Suggest me an amp

mwalluk

mwalluk

New member
I took a little hiatus from playing (and from this site). I'm looking to get back into playing, it was a nice break, but the stage is calling my name. So I'm starting from scratch again. I play a Gibson Les Paul w/ SD Screamin Demon and Pearly Gates set.

I don't care if it's combo or head. Like to keep it around a grand USD. Looking at used.

Previous amps I've owned or had a lot of exp with are VHT Deliverance 60, Carvin Legacy, Marshall DSL and TSL, MESA Tremoverb, Randall RM50 & RM100, PEAVEY XXX, to name a few.

Looking for something slightly different or might go back to Mesa.

Here's what I'm looking at, I've seen most for under or slightly over a grand:

Mesa: Rectoverb, Tremoverb, Road King (may have to pay more for this). I really like Stiletto cleans but fear the OD will be lacking that thump needed.

Framus: Dragon and Cobra sell used for around a grand

Splawn: Pro Mod

Fryette: Sig-X (saw one for $1,200).

Any Suggestions?

I'm a pretty versatile player, so I'm looking at one that can handle all types of alternative to modern rock. Here's some bands I've been into. (hopefully youtube links work).


Joan Red - You Be The Hero


Beta State - Weightless


Submersed - Hollow


Wake The Light - Best of Me


Pop Envy - Trenches


Trapt - Love Hate Relationship
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

I have not used them but have heard good things about Jet City amps and the Peavey 6505 series and I think they can be had new close to your budget.
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

The Fryette Sig X from what i've read and seen is a great amp but very dry and very unforgiving. The Splawn is ver promising and should work wonders.

Me i'd recommend looking at the Blackstar Series One range. Look at their Series One head and cabs. Those will cover any and everything you could ever do musically.





 
Re: Suggest me an amp

I have played a number of Blackstar and Jet City ampsin the shop. Hard to argue...
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

Good taste in pickups there :-)

If you dont have one already, try to score a good deal on a cab (celestion loaded @ 40-60 bucks per speaker is the "selling ASAP" rate these days, and loaded cabs seem always cheaper than buying speakers...decent v30 cabs, as the most expensive popular option, can be had for $299 for 412 all day long from STORES, its a buyers market),.... Then you can experiment with good deals on heads or interesting combos with bad speakers

If you are intrigued by the 5150 family at all and have/get a cab, could make sense to temporarily grab a used Bugera copy of whichever amp youre unsure about for $200, if available, to mess around with... Easily recouped investment, unlike, say, trying to sell a month-old 6505 or 5153 that you realized you dont quite bond with. Well, as long as you dont toss it around, theyre not built like bricks the way PVs are (but you lose more than the entire cost of buying a used Bugera on a big Peavey just for buying new and opening the box, and might lose as much or more reselling used if you dont have the patience to craigslist it for ages)

If you like JCM800s, go Laney and never look back. Used 300-400. Awesome ones include Gh50L, AOR 50, stuff labelled Protube... Lots o monstrous fifty watters in the Laney line. Note that some seem like a two gain knob layout without master, but hide an fx level that doubles as a master volume (w/o any cords through fx loop or anything in the fx loop at all needed) on the back, silly location but very convenient to have.

If you enjoy plexis, get a new Ceriatone for a grand if youre sure, or find the 200 dollar Bugera if youre still making up your mind

If you like MESA...probably gonna have to buy the real thing. no mass market copies on the used market yet, kits and the likes of bugera have just started ripping them off recently. Well, b52 claims to do triple rec, but that thing is a dodgy sounding POS

For something different.... PRS se30 seemed plenty cool to me (many will disagree). Bad Cats are awesome, but those prices... Even worse than PRS.
 
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Re: Suggest me an amp

I own a Marshall JVM 410H, Splawn Pro Mod, and a Mesa Triple Rec.

The Mesa does great scooped out tones and has nice cleans, but that's about it.

The Splawn has balls to the wall mids, nice cleans and does the modded Plexi & modded JCM800 thing very very well, but that's about it.

The JVM, while it no doubt has that Marshall midrange thing going on, is somewhere in between the Mesa and the Splawn. Plus it's more versatile than the other two as well. And on top of that, it can be run with a MIDI controller. Each MIDI patch on the amp will remember the channel & mode, along with whether the reverb is on or off, which master volume you were using, and whether the switchable FX loop was on or off (there is a second loop that stays on at all times). Plus if you aren't satisfied with any of the tones, the guys over at JVMforum.com have figured out a host of mods with instructions on how to do them, all for free.

