Hi Joe, I played for hours through one of your amps, about 5 years ago in Nashville, without touching any settings...EL84 based and the amp head had green telex...loved it and you were kind enough to offer me a custom build artist discount...my career moved in alternative directions but I wanted to let you know that your amps and personality made a big impression on me...thank you for your generosity and excellent work...regards...
Cheers for all the nice comments - it’s amazing what happens when the tone you get takes you to a place where everything seems to flow. Love these amps (this is Lee speaking!)
Lee, "you can't sound like Brian May, it's not possible." Joe, "here are the exact steps to sound like Brian May." Lee, *uncomfortable room scan* "we should try that"... "Anyway!"
There is a Youtub channel called Uncle doug, and he makes tube amps. He goes through everything about them how to build them, and the purpose of every component. He is very concise in his instruction. If you want to be educated about the subject he may be the best on the internet. Well anyhow one episode he goes through the parts list, and the time involved, and he pointed out for a small amp that he made, it would have to sell for at least 2000.00 U.S. for him to be profitable.
His dog, Rusty actually passed away last year and that as well as some health problems put him off the air for about a year or so. Thankfully, he's back now and doing great videos again. He's doing a series on using an oscilloscope at the moment and it's fascinating!
My hat is off to you, Joe. I greatly admire your approach to your builds and unwavering dedication to your standards. Thanks to Lee and the Anderton’s crew for giving us this.
Growing up I desperately wanted a triple rec. have had stupid loud and “feature” rich amps. Now all I want is a single channel AC20. The best sounding amp I’ve heard that can cover any size venue. The pureness is magic
Just imagine the guys he hangs around with, does videos with and comes into contact with as an occupational hazard - I bet that simply talking to the likes of Steve Vai and John Petrucci would make you want to get your practice on, let alone being around all these technically proficient guitarists like Bea, Rob and especially Pete all the time. Nevertheless, yes he improved quite considerably and for that - kudos to him! It's a joy to hear his blues licks, and his 'straight man' approach is a much needed counterbalance to the wackiness and shredding other Anderton's contributers provide. Very nice going, Mr Anderton.
i genuinely think spending some time w pete and the other guys would really really help me be a better player. also this amp sounds so good it’s inspiring by itself
Thanks very much for having Joe explain the direction he took to build these amps. They sound great! Affordable amps are out there but the high quality amps are special and it seems like that's what the Morgan amps are.
Man. I knew Joe Morgan made fantastic amps, but it sure is good to know he's a decent cat on top of it. I'd much, much rather give my money to a guy rather than some faceless corp. and the fact that the guy is cool helps. Stay you Mr. Joe! Side note: Lee, your lessons with (everyone really, but the newest fellow in particular, who's name escapes me... Justin?) have truly been paying off. Your playing continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Keep on pickin brother! I'm lovin it, and I truly adore your interviews.
Not sure how much I loved the sound of the amps. But joe Morgan seems like such an awesome bloke, that I feel like buying one on the back of his passion, focus, and clarity of vision
Proud owner of MVP23 and RCA35 :) Love the amps, my RCA35 however had some cold solder joints so had to send it back to fix... slow service, less than amazing communication, expensive shipping. Still worth it... though I am still waiting to get the RCA35 back, only been 6 weeks so not terribly long.
Mark Artyniuk if you never receive it which is an issue of Joe’s contact Avi at Boutique Amps Distribution. It amazes me if u google him or google tgp there are tons of complaints and it seems everyone is overlooking his reputation. Until it happens to them. Good luck.
I played a Morgan for the first time in Chicago at CME. It was in one of the little studios where you can test guitars. I knew nothing about it at the time. MAN did it sound good. I was just testing out some strats and tele's. The clean was CRYSTAL clean and just so ALIVE sounding. Reacted amazingly well to my playing. I videoed it to listen back for the guitars but now i go back to it just to hear the amp. I own a Two rock studio pro 50 and two rocks are fantastic but Morgan is DEFINITELY up there too. Joe seems really nice and down to earth too.
