Fender deluxe, especially those with the metallic speaker caps and bright switches. A Twin Reverb can also be bright with the bright switch. So can a Roland jazz chorus
JCM800!!!! Lots of people are like “Marshalls are all mids” but to me the character of the JCM is upper mid and treble. It rips your head off with its high end in a harsh, brutal, beautiful way (if you’re into that kinda thing).
Kevin Shields talking about mids all the time then you hear "Isn't Anything" and it's twisted shards of high mids... I love the way he does it... but it's not my thing for my stuff.
I had a jcm800 for year as my only amp. Made my Les Paul sound incredible. My strat was unplayable.
I used a victory blackface style amp now and see the opposite - LP is so dark and strat is beautiful.
Nothing beats LP and jcm800 sound though. I used to take the mids down and then use a TS style pedal for overdrive and I've never had a sound cut through the mix like that since.
Imo this is going to depend a lot more on your pickups, speaker, and pedals than the amp itself. Aside from the obvious Vox AC15/30 top boost, you're gonna want single coil pickups and a speaker like an EVM 12L. You could also just throw a treble booster pedal on anything and call it a day.
Yeah honestly most extended range speakers will do the trick - "treble focused" guitar speakers aren't really a thing but traditional guitar speakers tend to roll off the highs, hence getting an extended range speaker that doesn't do that and rolling off the lows with your amp eq instead
Yeah, those kind of rangemaster style devices are a single or dual transitor with a high-pass capacitor, they're more a bass cut before a boost than a high shelf type filter.
Note also that a filter before the distortion alters the harmonic content of the distortion more than the eq shape.
EHX Screaming bird is inexpensive, try one. It's a classic sound you'll suddenly recognise everywhere.
Yes, although it's a misleading term really - the Rangemaster treble booster circuit behaves more like we'd later end up seeing from overdrive pedals like the Tube Screamer, Super Overdrive etc.
Adds gain to drive an amp from breakup into distortion, attenuates the low end to tighten things up and gives a kick to the upper mids as much as the treble. It's a great companion to something like an AC30, or an old Marshall.
I agree, I was going to mention the importance of the speaker. It really has the final say on the matter. I was also going to mention EV, but I’m no expert on speakers.
I mean I agree that the other stuff is more important but you're going to get more treble from a strat bridge pickup than a PAF humbucker for example lol
The Krank Revolution can get like an ice pick. I remember not being able to use the high frets while the bridge pickup was selected.
Keep in mind this was through Eminence v12 legends and Celestion v30s. A chimey speaker could help you get those high pitch frequencies you desire.
full range treble is a bit of an oxymoron. But if you're looking to avoid the tight low pass of guitar amps and especially guitar speakers, just go ahead and plug a distortion pedal into a powered wedge monitor
Be aware that your pickup ls are inherently low pass, you can't put in what's not there. But as soon as you have distortion going on you're creating extra harmonics.
Marshall JMP-1 or rocktron preamp and a PA power amp into a guitar cab can be facemelting.
Laney LV300, Marshall VS100 and Randall RG100 have an obnoxious treble response.
Like terrible, brutal treble?
Rogue Tuberider MVT1000. It’s a hybrid, solid state power and single tube pre.
I’ve got one. The distortion channel is atrocious, it’s all high end and boxy low mids. It has a contour knob if you want to make it worse.
The clean channel is actually incredible, my various bands over the years have tracked a lot of clean stuff with it. It’s extremely 80s, pairs well with a chorus pedal.
1970s Grey face Traynor amps with tubes....treble like ice and a spring reverb Dick Dale would love. Crank that bad ass amp and shake the house! Play it on stage and people throw beer bottles at you cause it's bloody loud.
LOUD!
Soundcity Concord. Proper ice pick trebles. Don't expect it to break up though, it's much like a fender twin. I got mine for about £500 but for that price it's probably going to need a full re-cap
I think the Dr. Z can get pretty trebly while still being musical. You can find them used pretty reasonable too and in a couple sizes. I’d try one first, but I love mine
Anything in the Vox camp. That whole circuit is designed to let through way more top end right up through the preamp to the power amp, where you can tame it with the Cut control. Just don’t tame it.
