1. Venue
1.1. Jamming
1.1.1. No drummer?
1.1.1.1. HS-18 and SR-15 will work well, but may be overpowering
1.1.2. Drummer
1.1.2.1. Loud? HS-18 or SR-15
1.1.2.2. Reasonable volume? HS-18 or SR-15
1.1.2.3. Jam with your gigging amp DB-40
1.2. Gigging
1.2.1. FYI: find out how much guitar amp power you really need. SEE FAQS
1.2.2. Large Venue
1.2.2.1. Perfect stage amp? Atomsmasher DB-40
1.2.2.2. Amp Mic'ed
1.2.2.2.1. Any of our amps will work, but most customers choose the HS-18 or SR-15.
1.2.2.3. Not Mic'ed
1.2.2.3.1. I like my amp to add some overdrive to my tone. HS-18 or SR-15!
1.2.2.3.2. Need lots of cleans like a 'Twin'? Not as much as a Twin, but the Atomsmasher DB-40 has lots of clean headroom and gets nasty when you want it to!
1.2.3. Medium Venue
1.2.3.1. HS-18 or SR-15
1.2.4. Small Venue
1.2.4.1. Full band? HS-18 or SR-15
2. Music
2.1. Rock
2.1.1. Warm, lush overdrive (Fender + Vox) SR-15
2.1.2. Aggressive overdrive (Marshall + Vox) HS-18
2.1.3. Incredible overdrive and lots of clean headroom Atomsmasher DB-40
2.2. Blues
2.2.1. Any Mack Amp! -SRV tone - HS-18 -Humbucker at edge of overdrive - SR-15 -Roy Buchanan, Buddy Guy, etc. - HS-18. -Robben Ford - SR-15 -Gary Moore - DB-40
2.3. Country
2.3.1. Maximum twang? HS-18
2.3.2. Warm and balanced? SR-15
2.3.3. Lots - I need cleans like a 'Twin'. Atomsmasher DB-40 has lots of clean headroom and gets nasty when you want it to!
2.4. Jazz
2.4.1. Jazz players use the SR-15 set clean for its balance, warmth and bigger bass.
2.5. Metal
2.5.1. HS-18 and a pedal = monster metal tone! Adding power tube distortion to a great pedal metal tone = HUGE! The new Atomsmasher DB-40 adds another dimension of power and chunk - throw that pedal in front and have fudn!
3. Pickups
3.1. Single coil
3.1.1. Chimey cleans and aggressive overdrive - HS-18
3.1.2. Warm, balanced cleans and overdrive - SR-15
3.1.3. Best of all worlds Atomsmasher DB-40
3.2. Humbucker
3.2.1. Aggressive upper-mids, tight bottom - HS-18
3.2.2. Lush overdrive, thick distortion - SR-15
3.2.3. Soaring sustain and layered harmonics DB-40
4. Pedals
4.1. All Mack amps are pedal friendly. No preamp distortion, no tone sucking traditional tone controls. Tone is pure through to the power tubes. You hear what your guitar sounds like - and what your pedals sound like!!
5. Tone
5.1. Clean
5.1.1. Chime and cluck? HS-18
5.1.2. Warm and lush? SR-15
5.1.3. Warm, lush and powerful? Atomsmasher DB-40
5.2. Overdrive
5.2.1. Balanced? (Fender + Vox) SR-15
5.2.2. Aggressive? (Marshall + Vox) HS-18
5.2.3. Aggresive and powerful? Atomsmasher DB-40