Fender amp that wants to emulate a dual recifyer

I have a 200 watt Fender London Reverb Showman.  I understand they are pretty rare.  It's a 200 watt solid state amp.  One Fender expert I found on the internet best described it as a amp that can stun small to mid size animals if passing by.  He's right about that.  He also nailed it when he made the statement that the amp would be best suited for a steel guitar player that wants a clean loud amp.

After reading the guitar tone strategies thread, I figured there would be some folks that know a thing or two about what I'm wanting to do. Since I don't have a Mesa Boogie nor afford one, unless I can find one on the internet that needs repaired, I'm looking to make do with what I have.

Using GR4 Rammfire or jazz chorus, I can get some pretty good tones.  But I can't help to think there's something out there that can help me emulate a good tube amp.  The amp has a effects in/out that can be used with a computer or external stomp box.

Any thoughts welcome,

right now it's driving a internal 12" and a external cab with a 15" baffled with a horn then I'd like a cab with 4 10s to level out the frequency curve. Then using the Axon midi controller to drive synth sounds thru the effects loop.
I want it loud enough to have the ability to play with controlled feedback and this amp will do it.
Sonnar plug-ins on the front end of the pre-amp (Which ones)
Soft synths through the effects loop (a varitiey to choose from)

You'd think at 56 I'd want the small amp but it's just the oposite. I want to stun small animals :)  with a unuiqe Metal sound.

JumbiCat,
  I just posted again in guitar tones about it so I won't repeat it all but  went with a line 6 XT live (which are still around but they stopped making them about a year ago).  Line 6 has a newer line of HD pedals that I hear are even better than that, but I am happy with mine!
Here's the one I have: http://line6.com/podxtlive/index.html

Here's the newer line: http://line6.com/podhd/multi-effects/

Jumbicat: So sorry I missed your thread here. Yeah, the issue you mention about the loop is common and not an "issue" at all. Here's the thing to keep in mind.

Though this is a real amp, sometimes when you use a power section of an amp that is super clean...it can actually affect the sound of the distortion. Like, if we use a PA power amp like a Crown or a CS 800 and run a guitar pre-amp into it, rest assured the sound will be different than if you ran the same pre-amp into a "made for guitar" power amp like a Mesa 90/90 or a Carvin 100 watt power amp or the Velocity amps I run. Those amps are geared to handle the distortion we send through them. The amp you have is a clean monster that would need to be so loud to saturate, it would kill animals and your hearing.

Now, getting back to your situation...don't let that effects loop thing scare you. Whatever you plug in there...remember that the output control on the last effect will be your master volume. So just make sure it is down to 0 before you even play. Your best bet in this situation would be to buy a guitar pre-amp of sorts and use it in the loop. Though I'd rather see you get a real power amp made in today's times for handling high gain, what you have there will still work. But if you got a Line 6 pod or even the pod rack or something with a good front end...you can just slave off that amp's power and you'll be in good shape.

But the key to tube sound...you need tubes at least in your front end. Something with 12AX7's in the pre section. You don't need output tube power unless you want the Angus Young tone or that old Jimmy Page, Nugent <insert classic rock artist of your choice> type tone. Those guys used low gain...maybe a stomp box and then jacked up the amp so the power tubes would saturate. Because you have a solid state amp...and an amp that can literally be a weapon due to it's volume...lol...I would shoot for a stronger front end.

The Mesa Tri-Axis is a killer piece...but pricey as heck. The Vox Tone Lab has a pretty cool floorboard pedal driven by a 12AX7 tube that may work really well for you and it's pretty affordable. I wasn't crazy about the gain it got...I felt it was a little lame...but it was definitely tube sounding. Nothing a Tube Screamer or an overdrive couldn't fix really. But definitely try to find some sort of guitar pre-amp with a tube section if you can. This is what gives you the tube tone more than having output tubes. The pre-amp section is what gives you the tone...the output tubes would color it a bit. But most times...like I said, the output tubes don't really come to life unless you push them so hard, you hurt someone. It's always been that way.

All those old classic amps had horrible pre-amp sections that relied on extreme volume to make them sound the way they sounded. I like that tone and think it has its place...but unless you use like a Marshall Power Brake or something to control that insane volume from taking place...it's a nightmare to work with. I have a 200 watt Marshall plexi over here...talk about loud...it's just insane and pretty useless. Now the 100 watters...you can tweak because you can take out two tubes either on the corners, or the two tubes in the center and it converts it to a 50. Then you can jack it wide open to get that saturated sound...but even then...it's way too loud for most situations. Good luck with whatever you decide and if I can help you out with any of this, just let me know. :)

-Danny

You probably paid more for the amp than it will ever be worth. :-)

Have you seen the hand wired 1970's Silverface Fender Champs? I used to get them for $90 but now they are selling for $500-$600 because and there is an actual demand for them.

People seem to like the buying an amp that sounds good with just a guitar plugged in... if you have a good sounding guitar... and so the price of the Champs has risen dramatically.

Have you considered using the 200 watter as a bass or key board amp. I'll bet it would make an ideal keyboard amp.


best regards,
mike

Chuck C...watching a Line 6 HD500...

Jumbicat, 
  What do ya think of it?

Just spent a lot of time writing up a reply Chuck and the only thing that shows up is I? 

I'll try again a little later.

Ok...I'll try it again.

I was impressed with the video that’s on Line 6 website that kind of goes into the history and it seems the HD line is something that should be looked into.  Looking over the specs, I’m not sure I need the “loop” function that seems to increase in allowed time with each upgraded model. 
 
I picked up a Fender Ultra Chorus amp 2-12” for $100.  It seems to have a sound a lot different from the London reverb showman.  It almost sounds like they’re trying to get a tube saturation sound out of the preamp.  I found it in the paper, an old school jazz guitarist bought another amp because the chorus would intermittently start humming and since he was gigging, he didn’t want to mess around with it.  He said he bought it 20 years ago. After benching it, I found a cold solder joint on a cap in the chorus circuit.  I also found the left channel a little weak so ordered a new pair of outputs and it’s doing pretty good so far.
 
Since Mike said every amp has its own sound, maybe I can use the Chorus as the front end and the showman as the slave.  I should say power slave.

It may be useful to keep in mind that if it has gain staging that allows for distortion that the distortion itself will seem compressed because, in fact, it is basically being tailored into a near square wave by shoving the signal up against a limit defined by top of the square wave.

The circuit isn't designed as a compressor (and it can't do any *transparent* compression etc) but you may easily recognize that a fat furry distortion sound is heavily compressed and limited.

My guess is that this is what you are observing.

best regards,
mike

I thinks it's cool that you are going in and fixing them.

I hope my previous reply didn't seem like it was remedial... now I'm guessing you knew all that stuff.

I only work on my old tube stuff... the solid state stuff leaves me confused.

Hats off to you!

best regards,
mike