I was listening to this and couldn't tell it was Lee playing to start with until some of those sweet Captain licks came in! Need to get some Danish Pete lessons
"Effects loops are the devil!" Best interview quote in a while. What idiot hid these lovely amps behind Lee and Joe? We never got even a peek at the AC20. We are here to talk about the amps people! Loved the interview, as it was informative about how Joe looks at amps without being too technical. I wish I had the $$$ for one, but I wouldn't want to see a cheaper version of the brand.
You wouldn't want one. It would be a massive waste of your money. These amps sound good but they're designed to fail. Unnecessary and even hazardous standby switches, undervalued filter caps, and HORRENDOUS solder joints. They're not even up to code. Literally illegal. Overrated snake oil.
I used to think the hand wired boutique amp was a bunch of crap, especially in regards to the price. I recently tried one out ( a Louis Electric Tornado), and I saw the light. The response that I received from my playing was awesome. So I bought one, and then I went and bought a Swart STR, and I just enjoy playing them as much as I can.
The amp is fantastic, reverb is excellent the tremolo sounds sweet. Real care is put into the amp. The guy I bought the amp from also said Mike Swart is a real class act as well.
Love these "Captain Meets" but is it possible to maybe put them out as podcast? Particularly the longer one's, 2 hours with Albert Lee was a joy, but finding the time to watch was a hard.
Bought an MVP23 Combo yesterday. Was previously playing a deluxe reverb and was just not happy with the noise it made with just having it on. Didn't seem to give me the tone I wanted. I plugged into a bunch of different amps and came to 2 I liked. The Mesa Boogie 6v6 4:40 and the MVP. The boogie sounded good but it had super microphonic tubes and was as noisy as the deluxe. The MVP was quiet, sounded so sweet and the power scaling is amazing. Definitely made the right choice.
I really enjoyed this one. Probably because Joe's story kind of follows my life in many ways.....did electronic engineering degree in the 80's at night school after work for 3 years because I loved fiddling with gear, be they cb radios, building homemade amps from transistors for hifi or guitar/bass with friends, valve amps for fun and making all kinds of odd gadgets to make sounds. Then left that seen and moved into computing more then returned to old school guitar amps and such.Played in punk and metal bands in the 80's. I'm just coming on 50 years old too soon. LOL Love Joe's stuff , really classy gear.
I’ve watched part of this so far and this is what I’ve come back on to say. Interesting interview that’s almost unwatchable because of the issues with the balance on the soundtrack.
The UA-camr Joe mentions at 40:12 was bassist Adam Neely who went round and asked a bunch of other UA-camrs the question while they were at Thomann's Gearhead University conference earlier this year. It's kind of a silly video, but I guess it's kind of a product of the existential worries you might have going to a musical equipment store as vast as the Thomann warehouse. I love his channel though, and Neely goes really in-depth on different topics of music theory, music philosophy and also just his experiences as a session bassist in New York. Well worth checking out, as it seems Joe Morgan already has!
My (or any) LabSeries amplifier has the schematic on the back of the amplifier's back I/O panel. I suppose it also came with a print, but it even has it pressed onto it, which is interesting.
Are tube driven effects loops a tone suck too? I have and OR-15, and delay and reverb sound horrible through the front end, and I feel compelled to use the effects loop. I still run the distortion through the front end.
"Effects Loops are the devil" Rob Chapman note! What a great bloke, starts making amps from the basis that an AC30 is the DB's! What's not to like. Dan I gotta get meself a Morgan!
I think that it just depends on the comfort level of the maker with far Eastern manufacturing. One example for me that kind of proves that the design and the intended tone are really the big difference makers before anything is manufactured is Egnater. Those are some of the best sounding amps Ive heard, yet they are made in the far East. Not only do they sound good but they also have a "thing" of their own. Egnater does historically make amps that will imitate a tone, but it's always their version of that tone without apologies. I think that Morgan could probably take a few lessons from the Egnater story. Bottom line is that it CAN be done. You can get a quality amp from the far East. Thanks
As far as boutique style amps, the best sounding amp on the planet is a Gjika 10n. It’s not a copy of anything and it’s a unique class A design that produces sounds like no other! I would take one over a Dumble or Trainwreck!
