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Any country pickers in the room?

I meant to respond as well that I like the clip.  Funny though that you classify it as country.  It sounds very similar to one of my favorite local bands from my college days.  They were firmly in the "college radio" genre of the day and nobody I hung out with at the time was big on country but they still liked that band.  That's just some good straight ahead catchy music.  I guess further proof that musical classifications are flexible.

Anyhow, you say that was with a Tonelab.  What model do you have?  I looked on their website and the ST appears to be the most feature-laden but the switching looks pretty limited.  The tone you have is a good clean-ish and the lead is a bit crunchier.  I could hear both being applicable in a country setting.

Now that the weekend is here, I think that I am going to follow Patrick's advice and see what my local stores have for trying out.  The nearset GC is about a 45 minute drive so hopefully I can find stuff closer to home.  Just got word that my "audition" is next Sunday.  Don't think I will have a new amp by then so I am trying to get the SV to do something reasonable.  One of the models is based on the AC-30 but it's tough to imagine that this is as good as I could get through the real thing.  I'm sure that part of it is my SD Distortion-equipped guitar.  The coils split OK but it's not a Strat or Tele.  I need to get over to the Showcase and get my neck ordered.

Are you the singer?
 
heydenkm said:
I meant to respond as well that I like the clip.  Funny though that you classify it as country.  It sounds very similar to one of my favorite local bands from my college days.  They were firmly in the "college radio" genre of the day and nobody I hung out with at the time was big on country but they still liked that band.  That's just some good straight ahead catchy music.  I guess further proof that musical classifications are flexible.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not Nashville.  I suppose it's really roots-rock.

heydenkm said:
Anyhow, you say that was with a Tonelab.  What model do you have?  I looked on their website and the ST appears to be the most feature-laden but the switching looks pretty limited.  The tone you have is a good clean-ish and the lead is a bit crunchier.  I could hear both being applicable in a country setting.
Click to expand...

It's the tonelab LE.  I use it live and the tone is good.  BTW, it's easy to tweak on the fly since it has knobs for all the parameters.

heydenkm said:
Are you the singer?
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Yep (shame)
 
No Mayfly, that was phenomenal all around, vocals included.  I'd pay to see that.

Regarding the genre, it seems to me that "college radio" and alternative has gone kind of country lately.  Not that overproduced Nashville style, but more of a back to basics rock-country sound.  Some of my favorite bands these days are classed as alt-country, like The Old 97's, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, and old Reverend Glasseye recordings from before he flew off the deep end.  What goes around comes around I guess.

I think all of the amps mentioned in the thread can work, it really comes down to what suits your budget, preferences and taste.   
 
Hey Mayfly, I liked your clip a lot, and the singing is good. The Tonelab can't bi-amp, can it? You'd need two units?
 
tfarny said:
Hey Mayfly, I liked your clip a lot, and the singing is good. The Tonelab can't bi-amp, can it? You'd need two units?
Click to expand...

Thanks man  :icon_thumright:
Eh?  what do you mean by bi-amp?
 
Max said:
Run two amps at the same time.
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Yea, but what I meant was what do you want to achieve with bi-amping.

Bi-amp in the PA / Bass sense means one amp for the lows and another for the highs.
Bi-amp in the Brian May effects sense is the dry signal goes to one amp, and the wet to another.
Bi-amp in the clean/distorted sense is that you use your fender for the clean tones and your AC15 for the distorted tones and switch between them.

so... what do you mean by bi-amp?

* Brian May and I are cousins don't cha know  :icon_biggrin:
 
Possibly that some modelers can emulate two amps at the same time, and then blend both wet signals.
 
mayfly said:
* Brian May and I are cousins don't cha know  :icon_biggrin:
Click to expand...
orly.gif
 
Blue313 said:
Possibly that some modelers can emulate two amps at the same time, and then blend both wet signals.
Click to expand...

Yea - Tonlab can't do that.  You'll need two of em.
 
