Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: ChrisMetal on April 22, 2007, 12:50:51 AM
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Hi guys, dilemma. Basically I'm searching for a new amp. I realised my Marshall AVT150H just doesn't really cut it for what I want to play and enjoy playing (though it is a decent amp). Any suggestion on what I should go for.
Sound>>> Black Album Metallica, Testament, Children of Bodom, Pantera, Guns N' Roses (mainly the first 4).
Now I want an all Valve head, not a hybrid, and my budget is about £1000 for the head. Cabs about £500. I want something different than a Marshall this time.
Any help cheers!
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Engl Powerball.
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^ Powerball indeed
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Voodoo Hex or Witchdoctor
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Or try to find yourself a Randall Warhead - OK I know it's not valve, but you mentioned Pantera...
Definitely under your budget and not in spec, but fwiw I have a Randall Rg200G3 ("hybrid" 200W combo), and it's absolutely superb. So much headroom it's unreal :D
I doubt it'll help, but hey ho - worth looking at the Randall gear for the types of music you've mentioned.
Roo
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+1 for the Powerball. Try and look for a used one, I got mine for £600 and I've seen them go on ebay for around that price.
It's a pretty versatile amp. I've been using it more than my Laney lately.
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Would you guys suggest using a amps onboard distortion, or would it be worth getting something like a GH100 and hooking up a Distotion pedal to give it a boost?
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Trust me, get a Voodoo Hex or Witchdoctor and you won't need anything else!
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Would you guys suggest using a amps onboard distortion, or would it be worth getting something like a GH100 and hooking up a Distotion pedal to give it a boost?
With a Powerball distortion is the LEAST of your worries :twisted:
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i'd say an engl blackmore would be better for those tones (apart from pantera) than a powerball... a powerball is overkill.
others to look into:
brunetti xlr-evo (maybe a little over budget).
genz benz el-diablo (maybe a little too modern sounding)
laney tt
koch multitone
peavey windsor and engl fireball (just to be crazy, it's still under budget)
I've probably missed something major there. :lol:
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Mesa MkIV
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Mesa MkIV
+1.
I was originally going to recommend a Diezel, but I don't think you will be able to find one in your price range.
Another excellent option, but it will be pretty hard to find in the UK, is Metaltronix.
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Peavey 5150
Krank Kranenstein
Laney TT
Laney VH
Peavey JSX?
Soldano
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Mesa Boogie of some sort.
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+1 to Mesa Boogie
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Peavey 5150
Krank Kranenstein
too modern IMO, except for Pantera sounds (Krankenstein)
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you'll get a Dual Recto within your £1k budget on ebay - my mate was telling me there is/was one listed today with a BIN price of £700 (bargain).
for cabs you should be good to go with a V30 loaded Marshall 4x12 or you may even find one of the bigger Mesa 4x12s on ebay for £600. many people seem to favour Orange 4x12s too, might be worth a look at 'em.
:twisted:
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How much, and in what way do cabs affect the sound of the amp?
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How much, and in what way do cabs affect the sound of the amp?
speakers have different tonal qualities that alter the sound
the wood that it is made of also affects the sound...
i don't know which woods make a great sound (haha), but i know that Celestion Greenbacks and V30s are good, along with a load of Eminence speakers....
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Thanks BM, would the woods not have the same affects as on a guitar: Maple being bright and mahogany being warmer etc?
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Mesa MkIV
+1.
I was originally going to recommend a Diezel, but I don't think you will be able to find one in your price range.
Another excellent option, but it will be pretty hard to find in the UK, is Metaltronix.
heh, if you can't afford a diezel, you can't afford a mark IV either... last i looked they were going for £2000 new!
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Peavey 5150
Krank Kranenstein
too modern IMO, except for Pantera sounds (Krankenstein)
i wouldn't even want a krankenstein for pantera... dime used SS Randalls in pantera... far as i'm concerned, as you say, the krank would be too modern for most of those tones, and not really sound like pantera anyway, in my opinion.
basically, for the tones in question (and as far as i'm aware):
black album metallica: mesa
testament: i think peterson used mesa, skolnick marshall? at least at one point.