Been eying Morgan amps for a while now and now I really want to buy one and the mvp23 is such a good deal for what you're buying. Killer tone and its built so well
Hi Joe, I played for hours through one of your amps, about 5 years ago in Nashville, without touching any settings...EL84 based and the amp head had green telex...loved it and you were kind enough to offer me a custom build artist discount...my career moved in alternative directions but I wanted to let you know that your amps and personality made a big impression on me...thank you for your generosity and excellent work...regards...
Cheers for all the nice comments - it’s amazing what happens when the tone you get takes you to a place where everything seems to flow. Love these amps (this is Lee speaking!)
Andertons Music Co those amp sound great, what about a video on the Richie Faulkner Signature Epiphone Flying V??
Yay Lee
Great tones Lee and awesome amps for your AMAZING Strat!
Really thinking about picking up a MVP23.
I don't think it's Lee...I can't hear the British accent in his writing...🤣 love this channel and these amps! Keep it up guys. Awesome stuff.
Joe is a really cool dude, I want to buy a Morgan just because of him
Now I've heard the man, I know why I love these Morgan amps so much.
Lee, "you can't sound like Brian May, it's not possible."
Joe, "here are the exact steps to sound like Brian May."
Lee, *uncomfortable room scan* "we should try that"... "Anyway!"
There is a Youtub channel called Uncle doug, and he makes tube amps. He goes through everything about them how to build them, and the purpose of every component. He is very concise in his instruction. If you want to be educated about the subject he may be the best on the internet. Well anyhow one episode he goes through the parts list, and the time involved, and he pointed out for a small amp that he made, it would have to sell for at least 2000.00 U.S. for him to be profitable.
His dog and cat are the stars of his channel :)
His dog, Rusty actually passed away last year and that as well as some health problems put him off the air for about a year or so. Thankfully, he's back now and doing great videos again. He's doing a series on using an oscilloscope at the moment and it's fascinating!
My hat is off to you, Joe. I greatly admire your approach to your builds and unwavering dedication to your standards.
Thanks to Lee and the Anderton’s crew for giving us this.
Growing up I desperately wanted a triple rec. have had stupid loud and “feature” rich amps. Now all I want is a single channel AC20. The best sounding amp I’ve heard that can cover any size venue. The pureness is magic
"I can play 'Humble Thyself' better than ANYBODY!" XD Well played, sir. Per usual.
the captain is improving so much the past few months!
Just imagine the guys he hangs around with, does videos with and comes into contact with as an occupational hazard - I bet that simply talking to the likes of Steve Vai and John Petrucci would make you want to get your practice on, let alone being around all these technically proficient guitarists like Bea, Rob and especially Pete all the time.
Nevertheless, yes he improved quite considerably and for that - kudos to him! It's a joy to hear his blues licks, and his 'straight man' approach is a much needed counterbalance to the wackiness and shredding other Anderton's contributers provide. Very nice going, Mr Anderton.
i genuinely think spending some time w pete and the other guys would really really help me be a better player.
also this amp sounds so good it’s inspiring by itself
This interview is awesome… what a humble genius… so relatable and inspiring.
Please get your audio settings balanced for voice and instrument.
ditto!
Just posted similar post
Yes. The voices are SOO quiet!
I've also noticed this a lot. I still enjoy the videos, but a better balance between playing and dialog would be great.
Listening through quality headphones, I didn't experience any problems.
What a legend, thanks for the interview Lee, Joe seems like such a genuine guy.
Though living in New Zealand makes these improbable to get!
i hava ac 20 bought in 2016. outstanding amp very versatile dependable and works very well with pedals. it's now 2023 ... i still Love it.
