jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

its apples and oranges though, I didn't post the track to rain on your parade after my rant against modern music (I am not particularly proud of this tune, just rattled it off to please the record label who wanted more hard rock songs), it was really just about the solo as an example of combining pentatonic stuff with some interesting phrases from more obscure scales, I coulda used someone else's guitar solo, but it was easier to think of one I played

maybe you guys don't have the Guinea anymore, but its in Charles Dickens and most other Victorian English lit.... even modern period pieces

yeah, your country is like Japan in that sense, a very old island nation state obsessed with cute nicknames for everything

just got back from the new Star Wars.... 1st impression? wow, like being 3 again

has anyone noticed that the worse the band is, the more likely the members are to take their shirts off on stage?

no, I wasn't worried you took offence at one of my remarks, I said I wasn't laughing at you because you had said that "all the pro-tube guys were laughing at you behind your back"

well, I wouldn't laugh at you (and I prefer to laugh in people's faces, not snicker while their backs are turned) and the reason why is because when I got my 1st amp people mocked my vintage Princeton reverb relentlessly.... its so small, old fenders have no gain, its got no mid control, blah blah blah.....

we all fall into our early gear through circumstance and opportunity and I fell in love with non-master tube amps with simple tonestacks and a stripped down feature set, hell by my standards today the Princeton reverb has too much going on with the reverb and trem! but that amp was hopelessly uncool in 1993 and that stuck with me so much that I started buying Marshall 800s and 900s when I got some petty cash in highschool only to come backa round to marshall's simpler offerings like the superleads and 18 waters and then go even more bare bones when I got my beloved 1962 vox (I won't say the model, I don't want to owe you a pound!)

by the way, what's a guinea? a quid? English currency is puzzling....

is it? you're probably right, my eyes were blurry with tears because I was laughing so hard.

I actually recorded a few bands during my studio days who were worse than this.

man, I wonder if I still have my Emu Drumultor around... this video is making me miss hardware drum machines! When I got fruityloops in the 90s I figured I was done with all that..... BUT!

shouting out to the OP here, what has you so excited to grab a touchpad controller?

I was not laughing at you, Duke. You got what you could afford and went for versatility when you bought your line6.

Believe it or not, I went with a vintage fender tube amp after getting my 1st strat because my uncle sold it to me on the cheap because back then NO ONE WANTED A PRINCETON REVERB! I pretty much only went with it because I wanted the trem and verb, I was really unenthused that there was no master volume or gain circuit like the marshalls I was seeing in stores!

Back then the big solid-state versus tube debate was raging in the guitar magazines and solid state was clearly the favorite of all but hard rockers back then.... and pretty much everyone else in the states had a marshall 800 or 900, a soldano (if they were rich) or a fancy rack setup. The vintage guitar market was emerging, but the vintage amp market was still a joke. Only actual 60s plexi front marshalls and some Vox amps were selling for more than they retailed for brand new 3 decades prior.... and then not consistently. But ocne I cranked up that 15 watt old fender into overdrive I realized I knew what MY sound was all about and it was OLD SCHOOL, so it got me way ahead of the curve on the mid-90s vintage tube amp revival. If I had been born a few years sooner I would probably own some nice vintage guitars too, but I am just a little too young to have beat the late 80s rediscovery of great old guitars.

that is nuts.... I would not want fresh tubes every gig.... they need to burn in a bit for optimal tone just like getting your fresh strings broken in, but there are shortcuts to stretching new strings when you change them every night (I used to always change strings right after I woke up the day of a show or have my tech do it a good 6 hours prior to show time when I had a tech) whereas there's no shortcut to putting 72+ hours of actual play on your power tubes... although, maybe he likes the sound of tubes that are fresh out of the box or maybe he buys them bulk from a distributor that tests them and burns them in... I think I paid for that service before, but now that I am all el84 based I just started buying bulk cases of JJ power tubes that are all matched close enough that you can grab any 4 tubes from the lot and make a quad (if something sounds off I can pull them and put them on my old eico tester and see if one is off spec from the other 3 or if I am just hearing things)... and pres I tend to use old stuff.... I don't want anyone burning in my rare old Mullard and Amperex pres and then a lot of the rest of my stash has been pulled from off-brand, pawn shop vintage amp finds so tjhey're already lightly used... when I buy new 12ax7 tubes I like the EHX-made tung sol 'reissues' a lot because they have a fat midrange and seem to put out more than a gain of 100 when compared to most other full-strength 12ax7 variants, but again, I buy bulk and sort them myself

