AMP Klones ? Opinions welcome.

Kev77 · Post by **Kev77** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:09 pm

So I'm selling the family silver to fund an amp and the goal amount is closely approaching .
a few amp mates have said to me \\ just get a clone made, or get a kit or get so and so to build one for you.and I've had some great offers of others amps, really awesome other amps.
Newb-tatcular that I am in the world of amps ( proper amps) , the question is ...
Is it just a matter of following the same components and follow the Lego brick instructions and there you go, or is there
Some ethereal other ingrediant that just makes some amps Holy vessels of awesome and some just meh.
Unfortunately this is very true in the world of analogue pedals, it can be very hit and miss.
I'd be really interested to hear from anyone on this, but esp members who have built or played clones of the real thing.
I'd be interested in what you think are the essentials in building a clone, or any good amp.

The likely solutions for me will be.
A, get Mr Ryan to assemble his minions of toanz klonez
B, get the real thing either new of second hand because #authentic #wowrarecollectable and #ReSale
C, Geez, think outside the box man. There are other amps that must be at least close.
D, Bro, wanna buy an HD500? Kempler? My AC15 etc

No disrespect to Ryan or the Amp shop posse of course, he's a solid guy.

jeremyb · Post by **jeremyb** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:11 pm

Depends what the amp is worth to buy?

rickenbackerkid · Post by **rickenbackerkid** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:12 pm

personally - I’d buy the real thing. If I wanted some thing non-standard and customised, then I’d talk to Ryan

Kev77 · Post by **Kev77** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:47 pm

jeremyb wrote:Depends what the amp is worth to buy?

Second hand before tax about, 2-2.5 k and a new combo about 3K landed. but I could buy a chassis only option for about 1900 and get the speaker and cabinet locally.

willow13 · Post by **willow13** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:12 pm

If you know exactly what tone/s you are wanting then I would probably go the Ryan path for the pure reason of being able to tweak until your hearts content in the build stages and being able to play it with your own hands until its where it needs to be....

jeremyb · Post by **jeremyb** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:17 pm

Kev77 wrote:
jeremyb wrote:Depends what the amp is worth to buy?
Second hand before tax about, 2-2.5 k and a new combo about 3K landed. but I could buy a chassis only option for about 1900 and get the speaker and cabinet locally.

I bet Ryan could do you something better for under that secondhand price, and you'd have a much better end product I would expect! What's the amp?

Aquila Rossa · Post by **Aquila Rossa** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:24 pm

considering your love of delay pedals, the obvious choice would be Fender style clean amp. the advantage of clone building is you get exactly what you want and often at higher quality and cheaper than the brand amps. the advantage of buying used is that if you get an amp that is functioning properly, the resale is always going to be around what you paid. clone amps are more difficult to resell. they shouldn't be, because they sell well in the U.S; but not here yet.

A Fender clone base on two 6L6 tubes, with a reverb tank, FX loop, master volume mod, and various power reduction mods would be the way to go for creating a suitable platform for your effects.

Kev77 · Post by **Kev77** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:27 pm

jeremyb wrote:
Kev77 wrote:
jeremyb wrote:Depends what the amp is worth to buy?
Second hand before tax about, 2-2.5 k and a new combo about 3K landed. but I could buy a chassis only option for about 1900 and get the speaker and cabinet locally.
I bet Ryan could do you something better for under that secondhand price, and you'd have a much better end product I would expect! What's the amp?

Goodsell superseventeen, I had the pleasure of babysitting one for a bit, and it was pretty freaky awesome.
he's pretty confident he could replicate it, and I don't doubt it. I just wonder if people who have gone that route have felt thier clone captured what they wanted.
Ryan good cat that he is has already spent a fair amount of time advising me on this. but always good to hear other opinions too.

Post by **Slowy** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:12 am

I wanted to experiment so I bought a THD Flexi 50 and half a dozen shoeboxes full of old valves. It cost me a fortune and all I got was confused. Then I got a Marshall JTM45 and found a wonderful amp that was 4 times louder than I could ever use. Same with the '60s AC30 and Blackface Bandmaster a mate made freely available.

My point? Amps are just another rabbit hole; potentially a very expensive one. If you love the Goodsell and it produces the tones you like at a volume you can use, buy one. If you can't but can describe what you want to hear, go to Ryan. If you are worried about resale value on your ideal amp, it 's obviously not ideal.

Post by **GrantB** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:18 am

What slowy said...

bender · Post by **bender** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:23 am

slowfingers wrote: My point? Amps are just another rabbit hole; potentially a very expensive one. If you love the Goodsell and it produces the tones you like at a volume you can use, buy one. If you can't but can describe what you want to hear, go to Ryan. If you are worried about resale value on your ideal amp, it 's obviously not ideal.

+ Some more.

I've got two Ryan built amps and love them both to bits, but the difference for me was that what I wanted wasn't readily available off-the-shelf.

TmcB · Post by **TmcB** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:05 am

benderissimo wrote:
slowfingers wrote: My point? Amps are just another rabbit hole; potentially a very expensive one. If you love the Goodsell and it produces the tones you like at a volume you can use, buy one. If you can't but can describe what you want to hear, go to Ryan. If you are worried about resale value on your ideal amp, it 's obviously not ideal.
+ Some more.

I've got two Ryan built amps and love them both to bits, but the difference for me was that what I wanted wasn't readily available off-the-shelf.

Yeah, I mean look at my wee amp. Sounds amazing, but who has an AC15 and a JCM800 in one amp, along with switchable rectifiers and negative feedback? Can't buy that off the shelf.

vintage52 · Post by **vintage52** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:17 am

I had a sound in my head for years.

Thinking of the amps I have had and the tones I was trying to get to that rabbit hole mentioned earlier was awesome - a lot of confusing fun but awesome.

The end sound in my head was and is my 5E3 clone with my Tele.

That clone is Ryan made....made to a budget that we agreed on but I think Ryan does not get the idea of delivering to an agreed budget cause this amp is astounding and superb in sound and craftsmanship that would to me seem to exceed the agreed budget.

I think the other awesome thing is that Ryan "hears" what you are leaning towards and can deliver to your aural senses.

My 2 cents.

Cdog · Post by **Cdog** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 9:20 am

If you're not sure what you're after, go second hand/borrow and try first
If you want to save money buy second hand
If you want to build yourself a clone, it will likely cost more in parts than what you'd pay for a second hand of the original
My 2c

Miza · Post by **Miza** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 9:44 am

I thought those Goodsell 17's were just another Marshall 18Watt clone? But I could be (and probably am) wrong.

Have you listened to anything similar that Ryan has made in the 18W region?

If I had the $ I'd get the real thing, otherwise you'll always wonder. But as already well covered above, if you know EXACTLY what you're after and it has to be tweaked then maybe a custom build is what you need?

FWIW I had a Ceriatone 18W TMB EF86 and it was the biz; essentially a AC15 on one side and a Marshall 18W with MV on the other. If I'd kept it I would have got Ryan to mod it for more gain from the Marshall side, probably similar to TmcB's.

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