Joe's Amps....

Get a copy of Joe's instructional DVD on this and many many more topics.  He covers alot of just about every topic on this DVD.  I'm thinking about ordering the signature copy and putting it in the fireproof safe cause ya know, these won't be in production forever and may be hard to get at a later date.  In fact, Jim is watching it again right now cause I just heard a killer lick sample from it.  On the Gibson section- he features the Les Paul.   The amp set up is given and details down to his baffle style too. 

You get the impression on this DVD, that he has a very intricate roadmap in his mind of these things and that he still only scratches the surface on these topics with you on this DVD. 

So please Joe if you read your fans comments, please use all of your weapons on us, especially those pedals that you are so good at, & your sound will stay fresh, not boring, predictable, or repetative. !!

Sincerely,  Kathy Bigott

thanks very much for the info 

Jane:  You might be interested to know that the brainchild behind Budda amps, whose name escapes me at the moment, but I chatted with him at Ram's Head Live when he played with Kirk McEwen's Money Brothas opening for...either Indigenous or Gary Hoey, I can't remember now, is from Bonnannapolis, Maryland. 

Joe's rotated several different amps to get the "clean" sound next to the Marshall Silver Jubilees.  When we saw him in Philly at NXNW he was using an O'Brien head with a beautiful wood front.  Last I heard, that side was the Fuchs and a Two Rock...another boutique amp (I think they run about $4K!!) favored by a certain John Mayer (hold the booing).

I've tried lotsa different amps but I can't get any of 'em to make ME sound like Joe....I'm thinking it's operator error LOL.

Carl

According to his instructional video and from looking at settings at shows, Joe uses the overdrive basically as a gain boost for certain solos. It just hits the front end of the amp a little harder and produces a little more natural tube harmonics. Did anyone else notice the pic from the link on Mandrake's post in the "cool pictures" section? Joe has a new overdrive on his pedalboard (actually it looks like it might be a flyboard because it's really stripped down). It's a tweed-looking overdrive called a "Hoochee Mama" made by a guy and his son in North Carolina. At $275 per I'll let someone else do a product review, but if Joe's using it, I'm guessing it's pretty good. Here's a link to some info it you're interested. 

www.indoorstorm.com/product_info.php?products_id=2917

Larryt

My rig now consist of a Marshall silver Jubile 100 and a 1972 Marshall super lead 100 and a two Rock custon signature reverb and a Fuchs ODS 100 run through a Boss DD 3 delay, a carl martin hot drive and boost and a ts 808 tube screamer and a Vox wah wah .. thats it for now.. been pairind down and getting back to playing straight through.. 
Joe Bonamassa.

I saw Joe last night in Springfield, MO.  He rocked.  The only effects he used all night was a Ibanez TS808, the Boss delay DD 3, and the Carl Martin Hot drive and boost.  His amps: one silver marshall jubilee, under a Marshall (what looked to be either a 50 watt or 100 watt Plexi).  Then on the other Budda cab he had the Budda Super Drive 30 (Could have been the 80) under a Fuchs head.  For those interested in his sounds check out his new instructional DVD.  I have seen him live three times and on all three occassions had a different assortment of pedals, but all are discussed in the DVD along with the settings he uses.  Hope this helps any who are interested.  As far as Amps and Effects...you can dial in the precise settings Joe uses, but when you pick up the guitar, it will sound different, a player's sound and tone comes from his hands and his mind.  You could plug Joe Bonamassa into a little piece of **## amp and to a certain degree, he would still sound great, IT'S IN THE HANDS!!!

not really, the drive side of it's pretty useless, the boost side of it is awesome tho, the hot drive side has alot more gain than a ts and have really no tonal TS qualitys about them...the boost side is basicly a strat foward clean boost and it takes whats already there and just boosts the gain without adding any gain.. www.carlmartin.com , also so you know Tc electronics quit making most all there line of pedals for quite a while with the exception of the Chorus/Pitch/Mod pedal(the one Joe uses) sweet pedal about to buy one off a friend) and they gave all the other pedal designs to Carl martin (at the time i believe he was doing pa equipment or something) but he came out with his first pedal the (Hot Drive N Boost) ...i love mine but yeah like i said the hot drive side is really mushy, im more into getting the gain from my amp unless its a fender... worth the money man, but if you want to spend less for Joe's tone go with a Carl Martin Hydra Boost, the boost side of the hot drive n boost is basicly the hydra boost but with a few more un-needed DB's of boost, i wouldnt ever take the HDNB off my board, i might get rid of the drivetrain II tho if i find something better...definately like it more than an 808.

The newer Budda amps are PCB.  Older amps like the Twinmaster and Stringmaster are point to point.  I have an early model SD30 that is PTP wired.  I don't know if the 18 or 80 were ever PTP wired.  They're great amps, IMO.  I've seen Twinmaster heads sell for as low as $600 on ebay, and SD18's and 30's around $800, give or take.