oh damn, TMI guys, sorry.... but I saw that imagine dragons rig rundown and the dude should have his head examined.

EDIT: I ahd to manually spelling-correct "Mullard" because when I didn't capitalize it EB's auto-spel-checker turned it to MALLARD like the duck, hA! "Wow dude, ever sicne you changed to Mallard preamp tubes your strat's inbetween tones are SOOOO MUCH quackier."

I would not be happy with a touch controller and just your mini keyboard but I play piano pretty well and like my keys to be CLOSE to full size with a decent weighting and at least 2 octaves, so YMMV

I used to own that strat... I think. Classic 60s seafoam green?

I suppose that is true, I just love the MESA Studio 22 preamp and the ENGL E 850/100 Power amp

y'know what, I gave you a big load of crap earlier, dude.... a friend just straightened me out, there are mesa studio 22 preamps that have the separate lead master knob, I just haven't ever played one of them.... my bad

I don't think I would bother with an EQ or a preamp that's meant to add an extra tube stage to a lower gain tube amp... there was nothing wrong with the voicing, the neutrality was just fine, she just lacks harmonic content and compression until cranked pretty loud (and then its only the amount of sweetness you get from a tube amp at around 3), I could see her working quite well amplifying a POD with the cab sim disabled or with one of those Wampler or Catalinbread plexi flavor pedals in front... seriously, even straight in, the little bugger sounds no worse than a heavy-ass fender stage series solid state amp (actually I thought she sounded better than most fender, vox and marshall solid state offerings), has only 1 control to worry about and weighs literally NOTHING

if I had to buy a cheap solid state amp I would go with this in a heartbeat over something that's pretending to be a more professional solution like the aforementioned fender, a crate or a peavey bandit or whatever most young people buy after the amp from their starter pack goes south

it has one other thing going for it..... TINY. A big and heavy solid state amp with a blah tone? no thanks. A solid state amp the size of a dynacomp with blah tone? hmmmmmmm.... you could just borrow a cab for shows and all you need is a pedal board, guitar cable and long speaker cable to go from the end of your board to Joe Duder's cabinet.... oh, and a guitar.

I forgot to mention that it was loud as fuck. More clean, neutral sounding amplification than you are ever likely to need really. I think it could easily keep up with a dual 6L6 equipped fender from the 60s assuming the fender were set bone clean and they both had the same speakers to drive.

I see you went to town on the Radial Engineering artists page after I spotted the JD7 injector for you.... EVERYONE USES THEIR SHIT, I mean EVERYONE, even a nobody like me does.... toured with a switchbone ABY for 5 years, still have it.... if I spring for an injector it will go up for sale as I do more running multiple amps at once these days than I do switching between amps like I used to. But yeah, I got on the Radial bandwagon when they were still a tiny company with handful of products and very few endorsers. They just make fantastic tools to solve stage problems we have all had to cope with. No one else is doing the utility stuff they are doing as comprehensively as they are. And they are incredibly nice people.

I was curious too so I tried one at a GC awhile back driving a stock orange 2x12 with V30s. Not terribly good sounding alone because its so neutral it sounds wrong, but if you have a pedalboard with the right amp-in-a-box overdrive I can imagine it working in a pinch. If you are the sort of guy who likes to run delay and reverb after your amp's powerstage it could be REALLY handy to drive your ambience cabinet. I have been tempted to buy one just because its a tiny investment in having a little utility power amp around.

If I bite the bullet I will give a more detailed report, as of right now I only spent 10 minutes with it in a noisey chain store. I can definitely think up a pile of uses for her though....

