Comments on: 10 Classic Guitar Amps & The Songs That Made Them Famous (PART 2!)

By: Barry Barnett

Barry Barnett — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 18:20:20 +0000

I was walking North on Broadway in Washington Heights and an old man had a tiny Fender amplifier. It turned out to be a 1957 champ that I bought for $30. One of the greatest amplifiers I’ve ever owned with endless pounds of utility in the studio.

By: Jeffrey Stoddard

Jeffrey Stoddard — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 16:28:13 +0000

I would have liked to see the Silvertone 1484/1485 models represented.

These amps have been used by artists like The Black Keys, Jack White, Death Cab For Cutie, Beck, The Velvet Underground, Cat Power, Johnny Buckland (Coldplay), and Howlin’ Wolf.

By: don kromel

don kromel — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 23:30:51 +0000

I own a 1957 Fender Bandmaster that I purchased in 1957 (new). Would like to sell.

By: Bob Cronley

Bob Cronley — Sun, 24 Apr 2016 21:02:27 +0000

I’m glad to see that the Fender eighty five made it to the list. I have owned one of these since 1994. It served me well during my “blues era,” and wasn’t bad when I went back to playing rock. I especially liked the limiter in the distortion circuit, which smoothed things out nicely. One time I was jamming with a couple of guys who had Peavy amps with twice the power, and the eighty five held it’s own. It was a great amp for plugging straight through and playing blues, and is a perfect match for my Yamaha Pacifica. But when I got into using multi effects pedals, the clean channel was too shrill. So I switched to a bass amp for my pedal. I still own the eighty five, and use it when I am doing “living room concerts.”

By: ThePhartz

ThePhartz — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 15:31:26 +0000

Oh yes those were great times. I was reminiscing about T. Lawrence and his 1964 Gibson/Epiphone GA 30 RVT and Tele on the Roundhouse album

By: Nuno

Nuno — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 08:21:50 +0000

One of my favourite amp guitar combinations has to be Josh Homme’s Ampeg VT-40 with the Ovation Ultra GP. He used that throughout his KYUSS days and later on in at least the first 3 QOTSA albums. He’s also renowned for using the Fulltone Ultimate Octaver .

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 22:22:18 +0000

Oddly enough, this by far is the color of my custom Fender if ever I was to have one! Whether it be a Tele or Strat,..the term Salmon on a shipping carton labeled it as Salmon – Strat by Squier in the ’80s first caught my fancy,..while researching it the other names and hues came on samples ie,Fiesta Red,mostly had the distinction of at least 3 shades, including a rare almost Gretsch Orange Pink hue! Through Japan and the American markets, it now also seems the European markets also had the same tradition of color identification in the same years no less on the same modeled guitars! It is now all these years later that the aging process and the remaining paint shades of value that we can tell what Fender used in what we know as Fiesta Red!

By: Edward Robertson

Edward Robertson — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 16:45:31 +0000

Thank you so much for taking the time to educate us about some of the great masters and the equipment they used to get “that” sound at a time in music when there were no rules on what was cool to use. Quite often these perfect moments and sound happened just by accident and those usually turn out to be the most memorable. Kudos to you for bringing them back alive in an age that may be getting far too technical and overproduced.

By: Kevin Spiers

Kevin Spiers — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 13:43:28 +0000

Great articles thanks. The HH ic 100 were a very commonplace amp in the early seventies used by Wilko Johnson in Dr Feelgood, the early Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, Marc Bolan and countless others when solid state seemed to be the future.

By: Mattie Lynn

Mattie Lynn — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 21:53:54 +0000

And a nod to the Fender Princeton amp (Neil Young) is in order as well- (it was also a pre-cursor to the Mesa Boogie! – link here: http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/Smith/TalkingShop.htm )

By: Paolo Damiani

Paolo Damiani — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:40:34 +0000

Fender Champ for Layla?

By: Jim Hartway

Jim Hartway — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 23:06:17 +0000

Dave Achelis – Totally agree with you on the Pete Townshend/Who’s Next tone, but I think the amp Joe Walsh gave him was a 1959 Bandmaster 3×10. And one last note on the Keef and Ampeg combination: to hear it in it’s full mojo, check out Midnight Rambler on the Get Yer Ya Yas Out live album! Just ridiculously nasty!!

By: Frank Konopski

Frank Konopski — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:31:47 +0000

I bought an Ampeg VT-22 in the 80’s for $225. It had been in a fire and all the Tolex was burned off and there was a large hole in each speaker. I ran it like that for years, until I finally put in 2 Celestion 12″ speakers. The VT-22 must have been one of the heaviest, loudest and cleanest amps ever made.

By: Barry L Shankman

Barry L Shankman — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:48:40 +0000

its this type of article that keeps me coming back. it’s always interesting to see what other people are using to achieve their signature sound. thank you very much for posting this… I’ve been playing for over 30 years and it’s great to see what was used by others. we all have what we need to create our own style. it’s also great to learn more about how other get people there. thanks again

By: Dave Achelis

Dave Achelis — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:18:21 +0000

I would adds that the Fender Bassman Joe Walsh gave to Pete Townshend that was used all over “Who’s Next” in combo with the orange 6120 Gretsch might be on such a list.

By: MrDieinglySad

MrDieinglySad — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:01:37 +0000

Great article! But as a bassist I’d like to see a companion piece about legendary BASS amps, such as Sir Paul’s Vox Super Beatle or James Jamerson’s Ampeg B-15 or even Brian Wilson’s blond Fender Bassman.

By: Jim Hartway

Jim Hartway — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 20:54:22 +0000

Good stuff! And just to be a nit picker, the phrase is “holed up in the south of France” not “hulled up!”

By: Johnny Bornheimer

Johnny Bornheimer — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 17:59:45 +0000

This is a great addition to the last list – but I’m thinking you could even have a third list…

I can’t help but notice there is no Mesa/Boogie Mark I (Carlos Santana) or Mark IIc (Classic 80’s Cali Hard Rock) or Mark III (which is, I think, something that enabled the early Metallica ‘Scoop’ sound, and reportedly was the go-to amp as well for Prince).

Plus, you include the Kustom and the Fender 85 as representative SS amps – well, what about the Jazz Chorus 120?

There’s also the big, brawny sound of the Fender Tweed Twin, which graces the stages of Eric Clapton and Keef Richards.

Might want to include a Bradshaw Rig in this list – lots of guys used these into, for instance, an HH or other power amp into their cabinets.

Also Mike Soldano’s amps – popular with Knopfler and Clapner…

Finally, and I know I’m getting a bit nit-picky now, but you’ve left off the Marshall JCM800 as played by, well, lots of people.

But for all that, a great list nonetheless!