"Ideal" Electric Guitar & Amp Combo....

[1neeto]

As for my ideal rig; This baby and a Boogie MKV. The guitar alone is $2500 so I went a bit over budget here but I’ll gladly spend the extra money!

[Steel and wood]

Originally Posted by RP

I should preface that I don't consider myself an electric guitar guy, and my typical relationship with them is very cyclical. However, I've realized that owning an electric guitar and amp is something I'll continue to do and enjoy on an on-again/ off-again basis. My question to you folks is what have you found to be YOUR ideal combination of an electric guitar and amp. I'm somewhat biased by having grown up in the age of Fender so that automatically imposes a qualifier on my choices. However, even with that parameter, many possibilities remain. Please note that this is not intended to be a "What should I get?" thread as I've found my ideal combination, a Stratocaster Eric Clapton "Blackie" and a Blues Junior NOS amp. I know that Noiseless pickups aren't everybody's cup of tea, but I enjoy being able to play without the 60 cycle hum in that background. Obviously everybody's ideal combination will be different. Let's make it an arbitrary budget of $3000 but don't feel restrained by that....

I'm mostly with you. (My Stratocaster or even Telecaster through a Blues Junior or better still a second hand Fender tube amp like a Twin which may be stretching the dollars).

[RP]

Very cool responses. The only reason I mentioned a budget is so that respondents would be somewhat realistic and not throw pie-in-the-sky/if I won the lottery combos out there. Ergo, don't sweat stretching the budgetary aspect too much....

[Johnny K]

Originally Posted by RP

Very cool responses. The only reason I mentioned a budget is so that respondents would be somewhat realistic and not throw pie-in-the-sky/if I won the lottery combos out there. Ergo, don't sweat stretching the budgetary aspect too much....

I got a little more than 800 bucks into my rig. 450 for the used DeVille 410, 325 for the ASAT Tele Bluesboy and 35 bucks for the crazy (but matches my guitar) strap.

Even if that combo were a brand new DeVille 410, and a brand new USA made G&L ASAT Bluesboy, it would still slide in under your 3k budget.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by RP

Very cool responses. The only reason I mentioned a budget is so that respondents would be somewhat realistic and not throw pie-in-the-sky/if I won the lottery combos out there. Ergo, don't sweat stretching the budgetary aspect too much....

What no Dumble's ?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by DukeX

My "Ideal" combo has five parts, Lol:

'62 Tele AVRI
Epi ES335 Dot w/SD Antiquities

5e3 Tweed Deluxe
Vox AC4HW1
Princeton Reverb

Pick your pairing.

Originally Posted by Tahitijack

My ideal combo changes depending on all the usual variables. Generally, if called right now to play a gig this evening with my instrumental surf music band:

Fender Classic Player 60s Strat
Fender Deluxe VM amp

For a small gig, especially indoors
Fender Classic Player 60s Strat
Fender Mustang III

Another "mix-&-matcher" here:
Amp:

• Bugera V5 Infinium/'64 Ampeg Rocket (coffeehouse/rehearsal)
• Bugera V22 "blue-light"/'88 Peavey Studio Pro 60 (small/medium-size room)
• Fender '65 Super RI/Frontman 212R (large room/outdoor)

Guitar:

• '11 Gibson LP Studio '60s Tribute (goldtop/P-90)
• '16 Gretsch 5622T-CB
• '12 Godin CW II
• '82 Yamaha SSC-500

[Dru Edwards]

I like a Gibson Les Paul through my Marshall Vintage Modern. I'd love to have a Friedman amp though. The Les Paul sounds great through it.

[Ed-in-Ohio]

Not to avoid the question, but I think there is a third, critical factor to consider in this combo: The player. The performance of an electric guitar through an amp is so dependent on the player's technique, feel, and touch, that I think the three need to be looked at as a single system. Moreover, the other components of the player's "rig" (strings, pedals, picks) will have a major influence on the tone.