I don't know much about engl, but the studio 22 has been discontinued since I was a kid... they are actually a bit rare here in the USA (though not very collectible), so I imagine they are impossible to find in the UK. I have used a few pieces from the 22 series (the pre, a few different variations of the 22 caliber, they are the only affordable mesas I can get into) and the studio pre has a big problem stock, the clean and high gain circuits just will not balance well for relatively close volume levels with optimal tone. I think Mesa meant the high gain to work as a lead boost as well as adding extra distortion, but for modern uses the studio preamp needs to be modded. Some of the later 22 caliber amps came with an extra balance control to solve this problem. Those are the 22 series pieces I like. Almost bought one a few years ago. I also prefer the straight 22 caliber as opposed to the 22 caliber+ with the graphic EQ added. The studio preamp isn't available without the graphic EQ. Unless you are making the 80s thrash V curve with it you will find it is pretty worthless.

Don't trust gear videos. Besides the fact that you are not hearing how something REALLY sounds, no matter how honest the recording, if the demoer is the owner the guy invariably tries to hide his new toy's faults and only highlight its strengths because he wants everyone to envy him even if the piece in question is less than stellar all around. And if the demoer is selling the thing? Oh man, then all bets are off. The more bells and whistles the piece has the more likely that a lot is being omitted in the video.

If you can't play it at volume in a store then don't consider investing. Even then, you will see on my list of amps that I once bought a popular Dr Z head that wowed me in the store, but I hated it in a band setting. The quality I had enjoyed so much about it vs other 18 watt style amps, its smoothness, got it lost in the mix completely next to a hard hitting drummer. I don't buy amps or amp-like things unless I am getting a wicked deal or I can get a full, no questions asked refund within a week or two.

EDIT:

I don't mean to sound all ranty at you. I am just cranky this week. Fucking x-mas! It just astounds me how many guitarists on here have so little guitar and amp experience. Maybe I am just weird. I thought I was an average semi-pro guitarist with this stuff.

the mesa studio stuff is actually not too bad.... have you actually played the preamp or the 22 caliber amps? or the poweramp you are referencing?

then a rack is pointless and probably won't respond to your playing dynamiics as well as a traditional head

cheers

good question... for preamps, it really depends.... all tube preamps range in price from the unobtainium 2 and 3 channel soldano offerings down to the very affordable ADA mp1, the godfather of midi programmable pres... power amps? well, rack tube power amps are usually built to be as good or better than the power sections of their makers' top of the line integrated amps.... they are made extra road worthy because they are mainly marketed at touring pros.... you pay for all the good components, plus they are typicall stereo so you are getting 2 high end amps in one durable box.... on the cheap you can get some 80s peavey rackmount tube power amps on ebay that aren't too bad, the mono models are downright cheap and will generally do the business

one of 2 states I have never been to.... good for you, man.... if you aren't selected to go you can buy a $600 amp

well, there's a big list of winners and losers I have played extensively and brutalized at gigs and in the studio, read up and go shopping

rak units from top:

patch bay, unsure of make

Radial JD7 injector

Korg Pitchblack rack tuner

Apogee Rosetta 200

not sure, looks like an RME interface, maybe an ADI8

Focusrite ISA110 preamp and EQ

Alesis Quadraverb GT

Drawmer 1960 compressor

Teletronix LA2A Tube Levelling Amplifier or a clone

Line 6 POD pro, looks like a 4 to me

and the last 1ru piece is an Apogee unit but I can't remember which one

and pedal #1 is a Digitech RP55 DigiDelay

addendum, if you have a modelling unit designed to go straight to a mixer like the classic POD or an Axe FX you can add that as an amp too... preamps like the JMP1 and ADA MP1 count as well, even if you just use the direct recording feature and don't have a power amp/cab setup

what's funny is we have a full page for this.... I didn't think to ask you if you read the manual right away and I should have even before you told me what pedal you were talking about

that's why they bother to write manuals for apparently simple guitar pedals.....

