Amps I should look at??

FuseG4

FuseG4

Our Neighbor Totoro
My mom's cool. She bought me a telecaster for helping her find a strat and an amp she could groove on. She's just learning how to play.
Anyways she wants to get me an amp. She hasn't set a price limit but she's not rich so I'm gonna roughly assume a $1000 limit.
The other stipulation is she seriously distrusts ebay. She wants to get me something new, with a warranty and all that. I'm not gonna argue with her on that. Other than it's based on what I want.

So what do I want? Well, my night train has the clean and mild ac15-style overdrive down. What it lacks is power, bass, heavy gain, channel switching,and reverb.
So, I want something 40+ watts, el34 or 6l6. I could go british or american tonality but I have a preference for british. Reverb and channel switching are preferred options.

I play blues, blues rock, anything by the Rolling Stones, and the stuff I write is usually like indie/stonerish rock, punk, and some ska-punk.

For combo amps, I'm thinking of:
Bogner alchemist: either the 1x12 or 2x12. Haven't played one yet, but clips sound awesome. Features look good on paper. haven't heard about too many reliability issues, but line6 is line6 and I'm not sure about their customer support.

Haze 40: I have played this one. I like the sound but I never got to test exactly how much gain is on tap. I'm sure I could just goose it with a pedal. I'm worried about the tubes being very close to the speaker, and I heard this amp is bad for microphonics. I guess the current production ones got the "channel switching POP" issue fixed?

Egnater renegade 112: at $1100, this thing is barely within the range. Not sure if I'd like it or not based on the rebel 20, which I found a bit stiff feeling. Lots of features and it has both kinds of tubes I'm interested in.

Heads... there are some decent heads in this price but I'd have to either sell my current amp for a cab or save up a chunk of cash. If I had a head with a truly good clean and dirty sound, I might not mind giving up the night train.

Blackheart BH100H: no store I've seen ever has one of these so I haven't played it but clips sound great. no reverb, but 100 watts or 50 watts in AB, or 60 or 30 watts in class A. The clips sound like the blackheart voicing I liked with the 5W I used to own, kinda modern and balanced.

Used DSL100: Musicians friend has 2 that are just under 1000, with just minor scuffs on the covering or missing the foorswitch. Never played it, but the DSLs are what everyone says it the "best" for the marshall tone on a budget. No one has a 50W I can find.

used JVM 205H: Used one for $1119.20 is on MF because of minor scratches. I might be able to talk her into this one? I mean 2 channels, 3 modes, footswitchable to death... 50W also sounds better than 100W for my at-home playing.

So what else should I look at?
 
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Re: Amps I should look at??

Great question.

How about a '59 Bassman LTD?

They are very stout in the low-end department, they are the godfather of all Marshall tone, and they are superlatively well built.

A '59 Bassman reissue (or clone) with a drive pedal in front of it is a religious gain sound.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

I'd say the Bogner or the Marshall Haze. Those are some bad ass amps, and well worth the money. Of course I would recomend the Hot Head, "being a Pyotr Belov fan myself"
But I think there is better out there in that price range. Try 'em all, you'll find one you like.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

ImmortalSix said:
Great question.

How about a '59 Bassman LTD?

They are very stout in the low-end department, they are the godfather of all Marshall tone, and they are superlatively well built.

A '59 Bassman reissue (or clone) with a drive pedal in front of it is a religious gain sound.
Click to expand...

I had thought of this. I'm not sure but it would probably be cool... the fender overdrive is something I wanna get into but it's soo different from the more modern kinda sounds. I'll have to try one sometimes but those amps are as expensive as JVMs... but I'd get to keep my night train as I wouldn't need to sell it for a cab. hmmmmmmmmmmm
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

FuseG4 said:
I had thought of this. I'm not sure but it would probably be cool... the fender overdrive is something I wanna get into but it's soo different from the more modern kinda sounds. I'll have to try one sometimes but those amps are as expensive as JVMs... but I'd get to keep my night train as I wouldn't need to sell it for a cab. hmmmmmmmmmmm
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that a Bassman won't overdrive very much until it's LOUD...like double when your NT overdrives, easily, as the Bassman will have 4 speakers. They're best used on a bigger stage when you can open it up to 5 or so, and then it's really only the edge of breakup thing. To get into the serious grind, you gots to either crank them WAY up, or push them with a pedal.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

I would pick a Bogner Alchemist over the Haze 40 - I have played both, and the Bogner had a much deeper, throatier voice to me. The Haze 40 sounded boxy and narrow in comparison.

Also look at the Fender Supersonic. I found a brand new one at my local mom & pop for $999, and holy hell, what an amplifier.

You got Vibrolux, Bassman, Prosonic, and who knows what else all kinda wrapped up in one box. And they're all 2 legit 2 quit (hey heyyyy!)
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

karpathion said:
I'd say the Bogner or the Marshall Haze. Those are some bad ass amps, and well worth the money. Of course I would recomend the Hot Head, "being a Pyotr Belov fan myself"
But I think there is better out there in that price range. Try 'em all, you'll find one you like.
Click to expand...