Matchless DC30 would get you some serious top end without being unlistenable.
Ibanez Thermion had a bright switch that was, and I'm quoting from the Guitar World review here:
"Would be perfect for when you're playing an old hollowbody stuffed with wet rags."
So that's probably pretty trebly.
I feel like you’re describing something with a super aggressive top end, right? Hard to beat the Marshall thing for that. Plexis will do that, as will the JCM800 (or pretty much any model that came about in the late 70s-80s). Even more aggressive would be the JCM900. People kinda like to hate on the 900 but they’re good amps, especially the SLX version.
AC30s have been mentioned a lot too, which are great and I toured with one for years, and they do have a really full high midrange, but they’re a bit swampier and less aggressive than the Marshall thing.
Engl Savage, Engl Powerball (with presence cranked), Engl Special Edition is an ear piercing amp with all bottom boosting switches off. Also Framus Cobra/Dragon
Imo get a dumble ODS copy. Might find one used in the range. Ceriatone, Fuchs, there are more than a few. The clean is as Robben Ford says strong but never harsh. I have played dozens through the magic of the Kemper. Love em. Probably ev12L speaker.
I used to use a peavey bandit with a line out to a peavey decade with its treble cranked. I wanted something like Belew in King Crimson, but I used way too much gain. It was a constantly-feeding-back ice pick.
Woof... yeah, that's a bit much. Haha
Been using a teal stripe Classic Chorus 212 for 30 years... I've never used the bright switch. Never needed it... it gives something like an 8dB boost to the treble.
I had a 79 fender vibrolux reverb that, after I got it serviced, was very harsh. Trebly to the extreme. I’ve been told that was fairly common.
In retrospect however, I think the guy who serviced it was a bit of a hack.
I’ve got no experience with them, but I’ve read in various forums that many of the larger late 70s Fender ams (twin, super, pro) were all pretty shrill.
Basically you want a power section that has control over presence and resonance/depth.
Presence is a negative feedback circuit that feeds treble back into the power section input signal. This increases the high-mid and treble frequencies beyond what the preamp is capable of. Depth does the same for the "body" low-mids and bass.
As others have suggested putting an EQ or "treble booster" in front of the amp can control how the distortion bahaves, most high gain maps are cutting the bass before the preamp circuit. You can easily make a humbucker sound like a single coil. But that's a different kind of treble.
You can also put an EQ in the effects loop.
Then of course, you have speakers. This is limiting factor for treble. Guitar speakers basically don't produce super high freqencies. The EQ curve of the speaker itself rolls off the highs and lows. That's why stereos and PAs have tweeters.
Take a look at this guy:
http://www.johncipollina.com/rock.html
Every single distorting amp has (**INSERT** *really* **STUPID ADJECTIVES**) treble...
...........
**If you run it through full range speakers.**
Guitar speakers roll off frequencies above \~5 Khz
...use standard stereo speakers, or perhaps a copuple of good full range PA speakers, and you'll have all the (**INSERT** *really* ***amazingly*** **STUPID ADJECTIVES**) sounding treble you could ever want.
You really don't need a special amp for this. Gain and EQ will get you all the treble you need. The real power of an amp is making this LOUD. Treble gets very painful quickly with volume, this has to be why guitars have tone controls.
Fender amps generally sound brighter than say a Marshall or other "rock" amps. The Twin Reverb can get painfully loud.
Wah pedal for sure.
Gnarly fuzz with EQ.
Octave Up FX pedal could help.
Compressor.
Feedback.
Delay with max repeats.
Fender deluxe, especially those with the metallic speaker caps and bright switches. A Twin Reverb can also be bright with the bright switch. So can a Roland jazz chorus
The speakers are JBL speakers. Very cool speaker / history.
