Author Topic: New amp pretty soon... (Read 5276 times)

Vindication · « **on:** June 23, 2006, 02:17:44 AM »

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking here for a little bit, and Dave_MC recommended joining here, so I've decided to do just that (some of you may recognize me from UG).

Anyway, I have a question:

I'm getting a new amp sometime fairly soon (around September), for a maximum price of $500 or so, and I was wondering, what's the best amp for me to get?

Currently, I have an Ibanez RG3EX1 (a Guitar Center exclusive; it's basically a RG321 with basswood with some cosmetic changes) with a Seymour Duncan Jazz/JB set (far better than the stock pups, but I'd still prefer BKs :P).

I'm looking for decent cleans, but I'm more focused on the distortion: I want a classic metal distortion, something along the lines of Randy Rhoads or Rust In Peace-era Dave Mustaine.

I currently have a Vox Valvetronix AD15VT, and after some playing, I've decided that a tube combo is the only thing for me - I can't get the tone I'm looking for from solid-states or modeling amps.

I'm mostly looking at used/refurbished stuff, because I can get a better product for the price then.

Volume isn't a big necessity: I know a 30-40 watt tube combo is already loud enough for gigging, and I'm not good enough to gig yet anyway; and I need something that can sound good at reasonably quiet volumes (I live in an apartment).

An amp I've been looking at is the Peavey XXX Super 40. It looks like my cup of tea, but I'm not sure if the stock speaker is any good (I'm sure it will be good enough for a while, but once I start getting far better, I will probably want to upgrade my tone a bit).

I've heard that the XXX is fairly bright, too...I was wondering if this would pose a problem, seeing as I have a JB in the bridge of my guitar and they're reknowned for their treble. In the future (distant future), I'm planning on getting an Ibanez RG1570 and getting a Rebel Yell/(Don't know what to get for the single coil in the middle)/Nailbomb combo, and once again, I'm not sure if the XXX/Nailbomb will be too trebly.

Sorry for the incredibly long post...haha.

For the people too lazy to read everything up there:

1) I need a good tube combo for about $400-$500 used, with decent cleans and awesome Randy Rhoads or early Dave Mustaine-esque distortion.

2) Will a Peavey XXX be too trebly with a Seymour Duncan JB or a BK Nailbomb?

Thanks in advance!

WITH FULL DISTORTION · « **Reply #1 on:** June 23, 2006, 10:20:08 AM »

for the amp, with that LOW wattage you want.. i don´t know.. but, you can go Peavey 5150 combo of 60 watts.
and .. regarding the pickups...
i didn´t PAY any of the bkps
still waiting for the site revamp and the new Pickup called Painkiller, to make my mind.
Hails
JP
WELCOME TO THE FORUM
Are you Into Black/death/thrash/fusion Metal!
?

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #2 on:** June 23, 2006, 12:42:14 PM »

I would advise waiting, saving a bit more, and going with a used Rivera Knucklehead or Marshall JCM800 combo. You can add an overdrive in front of the amp to beef up the gain.

You can also look for an old VHT Pitbull combo, (they are 1x12 and sounds really good) but that will cost even more.

_tom_ · « **Reply #3 on:** June 23, 2006, 01:32:10 PM »

It may also be useful to save up for a Hotplate aswell, meaning you can get a bit of a better sound at lower volumes (so long as you dont have the hotplate on too low a volume setting, otherwise the tone just goes to shite)

Vindication · « **Reply #4 on:** June 23, 2006, 09:09:02 PM »

Quote from: _tom_

It may also be useful to save up for a Hotplate aswell, meaning you can get a bit of a better sound at lower volumes (so long as you dont have the hotplate on too low a volume setting, otherwise the tone just goes to shitee)

Yeah, I've heard good things about the Hotplate. However, what exactly is it? I'm pretty sure it's an attenuator (correct me if I'm wrong), and if so, does it get attached inside of the amp via soldering, or does it get put in the effects loop, or what?

To WITH FULL DISTORTION: I've talked to several people, and they've said that the 5150 is probably too dark for the tones I'm looking for.

To TwilightOdyssey: I was also looking at used JCM800's...however, those are probably too loud...either way, is there any big difference between the JCM800 combo and the head? I looked on eBay and the head alone is selling for a lot more than the combo.

