MDV's Super-Amp Mission, 2008

[MDV]

The time has come ladies and gents!

Oh yes.  :twisted:

In two of your earth weeks I'll have a couple of grand burning a hole in my bank account (basically, I bought less beer and random bits of kit I dont use for a few months!)

So now I need to know where to go!

I was thinking:

Newcastle, basically for guitarguitar
manchester for sounds great

I'm looking at:
Engl powerball, invader and maybe SE (if its worth it)
Marshall JVM (I imagine thats everywhere)
Diezel (profoundly unlikely I'll buy, but a candidate)
Framus Cobra
Bogner Uber
Rivera Knucklehead and K-Tre
Koch powertone

Outsiders (cos they only have one channel)
Soldano avenger
VHT Deliverence

For these, and this type of gear whats the best place within 3 hours or so of west cumbria? (manchester is 2 to 2.5 hours from where I am, for perspective). Best city or town I mean. With the best shops in it. Da'an saaff isnt really an option, unfortunately. Too far. Most of scotland is fine, though.

Any more last minute additions for the list?

Cheers
Mark

[dave_mc]

if you can make scotland, there are guitar guitars in glasgow and edinburgh. i've been to the one in edinburgh and it's nice, sound-proof (at least i hope so :lol: ) testing booth etc.

it might stock the same stuff as the newcastle one, but i guess it'd be worth a phone call to see, just in case they have some different stuff.

amps you should look at in addition to the ones you've mentioned (that i can think of offhand):

bogner
brunetti (not too sure about dealers unfortunately, but the xlr-evo i tried was great)
cornford maybe (perhaps not enough gain/modern tonality)

EDIT: just checking the sounds great website... you might as well try the krank revolution and krankenstein (who knows, you might like them!) and the modular randall... might as well try laney too. and mesa. budda maybe? might be a bit like the cornford, but worth a try too.

ones i haven't tried but would were i near sounds great: cae od100, soldano slo (the avenger's nice),

you're after modern metal, right?

also, is the SE worth it? not sure. It kicks ass, but if you want the uber-saturated high gain engl tone, you can probably get that with a powerball (i haven't tried the two head to head though, it's possible the SE's tone is slightly better), and if you want more versatility, you could possibly get as much, if not more, by buying said powerball and then another amp for low to mid gain stuff. of course, you'd need space for two amps.

basically, i agree with what guitarist said in their review... there are amps which sound as good as the SE for a grand less, but none as versatile (which still sound as good) for a grand less. it really depends what you're after.

[noodleplugerine]

The SE is insanely awesome.

But so is the Diezel Herbert.

And they're direct competitors.

That would be one HELL of a standoff...

[dave_mc]

i tried the SE versus the vh4...

i liked the SE better, but that was mainly due to its added versatility. in terms of tone, there was little (if anything) in it, other than the fact the SE's cleans were a lot nicer, i thought.

that was at reasonably low volumes too, unfortunately.

[PoshCollins]

Depends on your Playing Mark.

What type of player and what do you seek?

[hamfist]

I hear wonderful things about the Bad Cat Hot Cat amps. Being Class A high gain amps they are fairly unusual, and may be well worth a try.
   Sounds Great appear to be stockists, although no prices on their website.

[Dakine]

Mark,
don't wanna upset the applecart.................................but I will  :P

Wadaboot a Cameron CCV/CCM-100
although not in Europe yet :(

or

CAE OD-100SE+


hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.

[il˙ti]

Depends on your Playing Mark.

What type of player and what do you seek?

I think we all know what type of player MDV is.  :twisted:  (if ever that smiley was appropriate, it is now)

[hunter]

Hmm, over on Rig-Talk they find no end recommending the Mark IV for versatility and high gain (Metallica Black Album style).

Different animal as it's not easy to dial in and has tons of options. Might be worth while checking out.

[MDV]

Ok guys, no better choices than sounds great or guitar guitar (scotish or jordie)

Fair enough.

Nick! Stop confusing me  :lol:

I'm sure one of those must be good enough. I mean something in that list has to put a smile on may face for at least most of the tones I want....?

I know I love powerballs, so thats what I'll probably get. But we'll see.

Posh, I have a pretty good idea what kind of amp to go for (most people on teh board know pretty much where my playing taste is at by now :lol: ). This isnt an amp recommendation thread. Been there, done there. This is where I can find them, so I can play firebreathing, earth-shaking, earsplitting ultra-tight, super-clear metal through them until I make up my mind  :twisted: (assuming that my playing lives up to those tonal qualities  :roll: )

[MDV]

Woaaa!, Hunter, forgot about the mark IV!

It may well do me. I've heard bad things about how hard it is to wrestle a tone out of them and that they arent tight, but if the shops got one, I'll get a drop-B'd ceramic warpig equiped guitar through it like all the others  :twisted: (its only fair!)

[hunter]

Woaaa!, Hunter, forgot about the mark IV!

It may well do me. I've heard bad things about how hard it is to wrestle a tone out of them and that they arent tight, but if the shops got one, I'll get a drop-B'd ceramic warpig equiped guitar through it like all the others  :twisted: (its only fair!)

Well ... I thought for the name. Let's say if there was an amp named Jaeger, Hunter or Christoph IV, I would definitely check it out ...

[Dakine]

just allow ALOT of time to mess with it. That is one crazy amp to dial in if not experienced with it!

[Twinfan]

Always worth ringing Sounds Great just before you come down to see what stock they have.  It changes quickly.

Let me know if you're coming down this way and fancy meeting up  :)

[dave_mc]

play your cards right and you'll have an amp and a date, mark... :)