I have too many amps. (Nah, one cannot have too many amps). I have 5 that I can see from this chair and a bunch more upstairs. A few days ago I got one out that I have not played in a while, a Crate V-16 Palomino. Man! This amp can really sound good and it takes pedals really well, especially a Boost pedal. I guess it's just the el34 class A thing (I think it's class A). It has a great clean and edge of breakup tone and with the guitar tone rolled off it is beautiful. I'm glad I got it out. I'm getting a little bit of buyers remorse over the Mark V. It is an awesome amp but I have a hard time using any OD, Fuzz, or Distortion pedals with it. They seem to sound like a rasp, really buzzy and bad while the same pedal through a Fender sounds great. I don't get that. I always try with channel one and clean... not that the Mark really needs any sort of OD or Distortion pedal, it's all built in but I like to try. I think of moving it until I play it and remember what good tones I can get from it but right now I am VERY pleased with this little Crate amp, I can't get a bad sound out of it.
Anyway... new old stuff.
J

I haven't owned a usable amp for about 20 years now. I have occasionally fooled a few people into thinking I have though

jamesg1213
I haven't owned a usable amp for about 20 years now. I have occasionally fooled a few people into thinking I have though

What's an amp?

That made me think about the very first amp I ever played through.  It was a Kustom and the size of a VW.  It moved enough air to knock an average sized man over at 10 feet.  These days I play through my ipad.  What's wrong with this picture?

It's always fun to re-discover gear that one hasn't played with it a while. Wasn't familiar w/ the Palomino but I just looked it up - nice!
 
Me I think I pretty much have my set up figured out. I've never been one to agonize over tone or feel that I needed some kind of expensive, hot rodded vintage amp. As you know, I like a Marshall type of sound, and that's basically it. I can appreciate fancier amps, but I am okay with the basic ones.
 
As such, I've been quite happy w/ the DSL 100 head and its 4 x 12 cab I bought last year. However, I always felt that there was a gap between the green channel (classic gain) and the red one (ultra gain). Though I like having the Ultra Gain option, in most cases, what I really want is more of the green channel goodness.
 
I've never been into pedals but that changed recently when a friend of mine who designs and builds boutique pedals in Canada asked me if I'd be interested in showing his pedals down here.
 
He sent me a bunch of them, including a fantastic booster which allows me to really take advantage of the green channel on my Marshall. Likewise, his Dude Screamer was the ticket for one of our classic metal project. I also received one of his fuzz pedals. I never thought I'd like a fuzz that much - that one is just so much fun to play. And the echo/delay is just what I needed for our rockabilly project.
 

 
Overall, the pedals turned my adequate but somewhat generic rig and breathed life into it. I was used to my POD HD's effects when I needed delay or such, but it sounded so static by comparison to JRG's delay. Likewise, the overdrives and booster didn't really do anything for my Marshall. But these - man...
 
At this point, I finally feel like maybe I'd want to explore different pick ups on my Les Paul, something with a bit more character. 

Kinda wish I still had all the amps I ever owned. 
 
Nahh, not really. Once I think about the beasts I've had.... like the Baldwin Exterminator, or the Ampeg VT100 (?).....
 
The Baldwin was horrible for tone... and huge..... and always blowing fuses.  The Ampeg was ungodly heavy for a combo and vastly under powered even at 100w (supposedly).
 
My Carvin 50w combo was sweet.... 50w but louder and better sounding than the Ampeg.  I also had some kind of a vintage amp...can't even recall the name. Not really loud but had good clean tone. Traded it years ago because it wasn't loud enough at the time.
 
I had a Vox hybrid 30w modeling amp.... bought it to use at church and later sold it when I left the music program there. It sounded good but I didn't need 2 amps in the studio (I was wrong...should have kept it) But I still have my Mesa Boogie Studio 22.  It's clean ..... and it's nasty when it needs to be. I've had it for over 30 years. I probably will never sell it.  
 
So essentially, I have one amp and one POD2 processor.  I feel so .... amp poor.

jbow
 I'm getting a little bit of buyers remorse over the Mark V. It is an awesome amp but I have a hard time using any OD, Fuzz, or Distortion pedals with it. They seem to sound like a rasp, really buzzy and bad while the same pedal through a Fender sounds great. 

to me,
the whole point of a mesa,
is that it has so much natural gain on tap,
it does not need ANY pedals.
 
THAT's why you play a mesa.
 
it's not a pedal platform, typically,
unless you have a real old one, like mine,
then it's a killer pedal platform,
because basically it's a hot rodded Fender.
 
 

I don't own any amps anymore...  When I finally get something (after I get a guitar again), it will probably be something like the Axe FX or Helix instead.
 

A few of the amp heads I used to own...

I've had all sorts of vintage and boutique amps over lo these many years. And still own my Strawberry Blonde for acoustic gigs and my Egnater Rebel 20 head/speaker combo for electric gigs.

And even though I still have the Kemper in the studio I still prefer my 150 watt Fender Mustang for all live work. Light as a feather, loud as fook, and beautifully modeled. Works great with pedals as well.

Still wish I had my 1964 Princeton Reverb though. I miss it near to death.

"Still wish I had my 1964 Princeton Reverb though.  I miss it near to death."
 
I can imagine! I've never heard anything but good about a vintage Princeton Reverb.
J