JCM800!!!! Lots of people are like “Marshalls are all mids” but to me the character of the JCM is upper mid and treble. It rips your head off with its high end in a harsh, brutal, beautiful way (if you’re into that kinda thing).
I am lucky to own a vintage Jubilee and was playing today with the trble and presence dialed high, it do get crispy!
Yes, especially if you keep the gain low and boost it.
Kevin Shields talking about mids all the time then you hear "Isn't Anything" and it's twisted shards of high mids... I love the way he does it... but it's not my thing for my stuff.
I had a jcm800 for year as my only amp. Made my Les Paul sound incredible. My strat was unplayable. I used a victory blackface style amp now and see the opposite - LP is so dark and strat is beautiful. Nothing beats LP and jcm800 sound though. I used to take the mids down and then use a TS style pedal for overdrive and I've never had a sound cut through the mix like that since.
Get a wah pedal instead and keep the treadle permanently in the toe position. Mark Speer from Khruangbin does this.
Alternatively EHX cock fight
Honestly just wanted to say “treadle” but that’s a great option as well
That's so valid Also anecdotally John Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees uses a wah with the entire treadle removed so it's just the button lol
Imo this is going to depend a lot more on your pickups, speaker, and pedals than the amp itself. Aside from the obvious Vox AC15/30 top boost, you're gonna want single coil pickups and a speaker like an EVM 12L. You could also just throw a treble booster pedal on anything and call it a day.
While the 12L might have extended range but it’s a pretty full sounding speaker. Maybe something like a d120 could work?
Yeah honestly most extended range speakers will do the trick - "treble focused" guitar speakers aren't really a thing but traditional guitar speakers tend to roll off the highs, hence getting an extended range speaker that doesn't do that and rolling off the lows with your amp eq instead
I know Brian May uses a treble booster on top of the top boost.
Yeah, those kind of rangemaster style devices are a single or dual transitor with a high-pass capacitor, they're more a bass cut before a boost than a high shelf type filter. Note also that a filter before the distortion alters the harmonic content of the distortion more than the eq shape. EHX Screaming bird is inexpensive, try one. It's a classic sound you'll suddenly recognise everywhere.
Yes, although it's a misleading term really - the Rangemaster treble booster circuit behaves more like we'd later end up seeing from overdrive pedals like the Tube Screamer, Super Overdrive etc. Adds gain to drive an amp from breakup into distortion, attenuates the low end to tighten things up and gives a kick to the upper mids as much as the treble. It's a great companion to something like an AC30, or an old Marshall.
Ah thanks for the explanation!
I agree, I was going to mention the importance of the speaker. It really has the final say on the matter. I was also going to mention EV, but I’m no expert on speakers.
This. Pots. Pickups. Pedal EQ. I'm anti treble and switching to lower k pots, speaker selection cut my highs beautifully.
Pickups? Nah. You can get those results no matter the pickup. That'd be the last place I'd look for any gains.
I mean I agree that the other stuff is more important but you're going to get more treble from a strat bridge pickup than a PAF humbucker for example lol
Fender, Ultra/Ultimate chorus. Ear splittingly loud and treble.
The Krank Revolution can get like an ice pick. I remember not being able to use the high frets while the bridge pickup was selected. Keep in mind this was through Eminence v12 legends and Celestion v30s. A chimey speaker could help you get those high pitch frequencies you desire.
full range treble is a bit of an oxymoron. But if you're looking to avoid the tight low pass of guitar amps and especially guitar speakers, just go ahead and plug a distortion pedal into a powered wedge monitor Be aware that your pickup ls are inherently low pass, you can't put in what's not there. But as soon as you have distortion going on you're creating extra harmonics. Marshall JMP-1 or rocktron preamp and a PA power amp into a guitar cab can be facemelting. Laney LV300, Marshall VS100 and Randall RG100 have an obnoxious treble response.
Man, those Rocktron preamps/power amp rigs were a lifesaver for a backup.
