Powerball Vs Invader Vs Uberschall Vs Kucklehead Vs ?

[MDV]

STILL on the super-amp search!

I need something thats capable primarily of a tight, heavy metal sound, not too bright, not peavy/mesa-dark, decent cleans (think 'way better than a 5150') and preferably quite an open more crunch oriented distortion as well (think ISIS, panopticon).

The only one of those I've tried is the powerball. I like. I like a lot. But are the others better? I've also heard the PB gets thin at high volumes and is fussy about speakers

I have a sneaky feeling the uberschall will have a better metal sound for me but not so much an open crunch sound? How are the cleans?

I've heard the invader isnt as high gain or tight, but it gives great note definition and responivness to pick attack. Can anyone confirm this? Can it be made to be tight?

I've heard good things about knuckleheads, but I've heard they're fizzy/brittle

Anything <£2000 I've missed? (oh, marshall JVM, for example...)

I cant easily get to try these out, so any eperience you can share or links would be great

[QS-Nalle]

Diezel Einstein.....Fantastic piece of gear.

[MDV]

I dont doubt it, but I'm very unlikely to get to play one, let alone A/B it with anything and they're very expensive (not that I'm looking at 'cheap' but they're a bit more up there)

[Orkestra]

VHT Deliverance 60 Watt @ £1199
Soldano Avenger @ £1199
EVH 5153 @ £1299

Although the first two ARE exactly what you're looking for in the gain dept... they might not be perfect for your clean requirements. My advice is to get a Roland JC120 or something and run it through the same cab with a Radial Headbone VS, and AB the two... that would take you up to about £2,000

[Orkestra]

Also, what I do on my Powerball if I want super crunch is max the gain on my clean/crunch channel and max the channel volume, that shite sounds intense!

[HTH AMPS]

I've tried an Uberschall and it had a fantastic clean channel - MUCH more headroom than most amps.  The guy in the shop was saying they designed the clean channel to be just that with none of this crunch lark.

The filth channel had it all imo - as much gain as you'dever need and still sounded great with the gain lower.  It's got it's feet very firmly in the Marshall camp in terms of tone.

 :twisted:

[Antag]

A couple of things to consider:

You want a good metal sound, good cleans & a good crunch sound, but does that mean you need a 3-channel amp? (i.e. do you need to switch between the 3 sounds rather than just adjust the amp controls?) - if so, that instantly rules out the Uberschall.

IMO an EL34-driven amp does the "open crunch" sound better than a 6L6-driven one (yes, I know, sweeping generalisation :)), but I've found the Engls I've tried cover it well enough (see my comments in another thread about Savage vs HK Triamp)

Powerball's metal sound is very, very good,  I liked it too (though I went for the Savage).  How loud were you able to demo it? & with what speakers?  If it sounded good to YOU at the volumes you want & with the speakers you're likely to buy, then why take any notice of what you heard?

Others to consider, given your comments about Mesa/Peavey:
Hughes & Kettner Triamp MKII - absolutely sensational clean & crunch sounds.  I liked the high gain too - as much gain as anyone could want, but the Savage was just more "MEEEETTTTTTAAAAALLLLLL!!" :twisted:
Engl Savage (need I say more? :))

[dave_mc]

problem is i haven't tried most of those. never even seen the invader... tried a couple of bogners (shiva and xtc) which i liked, but not the uberschall.

as orkestra says, both the soldano avenger and vht deliverance are sweet (haven't tried the 5150 III), but perhaps not just as modern-sounding as the engls. of course, people who don't like modern sounds just as much would probably prefer the soldano or vht. the diezel vh4 i tried was sweet too, but as you say, probably hard to find.

Cornford may not get heavy enough for you, but the tone is sweet. worth trying against the soldano and vht if at all possible. probably better value, being UK-made too.

you have about a bazillion options, basically, and as you doubtless know, it's just about getting to try as many of those options (at as high volumes) as possible, without blowing half your amp budget on train tickets or petrol, and then just buying the one you like best.

[Orkestra]

Also try to get hold of an Elmwood M90 Modena... its about €2,200 if I remember what Peter told me

http://www.elmwood.se/

Also the Laboga Mr Hector http://www.labogaamps.com/english/hector.html has some nice sounds but it can be a bit dry

[dave_mc]

i've heard good things about those, but never even seen one, let alone tried... :(

another one i forgot to mention is the brunetti xlr-evo. nice amp, and versatile.

[noodleplugerine]

You won't get much better than a Diezel Einstein - They're amazing.

[hunter]

OK for the Eini, but it is not that open. You said you want an open tone.  That would be more the VHT or Soldano, but rather not ENGL, Diezel nor the Bogner Ueberschall, which are all rather compressed.

The Shiva is more open than the Eini, but probably not heavy enough for you.

If decent cleans are needed as you say, it must be a channel switcher, ever considered a DSL or JVM Marshall? I think those are really great amps.

The Rivera could be good, but I used to have a Knucklehead and could never warm up with it, now looking back I think it might have been biased badly, but I was too green in those days.

I haven't played the 5150 III yet, but that could also be interesting.

The ultimate amp for open rock sound, if you can afford it, is IMO the Bogner XTC Classic. But it's like 4500 EUR.

[Johnny Mac]

The Koch Powertone II has 3 channels. The clean is lovely! The gain channel does the very slightest break up to a great rhythm crunch through to full on distortion with a big bottom end and quite an open sound, great dynamics. The ultra gain is super tight, compressed and is as heavy as wet carpet! Great for leads and sustains for ever with MM or Cold Sweat. It has all the specs you need and it's only around 1200.
Just check out the reviews on HC, then have a go on one!!

[Orkestra]

that is true, the Koch is pretty full on...

maybe go through Matamp, they might be able to build you something truely unique for what you want.

Oh and also, try the Soldano and VHT, they are perfect for you, I swear

[Dakine]

As you know I have had/do have, an ENGL/Mesa and Rivera.

I still have the Rivera.

I love the build quality and immense tonal ranges it can acheive with a plethora of tweaks. It is the Knucklehead reverb.

Now, if I were you (and wanting the cleans, as good as fender as you will get imo) and wanting a Metal/Rock amp, I would go Rivera K Tre. I spent considerable time on one of these in a studio here in Austin.
What it had over my Knucklehead was like another gain stage. That is to say insanity was easier to reach easily! It still had the awesome build quality etc. but was abit simpler than the KR to dial in. I have read many people have trouble dialling 'their' tone in with a Tre, I did'nt have any problem myself (maybe due to similarity with Rivera's now anyway). But, as was a soundproof studio suffice to say I had a WAIL of a time :) BTW, they had Bogner, Divided by 13, Tophat etc. but my fave was def. the Tre.
Now, in my experience the Rivera HAS to be run above 3 on vol. or it sounds YUCK, but 3 plus (which can be GREATLY tricked/used by the effects loop trick) and a gorgeous NON fizzy deep and thick gain is reached.

Good luck mate.

Oh, BTW, as we have gone around this before when I was looking (and sub. got the Rivera). I have tried many Diezel amps now too. IMO I would never buy one. I truly know what 'hifi' sounding means now in conj. with the amp. It sounds like a well produced record but somewhat sterile and non organic to me, and I don't like that.

For ref. I played one of my EMG eqpt. FlatHeads and a Les Paul through the Tre.