I, too, love playing extra-clean. A favorite setup: Electric guitar > L.R. Baggs Para-Coustic DI > large PA. The Baggs unit has many routing and EQ options - highly recommended.

Distorted guitar is an utter cliche in 2005, whatever the musical genre - it bores audiences, and it hides bad technique. Play clean and there's no place to hide...

caffeine head wrote:Distorted guitar is an utter cliche in 2005, whatever the musical genre - it bores audiences.

Shit.... So that's what I've been doing wrong.

What have I tried?

Roland JC-77 (own it)- I used to love it but slowly over the past couple of years I'm starting to notice it's weaknesses more than it's strengths. Now it sounds to me Shrill and thin NOT clear and Boxy instead of full. Made sure to try some other Rolands out to make sure it was'nt just mine pooping out somehow and had the same difficulties with them.

Ampeg b50r rocket bass- (own it) kind of "honks" can never completely get rid of it, breaks up pretty quickly. Too out of control

1969 Fender Twin (used to own) Too much grit on the attack for my taste have tried others since, still the same difficulties. There is this "sizzle" to fender amps that I find distracting. Tubes are a hastle.

Several of the old ampeg solid state (SS and SC) series.- Nice amps, but no love. Maybe should investigate again

Ampeg B100R rocket bass- I liked this amp a lot but was just barely out of my price range. It was in a store and on the floor when i played it so I should try it again elevated.

Some random Legend amp from the early eighties.- Really nice amp, great clarity but absolutely NO low end and a bit shrill.

asssorted acoustic (purpose not brand) amps - kind of close but made my guitar sound too much like ..well...an acoustic.

Crates -steaming piles of shit

Musicman 2x10- my first "real" amp (sold it 12 years ago or so) - don't remember much about it except that it had a greta crazy sound when you turned everything up all the way and it wieghed two tons.

Roland keyboard amps- I should check them out again with my IVP but when I plugged my guitar straight in I could hear the "Rolandness" in there somewhere.

some eighties ( I think) fender solid sates- similar to the ampeg and the yamaha solid states of the same era. Powerful but kind of empty and a bit cloudy.


I would love to try a Polytone but can't find one locally anywhere.

Yes I have checked my hearing lately.

I'm just so frustrated, it makes me not want to play. I MUST find the sound. It's really been keeping me up nights. Like Really, it's keeping me up. Now I have two amps that I need to sell (no takers so far) but would'nt even know where to throw the money if someone did buy them. This tone search is starting to freak me out. The monitor idea is by no means perfect it's just the best compromise that I have found so far. I'm goin freakin insane.

ridiculously cheap at this point, and not a lot of time left:

http://cgi.ebay.com/70s-TRAYNOR-TS-100- ... dZViewItem

Added to my watch list. Only two harmonycentral reviews but both are good.
Have you ever crossed paths with one before? I'm considering it but buying an amp unheard (twice in a row) is a little scary. It does look like it's going to go for cheap though.

Thanks for the tip.

i've never seen or heard one before. but i have three traynor amps and a traynor PA. two of the amps and the PA were all purchased on ebay without having ever heard them, based solely on the merits of the first one that i bought from a friend. i seriously love them all, as much as one can "love" an amp anyway.

if you're actually bidding on it, if you want to, you should PM me and let me know what your max bid is, so i'm not bidding against you. i've been planning on bidding it up to $225ish at the very last minute, which i consider an absurdly lowball price for that amp. i would probably pay $400 for it if i was actually in the market for a solid state combo amp, for use as my main amp. but as it is, i'm just looking to nab it if it sells stupid cheap, like i think it might.