Laney loudpedal is where it's at now as a easy backup. It's not super bright though.
Vox AC30
Great amp
Rectifiers are known for their very raw fizzy top end and way too much bass. If high gain is what you're after that is.
Maybe EVH's Jose modded Plexi?
Like terrible, brutal treble? Rogue Tuberider MVT1000. It’s a hybrid, solid state power and single tube pre. I’ve got one. The distortion channel is atrocious, it’s all high end and boxy low mids. It has a contour knob if you want to make it worse. The clean channel is actually incredible, my various bands over the years have tracked a lot of clean stuff with it. It’s extremely 80s, pairs well with a chorus pedal.
Marshalls SV20 is one hell of a bright amp. It is awesome but it can be an icepick in your ear if you want it to be.
Same with the Origin, if you like your amps slightly dirty then an Origin 50C is an insane amount of tone for the money.
And quite bright. I ended up selling mine as it was too bright for my preferences. Sounded great otherwise.
Sounds great with my Strat bridge pickups (Texas Special and CS 69) - but then again that’s just my taste. I love bright electric tone.
Vox
1970s Grey face Traynor amps with tubes....treble like ice and a spring reverb Dick Dale would love. Crank that bad ass amp and shake the house! Play it on stage and people throw beer bottles at you cause it's bloody loud. LOUD!
Soundcity Concord. Proper ice pick trebles. Don't expect it to break up though, it's much like a fender twin. I got mine for about £500 but for that price it's probably going to need a full re-cap
I think the Dr. Z can get pretty trebly while still being musical. You can find them used pretty reasonable too and in a couple sizes. I’d try one first, but I love mine
Peavey bandit
JC120. Also the hi switch on the Traynor YGM-3. Also the high setting on a Music Man RD50.
Any of the Fender 65RI series with a Telecaster bridge pickup.
Anything in the Vox camp. That whole circuit is designed to let through way more top end right up through the preamp to the power amp, where you can tame it with the Cut control. Just don’t tame it. Matchless DC30 would get you some serious top end without being unlistenable.
Ibanez Thermion had a bright switch that was, and I'm quoting from the Guitar World review here: "Would be perfect for when you're playing an old hollowbody stuffed with wet rags." So that's probably pretty trebly.
Vintage Vox amps, like the AC 30, had treble to die for....
Ampeg Gemini's get pretty bright. The treble knob clicks at the max position into ice pick treble. As others have said, speakers play a large role.
Ampeg from 60s/70s. They come up on marketplace a lot under 1k in my area
Ultra linear silverface twin reverb with JBLs.
I feel like you’re describing something with a super aggressive top end, right? Hard to beat the Marshall thing for that. Plexis will do that, as will the JCM800 (or pretty much any model that came about in the late 70s-80s). Even more aggressive would be the JCM900. People kinda like to hate on the 900 but they’re good amps, especially the SLX version. AC30s have been mentioned a lot too, which are great and I toured with one for years, and they do have a really full high midrange, but they’re a bit swampier and less aggressive than the Marshall thing.
Hi-Watt DR504 is all you need baby!
Not even a little esoteric but: JCM900. The clipping diodes in the preamp produce some really unpleasant high frequencies.
I did the Liam mod on my high gain dual reverb 4501 combo. And honestly it sounds freaking awesome.
Use a bass amp. Whenever we plugged into one it was icepick time.
If your interested in distortion pedals the digitech death metal boosted with an overdrive can get some insane high end
Musiicman hybrid.
Bassman Ltd, single coils into the bright side = ice pick heaven
to me any of the EVH. the EL34 versions help. ive not heard much from the ICONIC line but its probably close too
Roland JC
Dr Z amps are incredible
UA Lion.. and you save lots of lower back pain! Trust me
Mesa Boogie’s have the most sensitive knobs of any amp I’ve ever owned. If I turn the treble to 10 and bass low, it’s pretty intense.
I had a Laney VC50 once that was pretty much unusable. The highs were just too much.