For example, though I have owned many electric guitars, and several amps (both tube and SS), I think the best tone I ever got (for me and my playing) was on a Classic Player '60s Stratocaster (MIM) through a Roland CUBE-40XL amplifier (SS)!

That said, the starting point for me when looking for great tone would be a solid-bodied guitar with two humbuckers played into an amp based on a Fender blackface-era valve amp.

Rock on!

[perttime]

Originally Posted by Ed-in-Ohio

... into an amp based on a Fender blackface-era valve amp.

Rock on!

A Marshall then
That is the way Marshall amps got started: they couldn't get Fender amps in UK, so this Marshall guy started producing blackface copies. He did talk to some British musicians during the development, though.

[Poppa]

Due to life's little surprises, I'm in the 'Financially Dead' camp. So the gear I use has to be my ideal. Guitar wise, I'm quite happy with a home brew Tele I completed 16 years ago from USACG wood. Chambered mahogany body with a Lollar Low Wind Imperial in the neck and a custom wound bridge pup featuring Alnico 8 mags wound to 12.5K. The neck was built to my specs and is the absolute best feeling bolt on neck I've played. This guitar still inspires me every time I play it.

Amps are an 80's Peavey Studio Pro 12 I spent $40 on and a $150.00 Monoprice 15 Watt tube (EL84's) amp. These two amps compliment each other very well and running both in stereo with a few select pedals and my trusty volume pedal, provide all the tones I require.

[Pickcity]

The opinions will be as varied as the players. For me, at this particular time, I am absolutely happy with my American professional Telecaster, and my Fender Blues deluxe 40w. It is a great combo, and the cleans are blissful to my ears.

[Pickcity]

Originally Posted by Pickcity

The opinions will be as varied as the players. For me, at this particular time, I am absolutely happy with my American professional Telecaster, and my Fender Blues deluxe 40w. It is a great combo, and the cleans are blissful to my ears.

Ah yes, need to add a pic for good measure. 138534%20(1).jpg

[redir]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

Carvin (now Kiesel) H2 Allan Holdsworth signature guitar. Light and chambered body for increased resonance. Wide and flat fingerboard radius. I feel it sits in the middle between a Strat and a Les Paul, and I get the best (to me) of both.

Mesa Boogie Studio 22 1-12" combo. Creamy overdrive always lurking around the corner, cleans are not pristine by any means but SO MUSICAL.

(I know Fender Twins get a lot of love here and elsewhere, but I found them useless for playing anything but squeaky clean tones. Trying to get power stage overdrive was an exercise in frustration. I used to own one and when I finally decided to sell it, I sold it for almost nothing just to get rid of it quickly.)

Funny thing. I bought my '72 Twin in 1990. It was old even then. At some point I think maybe 10 years ago I thought about getting something smaller becasue the Twin was just insanly heavy and difficult to carry around. I heard about Studio 22's and found a 22+ in mint condition. It is an awsome amp I really like it but I ended up going back to the Twin.

I think it depends on what platform you run on. My idea was to get a clean amp with lots of headroom and use pedals for everything else. So my 80's vintage TS-9 takes care of the OD problem with Twin amps.

I do like the OD on the Mesa and don't understand why so many reviews of it back in the day were negative about it's OD channel. I think it sounds great. I still use the 22 as my practice amp.

[aknow]

Vintage Fender deluxe reverb
2018 Gibson SG hp

[clintj]

Originally Posted by perttime

A Marshall then [emoji38]
That is the way Marshall amps got started: they couldn't get Fender amps in UK, so this Marshall guy started producing blackface copies. He did talk to some British musicians during the development, though.

Marshall started with copying a much earlier Fender: the 5F6-A tweed Bassman. By the blackface era, the overall design of a typical Fender was quite a bit different. Case in point, the majority of early mid to high power Marshalls use a cathode follower to drive the tone stack while the Fenders had moved to plate driven tone controls to get more clean volume.

For my vote, the tweed Bassman and a Stratocaster with vintage output pickups. Simply dripping with tone.