Thanks very much for having Joe explain the direction he took to build these amps. They sound great! Affordable amps are out there but the high quality amps are special and it seems like that's what the Morgan amps are.
Soul Asylum, Replacements and Husker Du - three of my all time favorites. Joe Morgan - what a legend.
I'm a lucky owner of a MVP23 and it sounds glorious ! Thank you Mike and Pete for the demo you made. And Joe seems to be a nice guy too :)
Man. I knew Joe Morgan made fantastic amps, but it sure is good to know he's a decent cat on top of it. I'd much, much rather give my money to a guy rather than some faceless corp. and the fact that the guy is cool helps. Stay you Mr. Joe!
Side note: Lee, your lessons with (everyone really, but the newest fellow in particular, who's name escapes me... Justin?) have truly been paying off. Your playing continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Keep on pickin brother! I'm lovin it, and I truly adore your interviews.
Loved Huntington Beach in the 80's / 90's so much creativity has come from that little beach town.
Love these interviews so much. Thanks Andertons!
Great playing Captain to start off!! Much improved!!
The years of hanging out with guitar-slingers have paid off, defo much improved Lee!!
Not sure how much I loved the sound of the amps. But joe Morgan seems like such an awesome bloke, that I feel like buying one on the back of his passion, focus, and clarity of vision
What a pleasure this video was to watch. The first Morgan you were playing on the video blew my mind. The tone was exquisite!
Great person, philosophy, amps, and business. Wishing Morgan continued success.
Proud owner of MVP23 and RCA35 :) Love the amps, my RCA35 however had some cold solder joints so had to send it back to fix... slow service, less than amazing communication, expensive shipping. Still worth it... though I am still waiting to get the RCA35 back, only been 6 weeks so not terribly long.
Mark Artyniuk if you never receive it which is an issue of Joe’s contact Avi at Boutique Amps Distribution. It amazes me if u google him or google tgp there are tons of complaints and it seems everyone is overlooking his reputation. Until it happens to them. Good luck.
Hey Rob, I'm happy to report I got the amp back and played through it last night, she sounds better than ever!
Some glorious tones there, and what a nice chap! Great vid Andertons!
The Les Paul Morgan combo Lee uses is the best tone I've heard from the captain. Such a good sound!
I played a Morgan for the first time in Chicago at CME. It was in one of the little studios where you can test guitars. I knew nothing about it at the time. MAN did it sound good. I was just testing out some strats and tele's. The clean was CRYSTAL clean and just so ALIVE sounding. Reacted amazingly well to my playing. I videoed it to listen back for the guitars but now i go back to it just to hear the amp. I own a Two rock studio pro 50 and two rocks are fantastic but Morgan is DEFINITELY up there too. Joe seems really nice and down to earth too.
I am from Minneapolis, and still live there. Husker Du, and the Replacements rule, Zen Arcade is awesome check it out.
Love Joe's amps! Perfection all the way!
I was listening to this and couldn't tell it was Lee playing to start with until some of those sweet Captain licks came in! Need to get some Danish Pete lessons
"Effects loops are the devil!" Best interview quote in a while. What idiot hid these lovely amps behind Lee and Joe? We never got even a peek at the AC20. We are here to talk about the amps people! Loved the interview, as it was informative about how Joe looks at amps without being too technical. I wish I had the $$$ for one, but I wouldn't want to see a cheaper version of the brand.
I think a cheaper version kind of defeats the whole premise. I'll never afford one eather.
You wouldn't want one. It would be a massive waste of your money. These amps sound good but they're designed to fail. Unnecessary and even hazardous standby switches, undervalued filter caps, and HORRENDOUS solder joints. They're not even up to code. Literally illegal. Overrated snake oil.
Joe seems a great & genuine soul, I like that guy.