The only thing I have against the JVM (an the Mesa, for that matter) is that the complexity takes something away from the overall tone and feel of the amp, or at least that's the way I hear things. And that's what led me to buy the Splawn. I wanted an amp that was a little more stripped down compared to the other two, and from what my ears are telling me, it was worth it. But the Splawn is an amp that you will have to be particular about which pickups and tonewoods your guitar(s) have, along with which speakers you use. For instance, this evening I discovered that the while I grew to dislike the scooped out nature of the Dimebucker, the one I threw in my Ibanez sounds damn good through my Splawn, but I hate 'em with just about any other amp.

YMMV............
 
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Re: Suggest me an amp

In an attempt to respond to all the previous posts.....

I love new gear as much as the next person, but I don't mind used gear either. Personally, I would rather go used if it means getting a better quality product (for example a Mesa instead of a Blackstar. This is not to say Blackstar isn't a good product, just saying used makes more expensive amps more affordable).

Cabs - Not to worried. I can pickup used (carvin, marshall, mesa) or new cabs (avatar) at a decent price (round $300).

In terms of amps suggested.....

rumy22 said:
Check out Blackstar. Great tones. Very versatile.
Click to expand...

Blackstar - Really good reviews and word of mouth, just not completely sold on them.


hydro said:
I have not used them but have heard good things about Jet City amps and the Peavey 6505 series and I think they can be had new close to your budget.
Click to expand...

Jet City - Had one, not a fan.
Peavey - Never liked any Peavey.


Rockstar216 said:
The Fryette Sig X from what i've read and seen is a great amp but very dry and very unforgiving. The Splawn is ver promising and should work wonders.
Click to expand...

Fryette/VHT - I used to own the Deliverance model. They're very versatile amps and some times hard to gel with. They are very unforgiving, which is a good thing at times. Get my chops up ha. They have good glassy cleans (hiwatt-ish) to endless, useable gain on tap (which is exactly what 'm looking for).

Splawn - I'm intrigued. Much like Fryette, an amazing amp builder. I really dug the ones I heard. I don't have enough experience to know how good the cleans will be or if it can get me in the chugga chugga (lowend thump) territory w/o sounding like mush and over gained out.


Adieu said:
If you like JCM800s, go Laney and never look back. Used 300-400. Awesome ones include Gh50L, AOR 50, stuff labelled Protube...
Click to expand...

I actually have my eye on the Laney VH100R (which sells for $499 used). Seems like a I really great amp, but I don't know if I really want to pigeon hole my tone into one vein.


Gone_Shootin said:
I own a Marshall JVM 410H, Splawn Pro Mod, and a Mesa Triple Rec.

The Mesa does great scooped out tones and has nice cleans, but that's about it.

The Splawn has balls to the wall mids, nice cleans and does the modded Plexi & modded JCM800 thing very very well, but that's about it.

The JVM, while it no doubt has that Marshall midrange thing going on, is somewhere in between the Mesa and the Splawn. Plus it's more versatile than the other two as well.
Click to expand...

Mesa - I would only go Rect-O-Verb, Trem-O-Verb, Road King, Stiletto or Maybe a Mark V. The ROV and TOV, granted are Rectifiers but they have their own tone and mojo. very versatile. I owned a TOV and was able to get it to my tone.

Splawn - That's what I'm worried about. It does one thing well "modded Plexi & modded JCM800" but if I need more, I'm out of luck.

Marshall - JVM is solid, but wouldn't be my first choice.



Gone_Shootin said:
The only thing I have against the JVM (an the Mesa, for that matter) is that the complexity takes something away from the overall tone and feel of the amp, or at least that's the way I hear things. And that's what led me to buy the Splawn. I wanted an amp that was a little more stripped down compared to the other two, and from what my ears are telling me, it was worth it. But the Splawn is an amp that you will have to be particular about which pickups and tonewoods your guitar(s) have, along with which speakers you use. For instance, this evening I discovered that the while I grew to dislike the scooped out nature of the Dimebucker, the one I threw in my Ibanez sounds damn good through my Splawn, but I hate 'em with just about any other amp.
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean. My VHT Deliverance was like that. It was also picky about pedals too.
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

The tone in the videos I posted is some of the tone I'm going for.

My Wish List:

Prefer at least 2 channels, but not opposed to a single channel.

Cleans: Need to be clean, glassy, round, almost jazz like. I'm not looking for a Fender like clean, more of a Hiwatt style. I really like the cleans from Mesa Stilleto series. 3 style cleans that are all awesome.

Gain: Needs to have extreme on tap. As I get older, I use less amounts, but it's still nice to have for the occasion.