Thanks again for all the help!

dave_mc · « **Reply #5 on:** June 24, 2006, 12:04:02 AM »

Thanks for the referral, vindication!

i haven't tried them, but i hear traynor ycv50 blues have a good clean channel, and a marshall-y overdrive channel (from what I hear!)- you may be able to scoop that (only a little, megadeth aren't really scooped at all!) to get a megadeth-y tone. Also, since this is purely from hearsay, so when people say "marshall-y", they may mean vintage marshall, which isn't really what you want.

But bear in mind I haven't tried that, that's purely hearsay. I think they're around $600-$700.

failing that, I second ben/twilight odyssey. if you can get more cash to get a better amp, you'll thank yourself later.

:drink:

EDIT: ooh, if the price can't increase, how much can you get a randall rg50tc (haven't tried it, but again from hearsay, it might do what you want) or an ashdown fallen angel (have tried, I wouldn't recommend it if you can get more cash, but it's decent to good for the money, maybe a little modern-sounding though). Just another two to look into.

fps_dean · « **Reply #6 on:** June 24, 2006, 02:28:55 AM »

Quote

An amp I've been looking at is the Peavey XXX Super 40. It looks like my cup of tea, but I'm not sure if the stock speaker is any good (I'm sure it will be good enough for a while, but once I start getting far better, I will probably want to upgrade my tone a bit).

The XXXs aren't too bad actually. Stock speaker is much better than many stock speakers in much of todays high end equipment such as the Celestion G12M75...

Vindication · « **Reply #7 on:** June 24, 2006, 03:20:01 PM »

Quote from: dave_mc

i haven't tried them, but i hear traynor ycv50 blues have a good clean channel, and a marshall-y overdrive channel (from what I hear!)- you may be able to scoop that (only a little, megadeth aren't really scooped at all!) to get a megadeth-y tone. Also, since this is purely from hearsay, so when people say "marshall-y", they may mean vintage marshall, which isn't really what you want.

Yeah, I don't like the sound of scooped mids. I was originally planning on getting a Peavey Classic 30, or a Fender Blues Junior, and putting my Boss Metal Zone in front of it; however, I decided to just go for an all-tube amp with the distorted tones I'm looking for, as it would just sound better and more organic.

Quote from: dave_mc

failing that, I second ben/twilight odyssey. if you can get more cash to get a better amp, you'll thank yourself later.

A Peavey XXX Super 40 isn't good enough? :?: :?: I've heard they're similar to 5150's, but not as dark.

I don't want to save forever - I have a very limited income (limited being $10 a week, and however much my parents decide to give me for my birthday, Christmas, etc), and I don't want to wait forever to upgrade my amp, because eventually I want to get an RG1570 with BKs in it as my next guitar, which will cost me about $1100...I don't want to spend much more than $600-$700 for an amp because, although the ones I really want to try/probably buy are far beyond that (ENGL Powerball/Savage, anyone?), there are ones I'm far more likely to enjoy for a long time without spending so much, like the aforementioned JCM800, the XXX, the 5150, etc. (just as examples).

I'm basically looking for an amp that will last me a long time and sound great, while being relatively cheap. I've noticed there are a lot of amps that are just plain overpriced (particularly halfstacks...a Peavey XXX Super 40 combo new is around $850; the 120w head alone is $1150, and each of the cabs is an additional $600 - is there anyone out there who actually needs a 120 watt all-tube fullstack?)

Quote from: dave_mc

EDIT: ooh, if the price can't increase, how much can you get a randall rg50tc (haven't tried it, but again from hearsay, it might do what you want) or an ashdown fallen angel (have tried, I wouldn't recommend it if you can get more cash, but it's decent to good for the money, maybe a little modern-sounding though). Just another two to look into.

I recently saw the Ashdown Fallen Angel in a music catalog I got (American Musical Supply, I believe), and it looked okay, albeit a bit expensive. How are the all-tube Randalls? I've never seen an all-tube Randall; has anyone had any experience with them?

Oh, and on two different notes:
1) Does anyone know if Marshall still makes JMPs?
2) Are there 7-string versions of RG1570s? I've seen several guitarists I like use them, such as Steve Vai and Michael Romeo, and I like the extended range of the instrument and the chunky rhythm sound attained by that bottom string while not having to downtune.

