Lately I've been playing this sexy little Fender Blues Jr.



I ain't pullin of no metal with it though.

1959 bassman is what the Marshall circuit was copied from. Minor differences, but alike in many ways.

My driver here at work let me borrow his dad's late 60's / early 70's bassman . [url]VERY[/url]cool plugged straight in w no pedals. Nice & chimey (like most Fenders).

bedroom/studio?

z.vex nano head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQ69APkwOA

Krank Rev Jr Pro?

Plenty of gain on tap, big low end, turn down the fx loop volume and maybe have a eq in the loop for tweaking and or extra volume control, and your good to go.

I use a Maxon od-9 pro+ upfront with it and it really tightens things up nicely and makes for an overall great tone.

I have it setup for a nice tight tone, turn down the bass, adjust the mids and treble just right you've got a nice modern metal tone.

turn off the od turn up amp a bit and roll off the treble and push the bass and you can have a great stoner type of tone.

I do not like Kranks. Not a bit.

I cant get what I want out of them. If all I played was "modern" metal stuff, it'd be alright, but anything else, it's too hard to dial one in. Hard to get the "fizz" out of, if that makes sense. too "crispy" for my taste. But...Im used to Old School Marshalls, that I have to "fight and restrain" to play. (changing attack, playing off the amp's feedback... Kinda like a racecar that the accelerator is stuck wide open, and only having a brake & steering wheel to control it) . With an amp like a crank, I tend to "over play" , (if that makes sense) ...so when I dig down hard into the strings, the front end of the amp tends to "muddle up" what an old school amp DEFINES. I dont really like the "middle section" of the sound of a crank. It's like it's already scooped. I dont scoop mids. I boost them. You cant boost the mids on modern amps without them getting nasal sounding. (they seem to have more emphasis on the high end of the mids, than low mids)

They're OK. Good for really super saturated gainy stuff....Just not for me.

Mesa Mark V

Has three wattage selections,10, 45 and 90 watts. Has a ton of different tones in it... from clean to brutal and everything in between.

It's nice to have an amp with decent power available, cause you may need it someday. A little 10 - 25 watter is gonna struggle against most decent hitting drummers.

So forget everything I said about the Krank.

BLACKSTAR HT-20 is awesome. Just bought one and its VERY versatile. Boutique CLASS A style cleans, chimey and warm. Turn it all the way up and pick hard and you'll have some classic "crunch" bluesy type of tone. Turn to the OD channel and set the ISF knob 3/4 of the way to the right, and you've got a british marshall esque sound (think pete townsends tone on The Who's "don't get fooled again") Step on an OD and you can get that classic new wave of british heavy metal type of tone. (perfect for Kill em all, ride the lightning type of tone) With my EQ in the loop, OD upfront and the ISF knob turned 3/4 to the left, and you've got a tight focused modern metal tone heavy enough for anything.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate. Seriously I always was bugged by the Kranks "fizzy" sound and wondered if it was the cab or the head, it was the head for sure. The Blackstar amp can do anything you want it too.

Oh and the ISF stands for Infinite Shape Feature. Which turned to the right, it sounds british, woody and warm, to the left it sounds american, tight and focused, and you can blend anywhere inbetween.

I know a whole bunch of people who have bought the HT-20s and HT-5s and love them. Looking forward to trying one out...then again, I'm kinda not looking forward to it, because I don't want to feel obligated to buy a new amp. haha

whatever gets the job done..

I was at this show...

I cant imagine Pike using a newer Marshall (Or any, for that matter, unless they've been hacked on like mine have) . As thick of a sound as he has...you cant do that without having some mods done, or certain pedals up front. Anyone know what's on his pedal board or in his rack (if he runs one).

I cant get into the vox on his stuff, but love the shit out of the riffage. I had a kid in a Pawn shop one day ask if I had a Matt Pike influence after he'd listened to me riff for a bit

pike uses a marshall jcm800 kerry king version if i remember correctly. it has kt88's. theres a video of pike showing off his gear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvuuhr4fcz0

Matt Pike rules all.