always consult the manual, if that fails you google search for the schematic

if you blow amps up, stay away from the JCM2000 series as a whole, they are not up to Marshall's usual standards of reliability, though Marshall's warranty is really good, especially in the UK

if you borrowed a 40 watt Marshall tube combo it could only be 1 of 2 amps I know, the aforementioned DSL or the JTM60 which is just a JTM30 with the plate voltages on the 6L6 tubes goosed for more output.... the 90s JTM combo amps sound fabulous but suffer from crappy cabinetry, cramped boards and solid state effects loop loaded with cheap components that always break... oh, there's also the short-lived JCM600 head that put out about 40 watts, kinda half JCM900 and half JTM30/60 in design, very nice sounding head

I used to use my Laney Linebacker bass amp for clean guitar and I owned tube amps, it had a cool sound... I wonder where that head got to?

The RV-3 is a neat pedal if you are into a big cloud of ambiance around your playing.

I think those have a switch inside for switching between true bypass and buffered bypass, some hardwire pedals do. take the boss style pedal thing off and check, if not open it up and see if theres a switch inside

there ya go.... do you have the manual? If not:

http://rdn.harmanpro.com/product_documents/documents/1804_1389380994/Supernatural_Manual_5020843-B_original.pdf

http://rdn.harmanpro.com/product_documents/documents/277_1349992765/RV-7_Manual_5024339-B_original.pdf

its a digital effect, it will become obsolete, but obsolete reverbs tend to garner cult followings.... if you decide to upgrade you will likely be able to fund the new purchase by selling the digitech to someone who wants the true bypass feature

if you mod it you have closed the door on a trade-up.... have you tried any other digital reverb pedals with multiple voices and the option to have the decay spillover? there must be something that has the ambience you are seeking.... also, try an RV6, its brand new, it might have more differentiation between sounds than the RV5.... personally I am a TC and Lexicon guy when it comes to digital reverb

they call that series 'hardwire' because the marketing gimmick IS the true bypass (digitech/DOD always had 80s boss style buffered bypass or 70s MXR tone-sucking non-mechanical, non-buffered bypass until this new series)... fucking with that pedal to buffer the reverb trail will defeat the purpose of owning it and obliterate its resale value, trade it for the new Boss reverb, people love the new RV pedal and it is certainly buffered with decay spill over, that's Boss' thing

with great difficulty.... if there's space for another small board in the box you could construct a buffer and if you integrate with the existing circuit correctly the sound will decay when he effect is disengaged.... if the pedal is buffered but the buffer is not integrated with the effect to allow spill over then you could get a schematic and compare it to a reverb or delay that does allow the trails to spill over and attempt to mod your pedal.... again, when you are getting all DIY you ask general questions without telling anyone what specific guitar or pedal you wish to modify so you get general answers that will not help you tackle your project effectively

regardless, this is a big project for a beginner.... I don't think I would bother personally, I would just trade the offending pedal in for something that did what I wanted in stock form

where's Boom? he has people skills, right?

I am bumping this so when the other forum regulars see it they can contribute!

and here is a rambling note on Mesa amps:

in my opinion they jam too many tubes and features into very small boxes, even if the tone is to your liking beware that Mesa amps can be a maintenance hassle because of Mesa's attempt to keep these fancy amps fairly compact. I mean, a 100 watt triple rectifier with 3 independent channels and dual tube rectifiers pushing the tube count way over the SLO100 that inspired it comes crammed in a head box 2/3rds its size, there are also way more features crammed onto a PCB that has to fit inside that little chassis.... think that over kids, wouldn't the more complicated amp with more tubes need an even BIGGER box? The Boogie amps have the same problem, they are jammed into fender Princeton reverb sized boxes. Its a cute idea, but not a recipe for reliability and easy servicing. Some diehard mesa fans have said to me "my mesa only goes in the shop once a year, man! your marshall and fender probably break down that much," I never had an older marshall or fender go down, period... even when I didn't bias the tubes properly or do any routine service like I should have, they work night after night.

wow, that's one of the original line 6 modelling combos I am seeing under your user pic, why not just replace it? If you really love it, I would call or email line6 before sending it off. Who knows if they can still fix something that old. We're not talking about tube technology here.... its like a tiny computer. Some of the DSP parts may be obsolete and out f production.