I used to think the hand wired boutique amp was a bunch of crap, especially in regards to the price. I recently tried one out ( a Louis Electric Tornado), and I saw the light. The response that I received from my playing was awesome. So I bought one, and then I went and bought a Swart STR, and I just enjoy playing them as much as I can.
Agreed. There is something undeniably inspiring about the responsiveness of these amps.
Mike Swart is a national treasure
The amp is fantastic, reverb is excellent the tremolo sounds sweet. Real care is put into the amp. The guy I bought the amp from also said Mike Swart is a real class act as well.
What a nice guy and a great conversation.
These interviews are always so great, keep them coming! I'd like to see Keith Scott in an episode someday...
Love these "Captain Meets" but is it possible to maybe put them out as podcast? Particularly the longer one's, 2 hours with Albert Lee was a joy, but finding the time to watch was a hard.
YES! I'm buying a PR12 soon so this video is perfectly timed!
Great Sunday morning upload..Naff all on TV, can't be arsed to do anything...bang,an hour sorted..
What an interesting man Mr Morgan is, well done Cpatain and great tones too!
Great video. I own many amps and my ac20 is one of the greatest amps next the pr12, joe just knows how to make amps we all love.
Good to see Joe here in the UK and hope you enjoy your stay! Love the tones and looks of the amps, the Strat and the Les Paul sound i
mense!
Bought an MVP23 Combo yesterday. Was previously playing a deluxe reverb and was just not happy with the noise it made with just having it on. Didn't seem to give me the tone I wanted.
I plugged into a bunch of different amps and came to 2 I liked. The Mesa Boogie 6v6 4:40 and the MVP.
The boogie sounded good but it had super microphonic tubes and was as noisy as the deluxe. The MVP was quiet, sounded so sweet and the power scaling is amazing. Definitely made the right choice.
I really enjoyed this one. Probably because Joe's story kind of follows my life in many ways.....did electronic engineering degree in the 80's at night school after work for 3 years because I loved fiddling with gear, be they cb radios, building homemade amps from transistors for hifi or guitar/bass with friends, valve amps for fun and making all kinds of odd gadgets to make sounds. Then left that seen and moved into computing more then returned to old school guitar amps and such.Played in punk and metal bands in the 80's. I'm just coming on 50 years old too soon. LOL Love Joe's stuff , really classy gear.
Love the AC20/AC40 amps. I’m never disappointed plugging into one.
Great interview with a nice bloke :-)
!979, my first amp was a Peavey Classic! It was an amazing amplifier!
Great interview. Way better than I thought it would be.
I’m lucky to have a few really nice tube amps but the Anderson’s/Morgan PR12 H 12 is by far my favourite, worth every penny!
Now if Joe could just make a replica of the Vox AC10 SRT as used on the Doug and Pat show I'd but one!
45calypso yessssss make it two!
I agree; that amp's incredible.
Another video where the dialogue is far too low compared to the guitar.
I agree, I was constantly adjusting my volume, and Joe was softer than Lee.
I’ve watched part of this so far and this is what I’ve come back on to say. Interesting interview that’s almost unwatchable because of the issues with the balance on the soundtrack.
I'm listening through $50 headphones and have no problem with the levels. Like, at all.
Absolutely no problems here, have you got some sort of 5.1 channel setup or something?
Ive been saying this for every Andertons video since 2014
Nice intro Captain. Your playing has really improved over the years. Sounding really good.
My first cheap practice Fender amp which I bought about 6 years ago did have a schematic with it. I had no use for it, but it was still cool to see.
The UA-camr Joe mentions at 40:12 was bassist Adam Neely who went round and asked a bunch of other UA-camrs the question while they were at Thomann's Gearhead University conference earlier this year. It's kind of a silly video, but I guess it's kind of a product of the existential worries you might have going to a musical equipment store as vast as the Thomann warehouse. I love his channel though, and Neely goes really in-depth on different topics of music theory, music philosophy and also just his experiences as a session bassist in New York. Well worth checking out, as it seems Joe Morgan already has!
