What makes and amp "Take pedals well"?

[ibodog]

Warm, clean, and a little on the dull side by itself.  For most people this kind of clean sound will be a bit uninspiring.  But it will be great in taking fuzz and drive pedals. 

I've tried to emulate this with a POD preset and it works pretty good.  I use this more than a real amp when tweaking pedals (especially at night).

[Anchorman]

I've got 3 amps that I can make comparison with.

One is a Solid state 1x12. Every pedal sounds really bad into it. Fuzz is worst, turns into mud, harsh mud that is.

My other two are a Metro JTM45 clone and a Hiwatt DR-103. While both can be very clean at reasonable volumes, they still take pedals differently. For example a Fuzz Face it may be a little smoother in the JTM45 than in the Hiwatt, but the thing I love about the Hiwatt is that the fuzz is very 'defined', it's like it's got more detail, but without being the least bit harsh. These differences appear even at low volumes, so they don't only have to do with headroom I guess.

[Ed G.]

Hmm, Hiwatt ... yeah, a well-known pedal freak David Gilmour would probably agree that a Hiwatt is an amp that takes pedals well.
I wonder what it is about Hiwatts, aren't they supposed to be like bulletproof Marshalls?

[wavley]

Hmm, Hiwatt ... yeah, a well-known pedal freak David Gilmour would probably agree that a Hiwatt is an amp that takes pedals well.
I wonder what it is about Hiwatts, aren't they supposed to be like bulletproof Marshalls?

My old partner in crime had a Hiwatt and his large pedal rig sounded really great through it.

Hiwatts have a stiffer power supply, different tone stack, and a few other differences including those wonderful Partridge transformers and those terribly heavy cabinets with Fane speakers.  That amp had a wonderful low-mid growl.

[puretube]

Sovtek MIG50...

it`s da cleanz...

[Ben N]

  Open back, the kind with the nice pedal compartment.

LOL! Indeed.

[Ben N]

I should add: It's not just about the amp, it's also about the speakers. If your pedals are adding a lot of high harmonic content, then speakers that sound very crisp clean will get ice-picky with your pedals. I'm thinking a little bit of classic Jensens, but more so about JBLs. Basically, speakers with a flat mid-range response rather than a dip will work better. It's a compromise to get both a nice clean and nice distortion, whether your distortion comes from the amp or the pedals.

[DougH]

Hiwatts have a stiffer power supply, different tone stack, and a few other differences including those wonderful Partridge transformers and those terribly heavy cabinets with Fane speakers.

Fane speakers- yum...

I suspect that's a big part of it. Check this out:

http://www.watfordvalves.com/soundfactory.asp

[Paul Marossy]

I should add: It's not just about the amp, it's also about the speakers. If your pedals are adding a lot of high harmonic content, then speakers that sound very crisp clean will get ice-picky with your pedals. I'm thinking a little bit of classic Jensens, but more so about JBLs. Basically, speakers with a flat mid-range response rather than a dip will work better. It's a compromise to get both a nice clean and nice distortion, whether your distortion comes from the amp or the pedals.

I agree. That's probably why some guys, like Allan Holdsworth for example, have one set of amps for clean sounds and another set for dirty tones. I have really only one amp that does this compromise well. The others are kind of a love/hate relationship.

[petemoore]

  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductor
 +1 edit, [see if you can spot it] and a little addendum.
 An "ideal inductor" has inductance, but no resistance or capacitance, and does not dissipate or radiate energy. A real inductor [these things are cool] may be partially modeled by a combination of inductance, resistance (due to the resistivity of the wire and losses in core material), and capacitance. At some frequency, usually higher than the working frequency, some real inductors behave as resonant circuits (due to their self capacitance). At some frequency the capacitive component of impedance becomes dominant. In addition to dissipating energy in the resistance of the wire, magnetic core inductors may dissipate energy in the core due to hysteresis, and at high currents (bias currents) show gradual departure from ideal behavior due to nonlinearity caused by magnetic saturation. At higher frequencies, resistance and resistive losses in inductors grow due to skin effect in the inductor's winding wires. Core losses also contribute to inductor losses at higher frequencies. Additionally, real-world inductors work as antennas, radiating a part of energy processed into surrounding space and circuits, and accepting electromagnetic emissions from other circuits, taking part in electromagnetic interference. Real-world inductor applications deal heavily with "parasitic" parameters, while the "inductance" may be of minor significance.
 All these complex interactions transpire ''at frequencies'' when the necessary conditions are put in place and the circumstances are 'right to create them, some amps rely on these reactions to shape tone, others use alternative tone shaping methods to achieve similarly or differently shaped tone.
  Sometimes, this may be a big part of what we're discussing here.