I actually know a guy who has one of those AX amps that he would probably sell you, but I don't know how to reach him these days and I am not sure he would want to talk to me....

I've been thinking about doing this for a while because we are always swapping amp recommendations on this site, so here goes...

please share all the amps you've owned or borrowed here and then maybe we'll get discussing?

here's my list:

Acoustic: Model 360 w/folded horn 1x18" cab (loud, deep rumbling bass, amp controls don't do much, recommended for 'feel it' bass tones when you are just asked to follow the chord changes and kick drum)

Alamo: not sure the model anymore, it was a 1x15 combo, not great, but the clean sound was tight and crisp if a bit harsh in the upper mids.... these amps LOOK fender but are more in the supro/harmony/danelectro camp in construction and design, though they are voiced brighter... NOT recommended

Ampeg: 60s Gemini 1 (briefly), 1st year B15 portaflex (borrowed, family heirloom, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for recording bass), B25B (recommended for dirty bass and clean guitar playing), VT40 (great tone, very "Exile on Mainstreet", best tone controls ever for versatility, maintenance hassle, rare preamp tubes, picky about brand of power tubes, not for the uninitiated), V4B (borrowed, same as VT40 only twice as powerful and in a head w/o verb, recommended for bass with reservations)

Ashdown: MAG300 (borrowed, hybrid design, recommended for bass when you need power but don't want to lug a V4B or SVT, VERY reliable)

Bronson: Melody King (probably made by Magnatone, recommended for blues, some country and harp players, some oddball tubes, not for the uninitiated)

Carvin: X100b (bastard stepchild of a JCM800 and a Boogie, very 80s tones on tap, utterly hideous, cheap carpet covering with no business on Carvin's 80s flagship amp, jack of all trades, master of none)

Ceriatone: 18 watt TMB (borrowed, excellent take on a classic sonically, but I blew her up in NYC and had to return her with 100 bucks for a new OT, maybe that was a fluke though), Dizzy 30 (Matchless HC30 clone, still owned and played regularly, crappy chassis construction, no other issues, survived a year on the road recommended)

Danelectro: DM25 (briefly, fun but a 1 trick pony)

Dr Z: Mazerrati (returned during a no-questions-asked 2 week grace period for a full refund, I DO NOT get the hype, sounded better in the store than with a band), Route 66 (borrowed, AC30 meets JTM45, very British, recommended)

Epiphone: Devon Tremolo (I think that was the model, its been a while and I parted with it after using it for some color on an album... interesting, BRIGHT sound, not a keeper). Valve Jr with mods (borrowed, poor man's ac4, recommended with reservations)

Fender: 1964ish Blackface Princeton reverb (highly recommended), 1956ish wide panel tweed Deluxe (briefly, excellent for rock n roll and dirty country but a little farty pushed into full distortion, all octal tubes, not for the uninitiated), 1963 Blackface Dual Showman (loud and clean, a twin in a head), 1966 Blackface Bandmaster (recommended), Silverface Vibrochamp, Silverface Bassman 50 (recommended for bass), Silverface Pro Reverb (STIFF, not recommended for anything but 80s music and maybe ska), recent Champion 600 (briefly, not for me). Hot Rod Deville circa 1999 (borrowed, sounds a bit lame in person but records okay, cabinets rattle and need heavy duty retooling before hitting record, fully featured for the guy who likes lots of bells and whistles, recommended with reservations)

