DimarzioForum.Com > Gear Closet

Baritone Amp Suggestions

(1/3) > >>

The_Spell:
Hi, Everyone,

For the longest, I've been routing my Vipre 200-B through the "Studio Pre" profile on my Mustang GT-100. As you might be able to guess, the sound isn't really cutting it for me anymore.

I was looking at getting an amp just for my baritone (the GT-100 works well for my EC-256), but the problem is I don't have a lot of cash (I get all my stuff through Zzounds) or room to buy a 4x12 and a head. I'm don't gig or anything and it would mostly be used for bedroom practice and playing.

My idea was, if I find a Fender 100w amp for cheap- like a Champion 100 or something- and replace the speakers with some of those Swamp Thangs by Eminence, would that be able to handle the baritone or would I need to look elsewhere? I really like Fender amps for their awesome cleans, but if I need to include something like a 5150 or a Blackstar to my arsenal then I'll just have to do so if a Fender in any capacity won't be able to do what I need; even the Hotrod Deluxe.

I'm open to suggestions!
Thanks in advance!

darkbluemurder:
Baritone guitars are a very specific species. I mostly go for the twangy clean stuff with a baritone, so anything loud and clean (i.e. Fender, Ampeg or Hiwatt style amps of min. 50W or bass amps) with a speaker cabinet that can handle juice and does not break up works fine. If you are also going for distorted tones it will get more complex as some of the speakers that handle clean power well may not translate distorted tones to your liking. And, none of the amps I mentioned are exactly bedroom amps. I am afraid there is no way around trying out some different set ups and see what you like.

Good luck
Stephan

HarlowTheFish:
For speaker cabs I recommend the highest wattage you can get away with. DV Mark's Neoclassical cabs (1x12, 2x12 - what I have - and 4x12) have 150-watt Neodymium speakers that stay tight and clear with whatever volume or pitch I throw at them. A little speaker breakup at higher tunings is nice, but the lower you go, the more mushy and unpredictable it becomes. The DV Mark cabs are a little pricey new, but can be had for pretty good money used (I see the 1x12 pretty regularly in the $300 range).
As for amps, you ideally want something higher wattage not because of the volume but because of the headroom. With lower tunings, you want as clean power as you can manage, or you'll lose both clarity and projection with your low notes. A 5150 III 50-watt (I like the EL34 one, but either way make sure you get one of the new ones with separate gain and volume for the blue and green channels) will cover a lot of ground, but the lowest volume it reasonably does is still "pretty darn loud".
If you want to make a bit more of an investment, the Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 sounds really really good, has a ton of functionality that works great with lower tunings, and gives you 200 watts clean of class D power. It's about as loud at the end of the day as the 50-watt 5150, but the volume range is a lot more usable. I have the Grandmeister Deluxe 40 (basically the 40-watt tube predecessor) and the voicing (which the Black Spirit keeps, it's a pretty signature H&K thing) is killer for lower stuff. The DI on both of these is basically the best built-in solution you can get, so if you want to do any recording it's a great option and scales up very well.
Any of these will be like twice as loud as your Mustang though, but the H&Ks will both go pretty quiet. They all also have cleans ranging from pretty-darn-good (5150) to really good (Grandmeister) and will cover the full breadth of baritone sounds I can think of off the top of my head.

Guitar74:
What about ev guitar speakers? They have a much higher power capacity.

HarlowTheFish:

--- Quote from: Guitar74 on June 24, 2019, 10:21:03 AM ---What about ev guitar speakers? They have a much higher power capacity.

--- End quote ---
EVs are sound great, I just find them prohibitively weighty.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page