Hey @Chuck D. Bones and the various geniuses in here, what amplifier(s) do you like to use for testing pedals, particularly for assessing tone, etc.? How do you like to set them up?
What amplifiers do you like for testing how a pedal design/modification sounds?
- Thread starter gtt
- Start date
pbrommer
Well-known member
It’s probably not great, but I have a simple 20W stereo power amp running two cabs. If it sounds good there, I usually can get it sounding really good with the rack mount preamp Marshall I built.
It’s simple right now but will really get going when I get the preamps done (when there’s time …. Hahahaha)
It’s simple right now but will really get going when I get the preamps done (when there’s time …. Hahahaha)
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
Completely depends on the pedal.
If I'm testing something like a boost or a drive I need to know how it's going to sound through a tube amp, so I typically run it through something common like a Champ or something "pedal-friendly" like a Lightning (clones only, I can't afford real Matchless).
If I'm testing a preamp I want to hear its character without it being colored by something else, so I'll run it through my interface through some fairly neutral studio monitors.
If I'm testing a modulation pedal I typically want to hear its character by itself but I also want to know how it will do through an amp, so I'll usually try both, amp first then interface.
If I'm testing something like a boost or a drive I need to know how it's going to sound through a tube amp, so I typically run it through something common like a Champ or something "pedal-friendly" like a Lightning (clones only, I can't afford real Matchless).
If I'm testing a preamp I want to hear its character without it being colored by something else, so I'll run it through my interface through some fairly neutral studio monitors.
If I'm testing a modulation pedal I typically want to hear its character by itself but I also want to know how it will do through an amp, so I'll usually try both, amp first then interface.
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
Champ has never been my #1 amp (I'm an EL84 kind of guy) but I've always liked having one around because it's not hard to make it sound good and it provides a very representative tone of what you can expect from bigger amps as far as how it takes pedals.
Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
I start out using headphones, then use a 15W tube amp set for clean.
I had been using just a princeton style amp for a while. Apologies to everyone and half of rock n’ roll, but to me it just sounds kind of bad when it distorts. It works fine for hearing pedals as-is though.
After getting into more boosts lately, I dragged my monoprice 15w by the bench. EL84 is my true love, and it gave me a much more accurate representation of how the pedal will behave in the scenario I would use it in.
I have seen the monoprice -> lightning conversion you did @vigilante398 - I would love to do that to mine someday.
After getting into more boosts lately, I dragged my monoprice 15w by the bench. EL84 is my true love, and it gave me a much more accurate representation of how the pedal will behave in the scenario I would use it in.
I have seen the monoprice -> lightning conversion you did @vigilante398 - I would love to do that to mine someday.
Last edited:
Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
What is this lightning conversion?
My Monoprice is stock except for a 12AT7 in the front end and a variable speaker attenuator at the tail end.
My Monoprice is stock except for a 12AT7 in the front end and a variable speaker attenuator at the tail end.
Makes sense. What about EQ? Flat, basically?
Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
What? There's a flat setting? 
Sorry that was dumb. I'm not sure the question to ask, actually, beyond "how do you set up the tone beforehand for when you're testing or is it just set to 'this is where the amp sounds good clean to me with my guitar and the pedal off'?" Or is there some other question I should be asking?
Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
Not dumb.
Nothing in the signal chain has a flat freq response, including the room, so why should the amp be set to flat? I set mine for the desired tone with the pedals off. If I have to adjust the amp to make a pedal sound good, then that pedal is no bueno in my book.
Nothing in the signal chain has a flat freq response, including the room, so why should the amp be set to flat? I set mine for the desired tone with the pedals off. If I have to adjust the amp to make a pedal sound good, then that pedal is no bueno in my book.
Makes sense. When you're listening in headphones, are you doing some sort of cab sim?
Personally I have a Blackstar HT-5R with a Celestion in it, set to clean, and also headphones via the XLR out and built in cab simulator, which I don't think is very good. Part of the reason for this thread is that I was wondering if I should have a nicer amplifier and/or a better cabinet simulator (I saw there were a couple of cabiniet simulators on pedalpcb).
Personally I have a Blackstar HT-5R with a Celestion in it, set to clean, and also headphones via the XLR out and built in cab simulator, which I don't think is very good. Part of the reason for this thread is that I was wondering if I should have a nicer amplifier and/or a better cabinet simulator (I saw there were a couple of cabiniet simulators on pedalpcb).
Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
Alan W
Well-known member
At this point (and for the first time in my life!) I have 3 amps, but for pedals I first go with the most "neutral" (in this case meaning "blackface", even though I get that there's a mid scoop there)—which is the Allen Encore that I built from a kit about 5 or 6 years ago. (More our less a Vibrolux Reverb 2 x 10 but with some of David Allen's tweets.) I pretty much have it set so it sounds good with any of my guitars in the room, and then play the pedal through it. My other two amps are a Vox based one and a modern repro of an old Valco amp; both have enough character to not always react to a pedal like I'd expect, but sometimes this means that a pedal that didn't wow me on the Encore is a thrill with one of them.
I do also have some powered monitors that I will try preamp pedals through, as @vigilante398 has suggested—but since I'm generally planning to use these into the Encore, that just becomes another data point for me. This also allows me too listen more finely to what reverbs, mods, etc. really sound like, without the added pizzazz that a guitar amp gives. Again, just another data point. I should also add that I rarely build or try out distortion pedals (not including fuzzes). I don't play loud enough to make any of them sound good to my ears. And now with that Valco style amp, I absolutely don't need to add a pedal to get distortion.
I do also have some powered monitors that I will try preamp pedals through, as @vigilante398 has suggested—but since I'm generally planning to use these into the Encore, that just becomes another data point for me. This also allows me too listen more finely to what reverbs, mods, etc. really sound like, without the added pizzazz that a guitar amp gives. Again, just another data point. I should also add that I rarely build or try out distortion pedals (not including fuzzes). I don't play loud enough to make any of them sound good to my ears. And now with that Valco style amp, I absolutely don't need to add a pedal to get distortion.
I have this janky old Ampeg G100 that someone gave me. Needed all new electros but there's not much to these things except they're VERY neutral. It can also get uncomfortably loud. It's solid state but breaks up in a very pleasing way and I know what it sounds like so it's a good reference.