Gibson: leatherette GA20 (borrowed, cool but delicate so I passed on buying her, not for the uninitiated), GA5 les paul jr, GA20RVT minuteman (briefly, my buddy had scored one to restore at a yardsale and it made me think I wanted one 'til I had it... a good amp for some applications but not recommended for most people), tweed GA14 Titan (excellent deluxe style amp for harder rocking than a 5D3 fender and gainier han a stock 5E3, tight bass at full tilt, same amp as GA6 Lancer with smaller speaker, HIGHLY recommended), 2 tone GA6 (ancestor of the Tweed Lancer and Titan, less gainy, octal tube in V1, sweet sound but not for the uninitiated) GA8?9? Gibsonette (briefly, kinda miss it, very unique single ended amp but finnicky, not recommended for most players)

Harmony: H304A (briefly. champ-like, not well grounded, not for the uninitiated), H420 (very supro-ish, recommended for Zep fans who have the balls to play at 10, not unbelievably loud, but it will piss off the neighbors, stock 60s 15" is usually ready to blow)

Lafayette: LA75 (briefly, intresting voicing, needed a bit more gain, affordable source of lightly used vintage tubes, not recommended for making music though)

Laney: GH50L head (briefly as backup to JCM800, a 2204 with a switchable extra gain stage and a shitty effects loop stifling the tone a bit, low gain input slightly different than a Marshall and not good for Smashing Pumpkins tones, recommended if its 1/2 the price of a 2204 or less), Linebacker Bass model PL100 (recommended for bass, keys and even clean guitar playing)

Magnatone: Aloha branded 1x10 variation of the 109 or 110 circuit with a non-schematic 6SJ7 pentode in V1 (given to me for servicing and then lent to me for a solid year in payment... fun, trashy little combo, RARE as hen's teeth)

Marshall: JCM800 split channel head (briefly, not recommended stock, overly pricey mod platform), Lead 12 model 5005 (solid state practice amp, shockingly toneful for $200 or less, recommended), 1981 JCM800 combo w/vertical inputs model 4104 (versatile, functional, bulletproof, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as a 2x12, 1x12 or head, sounds different than 100 watt than 2203), JCM900SL-X model 2500 (briefly as backup to JCM800), 1988 1st gen superlead reissue model 1959RI (one of my faves and my longest serving big gig amp and used extensively to record leads), JTM30 2x10 combo (massively unreliable), 1972 metal panel JMP100 superlead model 1959 (in purple levant!), Studio15 model 4001 (briefly, HIGHLY recommended for hard rockers with volume restrictions), 20 watt Lead and Bass model 2061 (borrowed, badassed, HIGHLY recommended), 3rd generation plexi reissue model 1959SLP (borrowed long term as a backup and used extensively to record rhythms), various 4x12 and 4x10 cabinets, JTM45 reissue (rented, head version with EL34 tubes, excellent tone though not terribly authentic, recommended), JCM2000 TSL (provided so frequently as backline for fly dates that I know this piece of shit as well as amps I actually owned, NOT RECOMMENDED)

Mesa: Boogie MkIII C+ (borrowed, not recommended), 90s Triple Rectifier (borrowed, feels and sounds a lot like a poor man's soldano with independent EQ across 3 channels, too many voicing options, even more unuseable gain on the red channel than HotRod50+'s overdrive channel, and not enough definition from the power amp in any of the rectifier modes for this style of high gain beast, when set to sound Marshally this mule will not kick even when turned way up, not recommended unless you are in a Sum41 tribute band)

Peavey: Deuce (borrowed, long story, piece of junk, very heavy and makes a good door stop), Delta blues 1x15 combo (borrowed, like a hotrod deluxe with more balls but no manners, not recommended). 5150 mk1 (borrowed, another Soldano knockoff with a different vibe than the Triple Rec, inferior to the real deal), 5150 mk2 (borrowed, a Soldano kockoff with independent EQ for the channels, not reliable, less toneful than mk1, inferior to an actual Soldano), TNT 115BW (reliable, cheap, sounds passable for bass at rehearsal and small gigs, can be used to amplify keyboards in a pinch)

Pignose: model 7-100 (the original battery powered solid state amp, sounds surprisingly good, originals are collectible)

Polytone: mini-brute II (briefly, well defined but sterile tone, LOUD, infinite headroom, light and portable package, perfect for modern jazz, not recommended for most people)