I gotta chime in here, I hope the OP is still checking in.

A buddy of mine bought a ceriatone Bassman, 5E6A and as heydenkm pointed out, you can buy the amp in various stages of completeness. I think tfarny just bought an ultra champ from them.

anyway, he got his chassis from ceriatone complete, except for speaker and cabinet, he brought it over we plugged it in and hooked it to one of my speaker cabs,

I thought it wasn't working till i picked a couple strings, OMG so quiet when not playing, and the sound was incredible, then we messed arround with pedals and stuff and it went from EVH to ac/dc to Robbin Ford, I don't know why all amps don't sound like this, actually i do, we're gonna get a Marshal JCM800 2203 next.

I am convinced that any of us here could build an amp, if you buy the major components completed
 
I'm still checking in. :icon_thumright:

That seems to be a common story with the people that buy the Ceriatones.  From every review I've read to every comment on a message board, everyone seems blown away by how well they are designed and built and the prices are more than reasonable for the quality.  Like I've said, I'm not all that familiar with the types of amps that they build and which ones are better for which styles of music.  Sounds like the old Fenders and Voxes (sp?) are the right direction.  As I understand it, the Matchless and Trainwreck amps are based on the Vox tones so the clones of those would also be an appropriate selection.  If I could get the kit with the preassembled boards and all of the other parts, I would just need to get my own transformers and tubes, build a cabinet and put it all together.  Seems like something that I am capable of doing.

I'm off to the local guitar store to see what they have in stock.  I think that they sell both Fender and Vox but I don't know that they will have the models I want to see.  Hope to find out.
 
I'm really happy with my ceriatone so far and can't imagine that changing. Metalman is building me a head cab for it.  :hello2: It's not loud enough for gigging of course unless you just dimed it in tweed mode the whole time and miced it up (hmm, that might not be half bad!). If I were looking for a gigging amp for country sounds I'd look long and hard at the ceriatone tweed deluxe, pro or low-power tweed twin depending on how much clean headroom you're looking for. Get a tele bridge pup with plenty of spank and you'll get what you need pretty quick.
 
Well, I went to my local guitar store yesterday hoping to find a Deluxe Reverb, Bassman and a Vox.  They only had the Deluxe.  I did wound great , though.  I grabbed an American Standard Tele and played around with it.  Even at low volumes it was still pretty evident that the tones were good.  I didn't have any pedals or anything to do much with it but I noodled around with both the clean channel and the reverb channel.  Both seemed very useable.  Not sure if either of those other amps would be better choices than this one, but I don't think that this one would be a compromise.  I may try to check some other stores around the area to see if I can find the other two.  I might try to get to the GC as well.
 
Well, had the audition yesterday.  It went "OK".  I was glad that they chose not to run through the Brad Paisley song as that was the one that I knew would be the hardest to get down so I back-burnered it in order to allow enough time for the others.

Turns out these guys are really more old-school country guys and just throw in the modern country for the girls to dance.  I like some of the older stuff but don't know it anywhere near as well as they do.  I grew up listening to country radio but by the time I was ready to "cut my teeth" on guitar I was more into Dokken than Waylon.  I'm guessing that they will go with one of the other guys that auditioned.

So the need for a good country amp may not be all that pressing.  Thanks very much for the input.  That Deluxe Reverb still did sound pretty sweet.  I may just pick it up anyway and ditch the Spider Valve.  In the long run the Fender is probably more up my alley anyway.
 
Sorry to hear the band was in a different direction, but it sounds like it was for the best.  It didn't sound like it was your scene.

On the positive side I agree with you. The DR is still an extremely versatile amp.  It's hard to call it bad choice.
 
Thanks guys.  I'm happy that I at least tried out.  I was thinking of cancelling the audition because I didn't get enough practice time on some of the tougher songs.  Turns out that wasn't a problem.

Now at least I can say that I've learned some country tunes so next time I find a band looking I might be more quickly able to drop in.  Now I just need to sell that Spider Valve.
 
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