Crunch: Think Southern, Classic and 90s Rock. Light to medium amount of gain.

Distortion: I need it to cut through the mix, have a balanced mid to low end. I need it to be heavy enough for palm mutes / chugga chugga / thump thump. I need it to go Hard Rock territory without entering CrabCore.
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

About the low end thump, of the three I talked about the Splawn wins that contest. It has a big ample bottom end that is very tight. Of course, I'm sure the 6550s in the poweramp section contribute to that along with the design of the preamp. I did try out a Quick Rod with EL34s, and it did have a similar quality, but didn't hit me in the gut like these 6550s do. I also have the original KT88s, but haven't heard them in this amp yet, but I have no doubt they would have a similar effect.

Also, the Splawn has my favorite clean channel if the three. It is nice & sparkly, plus the gain knob acts more like a compressor than an actual gain, which I like. It will take you from normal straight up cleans to cleans that are as spanky and twangy as I could ever want, and alot if stuff in between. The only thing I dont like about it is the lack of a midrange control, but I worked around that with my MXR 10 band EQ, which actually was a benefit for the distortion channel.

Another thing I forgot to mention about the Splawn is the fact that, except for with the Dimebucker, it cleans up rather well with the guitar volume knob. It even cleaned up well with my Black Winter set, which are fairly high output. I usually run the preamp gain at somewhere around noon to 2, and in OD2 in 3rd gear, this is plenty and I mean plenty gain, and like I said, it still cleans up. Which leads me to another thing, of the three, the Splawn is the least muddy. Every bit of the gain is usable without the amp getting muddy or farting out.
 
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Re: Suggest me an amp

Gone_Shootin said:
About the low end thump, of the three I talked about the Splawn wins that contest. It has a big ample bottom end that is very tight. Of course, I'm sure the 6550s in the poweramp section contribute to that along with the design of the preamp. I did try out a Quick Rod with EL34s, and it did have a similar quality, but didn't hit me in the gut like these 6550s do. I also have the original KT88s, but haven't heard them in this amp yet, but I have no doubt they would have a similar effect.

Also, the Splawn has my favorite clean channel if the three. It is nice & sparkly, plus the gain knob acts more like a compressor than an actual gain, which I like. It will take you from normal straight up cleans to cleans that are as spanky and twangy as I could ever want, and alot if stuff in between. The only thing I dont like about it is the lack of a midrange control, but I worked around that with my MXR 10 band EQ, which actually was a benefit for the distortion channel.

Another thing I forgot to mention about the Splawn is the fact that, except for with the Dimebucker, it cleans up rather well with the guitar volume knob. It even cleaned up well with my Black Winter set, which are fairly high output. I usually run the preamp gain at somewhere around noon to 2, and in OD2 in 3rd gear, this is plenty and I mean plenty gain, and like I said, it still cleans up. Which leads me to another thing, of the three, the Splawn is the least muddy. Every bit of the gain is usable without the amp getting muddy or farting out.
Click to expand...

Nice..... there's 2 Pro Mods selling used near me for slightly over a grand and the other is for $1200
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

Yeah, I've never heard the Nitro in person, but from what I've read and heard in clips it is supposed to have a little more modern voicing and even more available gain than the Pro Mod/Quick Rod. Which makes sense because in the clips I've heard I haven't noticed as much of the Plexi vibe that the PM & QR have. I definetly want to get ahold of one later on down the road.
 
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Re: Suggest me an amp

Gone_Shootin said:
Yeah, I've never heard the Nitro in person, but from what I've read and heard in clips it is supposed to have a little more modern voicing and even more available gain than the Pro Mod/Quick Rod. Which makes sense because in the clips I've heard I haven't noticed as much of the Plexi vibe that the PM & QR have. I definetly want to get ahold of one later on down the road.
Click to expand...

The few videos I saw of the Nitro, had the gain right around 7 o'clock and it still sounded ballsy. Freaking insane amounts of gain. Can the Pro Mod get me in the area of the bands I posted videos for?
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

The Nitro will handle that and then some. Personally I would choose the Splawn over Messa but I'm not that big on Messa to begin with. Just be aware that the Nitro is a very very loud amp.
 
Re: Suggest me an amp

Yeah, my Splawn is plenty loud too, but at half power with the volume at noon (it sounds best with the volume around noon or more), it seems to be just the right volume for my band.

And yes, the Pro Mod has enough gain to get you where you want, OP. And the solo boost adds even more and gives it some more grunt for solos or certain parts that require a boost. It's the first amp I've owned that didn't need an overdrive pedal for.
 
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