Best all-around tube combo?

P

playmystrat

New member
Hey all,

I'm thinking about getting into the market for a sweet tube combo. I play everything from alt rock to classic rock, blues, and jazz, so I don't really need that ridiculous crunch of a triple rectifier, but I want an amp that can handle BOTH clean and distortion very well. I'm thinking Marshall JCM series. Any recommendations?
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

playmystrat said:
Hey all,

I'm thinking about getting into the market for a sweet tube combo. I play everything from alt rock to classic rock, blues, and jazz, so I don't really need that ridiculous crunch of a triple rectifier, but I want an amp that can handle BOTH clean and distortion very well. I'm thinking Marshall JCM series. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
The Peavey classic 30 is nice, and cheap ($ wise that is), for a bit more versatility though My heart still leans towards the old Mesa Studio .22+, with the large reverb pan (I think they come stock with that now, as the older small pans didn't have much reverb to them ... couldn't get that *fender swamped tone* if you wanted it), and with the 5 band graphic eq. Real sweet, and alive ... Both easy to mod (if you decide to that is). Those are my top two votes.
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

Don't rule out mesa BTW- 99% of people hate triple rectificers, they need to be cranked to be good.
Even metallica only uses Dual Recto's.


Try a Mark 4 or a Nomad or a single recto.
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

I'd say mesa dual recto, although it is ona the only tube amps ive played it was sweeeet as!
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

I'm kind of in the same boat you're in PlayMyStrat. The only amp I've found so far that really fits that versitility bill well is the Mesa Mark IV IMO. I have played the DSL401, the F50, Nomad55, Rectoverb, Fender Twin, and a Fender Deluxe Reverb. While all fine amps truly, I found that the Mark IV was the only one that offered a good clean, a nice dirty bluesy clean, and some really decent Krunch. I don't own one yet, soon I hope soon!! So please take this with a grain of salt.
Good luck
Lou-Driver
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

I can only recommed my Engl Screamer 50 combo. It is very versatile amp. Goes from (real) clean to very, very dirty. I think that they're available in the US now for around 1000$.
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

I really love my Laney Pro Tube AOR 50w combo amp. It's from the late '80s and can be had used for $250-$350. It has push/pull active preamp and eq controls, duet of EL34 power tubes, four 12AX7/ECC83 preamp tubes, and a single 12" Celestion Sidewinder speaker. I've heard that it's similar to the Marshall JCM800, but I've never had one of them. It has both a low and high sensitivity input, but I always use the high one. Cleans are just ok, but the distortion is killer. Very well worth the money, in my opinion.
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

I think the Mesa Nomad 4x10 is a wonderful amp. It is versatile and can cover a tone of different tones. I love the fact that it has independent controls for all three channels.

I don't think you could go wrong with it.
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

The Peavey Classics are not bad at all. I really like the warm clean tone, especially from the classic 50 with the 2x12 open back. The is pretty cool but not over the top.
These amps are versatile and very reasonable costwise.
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

I'm gonna give another nod to Mesa. I've played a DC-5 for almost 10 years now(Geesh, I'm gettin' old!) and versatility is my bread and butter. If my amp had the switching of a Mark IV or Nomad I wouldn't need to use the one pedal I put in front of it(DC-5 has a sweet pull-pot gain boost on the clean channel that sounds amazing, but isn't footswitchable). They have great clean channels(especially if you do some biasing tweaks), and just about any level of gain you could want.

Mike
 
Re: Best all-around tube combo?

I'll put in a vote for the Mesa Nomad 45. I really love mine. Talk about versitility: Three channels with two modes per plus an "extreme" switch that really kicks things in the but and all with independent controls. I can have U2 on channel one, Brian May on Channel two and C.C. DeVille on channel three. I do like the sound of this combo alone but it's very nice when I drive my Marshall 2x12 cab as well.

Rock on.
 
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