I thought about just saying F it and get the blackheart. it seems like 100W of the amp I used to dig! Powering it down to 30W is also cool.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

The VM Fenders appealed to me but I'd have to play one first. I'd have to compare it to the HRDx which I know I like.
I'm gonna go look up what the supersonic's all about right now. oh it doesn't have reverb? wow you'd think a $1200 FENDER amp would have reverb written all over it.
 
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Re: Amps I should look at??

FuseG4 said:
The VM Fenders appealed to me but I'd have to play one first. I'd have to compare it to the HRDx which I know I like.
I'm gonna go look up what the supersonic's all about right now.
Click to expand...

I was the opposite --- the VM Fenders didn't appeal to me at all until I played one.

I was in the guitar shop with Greg Koch, which, ya know, didn't hurt.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

Speaking of Greg Koch, here is a great demo of the Supersonic.

 
Re: Amps I should look at??

Question to ask is will you plan to be gigging anytime in the future, if yes then get an amp that can handle live situations. I live in a house and have a kid, I can still rock out my dsl100 at "house" levels and it still sounds good. Never really turned it up past 4 tho.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

mwalluk said:
Question to ask is will you plan to be gigging anytime in the future, if yes then get an amp that can handle live situations. I live in a house and have a kid, I can still rock out my dsl100 at "house" levels and it still sounds good. Never really turned it up past 4 tho.
Click to expand...

probably no gigging anytime soon. I was thinking if I had a 100W head that wouldn't switch down in wattage like a blackheart or something, I'd eventually snag an attenuator for milder use and then when I wanna jam I'll drag it to my mom's house where the neighbors don't care.

That said I'd prolly better just stick with the lowest wattage that has the tone i like, simply for volume's sake. can one pull tubes on the DSL and if so does it sound like a DSL 50 or is it different?
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

FuseG4 said:
probably no gigging anytime soon. I was thinking if I had a 100W head that wouldn't switch down in wattage like a blackheart or something, I'd eventually snag an attenuator for milder use and then when I wanna jam I'll drag it to my mom's house where the neighbors don't care.

That said I'd prolly better just stick with the lowest wattage that has the tone i like, simply for volume's sake. can one pull tubes on the DSL and if so does it sound like a DSL 50 or is it different?
Click to expand...

You can pull 2 tubes from the dsl100 to make it 50 watts, but keep in mind the volume differences between the two a miniscule. There's only a few db difference. Like I said, you can get a good bedroom tone with the volume on 1.5-2. It's bedroom level, but still has a good tone. The reason why I asked that is if you ever wanna jam in a band situation or live, you may find yourself on the outside looking in if you get something "smaller, comboish". I prefer heads over combos, b/c you can change cabs anytime you want. Hit me up PM I played a ton of amps and know some places for good deals on cabs.

I love the dsl, it fits my style. Recommend checking out marshallampforums.com dudes there know everything Marshall.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

The thing I've read about the bandmaster VM is that the clean channel doesn't break up til really late. For me the best fender clean tones are right before it starts to break up.
Sound's like I'd like the HRDx better.

I did notice that this is my chance to finally get a DRRI. The sweet cleans, the raunchy breakup, the tube rec. sag, the reverb... oh man. Maybe I should get a DRRI, and find a big 2x12 cab to put some low-end chunk into my night train? In a previous thread I noted that I like the character of the NT's gain except it needs a thicker bass.
 
Re: Amps I should look at??

If you like the Blackhearts, look for a Belov Dragster, those things are awesome!
 
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Re: Amps I should look at??

mwalluk said:
You can pull 2 tubes from the dsl100 to make it 50 watts, but keep in mind the volume differences between the two a miniscule. There's only a few db difference. Like I said, you can get a good bedroom tone with the volume on 1.5-2. It's bedroom level, but still has a good tone. The reason why I asked that is if you ever wanna jam in a band situation or live, you may find yourself on the outside looking in if you get something "smaller, comboish". I prefer heads over combos, b/c you can change cabs anytime you want. Hit me up PM I played a ton of amps and know some places for good deals on cabs.

I love the dsl, it fits my style. Recommend checking out marshallampforums.com dudes there know everything Marshall.
Click to expand...

I think I follow you. Oh man this is rough because i really love the vox, fender, and marshall tones... right now I got the vox and it gets into marshall-esque territory, but it's a lil like a teaser.

lately I've also preferred heads to combos because of microphonics and tube rattle, something I've had problems with in both of the tube combo amps I've owned in the past.
Combos are SO much easier to haul around. My car is a 4 door Focus and my Mom's car is a Jetta, so both my means of transportation aren't really suited for 4x12s, thats for damn sure!
 
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