Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

See if you can find a used Mesa DC-2 or DC-3 to check out, the gain channel is recto without the flub, and the clean channel is weeely nice. I had a DC-5 years ago.

I'm curious about the SS22 also.

I really liked the JCA22H, especially for the price, I can actually afford that shiz.

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

I'd considered the SS22, but I'm not sure the gain structure is the kinda thing I'm looking for. I know it's got a lot of gain on tap for a Fender, but honestly, when has Fender ever been able to make great amps for the metal crowd? Also it's kinda out of my price range.

I'm trying to get away with head and maybe a 2x12 cab for just over $1000 if possible.

 

[OsvyRock]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

Have you considered a Dual Terror or TH30 from Orange Amps?

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

Dual Terror yes, seemed interesting, but not enough gain on tap, and no fx loop. If they made a Dual Dark Terror, I'd be very interested. the Dark terror is fantastic.

TH30's outta my price range.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

I like the Tube Meister 18, but would be more inclined to buy the 36 because it's got more headroom, and still has the power scaling. A Tube Meister 36 on a 212 cab sounds like a very versatile rig.....especially since you can hook up a MIDI foot controller and store a lot of settings. You can't do that on the 18.

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

I got in touch with Mike Fortin who designed the new Randall tube amps, including the Diavlo series amps and I asked him about the clean channel. Supposedly it can do pristine cleans and nice spanky overdrive tones too, but I wanna wait until I hear some demos or get a chance to try one out in person before making my mind up about that.

I think right now it's a contest between the Randall, the H&K and the Engl Gigmaster.

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

Ok time to post some cliperooos.


Randall RD45H (basically the same as the 20H)



H&K Tubemeister 18



Engl Gigmaster 15H



This guy's a total friggin toolbox, but he plays well enough and gets good tones outta this Hayden Mofo 15. It does sound pretty damn impressive.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

See if you can find a used Mesa DC-2 or DC-3 to check out, the gain channel is recto without the flub, and the clean channel is weeely nice. I had a DC-5 years ago.

I had a DC-3 combo back in the day and I wish I still had it. Those are killer small amps.

 

[AudioWonderland]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

The Egnater Tweaker 15 or Rebel 20 are good. The Carvin Legacy 3 has a 15w option and the clips of it I have heard are pretty good also

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

I had a DC-3 combo back in the day and I wish I still had it. Those are killer small amps.

Yeah, I'm liking the clips of the DC-2 & 3 that I saw, as well as the Express 5:25+, but I'm having a b!tch of a time trying to find any of those used.

The Egnater Tweaker 15 or Rebel 20 are good. The Carvin Legacy 3 has a 15w option and the clips of it I have heard are pretty good also

pay attention to the OP...the Egnaters aren't high gain (though I did check them out). And the Carvin, well...considering that the upper end of wattage I want is the lowest that the Legacy 3 can manage kinda puts it way off my list in terms of sheer volume/power. I want something that's about 15-25W MAX, that can be scaled down to 5 watts or less.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

Toronto.?
Canada.....Traynor.
Just for Pete's sake, try to keep it in the family if you can.
Ibanez makes a decent 30 Watt amp.
There has NEVER been a netter time to buy a used, hand wired guitar amp from a "boutique" builder.
I would be all over TGP if I were you.
good luck

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

What's with people not reading OPs?

Traynor doesn't make anything that's low wattage and high gain. And I don't really want to own anything Ibanez. I have a moral aversion to them. In fact, I'm soon gonna sell the ibanez guitar I currently own because it never gets any play time anymore.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

And I don't really want to own anything Ibanez. I have a moral aversion to them.

:friday: I'll drink to that!

As a final option, have you considered any of the load attenuator options?

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

:friday: I'll drink to that!

As a final option, have you considered any of the load attenuator options?

sorta. I'd rather not deal with them tbh. I'd prefer to just keep it simple enough for a somewhat high-functioning monkey to operate. Besides, so many of these amps we've talked about so far have power scaling that it almost renders attenuators redundant.

 

[AudioWonderland]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

pay attention to the OP...the Egnaters aren't high gain (though I did check them out). And the Carvin, well...considering that the upper end of wattage I want is the lowest that the Legacy 3 can manage kinda puts it way off my list in terms of sheer volume/power. I want something that's about 15-25W MAX, that can be scaled down to 5 watts or less.

I did read the OP or would not have responded to it. I would beg to differ about the Egnater... But if you don't think that's enough I don't think what you want exists. Your options would really open up if you would consider putting a boost in front.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

I see. I must admit the only amps I've dealt with are a Roland MicroCube and a Fender RocPro1000 with SS power, so low volume is built in, and I get everything else from my racks.

The JCM800 I got recently is my first-ever "real" head (Thanks CrookTele! :friday and a friend of mine back in '88 had one that he ran into an attenuator of some sort. Granted he didn't get "shush you'll wake the baby" tones, but the cops weren't pounding on the door, either. IIRC, it had one knob, so operation should be fairly straightforward. Not sure how they're outfitted these days.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

yo whassup I'm Joey and I'm a total friggin toolbox

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

I did read the OP or would not have responded to it. I would beg to differ about the Egnater... But if you don't think that's enough I don't think what you want exists. Your options would really open up if you would consider putting a boost in front.

Everyone has a different definition of "high gain". Lots of people say the ADA MP-1 couldn't do high gain, yet mine (unmodded) seems to do just fine by itself. Maybe I'm setting it up wrong :lol:

 

[CTN]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

I did read the OP or would not have responded to it. I would beg to differ about the Egnater... But if you don't think that's enough I don't think what you want exists. Your options would really open up if you would consider putting a boost in front.

Except it DOES exist, and I've already (so have others) put forward a slew of contenders that satisfy most if not all of my criteria. The Egnaters and the Traynors do not, so I didn't bother putting them on the list.

I see. I must admit the only amps I've dealt with are a Roland MicroCube and a Fender RocPro1000 with SS power, so low volume is built in, and I get everything else from my racks.

The JCM800 I got recently is my first-ever "real" head (Thanks CrookTele! :friday and a friend of mine back in '88 had one that he ran into an attenuator of some sort. Granted he didn't get "shush you'll wake the baby" tones, but the cops weren't pounding on the door, either. IIRC, it had one knob, so operation should be fairly straightforward. Not sure how they're outfitted these days.

Ah...well they still are fairly straight forward but i just don't see the point of getting a low wattage amp and an attenuator when its power can already be scaled down (sorta acting like a built in attenuator). As for using an attenuator with a high powered head....I just don't ever need that much power, that's why I'm getting rid of my Jet City in the first place. It never gets turned up to the point of roaring anymore.

 

[SongsForTheDeaf]

Re: Time to get rid of the 100W head and move on to smaller pastures...

why the Traynor hate.. with some good pedals they can do some nasty things, that is the YGL and YGM series aswell as the older YBA-1s and other 60s and 70s Traynor combos... as you can guess I'm a BIG Traynor fan my YGL2 makes me leave my Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special sitting unplugged gathering dust lately and that lonestar special 4x10 is a beast but something about Traynors sound natural.

As for suggestions I can't think of anything super high gain with that amount of wattage to be honest, maybe a Soldano combo might do like the astroverb