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What’s the point in an expensive high-headroom amp if you’re ‘just’ running it clean?

Welcome to the show. Massive thanks to viewer Yeatzee who posed the question that forms the basis of this show. And that is: if you use a high headroom amp as a pedal platform, does it really matter what that amp is? Or put another way: don’t all high headroom clean amps just do the same thing… and therefore are we all kidding ourselves that these posh amps make any difference? Are we not just better off with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe or Deville?

To whit, we’re keeping everything absolutely the same for these comparisons, except the amp heads which get A/B compared. As we’ll discover (and despite what a lot of people think), a high headroom amp doesn’t always mean ‘clean’. And, yes, the amps make a colossal difference. So let’s find out why…

We're switching the heads into the same cab using the Radial Headbone VT.

Enjoy the show!

GET YOUR COGS OFF: In your YouTube ‘cog’ settings options, there is a ‘stable volume’ option. If you want the audio to be the closest to what we recorded, turn ‘stable volume’ OFF.

Interesting bits and go to sections…
0:00 Intro playing
1:15 Today’s question
2:30 Today’s amps & cabinet
3:20 Context: what is clean anyway?
4:08 Today’s pedals
5:10 Matchless & Laney introduction
6:44 Laney & Matchless clean sounds
8:10 Heavy Water, Matchless & Laney
12:20 Noble Screamer, Matchless & Laney
14:15 Tube Driver, Matchless & Laney
16:30 Laney & Matchless into amp drive
17:55 Two-Rock & Hiwatt introduction
19:00 Two-Rock & Hiwatt ‘clean', Tele
19:35 But don’t you set them clean?
19:50 Two-Rock & Hiwatt ‘clean', Strat
21:10 Heavy Water, Two-Rock & Hiwatt
24:10 Tube Driver, Two-Rock & Hiwatt
27:34 Noble Screamer, Two-Rock & Hiwatt
30:55 Masters maxed the Two-Rock& Hiwatt
31:58 Aren’t all Two-Rocks John Mayer Clean?
32:48 Marshall 50 & 100 watt intro
34:05 Marshall 50-watt not clean sound!
34:42 Marshall 100-watt not clean sound
36:06 Marshall 50 & 100 clean sound
38:25 Heavy Water & Marshalls
40:00 Noble Screamer & Marshalls
41:05 Delay louder in lower headroom amp?!
41:45 Cranking up the Noble Screamer with the Marshalls
43:05 High headroom DOES NOT always mean clean!
43:45 Tube Drive & Marshalls
45:55 The whole point: summing up
46:45 Amps & pedals in tandem
48:00 Guitar Tone 101 Fundamentals


Pedals & stuff in today’s show
• TheGigRig Three2One
• Sonic Research ST-300 Turbo Tuner
• Thorpy Heavy Water Boost
• Keeley Noble Screamer
• BK Butler Tube Driver
• Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay
• Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk
• Meris Mercury X
• TheGigRig G3
• Radial Headbone VT (for head switching)

Amps & cabs
• Laney LA30 BL
• Matchless C30
• Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100 (1973)
• Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature
• Marshall 1987x (50 watt)
• Marshall 1959s (100 watt)
• Brown custom 2x12 with 1 x Celestion G12-65 & 1 x WGS ET65

Guitars in today’s video
• Gibson Custom True Historic 1957 Les Paul Goldtop, Murphy Aged - no video yet• Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster - Dan’s video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnQ4OIJFTgY
• 1961 Fender Stratocaster - Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOMHUQeHGRQ


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