Sat. night @ home, daydreaming about amp options...

[Marc G]

that jet city rig looks like teh sex

[atrox]

I loved my JCA100. I bought it without ever playing one and it was great. It didn't have the sparkling cleans, but i don't use those. The normal channel had that mid gain oooomph that you like and the OD channel was warm and smooth. I only sold it because a buddy needed an amp, and i wasn't using it at the time.

The DSL is a little more versatile with it's clean channel, but green 1&2 are not foot-switchable which sucks if you use both cleans and grit. It has a brighter Marshall vibe over the JCA.

The 5153 is amazing IMO. The clean is nice. The Blue channel sounds a lot like my 2203 with more gain on tap. I used one with my cabinets and boosted the Blue channel like i do my 2203 and it sounded pretty much dead-on (because i boost my 2203 as well. you dont need a boost for this channel. plenty of gain on tap). I fell in love, because my 2203 is my dream amp. The Red channel is nice and tight, but a little compressed and too gainy for my everyday use, but still nice. I could see it being used for solos.

[GuitarBilly]

One would think that with two kids, one would d have very little time to nitpick on your rig the way you do.

I only have one boy and I'm finding it hard to find time to play, much less fuss around with my gear.

Man, the less time I have to get out an actually play, the more obsessive I get about gear.

Yeah I was the same way. I took 7 years off playing live because my son was too young to be with a sitter. By the end of that period I had 9 heads, 3 cabs, 2 combos and 11 guitars.

I've been playing out again for the last 5 years and I am happy with having one head/cab, one combo and 4/5 guitars at a time.

[Dave]

One would think that with two kids, one would d have very little time to nitpick on your rig the way you do.

I only have one boy and I'm finding it hard to find time to play, much less fuss around with my gear.

Man, the less time I have to get out an actually play, the more obsessive I get about gear.

Yeah I was the same way. I took 7 years off playing live because my son was too young to be with a sitter. By the end of that period I had 9 heads, 3 cabs, 2 combos and 11 guitars.

I've been playing out again for the last 5 years and I am happy with having one head/cab, one combo and 4/5 guitars at a time.

Shit. I see I am headed down a familiar path.

[Marc G]

idle hands, GAS and disposable income are a dangerous combo

[draelyc]

One would think that with two kids, one would d have very little time to nitpick on your rig the way you do.

I only have one boy and I'm finding it hard to find time to play, much less fuss around with my gear.

Man, the less time I have to get out an actually play, the more obsessive I get about gear.

Yeah I was the same way. I took 7 years off playing live because my son was too young to be with a sitter. By the end of that period I had 9 heads, 3 cabs, 2 combos and 11 guitars.

I've been playing out again for the last 5 years and I am happy with having one head/cab, one combo and 4/5 guitars at a time.

Shit. I see I am headed down a familiar path.

Aren't we all, brutha? Aren't we all!

Lol, Billy ~ I don't think I'll ever be financially successful enough to go THAT far down this road ... but that said, I'm in it pretty bad right now. Mrs. Drae isn't too keen on the idea of my gigging any time soon & leaving her with both kids to handle whilst I rehearse/play, but maybe if I explain to her that my *not* gigging is going to result in a *lot* more cash going towards sometimes-questionable gear purchases, perhaps she'll send me back out into the local scene ~ y'know, as a sound, family financial decision!

[Dave]

I like the way you think, Chris

[Devin]

THIS is the truth!!! it's like the more you gig the less time you have to think about gear, you just play and use what you have and add what's necessary, when you're not gigging all of a sudden EVERYTHING is an option and the GAS shows up....

+26

[draelyc]

Welp, I dun did it. Had a long talk with my tech this afternoon, and we essentially came to the same conclusion Billy mentioned earlier about trying too hard to make a great amp that doesn't exactly fit my needs into something it isn't, when I really ought to be looking at amps with a different feature set to begin with. So I'mma sell the Plex.

Looks like I'll be checking out all the recommendations mentioned here (thanks again, y'all!!!), and any others y'all throw at me.

Thanks for bearing with me as I tried to get to a point of clarity. 'Preeshamate y'all's indulgence!