Combos or heads?

[Ratrod]

Combos take up less space. That makes them very attractive.

I had several combos but I always ended up hooking them up to my 2X12.

The last combo I owned was an Ampeg Superrocket. Forget portability. It was a 100W, 2X12 monster that weighed close to 100 pounds.

A head and cab splits the weight in two. It takes up more space but mostly in height, not floor surface. IMO a (semi) closed cab sounds better than an open back cab/combo. Tubes (valves) are not happy in combos.

[hunter]

I like combos for the 5W thing as they can easily be carried around (living room -> music room etc).

But for serious stuff I am all about heads and cabs.
I usually stick with my cabs and buy/sell heads all the time.

Maybe mini stacks like the Krank Rev Jr would be a good idea as well?

As for Bugera, if I see ths right, they have like the Peavey department for Metal, the Marshall department (1960 and 1990) for old skool rock and the Creamytolexcombo department for blues/rock.

The Metal amps (333 and 6260) only come in 2x12 configurations as combos. I wonder if those would be too heavy to be useful. Maybe I'd go for a half stack 333XL (heard that amp at musikmesse and it was great) and then take a 22W and 55W cream combo, maybe one of the 5W models too. Those Marshall heads might be awesome, but rarely will you find someone who buys a 200W Plexi from Bugera.

[Philly Q]

A lot of the comments seem to be from the perspective of:

heads = big
combos = small and portable

But (stating the obvious) not all heads are 50w or 100w monsters, not all cabs are 4x12s.  And many combos, as Ratrod has pointed out, are not very portable at all....

There are some nice little heads on the market, space-wise I'd rather have a few of those and maybe just one or two cabs.  I know there's the problem that the same speaker(s) don't necessarily work equally well with different amps.

[badgermark]

What amp do you use Phil? I know you're a play at home kinda guy and I'm looking for a 'home' amp myself.

[dave_mc]

A lot of the comments seem to be from the perspective of:

heads = big
combos = small and portable

But (stating the obvious) not all heads are 50w or 100w monsters, not all cabs are 4x12s.  And many combos, as Ratrod has pointed out, are not very portable at all....

There are some nice little heads on the market, space-wise I'd rather have a few of those and maybe just one or two cabs.  I know there's the problem that the same speaker(s) don't necessarily work equally well with different amps.

same here, i only play at home too. Certainly i can normally justify a (small) head much more easily than a combo, in terms of space, anyway.

[Twinfan]

What amp do you use Phil? I know you're a play at home kinda guy and I'm looking for a 'home' amp myself.

I think Phil has a Tiny Terror?

[Afghan Dave]

What amp do you use Phil? I know you're a play at home kinda guy and I'm looking for a 'home' amp myself.

I think Phil has a Tiny Terror?

I think Phil has a Blackheart?

 :? Come on Phil, tell us you've got a Mesa Duel Recto  :P

[Philly Q]

What amp do you use Phil? I know you're a play at home kinda guy and I'm looking for a 'home' amp myself.

I think Phil has a Tiny Terror?

I think Phil has a Blackheart?

 :? Come on Phil, tell us you've got a Mesa Duel Recto  :P

I have the Tiny Terror, an Orange 1x12".... and as I confessed at the London BKP meet, one of those "Andy Dokken" modified Harley Benton GA5's from eBay.  :oops:

Also an old, broken Sessionette 75 and a Pod XT.  And four Korg Pandoras.

What a backline, eh lads?  :lol:

[Afghan Dave]

Damn... I knew you had an Andy Dokken but I thought it was the Blackheart  :(

What is the Harley Benton like? Gain monster or blues machine?

[Philly Q]

Both, sort of.  It's pretty versatile - it has gain and master volume controls, a 3-way "bias" switch, a 3-way "gain" switch, a pentode/triode switch and Power Scaling.  $%&# knows what they all do...  :?

However.... this will sound really stupid, but I honestly don't know if it actually sounds any good, my playing is so terrible (I don't think the 8" speaker helps, even though it is a Celestion).  Which is why I was so reluctant to admit to owning the damn thing.  :oops:

[hunter]

I think Philly should get an Egnater, he would love it. A MOD50, or if it's too much, a Renegade. I just think it would match well, and they are killer amps.

[Philly Q]

I do like the look of Egnater stiff, but I think the MOD50 or Renegade would be too complicated (and powerful) for me.

The Rebel 20 is really cute though.

[hunter]

I do like the look of Egnater stiff, but I think the MOD50 or Renegade would be too complicated (and powerful) for me.

The Rebel 20 is really cute though.

Hmmmmmmm .....

Maybe you'd like this: http://www.eddiesguitars.com/products/bogner-mojado-head

[Philly Q]

I certainly like the look!  What the hell does the schizo knob do?

[hunter]

He's had that one in the Metropolis, basically gives you 5 different flavours of preamp voicings and gain. In the Metropolis it's surely great, really dug that amp when I tried it!