What Amplification Do We Use And How Do We Use It?

[Rudi]

My mainstay for the last 8 years has been a Fender Stage 112.

I selected it for the qualities of both the ‘clean’ and the ‘gain’ channel. To me, it sounded great on both. This is neither a tube amp nor a hybrid, but I tried several of these out at the time and found them largely disappointing. Obviously I am not a tube purist. There are compression and gain dials on the gain channel and master volume and 3 tone dials for each channel. A middle shift switch and a channel selector foot switch come as standard too. There is a reverb dial, but the reverb unit has long been kaput!

I used to use the footswitch to change channels, using the clean for chords & the gain for solos.

Since then I have the amp slaved to a Boss GT5 unit. I use FIVE instrument cables to rig this unit in the amp’s ‘effect loop’ and line it out to the band PA. I could bypass the effects loop but only at the expense of sound quality. Being slaved, the amp is set permanently to the clean channel. This renders the volume & effect controls on the amp useless. Now the Stage 112 is relegated to little more than a monitor, as the PA handles the task of getting the sound to the audience.

Only on practice evenings do I leave the Boss unit at home & use the amp the ‘old fashioned’ way.

Here are a whole bunch of Stage 112 user reviews. Not all of them like the gain channel that much.

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews.../Stage+112/10/1

What they all seem to agree on however is that:-

1/ It is a workhorse that can take some serious punishment on an ongoing basis.

2/ It is LOUD

3/ The reverb (plate type) always breaks down and no one ever seems bothered to fix it.

4/ The clean channel really is clean.

I would still prefer something lighter to lug around, though compared to the classic Twin Reverb, its still light by comparison.

[john]

Hey Rudi

I don't play gigs any more for a variety of reasons, and to be honest after investing in my studio I neglected my guitar equipment. I now use a Laney Linebacker 30w amp in the house, although I more often just DI my electric into my desk.

I used to use a Peavy Renown 400. A great amp with a good sound, though I still think my favourite was the amp I had before, A 1971 Marshall head with the master control conversion with 2 4x12 cabinets. A great warm sound and deep natural distortion. Loved it.

Lately I have been pondering buying a small acoustic amp in case I get back gigging, but "in case" isn't good enough when it's wishful thinking.

Cheers

John

[Steve]

I too have ceased to gig. For quite some time now! I still have my amp which is an HH ic100s. It has a very good clean sound, with a sustain switch, a switch for studio or stage, so you could move straight from a gig into the studio and keep exactly the same settings! and 2 channels. I discarded the outer casing of this amp a long time ago and mounted the amp into a Carlsbro 2X 12 cab. (formerly a combo)

I gigged with this amp for about 7 years both as a guitar player and a bass player. I used it with a 4 X 12 cab with the bass, and got a pretty good sound from it!

Found this image of the original amp on ebay!

[Rudi]

I remember those. They were pretty good.