Xmas choices, help my gas!?

mattsl1983

New guitar or amp?

(Disclaimer, I've worked hard to have everything I have, this is not a "I want to brag about my gear" post that many often take advantage of and for some reason feel compelled in every other post to state what they have. Trust me me there are a lot more fortunate than I am and have way better shit.)

So anyways I'm torn between a new guitar or amp. The place I'm in is I've got a badass strat, badass tele (both Nash's) and a badass Les Paul (started out as a Classic, re-did the wiring and changed the bridge pup to a Pearly Gates Duncan. I've got great pedals, od, rotosphere, delay, wah, ect. I'm running a voxac30 and maz18. Now the big thing is I don't have any p-90's or any plexi based amps. In anyone's opinion to increase and obtain that gnarly snarl just completely dirty nasty sound, should I go for the plexi amp, or a p90 guitar? Again I've got good gear and great pedals, but something is still lacking. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thoughts, opinions? It's basically coming down to a Dirty Shirley, or a Gold Top reissue. This is my Xmas and the Ol' lady is okay!

DewieCox

Your amp selection is gonna have a much greater impact on level of gain. If you're wanting big nasty chewy gain, you better get an amp that can put that out. P90s are awesome, just not sure it would have the effect you're looking for.

I don't think a straight Plexi clone will get a whole lot dirtier than your Maz. Different, but about the same level of drive.

One thing you might look into with the Maz is different speakers. I found that different speakers would bring out the familiar voices....for instance, Alnico Blues would bring out the Voxiness or Greenbacks for a more Marshally flavor. Also really liked putting different foundation type od's into the Maz for different voicings.

xtremehardy388

I agree with Dewie---maybe speakers? What kind of dirty sound are you looking for. Could it be achieved with a Plexi effects pedal? I know Tech 21 and Mesa both make good Plexi sims.

2-feign-reluctance

Help my gas? Auto-correct?

mccreadyisgod

2-feign-reluctance said:

Help my gas? Auto-correct?

G.A.S. = Gear Acquisition Syndrome. It's the thing gearheads have when they feel compelled to buy a new piece of gear. Can also be a verb: "I've been gassing for a new set of pups for my LP."

2-feign-reluctance

Man, I'm obviously out of the know! Haha!

dudeman

I think you need an ES-335 (or an ES-339 if you don't want the huge body). Considering what you have already, I think I semi-hollow body would really round out your guitar stable.

xtremehardy388

2-feign-reluctance said:

Man, I'm obviously out of the know! Haha!

I was lost, too

earthquakes making waves

Amp definitely. You've got enough guitars to vary your sound. I just got a 65AMPS Blue label Empire head with variable voltage control. All the tone you want from low volume to high volume. (and it's what Mike plays and his tones are incredible) Check it out, lots of features for lots of sounds.
Good luck!

mattsl1983

Sorry for the late reply.

Ive changed speakers in the vox, have had both green backs and alnico blue backs. I think my biggest let down had been the Z. It sounds great and amazing clean, but I've found it really doesn't get all that dirty, almost stays to boomy clean and kind of fights back against dirt. I've got a vintage cele in it, gold back.

The sound I'm trying to get I can almost get with the vox (with green backs). But I'm looking for a bit more creamy/dirtier sound out of it. I'm not a big fan of the Marshall high gain (tends to just make me think of 80's or recent junk distorted generic tone). I'm going for that Crazy Horse Ragged Glory sound. I know Neil plays fender amps ran super hot with his wizzer, and had a mini humbucker in the bridge, but I'm looking for something around that. most fenders amps I've play don't get me close to what I'm already close to with the ac30. But what I don't have are a p-90/mini humbucker, or dirty vintage sounding fendery Marshall (fenders used to be made to get that grainy clone sound, now they are either super hot or super clean) amps. The Dirty Shirley seems like a that vintage none hotrodded marshall clone that fender used to come close to. But p-90's also seem to have an amazing dirt sound. Sadly I'm not in an area to jam on both, and the other guy in our band I play with is pretty much either 80's silver jubilee and same style guitars I have.

I've had a es335, amazing guitars but I'm not big on the hollow/semi hollow body.

mccreadyisgod

My knee-jerk reaction is to find yourself a tweed Deluxe or clone. Vintage Neil tone for days. You gotta be able to crank the thing and really get the power tubes working to get that tone, and a 15-watt tweed Deluxe is just the ticket.

I love my P-90 pups, and I'd definitely suggest you check them out at some point. They're not for everyone, but they are gritty. You can pick up any of a dozen guitars for ~$500 with P-90s, and just see if you gel with them. Then, if you find that they are what you are looking for, you can sell the sled and get something that matches the quality of the rest of your gear. I wouldn't go and blow $1500-2k on a nice P-90 guitar just to see if you like them. And don't think you'll be able to spend 30 minutes at Guitar Center and decide if they work for you either.

2-feign-reluctance

The title of this thread still cracks me up. I keep thinking, 'take some damn Gas X man!!'

dudeman

Did you ever decide what you want?

I'm finding myself in a similar situation. Leaning towards a set of Joe Barden pickups for the Strat.