COB: not to familiar, i think they're marshall? not certain.
Pantera: you'll probably struggle with tube to get that SS tightness, unless you go for something that's super-heavy and tight, like a powerball or similar... and then you lose out for the less heavy tones.
G n R: marshall.
Far as I can tell, you're probably going to have to make some kind of compromise... are you willing to compromise on the marshally tones, or the mesa-y ones?
also, are you willing to go second hand?
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I'm more willing to compromise on the Marshally tones, I was mainly thinking of my band, at that point cause we play Heavy Rock, but personal tastes I'm more of a Metallica, Testament, Pantera fan. I think CoB(Alexi anyway) uses Lee Jackson pre-amps and a VHT power amps. I think its on their band site.
Oh and I prefer to buy new stuff.
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if that's the case, you could probably get away with a mesa of some kind (though the ones most aimed at the tones you want are probably over budget) or genz benz el-diablo... engl would probably do it too, but you kind of have to persuade them to sound like mesas...
what all have you tried? or are you still at the thinking stage?
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Still at thinking stage really, there aren't many good amp stores near me. Most just stock mostly Carlsbro, Line6, Laney or Marshalls mainly. Only one store I know of which stocks Mesa's, and that ain't close. I could probably stretch to a Mesa, just take me a long time lol. But I'd have to travel to London to try out any decent amps I expect.
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^ aye, that's a shame... it's a bit like that here. we actually have a handful of good shops that aren't that hard to get to... but then other brands just have no dealers at all in ireland, which can be annoying.
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Oh and I prefer to buy new stuff.
What's wrong with second hand? you can get the same thing for cheaper. I got a 6 month old Mesa Boogie F50 for half the original price.
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^ aye, that's a shame... it's a bit like that here. we actually have a handful of good shops that aren't that hard to get to... but then other brands just have no dealers at all in ireland, which can be annoying.
exactly the same here, but all i have is Mansons, and a couple of 'guitar corner shops' :roll:
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^ heh, judging by the guitar mag ads, i'd be happy to be near mansons.
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^ heh, judging by the guitar mag ads, i'd be happy to be near mansons.
HA! have you seen their prices?
type 'mansons' into google, click the first link, and have a browse.
and they are a bit limited when it comes to metal amps: no Mk4, no 6505/5150, no ENGL apart from 1 secondhand no krank, eugh
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^ i'd have said the lack of krank was a sign of taste, lol.
they do have diezel though (also a sign of taste). and I can try engl here, lol (which allows me to skillfully avoid the fact that if I lived in exeter, I couldn't)...
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^ i'd have said the lack of krank was a sign of taste, lol.
they do have diezel though (also a sign of taste). and I can try engl here, lol (which allows me to skillfully avoid the fact that if I lived in exeter, I couldn't)...
heh, yeah
diezel? the citizens of exeter aren't made of money!
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^ well, they had diezel in their ads, lol.
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^ well, they had diezel in their ads, lol.
:lol:
back on topic, then...
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oh yeah, sorry! :oops:
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Oh and I prefer to buy new stuff.
What's wrong with second hand? you can get the same thing for cheaper. I got a 6 month old Mesa Boogie F50 for half the original price.
Nothing at all, I just prefer to buy instrument/electronics new, I like to be the only one who's owned it.
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Oh and I prefer to buy new stuff.
What's wrong with second hand? you can get the same thing for cheaper. I got a 6 month old Mesa Boogie F50 for half the original price.
Nothing at all, I just prefer to buy instrument/electronics new, I like to be the only one who's owned it.
High end amps tend to be like cars in that they lose a lot of the value when you buy it. This is especially true for Mesas imo I've seen dual recs and MkIVs go for less than £900. Oh yeah if you want bang for buck go for this I just came across this on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Laney-GH50L-50W-Head-Like-New-2-Months-Old_W0QQitemZ200102402074QQihZ010QQcategoryZ10171QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
£300 in mint cond!! Damn it why do good deals always appear when I'm not looking for them grrr :evil: If you get a good cab to go with it you could have a kiler stack for well under £600.
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Oh and I prefer to buy new stuff.
