. The tweed Deluxe cleans up really well when I roll the volume back, and goes to "all hell breaking loose" when I throw it wide open.

That's what I'm looking for!

[rudutch]

I would like to formally apologize for any mental duress I may have caused