Help Me Choose an Amp!

B

BrownPanick

New member
TL;DR - Help me pick a tube amp (combo or stack) that can be heard playing over others, is easy to move around if I have to, and that also is inexpensive.

I'm looking at buying a new tube amp. Up until now, I've only owned solid state, and mostly little practice amp. At one point I had a Fender M80 and a 4x12 cabinet and I was pretty pleased with that, but I had ended up selling it and giving up guitar for a couple years. I also had a Fender Frontman 60R and I wasn't very pleased with the sound. That, coupled with the fact that I moved, led me to sell that guy, so now I'm back to my guitars and a practice amp.

So, what I want from an amp. I'm thinking 50 watts minimum so I can be heard over drums when I end up playing with others. I don't plan on gigging out, but if I had the opportunity I would. If it matters, I have an Ibanez RG220B and an Epiphone Les Paul 60's Tribute that I play with. I am planning on getting another guitar soon. Not sure what, but I've had my eye on a Kramer that looks pretty sweet that I want to try out. I typically play hard rock/metal.

I was looking originally at a Carvin X100B. It has a lot of nice features as far as I can tell - great sounding cleans, nice distortion, adjustable wattage selection. The only drawbacks are no reverb, I don't live anywhere Carvins are sold so I can't really test drive one, and I'm not sure I want to have to lug a 4x12 cabinet up and down stairs if I ever want to play somewhere besides my house. The price is a little bit more than I wanted to spend, but manageable.

I was also considering a Peavey 6505+ 112 Combo. I love the distortion this thing has, a combo is a good feature, and I think 60 watts would be fine to be heard. It does not have a wattage selection, but I think I can mitigate that by putting my Dunlop EQ in there and cutting it a bit, and from what I can tell, the cleans are abysmal.

I like what I was hearing from the Randall Diavlos and the Laney Ironhearts, but I don't know much about those. Any comments on those?

Are there any others I should consider?
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Carvin x100b is Bretty gud. I want one, along with all the other Carvins.
Oddball gems include Mitchell Pro100s and Yamaha T50 or T100s. The Mitchell is a Mk1 Mesa for 300 bucks and the Yamaha is an all tube Soldano design.

off u see did MRSAge, I m on tapa talk and auto correct is hating on me
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Have you considered getting a smaller, single channel amp, such as the Blues Junior, and running it with a couple of dirt boxes? That might be your most inexpensive and portable option. I've used that set up to play hard rock with a bassist and a drummer before. It was plenty loud enough for the jamming we were doing (no gigs or anything).

If you are definitely looking for a larger, 2 channel combo, I'd check out Jet City.
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

The 6505 would be fine to drown out a drummer. If you want a big head, but dont want to deal with a 4x12, then you can run a 2x12 cab.

One thing to consider, even a 30 watt tube amp can get wicked loud. Ive played my PV classic 30 with a drummer
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

I have the Carvin Belair it's a 50 watt tweed
Love it

It is heavy for a small combo
I played the original legacy amp at the factory back in 01 sounded ok but not for me

I also have a Cube 30
Portable. But not real loud
Cube 40 or 60 would sound great

Most amps have them tone knobs you can tweak to taste

I also have a SS Laney GC80A
right now it is the one I'm digging
The solid state doesn't require warming up
They are almost indestructible

The Carvin solid state amps are CHEAP on GC used and are good sounding rigs

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

If you're into the heavier 6505 styler distortion I'd say look around for a used Peavey ultra combo, I just picked one up for $200, It has a much better clean channel than the 6505s and it has a pretty heavy distortion, not quite as much as a 6505 but pretty good too, also its 60 watts and can be pretty darn loud, and if you ever wanted to you could connect it to a 4x12 if needed.
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Most of the mid range Peaveys sound great
My buddy just got an old Bandit
And gigs it instead of his Twin
Cause its half the weight

He still thinks the twin sounds marginally better but in the mix its not noticeable

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Crate BV600H. Be sure to get the matching cab.

21264d1141051597-mesa-supersize-cabinet-1-large-.jpg
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Here's the deal with tube amps. ANY tube amp rated at 15 watts and above will drown-out a drummer. This is fact. I've got an Egnater Rebel 20 that's been my backup for several years that's MORE than loud enough for all-out, outdoor stage use when plugged into a 4X12 cab.

Now, depending on the amp design... your 15-50 watt tube amp may not have the clean headroom that you're looking for, or the low-end grunt. Some do, some don't. Right now, I'm rocking a pair of 36-watt, 4XEL84 tube heads (H&K Grandmeister and Ceriatone 36W RP plexi). Either one of these amps is PLENTY loud for band duties. And the Grandmeister is very compact and portable.

I used to believe that I HAD to have 50-100 watt amps to play in bands. That's why I was always dragging around amps like a Bogner XTC, Bogner Shiva, Bogner Twin Jet, VHT Pitbull UL, Engl Powerball II, Elmwood M60, H&K Triamp Mk I, Marshall 2203X, Marshall DSL50, etc. I wanted the clean headroom and the concussive grunt and thump of those big bottles pushing a lot of air. But the fact that they are gone now and all three of my remaining tube amps have EL84s should tell you that you don't HAVE to have all of that power. If you're looking to lay-down some HUGE metal tones and need to power a pair of 4X12s. Then by all means... go with a 100 watter. But based on your desire to have something portable and be heard above the drummer... I would suggest that you consider amps all the way down to 15 watts.

Oh... and those Randall Diavlos are kicka$$ amps for the money. I really dug the 45 watter into the matching 2X12. If I was still in a metal band I would have NO problem owning that sweet little amp instead of the VHT, Bogner, and Engl amps that I used to play metal. They are dark amps though, and that's why I stipulated metal.
 
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Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Red_Label said:
Here's the deal with tube amps. ANY tube amp rated at 15 watts and above will drown-out a drummer.
Click to expand...

Even my little 62 Tweed Champ can be used to play with a drummer. I definitely wouldn't say it drowns him out, and I definitely don't have a sparkley clean tone when I use it, but it sounds really really good!
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Diavlos are great. They are super tight, so it might be a little too compressed for the blues and rock stuff, but who knows..

What's your budget?
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Thanks for everybody's replies. Really gave me a lot to think about. As far as my budget goes, I don't mind spending money, but I don't want to spend ridiculous amounts of money for like a Hughes and Kettner, Krank, or even a Marshall. I don't have a ton of money to spend and quite frankly my skill level (low) doesn't justify the cost. After I posted this, I spotted the Carvin V3 and V3m. I think I've kind of ruled out the 6505. Right now the top contender is the Carvin V3 or V3m, but I'd love to hear a Diavlo and a Laney Ironheart.
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

Lower watt amps are ok if you don't care about your clean tone. If you plan on playing anything clean with a drummer, I would stick to 30 watt as an absolute minimum.
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

BrownPanick said:
TL;DR - Help me pick a tube amp (combo or stack) that can be heard playing over others, is easy to move around if I have to, and that also is inexpensive.
Click to expand...

Please define "inexpensive"... :) Lots of options in my mind that just depends on if inexpensive means less than $500 or less than $1,000...
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

I have an old Carvin V-212 which is the x100b in a 2x12 combo. Picked it up used for under $300. It's got a switch to let you run it either 25, 50 or 100 watts. It has a switchable 5 band eq, but you'd probably want to use some sort of dirt box for metal. It is a bit heavy though.
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

chadd said:
Lower watt amps are ok if you don't care about your clean tone. If you plan on playing anything clean with a drummer, I would stick to 30 watt as an absolute minimum.
Click to expand...


That really depends. I could get a nice clean tone from a Blues Junior over the top of our (rather loud) drummer. The amount of clean headroom will vary amongst amps with even the same wattage rating.
 
Re: Help Me Choose an Amp!

I use a closed back cab and 50 watt head cause I play bass heavy music

and ya a 15 watter can easily be heard with any drummer but the low end in a mix is not there at all
 
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