What's wrong with second hand? you can get the same thing for cheaper. I got a 6 month old Mesa Boogie F50 for half the original price.
Nothing at all, I just prefer to buy instrument/electronics new, I like to be the only one who's owned it.
High end amps tend to be like cars in that they lose a lot of the value when you buy it. This is especially true for Mesas imo I've seen dual recs and MkIVs go for less than £900.
That's because Mesa are so popular - Try putting a Diezel on Ebay and you'd get bids pouring in.
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Oh and I prefer to buy new stuff.
What's wrong with second hand? you can get the same thing for cheaper. I got a 6 month old Mesa Boogie F50 for half the original price.
Nothing at all, I just prefer to buy instrument/electronics new, I like to be the only one who's owned it.
High end amps tend to be like cars in that they lose a lot of the value when you buy it. This is especially true for Mesas imo I've seen dual recs and MkIVs go for less than £900.
That's because Mesa are so popular - Try putting a Diezel on Ebay and you'd get bids pouring in.
actually, that's not true. There was a guy on HC who tried to sell his Diezel Einstein for £1100 and he got no bids in two listings. But yeah maybe he'd have done better if he started at a lower price.
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Koch Powertone II 120w head and a Koch 4x12 cab. I've got one and it just blows me away.
www.koch-amps.com
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I'm thinking about going by the way of getting a single channel lead head, maybe a Marshall JCM800 or a GH100L, And sticking a Distortion pedal infront of it. I dunno...
If I get one of these, are there any setups you recommend? Like is there some worthwhile equipment i need to get a clean to brutel agression.
Cheers!
P.S. BTW Can you daisy chain the JCM800 like a GH100L? I'm sure its possible...
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JCM800 :twisted:
Check out the protone body rot pedal, thats pretty heavy!
I think you can daisy chain them. Zakk Wylde does.
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I'd second that GH50L recommendation, never heard a bad thing about them. Fantastic cleans and very heavy organic distortion, not as tight as 5150/ Engl etc but still easy to get Thrash-sounds out of it. Considering its only one-channel its actually pretty versatile if you run a clean boost in front of it for the heavy-stuff and roll-back the guitar volume for cleaner parts.
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I'm thinking about going by the way of getting a single channel lead head, maybe a Marshall JCM800 or a GH100L, And sticking a Distortion pedal infront of it. I dunno...
If I get one of these, are there any setups you recommend? Like is there some worthwhile equipment i need to get a clean to brutel agression.
Cheers!
P.S. BTW Can you daisy chain the JCM800 like a GH100L? I'm sure its possible...
Why would you do that?! Buying a JCM800 then running it clean is like buying a Ferrari and driving under the speed limits :lol: If you need cleans, I'm sure rolling down the guitars volume will sound great, then again I dont really like a pristine clean, I prefer it slightly crunchy when you dig in.
edit - I'd say, for the money, you cant beat Laney. With a boost, my GH50L can get seriously heavy if you need to (though thats not really my style so I never really do this - crazy_joe boosts his with an SD1-808 though and seems to like it). I have a load of clips of mine in my sig, probably not heavy enough for your tastes but theres an Opeth kinda clip which sounds plenty heavy to me :P
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Hey Tom, I didn't notice your Bark At The Moon and High Wire soundclips!
Now I want one even more :(
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No I need the clean cause we got some pretty soft songs in my band... I'll just roll down the volume on my guitar, though CW's should be interesting lol... Well example for you, Pantera's "This Love", Clean - Brutal. Thats the sound I'm after. I just wonder if I'll get that from the Laney or Marshall, I know the GH100L is cheaper, but i would knock, Kerry King, or Zakk's choices, but then again I'm not gonna argue with Iommi either lol.
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Changed my mind - Diezel Einstein.
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^ i badly want to try one of those...
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^ i badly want to try one of those...
Played through 2 different ones today - Head through a 2x12 with G30s, same head through a 4x12 with K-100s, and the Combo at the BKP stand - All sounded absolutely phenomenal.
The K-100s were my fave though, very dark, very very awesome.
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what are k100's? never heard of those... :oops:
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A type of Celestion G-12.
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ah, ok, thanks.
:drink: