Recommend me a 30-50w head

B

Billy Gibbons

New member
Looking for advice on a head to deliver those classic "modded Marshall" tones.
Playing things like ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, etc.

I've looked at the Orange Thunderverb and Blackstar Artisan heads, among others.

I have a Ts-9 and an OCD to do some extra lifting in the gain department, in necessary.

Price doesn't rule anything out, but it is a factor.
Thanks a lot!
 
Re: Recommend me a 30-50w head

Turn your bass and mids to full treble on zero very very light strings marshall style amp for ZZ Top. Other than that, yeh anything by Splawn but there is also a lot of smaller manufacturers making hot rodded Marshalls including Ceriatone (both kits and fully made amps). I don't think the Thunderverb or Artisan are close enough to old Marshalls. Maybe even try some 50w Super Leads (or lower watt amps based on the circuit) you shouldn't need a lot of gain for Zeppelin and can use a booster for more gain like you said.
 
Re: Recommend me a 30-50w head

There are Many Great "plexi" clones available on the used market.
Any of the 1986 or 1987 models will work fine.
Ceriatone is very hard to beat.:)
Do you live near me.?
 
Re: Recommend me a 30-50w head

Gibbons recorded "My head is in Mississippi" with a solid state Marshall Lead 12 combo. Its not always about the gear you use.
 
Re: Recommend me a 30-50w head

I really liked by Peavey Classic 50 for those "Marshall" type tones. I had the 2x12 combo and while it sounded great, I would have much rather had the 50 watt head. They can be had for a great price used. Hell I saw a guy locally selling one a couple of weeks ago for $250 (too bad I didn't have the spare cash then).

The Classic series take pedals well and have an effects loop too. They are great amps. Otherwise I would suggest looking at some used Marshall amps. You could get a 50 watt JCM900 MkIII amp for ~$600. This has that hot rodded Marshall sound, but doesn't sound modern like the JCM2000 line or the JVM stuff. It really is a great amp too!

Cole
 
Re: Recommend me a 30-50w head

PRS HX/DA.....for Hendrix and Duane Allman tone

PRS 25th Anniversary....ZZTop in a Box..but its actually a Modded Plexi inside. The selectable watt knob can saturate the tone at lower volumes..which is a nice feature.
 
Re: Recommend me a 30-50w head

ColeJustesen said:
I really liked by Peavey Classic 50 for those "Marshall" type tones. I had the 2x12 combo and while it sounded great, I would have much rather had the 50 watt head. They can be had for a great price used. Hell I saw a guy locally selling one a couple of weeks ago for $250 (too bad I didn't have the spare cash then).

The Classic series take pedals well and have an effects loop too. They are great amps. Otherwise I would suggest looking at some used Marshall amps. You could get a 50 watt JCM900 MkIII amp for ~$600. This has that hot rodded Marshall sound, but doesn't sound modern like the JCM2000 line or the JVM stuff. It really is a great amp too!

Cole
Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of the PV Classic series. Great sound, versatile, and at a decent price!

The JCM 900 MkIII has a good rep, including from a few friends that I trust in terms of judgement. Try to stay away from the Dual Reverb, though. While some do like them, I owned one, and it took a bit of work so avoid the bucket of bees sound, and even then it wasn't all that great. OTOH, after I sold it to some guy that did backlines for touring bands, Lemmy from Motorhead plugged into it and dug it...how can I argue with that?
 
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