Roland: Jazz Chorus JC120 (borrowed, nice cleans, best chorus ever, truly stereo combo, too heavy, sounds dated, doesn't take all pedals well, a modern classic but not recommended for most people)

Silvertone: model 1483 head (very Marshally at 10, awful cleans, not unbearably loud, similar to Harmony H420)

Soldano: Hot Rod 50+ (rented, best channel switcher I've ever played, has more gain than one could ever want or need but sounds good with the gain set low too... HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

Sunn: Solarus (hybrid of tweed/blonde fender bandmaster preamps with trem and a nice reverb driving a Dynaco hifi power amp, "countour" control adds versatility to the 2 band EQ and is more useful than a presence knob, punchy and LOUD as hell! sounds great overdriven if you can handle the SPL, also good for bass, recommended for guys who need power and definition, did I mention it is the loudest dual power tube amp I have ever played?)

Supro: '61 Airline branded Dual Tone model 1624T (cool sound, barely used it, sort of a 2 trick pony... and yes, 1 of those tricks is LZ1 tones if you have the right guitar and a decent fuzz pedal)

SWR: Workingman Bass Amp model 4004 (unreliable, passable bass tone, not recommended)

THD: Flexi 50 (briefly as backup, doesn't sound very Plexi to me, not recommended)

Top Hat: Portly Cadet (borrowed, blown up), 90s Emplexador (borrowed as backup, very authentic 60s thru 80s Marshall tones, recommended)

Trace Elliott: Velocet 1x12 (briefly, voxy in the same sense as a tiny terror, same amp as Gibson Goldtone GA15, mine had some intermittent crackles and bad jacks but never went down, recommended with reservations)

Traynor: Bassmate model YBA-2 (20 watt 6v6 power amp with a bassman type preamp, a bit marshally when turned up, recommended, not loud enough for me back when I owned it, maybe I should get another one)

Univox: model 1050 (a high power tweed twin clone in a head, great semi-dirty sounds at medium stage volume, think modern keith Richards, the similar model 1051 has spring reverb that sounds okay, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

Vox: 70s AC30 Solid State (big mistake, good source for vintage celestions as they usually have nice blue painted G12Ms with a vox sticker, not recommended), 1962 AC30B with rear top boost add-on (back in my possession after a couple year sojourn, if you are lucky enough to be able to buy a copper panel JMI made vox, do it), Thomas Organ made Cambridge Reverb Solid State (can be used to get some colorful sgt pepper sounds on records, not recommended), 90s AC15TBX (borrowed to record, tracks were not selected when put against ceriatone 18 watt and Marshall 20 watt, not as good as the 90s AC30TBX, NOT RECOMMENDED), AC30HW2 (currently played all the time, GREAT reissue. obviously RECOMMENDED HIGHLY), AC4HW (not really like an old one if that's what you want, but a very well made small combo with thoughtful features, recommended)

what have you played through?

here's an example of a mainly pentatonic and major based solo with a little inverted chromatic and Asian scale froo-froo thrown in as a response to the more melodic elements during transitional parts, the lame bits were preconceived to counterpoint or duplicate the vocal line, the odd scale usage was improved.... solo starts at 2:20

I don't know if you will find this instructive in your own playing, but its an example of how I tend to use unusual scales in blues-based rock music to add interest without becoming ostentatious or pretentious.

fancy scales went out with hair metal.... I know all of the modes and even some crazy 'artificial scales' like the Japanese in sen scale, but I seldom use more than a few notes from them to spice up a guitar figure that's a little blah

there's a million ways to interpret this guitar part you're looking at... well, a good 3 at least that sound right and they all put the pulls on different fingers and all sound pretty right.... figure out what's easy for you

make your pinky strong, mine can kill a man like a knife in the jugular, dawg... actually, I have seen JH play and he cheaps out and uses his ring finger a lot when playing one line lead stuff, stretching over a fret and keeping his pinky curled up like some of the blues guys do