Guitar Gear Forum

macaronisalad wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 1:13 pm To be honest, you'll get most of the same sound out of a DSL or SLX.

This has been my issue with most of this type of amps. The DSL usually gets very close to them and it's an amp that you can get for $600-800 every day. Not to say that some of these amps aren't better or have different features etc but when you start to look at the price differences vs what you're getting the DSL is very hard to beat IMHO. And the SLX as well, although those are usually harder to find and a bit more expensive.

I think for Friedmans, the Runt is sort of a sweet spot considering their used prices and they're also a bit more aggressive than the other models. Dirty Shirley is cool too, albeit a bit different than a regular hot rodded Marshall (more vintage sounding). Still a great amp though and can be found for a reasonable price sometimes.
But when it comes to a BE etc that sells for $3k-4k, the diminishing return vs a $700 DSL is glaring. It is a great amp but it's hard to justify the cost difference when a DSL gets very close.

Splawns can be found for good prices used, but I am not crazy about their feel. Their great amps though but just the right amp for what I play.

I really would like to get a Runt, but probably don't need it since I do have a JCM 2000 DSL

Save thousands and get a cheap Marshall modded.

Caulk Rocket wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 8:16 pm Save thousands and get a cheap Marshall modded.

While I agree that modding a cheaper amp can give you some really good tones for a fraction of the cost of a new amp, a 20 watter just can't compete that well with 50 or 100 watters in the 'fullness' category.

Personal experience - I have a 20 watt Jet City amp that I modded to Friedman's BE spec. Also did the exact same preamp mod to my Ceriatone 2204. Although they both have very similar gain and tone now, the 2204 just crushes the 20w Jet City in terms of how big it sounds. Even after adding a Depth knob to the 20 watter it's just not a fair apples to apples comparison.

Recording you can get them to sound nearly identical, but playing with them in front of you the smaller amps always will sound and feel smaller. Not really a bad thing, but it's akin to the old muscle car saying 'there's no replacement for displacement"

sahlomonic wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2024 6:49 pm

Caulk Rocket wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 8:16 pm Save thousands and get a cheap Marshall modded.

While I agree that modding a cheaper amp can give you some really good tones for a fraction of the cost of a new amp, a 20 watter just can't compete that well with 50 or 100 watters in the 'fullness' category.

Personal experience - I have a 20 watt Jet City amp that I modded to Friedman's BE spec. Also did the exact same preamp mod to my Ceriatone 2204. Although they both have very similar gain and tone now, the 2204 just crushes the 20w Jet City in terms of how big it sounds. Even after adding a Depth knob to the 20 watter it's just not a fair apples to apples comparison.

Recording you can get them to sound nearly identical, but playing with them in front of you the smaller amps always will sound and feel smaller. Not really a bad thing, but it's akin to the old muscle car saying 'there's no replacement for displacement"

That amp comes in 20W and 50W, both with EL-34 power tubes.

For a mod platform I'd go with at least a 50w Ceriatone. That will cost a bit all-in (especially if you have to pay someone to mod it), but at the end you have a monster amp with great build quality.

That said, a guy in one of the bands we gig with here has a modded Origin 50 and it sounds great! But he also upgraded transformers, choke etc so I don't think it was really that cheap when it was all said and done. It's an awesome amp though and it's funny to see other players reactions when he fires it up and sounds as good as it does lol

Oh snap - I guess I didn't realize the Origin 20 was a big bottle amp. That does change my opinion now lol. Thanks for the info.

sahlomonic wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2024 2:22 pm Oh snap - I guess I didn't realize the Origin 20 was a big bottle amp. That does change my opinion now lol. Thanks for the info.

It still sounds like a 20w amp though. Which is not bad per se, but it's different than a 50w and up amp, like you said. If I was going to mod an Origin, I'd get the 50w version.