Love the JS12, best amp I tried 👌🎸💜
I can't believe that Joe decided to build Vox copies instead of the norm of Marshall plexis. The guy knows what his doing.
My (or any) LabSeries amplifier has the schematic on the back of the amplifier's back I/O panel. I suppose it also came with a print, but it even has it pressed onto it, which is interesting.
Captain getting down! Good playing man.
Loved this interview.
or maybe 9 out of 10 people won't notice, i'm not building for that kind of guy , brilliant
Damn good playing Lee that intro was awesome
Around the 50 minute mark you were talking about effects. Are you saying if you want effects use a pedal?
"AC" strands for Amplifier Combined [with speaker]. I didn't know that for a long time...
Are tube driven effects loops a tone suck too? I have and OR-15, and delay and reverb sound horrible through the front end, and I feel compelled to use the effects loop. I still run the distortion through the front end.
I used a stereo receiver in the early ‘s before I got my first amp, a traynor 50 watt solid state amp.
love the morgan amps, now its time to andertons start selling some DR.Zs too!
Lee has really busted out of his rut: thanks Justin ; )
Amen to Marshall JTM45s being fantastic clean amps.
very cool, im coming to andertons soon, i hope to see you guys there, love your vids
Love the amp and the pedals. I trade all my gear for Morgan, Thank you
Killer vibrato at the end there Mr Anderton! Very tasty.
damn, Captain! Your chops are sounding better than ever.
Heart's Craig Bartock does a short concise thorough job explaining Vox amp's sonic evolutions through the decades on Rig Rundown fyi
Ha ha, nice "Manchild" jam in the end. Great pull.
Great interview.
You're playing really well Lee.
I can't afford a Morgan amp, but as long as I get to hear Ariel Posen playing one I'm happy.
"Effects Loops are the devil" Rob Chapman note!
What a great bloke, starts making amps from the basis that an AC30 is the DB's! What's not to like.
Dan I gotta get meself a Morgan!
I think that it just depends on the comfort level of the maker with far Eastern manufacturing.
One example for me that kind of proves that the design and the intended tone are really the big difference makers before anything is manufactured is Egnater.
Those are some of the best sounding amps Ive heard, yet they are made in the far East. Not only do they sound good but they also have a "thing" of their own.
Egnater does historically make amps that will imitate a tone, but it's always their version of that tone without apologies.
I think that Morgan could probably take a few lessons from the Egnater story.
Bottom line is that it CAN be done. You can get a quality amp from the far East.
Thanks
Cool amps, super cool guy.
I just saw one of Joes amps being played on the surprise Paul McCartney gig he did for end of James Corden carpool
I can see why Joe and Josh Smith get along so well...
great interview with an interesting guy !
What band was Joe in?
The most widely used FREE kemper rig on the exchange is a clean Morgan profile(no shit) ...go figure..
As far as boutique style amps, the best sounding amp on the planet is a Gjika 10n. It’s not a copy of anything and it’s a unique class A design that produces sounds like no other! I would take one over a Dumble or Trainwreck!
a bit of Captain Morgan for the Captain and Morgan.
Power to your arm Morgan
did Joe get called Mike at 25:00 minutes ??
Amazing interview
1:01:20 WOW Awesome guys.
Lee never once took his foot out of his mouth.
This made me want to buy a Morgan....
Captain, if possible you should try to get Randall Smith (creator of Mesa Boogie Amps) on.
38:30 hmm, was this a dig at Dave Friedman’s amps? They’re both under BAD so I can’t imagine he’d make a dig at him, but sure sounded like it.
Been eying Morgan amps for a while now and now I really want to buy one and the mvp23 is such a good deal for what you're buying. Killer tone and its built so well
Great interview... who the hell is dressing Joss?
The captain meets Rick Graham!
Yeaaaah, if someone can send me a Morgan AC20, that'd be great! Thanks!
1:02:26-1:03:15 Lee you dirty dirty blues boy!