Good guitar and amp setup for development?

[qwert]

What guitar and amp setup would you recommend for someone developing pedals?

I recently got into experimenting with making pedals. I started with a silicon fuzz face circuit, and I made a few modifications to get a sound I really liked. The trouble is, I'm using a bass amp. When my friend tried out my pedal on his guitar tube amp, the sound was much different, much less bassy. Also the pedal's bad quirks were sort of emphasized by the guitar amp.

I would like to be able to make custom pedals for friends eventually, so I'm going to need an actual guitar amp. Probably something fairly popular, so that I have a better baseline understanding of what other people are going to hear when they try my pedals. I'm not looking to spend a ton on an amp, maybe $400 at most.

I think I might want a tube amp. Since they are usually more finicky than solid state, it seems like it would give me a better idea how my pedals behave in a less predictable system.

I'm also wondering how much my guitar will affect the fruits of my labor, and whether I should get a higher quality, more popular guitar. I'm using an Ibanez GAX 70. Thinking about getting a Telecaster.

Have y'all thought about this before? What would you recommend?

[Mark Hammer]

Producers and recording engineers frequently rely on a variety of monitors to do mastering, under the premise that the final result should sound decent on any system one happens to use, whether earbuds, table radio in the kitchen, car stereo, or high-end listening room.  The Auratone 5C speakers (4.5" in a small cab) were the "classic" studio monitors used to assess whether the resulting mix could sound good on even budget systems (though you wouldn't know it from what you might end up paying for a pair of these nowadays!!)

That's the long way of saying that a variety of amps and speakers can be helpful in deciding if a pedal pedal has a sound of its own that overshadows what a particular amp or speak might  do, or if it might suffer under certain conditions.  In that respect, several different sizes of speakers/cabs (e.g., 6", 10", and 12") can be more useful than multiple amps.  Just make sure the amp you use provides an easy means to select between built in and extension speaker, and that you select for efficiency appropriately.

The Seymour Duncan P-Rails provide an interesting means for varying pickups, since they can function as a sort of single-coil blade pickup, a P-90, and a humbucker, depending on which coil/s one selects.  In truth it is not really a "pure" version of any of those, since it doesn't provide the normal magnet configuration, but it comes as close as one can without spending a bundle.

[blackieNYC]

Check out the Fender Superchamp XD

[garcho]

Since they are usually more finicky than solid state, it seems like it would give me a better idea how my pedals behave in a less predictable system.

That's not the case. The main difference is what pushing the input sounds like, tubes can sound awesome overdriven, SS, not so much.

Don't use anything expensive! I suggest building your own amp. Buy a cheap Jensen and something like the Tiny Giant. You want to be able to hear the changes you make while you make them, wheter you're breadboarding or prototyping. Once you've got your pedal circuitry close to where you want it, and you're not fussing with it much, then put it through a gig worthy amp, whatever you use. You're not going to become a commercial builder any time soon, so start off being pragmatic. If it sounds good with your guitar and your amp, chances are it will sound good to whomever you give or sell your pedals to. If you are going to buy one, just buy a cheap SS amp and borrow a friend's "real" amp to test prototypes.

It's also a good idea to have some kind of audio interface so you can record and analyze/alter with EQ and other things on your computer. It can give you ideas for solving problems, or what type of responses you need from filter circuits, etc.

EDIT:

No welcome, guys..?? 

hahahaha, oops! WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!!!!!

[antonis]

No welcome, guys..?? 

[GGBB]

I think I might want a tube amp.

$400 should be enough to get a used Fender Blues Junior. If there's any one tube amp that might give you a good indication of how your pedal will work with many commonly used tube amps - and is cheap - this would probably be it.

[patrick398]

A twin reverb should do the trick

[EBK]

I mostly use my solid state $15* flea market amp, which conveniently has a headphone jack, when creating.  The bulk of development, for me anyway, is "does it work?" rather than "does it sound great?"

*Not including the $150 speaker I put in it. 

[MikeA]

Lots of good advice here! The OP mentioned a tube amp, +1 to that, at least when testing prototypes.  Reason?  I've found issues with my pedal builds that only show up when testing with a tube amp (switched power supply noise, oscillation, AM interference) while my solid-state amp happily filters all of that out.   Sometimes visible on a scope, sometimes not.  For the same reason, I test pedals with a poorly filtered 9V wall wart to ensure sufficient noise mitigation.  Helps minimize returns.