_tom_ · « **Reply #8 on:** June 24, 2006, 03:53:16 PM »

Quote from: Vindication

Quote from: _tom_
It may also be useful to save up for a Hotplate aswell, meaning you can get a bit of a better sound at lower volumes (so long as you dont have the hotplate on too low a volume setting, otherwise the tone just goes to shitee)

Yeah, I've heard good things about the Hotplate. However, what exactly is it? I'm pretty sure it's an attenuator (correct me if I'm wrong), and if so, does it get attached inside of the amp via soldering, or does it get put in the effects loop, or what?

Yeah its an attenuator with bright and deep boost switches which apparently help the tone stay good as you attenuate more, I dont really like them that much though, the bright seems too bright (could probably change that though) and deep is too dark I find. It just goes between the amps speaker output and the speakers, and it works really well.

Vindication · « **Reply #9 on:** June 24, 2006, 04:21:34 PM »

Quote from: _tom_

Yeah its an attenuator with bright and deep boost switches which apparently help the tone stay good as you attenuate more, I dont really like them that much though, the bright seems too bright (could probably change that though) and deep is too dark I find. It just goes between the amps speaker output and the speakers, and it works really well.

I saw it in the AMS catalog...$300? Sounds like a ripoff...are there any attenuators out there that won't make me have to raid Fort Knox (just kidding, FBI-ers)?

Like I said before, I have a very limited income...I can't afford to spend $300 on an attenuator.

dave_mc · « **Reply #10 on:** June 24, 2006, 06:17:25 PM »

If megadeth is the heaviest stuff you play, I'd say the peavey classic 30 could near enough handle that on its own. Megadeth isn't over-distorted. You might want an overdrive for leads though.

If the ashdown is expensive where you are, I'd avoid it, to be honest. To me, it was a good metal amp for the price, but wouldn't compare to something boutique (or even semi-boutique).

Engls are awesome, in my opinion. But if you're after really marshall-y sounds, you may want to look elsewhere.

EDIT: you can get 7-string 1570's, i think they're called 1527's.

Vindication · « **Reply #11 on:** June 24, 2006, 08:59:33 PM »

Quote from: dave_mc

If megadeth is the heaviest stuff you play, I'd say the peavey classic 30 could near enough handle that on its own. Megadeth isn't over-distorted. You might want an overdrive for leads though.

If the ashdown is expensive where you are, I'd avoid it, to be honest. To me, it was a good metal amp for the price, but wouldn't compare to something boutique (or even semi-boutique).

Engls are awesome, in my opinion. But if you're after really marshall-y sounds, you may want to look elsewhere.

EDIT: you can get 7-string 1570's, i think they're called 1527's.

I looked at the 1527...they're HH, not HSH; I don't think that'll be a big problem, though...less money to spend that way :D.

I can't afford an ENGL anyway :P.

I want to be able to play some Symphony X stuff, and I'm pretty sure Mike Romeo uses Mesa/Boogies - maybe that's a bit higher gain.

I hear that something like an XXX would give me better tone than a Classic 30 and a Metal Zone, because the tone actually comes from the amp and not from a middle-of-the-line distortion pedal.

dave_mc · « **Reply #12 on:** June 24, 2006, 11:35:12 PM »

^ yeah, sorry, forgot the 1527 didn't have a single.

i dunno. I haven't tried the xxx, so I can't really comment on that. But you could use an overdrive pedal with the drive low and the level high to boost the classic 30 into metal. But you'd probably need an eq as well to make it sound metal, and probably a new, more metal-sounding speaker...

Dunno, really. :lol:

Vindication · « **Reply #13 on:** June 25, 2006, 02:14:07 AM »

Quote from: dave_mc

^ yeah, sorry, forgot the 1527 didn't have a single.

i dunno. I haven't tried the xxx, so I can't really comment on that. But you could use an overdrive pedal with the drive low and the level high to boost the classic 30 into metal. But you'd probably need an eq as well to make it sound metal, and probably a new, more metal-sounding speaker...

Dunno, really. :lol:

Haha...I'm still going for a high-gain amp...if I don't find one, then that will be my second choice. I'm probably selling my Metal Zone; I can try and find an overdrive pedal, like a used Tubescreamer, and use that with a Classic 30 or similar amp; and I could get a Dano Fish and Chips EQ...7 band and only $30. That'll be my Plan B :P

VINDICEDIT:

I just went to Sam Ash, and I played the 5150 and the XXX...

I am SO getting the 5150.

*drools*