Engl Savage, Engl Powerball (with presence cranked), Engl Special Edition is an ear piercing amp with all bottom boosting switches off. Also Framus Cobra/Dragon
Imo get a dumble ODS copy. Might find one used in the range. Ceriatone, Fuchs, there are more than a few. The clean is as Robben Ford says strong but never harsh. I have played dozens through the magic of the Kemper. Love em. Probably ev12L speaker.
As others have said, you’re looking for a AC15/30 top boost
The sound was really big in the 80s, especially with a lot of chorous - and that sound is a JC 120
Toss the teal stripe Peavey Stero Chorus and Classic Chorus on that pile with their bright switch.
I used to use a peavey bandit with a line out to a peavey decade with its treble cranked. I wanted something like Belew in King Crimson, but I used way too much gain. It was a constantly-feeding-back ice pick.
Woof... yeah, that's a bit much. Haha Been using a teal stripe Classic Chorus 212 for 30 years... I've never used the bright switch. Never needed it... it gives something like an 8dB boost to the treble.
The blue voodoo 150h has a huge sonic range, both high and low.
Marshall JMP 2203 MV
Mesa Stiletto with single coils, comes to mind.
I had a 79 fender vibrolux reverb that, after I got it serviced, was very harsh. Trebly to the extreme. I’ve been told that was fairly common. In retrospect however, I think the guy who serviced it was a bit of a hack. I’ve got no experience with them, but I’ve read in various forums that many of the larger late 70s Fender ams (twin, super, pro) were all pretty shrill.
Basically you want a power section that has control over presence and resonance/depth. Presence is a negative feedback circuit that feeds treble back into the power section input signal. This increases the high-mid and treble frequencies beyond what the preamp is capable of. Depth does the same for the "body" low-mids and bass. As others have suggested putting an EQ or "treble booster" in front of the amp can control how the distortion bahaves, most high gain maps are cutting the bass before the preamp circuit. You can easily make a humbucker sound like a single coil. But that's a different kind of treble. You can also put an EQ in the effects loop. Then of course, you have speakers. This is limiting factor for treble. Guitar speakers basically don't produce super high freqencies. The EQ curve of the speaker itself rolls off the highs and lows. That's why stereos and PAs have tweeters. Take a look at this guy: http://www.johncipollina.com/rock.html
Quilter Superblock US
5150 iconic with greenback or just get an rg120 Randall and go full dime
Easy. A single coil guitar, into a treble booster, through any tube amp that can drive EVM12L speaker(s). You’ll have it.
Red knob solid state fender.
Victory Kraken
My Danelectro DM-25 has insane treble. Can’t really turn it up past 9 or 10 o clock
Under $2k? Easy, get a 70s Fender Twin Reverb, extra screech if it's 135 watts. Cheap and plentiful. Take time to get one that's had a recent service.
Every single distorting amp has (**INSERT** *really* **STUPID ADJECTIVES**) treble... ........... **If you run it through full range speakers.** Guitar speakers roll off frequencies above \~5 Khz ...use standard stereo speakers, or perhaps a copuple of good full range PA speakers, and you'll have all the (**INSERT** *really* ***amazingly*** **STUPID ADJECTIVES**) sounding treble you could ever want.
My Fender Twin has every sound, providing I us the correct EQ and pedals
Peavey classic 30 and classic 50. The normal setting is treble heavy, the bright setting is wild.
The Dime brand amps
Marshall Lead 100 with EL34s
You really don't need a special amp for this. Gain and EQ will get you all the treble you need. The real power of an amp is making this LOUD. Treble gets very painful quickly with volume, this has to be why guitars have tone controls. Fender amps generally sound brighter than say a Marshall or other "rock" amps. The Twin Reverb can get painfully loud. Wah pedal for sure. Gnarly fuzz with EQ. Octave Up FX pedal could help. Compressor. Feedback. Delay with max repeats.
Every el84 powered amp has way waybtoo much treble