After reading Greg's post, I figure I should expand on mine as well. As Greg implies, the amp is the thing - even more so than the guitar. They type of amp you use is critical for getting a particular sound.
I started off building my own amp from a Heathkit (<- now there's an age test: hands up all those who made one of these!). It was a solid state twin reverb clone, and sounded good for what it was, but after hearing Alex Lifeson I was after something else.
Then I went to high school. My school had a very well funded band program with a lot of fancy instruments. I played a Bach double-trigger bass trombone for example. Lovely instrument. The school also owned two fender-rhodes pianos, a full PA, an original Music Man stingray, and, get this: a black face bassman head with a matching 4x12 cab and a blackface fender super reverb. The super was not so good, but the bassman sounded great. I was not the amp guy I am now or I'd have fixed up the super. But the bassman turned me on to cool amps.
I saved my pennies and I went amp shopping. This was the time that Boogie was just introducing their now classic designs, so I played through those, a bunch of fenders, and a bunch of marshalls, and some old highwatts. The new fenders were the red knob twins, and the 'super 60' Boogie clones. I didn't like them (too Laurence Welk). The Marshalls were 're-issues' of old designs, and I didn't like them (too stiff, too loud). The Boogies were too buzzy on the gain channel. The Highwatts only had one sound. I was stuck.
Then I happened on a second hand Laney. A Pro Tube 60 in fact. This had the tones I wanted so I bought it and used it for about 3 years. After that I got the bug again and picked up a second hand Rivera 55/12 after reading all the great reviews on this amp at the time. Life lesson #1 - don't believe everything you read. It's a super flexible amp, but it did not have tone in it to save it's life. I gave up after about a year.
Then things started to change. I got a re-issue deluxe reverb. Then I put a power soak on it. Then I put a matchless hot box in front of it. Then I modded the deluxe to have reverb on both channels. Then I wired up an A/B box to switch channels so I could get a lead boost. Then I removed the 'bright' cap on the reverb channel. Suddenly I had a fairly light 4 channel rig that had some serious stones when required but I could tame it down as well. It was great. Complicated as hell to set up, but it was great.
Then the matchless hot box died. This was the era of the original Matchless company which offered a lifetime warranty on all products. I have a piece of paper to prove it. Life lesson #2 - a guarantee is only worth the willingness of the issuing party to back it up. I contacted Matchless, they asked me to send the unit in, which I did along with a copy of my original receipt. Then the company folded. I never saw that hot box again.
While I was kicking myself for not just fixing the stupid thing, I started reading amp books. The London Power series to be exact. There are piles of circuits and fairly easy to understand theory in these books, so I said "why not?". I built a lot of stuff. Name an output tube, I used it. Name a topology, I used it. Name an amp class, I tried it. Name a Biasing method, I tired it. My long suffering Garnet Revolution III (picked up for $150) was the test bed for all of this fiddling. When I was ready to build something for real, I knew what it was. A two channel, 30 watt EL84 amp with cathode bias, with additional gain in the preamp section, with the preamp adjusted so both channels were in phase, and a post phase splitter master volume control. I made it as a head only because the EL84's run pretty hot - even with an 82 ohm bias resistor (I have no idea how VOX got away with a 50 ohm resistor there). I hooked up this rig with a pro-co rat in front, and used a custom Y-box to engage both channels at the same time for leads. There it was.
I started making these for other folks as well, and eventually made just under 100 of them when I called it quits. I also took some interesting amps on trade, like VOXes, black face fenders, marshalls, etc - all I restored and sold for a profit. Making amps is fun, but not so fun when it takes you away from playing guitar - which is why you made the thing in the first place, right? So I stopped all that. The last Mayfly was sold to a guy who does video for Def Leppard. I have not talked to him in awhile - hope he still likes it.
I loved my rig, but my music changed. Myself and my musical partner were doing more duo gigs in quiet places. Master volume or no, my rig was just to freaking loud at the sweet spot. So on a lark I got a VOX tonelab. I found I liked it. Was not as good as my amps, but man pound for pound on quiet gigs it really did the trick. Then I started using it on the loud gigs too. It worked well there as well. I had to fix it the odd time, and it had some annoying behaviors (like when you hit the button it would wait a bit before changing channels, and occasionally it would just completely freak out.) but I found myself leaving my 'better' rig at home and still sounding great on stage according to the audience. It was then I started thinking about PA, audience coverage, and the overall sound of the band. With my band, it's all about the vocals - unless I'm soloing the guitar is in the background. I realized that an old school 'backline' was not the best for my music. But the VOX was not really a pro piece of gear. What to do?
I researched everything and counted my pennies, and knowing I could get a refund if I didn't like it I ordered the Axe FX. It's a great unit. Everything they say it is. I use a deluxe reverb sound, and AC15 sound, and a Tranwreck express sound. Everything sounds great.
I have done a lot to get my guitar to sound like it does. But one thing is for sure now: I suddenly have a lot of time to practice and write songs! :headbang:
Oh - and I finally sold the deluxe reverb last month
)
