Shootout with 53 amps and a Les Paul Custom :)

[Guitarjon]

Update:
Here's a new version, this time with just the guitars isolated so you can hear the amps a little bit better:



Every once in a while as my amp collection grows, I like to do something a little crazy.... In this past year I got a Gibson Les Paul Custom. It's probably my favorite guitar! I basically wanted to hear how this guitar sounds through my entire amp collection. No clean tones, just one high gain tone per amp as that is what interests me the most. Some riffs, some licks, just a little minute long song with varied playing.

We've got amps from the following brands: ENGL, Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Orange, EVH, Peavey, Friedman, PRS, Victory, Hughes & Kettner, Laney, Blackstar, Randall, Wangs and Tech 21. Most of them do high gain but I've also included the more vintage voiced ones, just with a more crunchy tone. The following Marshalls are inluded:

- JVM410H
- DSL50
- DSL100
- DSL20HR
- JMP-1
- SC20H
- SV20H
- Mini Jubilee

No pedals were used and no post-eq aside from a little low cut at 80 hz to make room for the kick and bass. There is still plenty of low end information to hear how chunky the amps sound. I think the Les Paul sounds great and it's a guitar that just really works well with any amp basically. There are some amps in here that don't sound amazing but they are still fun pieces to have in the collection

I would love to know which ones of these amps stood out to you guys. Which ones did you really like? Where any of the amps surprising in any way? Here's the video:



Here's a list of ALL the included amps:

ENGL Fireball 100 E635
Orange Rockerverb 50 MKIII
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head
Marshall DSL20HR
Victory Super Kraken VX100 (Rabea Massaad)
Friedman JJ JR (JJ Junior, Jerry Cantrell)
Orange Tiny Terror
Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister Deluxe 40
Wangs HD-15
Marshall JVM410H
Peavey 6505
ENGL Ironball S.E. E606SE (Special Edition)
Orange Brent Hinds Terror (Mastodon)
BluGuitar Amp1 Iridium Edition
Orange Micro Dark
Marshall JCM 800 Studio SC20H
PRS Archon 50
EVH 5150 III LBX 1
Peavey 6505 MH Mini Amp
Orange Rocker 30
Mesa Boogie Mark V 35
Marshall JCM 2000 DSL50
Laney Ironheart 60 IRT60H
Randall Diavlo 100 RD100H
Orange Jim Root Terror (Slipknot)
Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200
Victory Kraken V4 Guitar Amp
BluGuitar Amp1 Mercury Edition
Marshall Mini Silver Jubilee 2525H
ENGL Powerball II E645/2
Orange Dual Terror DT30H
PRS MT15 (Mark Tremonti)
Blackstar HT Club 50 MKII
Wangs 2204 HW Handwired
Peavey Invective 120 (Misha Mansoor)
Laney IRT Studio
Orange TH30 (TH30H Thunder)
Marshall DSL100HR
Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
EVH 5150 III 50W EL34
Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier 25
Orange Rocker 15 Terror
ENGL Fireball 25 E633
Wangs 1987HW Handwired
Peavey Invective MH Mini Head
Orange OR15
Marshall Studio Vintage SV20H (Mini Plexi)
Orange Dark Terror
Orange AD30
Marshall JMP-1 Preamp (Into DSL50)
Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Modern
Orange Micro Terror
Tech 21 Sansamp PL-1 Paul Landers (Rammstein)

 

[Leonard Neemoil]

Cool guitar.

Great facial expressions.

 

[Guitarjon]

Cool guitar.

Great facial expressions.

Thanks! I didn't want to hide my excitement!

 

[Springfield Scooter]

You need a Ceriatone in your line up!
Great video.
I plan on watching again, next time with headphones.
I imagine this video took some time to produce!

 

[jeffb]

For this style I preferred mostly the Orange amps- In particular the AD30, and the TH30. The OR15 sounded great for the rhythm stuff, but is missing something in the lead tones- which is something that bugged me with the two I owned..it just did not cut like a Marshall for leads. The preamp in the Catalinbread Belle Epoch was the best solution for me with the OR15- I left the pedal in "trails" mode, so the preamp was always on and it juiced the right frequencies so it cut through better.

 

[Matthews Guitars]

Generally a lot of the amps sound extremely similar under these conditions. I'd have to sit still and type up notes one amp at a time as Iisten in order to give a comprehensive list of impressions.

But in general:
Of the first 10 amps, the Mesa Dual Rectifier stood out to me as just sounding better than the rest. It sounds a bit smoother, more fully in control, and yet still manages to deliver more very tight bass.

The Oranges all are a bit less bright than most of the rest of the amps.

The small amps (Tiny Terror, Dark Terror, any amp under 20 watts in general) are lacking in bottom end.

The EVH 5150s (both of them) have something interesting and unique going on in the upper midrange/lower treble area.

It seems likely to me that given the total consistency of playing, you recorded your guitar direct and then played it back into each amp for both matters of consistency of tone and because it gets boring recording yourself playing the same thing 53 times.

The sounds of these amps are in general so similar that I think you could hand pick maybe five or six amps to represent them all. The rest sound like one of the six representatives.

In general it casts a big shadow over the notion that every amp sounds unique and different. Well...apparently not. Not when many are
indistinguishable from others when comparing their recordings.

 

[Harlequin tusk]

Wow, that was a cool video, thanks for the effort you put into it, insane collection!!!

 

[Guitarjon]

For this style I preferred mostly the Orange amps- In particular the AD30, and the TH30. The OR15 sounded great for the rhythm stuff, but is missing something in the lead tones- which is something that bugged me with the two I owned..it just did not cut like a Marshall for leads. The preamp in the Catalinbread Belle Epoch was the best solution for me with the OR15- I left the pedal in "trails" mode, so the preamp was always on and it juiced the right frequencies so it cut through better.

The AD30 really surprised me but I love all my Oranges aside from the Micro ones. Sure, they're fun but they don't come close to the "real thing".

 

[jeffb]

The AD30 really surprised me but I love all my Oranges aside from the Micro ones. Sure, they're fun but they don't come close to the "real thing".

AD30 is completely underrated, IMO.

It does not get the love it deserves, and that's coming from someone who is generally not a fan of anything with EL84s in it. I think the tube rectifier helps here.

 

[LPMarshall hack]

Great video! Musta been time consuming to make, but fun!

To my shit ears, they all sounded the same.

 

[Guitarjon]

Here's a new version, this time with just the guitars isolated so you can hear the amps a little bit better: