Jonny's adventures in the land of Everything On Ten

[JonnyScaramanga]

It has finally dawned on me that amps only sound good on full blast. Anyone trying to get that killer tone any other way is kidding themselves. So I have a new hobby: Every time I plug into a new amp, I dime it and find out how it sounds when operating as God intended.

Running amps at full volume is awesome. The guitar and the amp are talking to each other properly, so you get sustain without the need for tons of gain. That means you can hear the tone clearly and you get much bigger sound out of every note.

Here are my discoveries so far:

Z.Vex Nano
Graciously loaned to me by Nick Botfield, I've been experimenting with this amp for the couple of hours.
I was expecting it to be a bit louder. In fact, I almost wish it was louder. It's strange, because you get the tone of an amp driving its nuts off, but not the accompanying air and speaker movement, or the excitement of an extremely loud sound. That said, I've been jamming along to CDs all morning, and my CD player can't keep up with it, so maybe it's loud enough.
It doesn't clean up on the volume knob as easily as a bigger amp, but overall I think it sounds really great. For my money, it sounds a lot better than the Classic Stack model on a MicroCube, the next best thing I've tried at this volume level. Very Marshally and generally responds like a proper amp. Big thumbs up.

Orange AD30TC]
I've been using these periodically for years, but I only got round to maxing it yesterday. It wasn't as loud as I was afraid it might be. AD30s are fearsomely loud with the volume on 2, but thankfully they don't continue getting louder at that rate. Turning it to full just got rid of the hint of fizziness it has at low volume, and made everything sound bigger. Otherwise, it didn't make as much difference as it does with some amps; Orange's engineers have done a decent job of making them sound OK at lower levels. I would say there's actually too much gain in the amps as well. I had all the gain I wanted on channel 2 with the gain at 1 o'clock, and I'm a hard rock player. The amp might sound better if it lost a gain stage, but I'm not a tech so I may be talking out of my arse.

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
I was disappointed by this a little. I dimed the clean channel, because I don't really like the Hot Rod dirty channel. I thought it would propel me headlong into the world of SRV, but it didn't (quite). For single notes, it sounded massive and bluesy with the neck pickup of a Strat, but when I slammed out a big open E, the low end was too loose and farty for my tastes. I tried to find a sweet spot at 3/4 volume, but it was still a bit woolly.

Marshall 2061X
I commented to Timmyo that I don't know why anyone uses anything else, and I was only half joking. Marty Friedman said that every guitarist is really looking for the Marshall sound, even if they try to get it by other means. I agree, and I think this is the most usable way to get that Marshall sound.

However...
Marshall JTM45 (non-reissue, I think)
This is most excellent, and not as hideously loud as you might think. I first tried it through an MG cab, which wasn't great, and then a Laney cab (which was a lot louder). It's incredibly sensitive to pick attack, and it always sounds clean even when it's absolutely filthy.

Peavey Valve King 112 (clean channel)
Big disappoinment. Only gets a little bit dirty, but does get very boxy. No fun to be had here. I never tried the lead channel on full blast, but now I wish I had. If there's a great rock sound to be had from this amp, it'll be with the post gain on 10, plugged into the low gain input, and the gain boost switch disengaged. And the reverb on 0.

Vox AC30 (non reissue)
I was wearing earplugs in a recording studio for this. It was lots of fun, until it suddenly and without warning stopped working and started making horrible noises. I never did find out if it just dropped a valve or if I'd killed it.

Feel free to add your experiences of amps turned to 11!

[Guitar_Slinger]

Originally Posted by JonnyScaramanga

Here are my discoveries so far:

Christ - how big's your bedroom?

And when you say "everything", what do you mean? I'm rehearsing with my JCM 900 tomorrow night.

[JonnyScaramanga]

Originally Posted by Guitar_Slinger

Christ - how big's your bedroom?

And when you say "everything", what do you mean? I'm rehearsing with my JCM 900 tomorrow night.

LOL!

Actually, by everything, I actually mean "the master volume". I mean, everything on 10 is extremely cool too, but having the volume maxed is essential.

And with regard to my bedroom, I just have no regard for the neighbours whatsoever! In fairness, only the ZVex and the 2061X were tested at my house. I also had the Jubilee very near full tilt here several times, but I don't think I ever completely dimed it.

[johngregson]

When you need that extra push over the cliff.

[Guitar_Slinger]

Originally Posted by frankus

You'll be fine all the knobs go to 10.

Pity me, my Peavey Classic 30 goes to 12 that's like 11 but one more

Funny you should say that. My amp goes up to 20.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwuZePiQHLI

Edit: I can't see YouTube at work, so I hope I'm not blindly linking to the latest SClub video or something.

[MattANJH]

Originally Posted by JonnyScaramanga

It has finally dawned on me that amps only sound good on full blast. Anyone trying to get that killer tone any other way is kidding themselves.

Tell you what, I'll lend you my amp and see how close to flat out you can take it

[GuitarAndy2]

By contrast there's not one amp I've tried where I liked the sound with the volume up past 3/4, the whole compressed power amp thing just doesn't really excite me. I like my amps loud enough to get the speaker cones moving and some controlled interaction between them and the guitars pickups; but I'd rather use pedals to get the whole on the verge of becoming completely out of control thing going on, with a more focused sound the rest of the time complete with tighter low end.

[HerbieTheRadDorklift]

I ran my Blackstar HT-5 on 10 on New Years Eve.

We were playing a gig in Leeds Rios (Bout 400 people there), and I was going through a Marshall 1960 cab.

Man.. I've never had pinch harmonics fly off so easily.... one of the best overdriven sounds I've heard.

My Mesa Boogie however, never had that past 3 on Full Power/Pentode/Simul Class settings. I can just about run it at half on Tweed/Triode/Class A.

[stringsthings]

"Running amps at full volume is awesome. "

+1

[smokingbeagle]

PARDON?


Yes, my Classic goes up to 12 as well, I like it muchly. Everything at two o'clock, push the master up as far as your ears can stand, enjoy. Doubt I'll be able to do it with my hollowbody though