[iainpunk]

That's not the case. The main difference is what pushing the input sounds like, tubes can sound awesome overdriven, SS, not so much.

i don't think you can make such a generalisation, i have a few tube amps that sound horrible and farty when overdriven and a cheap polish solid state amp that sounds fantastic when you push the clean channel to its max with all knobs on 10.

what i try to say is that having a pool of friends with amps or just a stack of cheap amps is best. i collect obscure brands' ''shitty'' (some are really good) cheap amps, i try pedals, instruments and synths out on most of them so i have a diverse pallet of tones to affect/play.

but if you don't have that, and you plan on getting a $400 amp, i'd get a ''pedal platform amp'', something like a bugera V55, its powerful and its able to stay clean. if you'd like to spend less and have a lower volume amp, most blackstar amps are quite nice as well.

cheers, Iain

[garcho]

don't think you can make such a generalisation

it's one of the main reasons people play out of tube amps. i also qualified it with "can" and "not so much".

i have a few tube amps that sound horrible and farty when overdriven

that's too bad, which ones?

I've found issues with my pedal builds that only show up when testing with a tube amp (switched power supply noise, oscillation, AM interference) while my solid-state amp happily filters all of that out.

i would say that means there's something wrong with your amp(s), that shouldn't happen.

[iainpunk]

don't think you can make such a generalisation

it's one of the main reasons people play out of tube amps. i also qualified it with "can" and "not so much".

owkay, fair, but it reads that all ss amps are not so great, while there are plenty of great ss amps

i have a few tube amps that sound horrible and farty when overdriven

that's too bad, which ones?

one is a traynor clone, its really great clean, but it farts out when driven even slightly and i used to have a fender champ clone that farted out when driven to much. but both can be tamed with a treble booster or other bass cutting type pedal like a TS9 etc. but that trick also applies to 'bad' sounding ss amps, a good treble booster in front to break up the front end on a clean channel, not the overdrive channel, makes most solid state amps really nice, 'clear' and 'open'

cheers, Iain

[qwert]

Thanks for all the great advice!

My initial impression from this thread is that during active experimentation, using a cheap amp is fine. And then when I think I have something close to what I want, try it out on as many different amps as I can.

I have a little Kinter tripath, maybe I'll try using that for experimenting. I think I'll also try building that Tiny Giant amp, it looks pretty simple and I have all the parts already.

I like the idea of getting a Fender Blues Jr, Super Champ, or Twin Reverb (the latter is too expensive for me though ). I was actually considering getting one of those already (my friend suggested it as well), so this seems like a pretty solid decision.

As for the tube vs SS discussion--I did notice a lot of weird stuff going on with my pedal when my friend tried it on his Vox AC30. But then again, the only other amp I tried was my bass amp, so maybe the bad behavior would show up on most guitar amps, regardless whether it's tube or SS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm excited to learn more from you all

[GGBB]

That's not the case. The main difference is what pushing the input sounds like, tubes can sound awesome overdriven, SS, not so much.

i don't think you can make such a generalisation, i have a few tube amps that sound horrible and farty when overdriven and a cheap polish solid state amp that sounds fantastic when you push the clean channel to its max with all knobs on 10.

It should be noted that "pushing the input" is not the same as "all knobs on 10". "Pushing the input" is overdriving the input stage of the amp which is typically before any boost or attenuation via any volume/level/gain controls.

Overdriving a solid state device sounds vastly different than overdriving a tube.

[Steben]

An amp like a Peavey Classic 30 (tube, neutral platform) or a Peavey Bandit (SS option) do the job fantastically.
Why do I have both? 

[Steben]

have a few tube amps that sound horrible and farty when overdriven and a cheap polish solid state amp that sounds fantastic when you push the clean channel to its max with all knobs on 10.

EQ, bass cut before drive

[kaycee]

I use a solid state Noisy Cricket Amp http://beavisaudio.com/projects/NoisyCricket/ to check that circuits work, and a Laney Cub 10 watt to hear them pushing valves (if its a fuzz or booster). The  infinite combinations of guitar, amp and other effects around your circuit that any end user can put together means that you can't cover all the bases, let alone taking into account if someone loves, or hates the velcro sound of a particular fuzz or not