What amp would u suggest...?

stevie ray

stevie ray

New member
Alright, currently im browsing the marking for a new amp... I don't have any money yet, but Im gonna save my little pay checks till i do.
I was sort of leaning toward a Peavey Triple XXX or Peavey 5150, but they might be a little to "heavy" for some of the stuff I play, and also Marshall, but new=expensive.

General Preferances:
-Price=Keep it under $1000
-Reliability
-Preferably a head+stack
-ALL TUBE
-Any brand
-more than one channel
-Used is good, vintage as well

What I play:
-Lots of blues, think SRV/Buddy Guy aggression to it
-Metal (80s mostly)
-Hard Rock (80s)

What I want:
-Cleans good for blues
-versatility (most handle blues but turn up the gain for 80s metal cliche stuff)
-i'd prefer a descent amount of headroom with distortion, i DO NOT want to be too limited
-punch/aggression
-No harshness
-clarity

Currently I have a Marshall MG100DFX combo, which is ok, but I really like tubers. I find the solidstate marshall to be too noisy and i get too much extra noise when i play it. It lacks clarity. If you think the Peavey 5150 models or Triple XXX is good for this stuff, tell me and elaborate a bit on their limitations. Anyway, if you need more info than I posted, ask and i will try my best to reply

Thanks in advance :)
 
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Re: What amp would u suggest...?

^^

Yea, I played a Marshall DSL100 at a guitar center. Loved it! But I want to make look around more to be sure. DSL 50 is on the top of my list along with the 2 peavey's i posted

The one thing i didnt like was the Lead 2 channel, it sounded like a stuffy nose, too hot and stuff... BUt I didnt play around with it enough and i might of used the wrong pickups for that channel... Other channels are great. It is set up like my MG, with the Clean/crunch channel and Lead 1/2 on the second channel. Unlike the MG, it actually sounded how it said it would sound: Crunch (classic gain) sounded just as it said it would.

However, I need more suggestions. I'm worried also about reliability... Especially with New model marshalls
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

Try a V-Series combo from Crate, all tube, plus digital effects (reverb and whatnot), I have the 50w, 2 12" version, I love it. You can get one for under a grand.
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

yea dude...... the v-series (new) or the older VC (vintage club) from crate should do it for you. i have the VC3112 (30w 1X12 combo) and while its 10 yrs old and needs a new speaker and tubes badly.....it is rockin.....ive also played newer ones and mine with new tubes and speaker.

cleans on these amps are great, they are based on a AC30 circuit
distortion is great for blues, the took a plexi circuit for the B channel i hear
mine has no fx (i dont like onboard fx, never sound good) no master volume, and few bells and whistles. what i do have is a single input 30 watt all tube (8 ofthem) 1X12 combo that is cream with gold trim and a brown and gold grill, (looks awesome) good reverb (not the best, but tube driven spring reverb, u could throw in an accutronics but i like crate verb, im not a verb junkie) seperate eq's per channel (also verb), and one heck of an amp that i got for $225. thats well under ur limit, so u could get a new one, or get a guitar or a 2X12 and than a cab for it, or get some tubes and speakers or stuff. it does cleans well, the gain is good. it isnt fender clean, but it is very chimey and vox like, and good for blues. the distortion can do anything from blues to metal, but not overly heavey death-metal, so u should be fine for 80's, or metal. if not, use the leftover money to get a pedal. the clean headroom is what ud expect of a class a small tube combo....nothing overly special, but good
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

hmmmmm there are too many options for amps these days. I'm not sure that anything can quite cover EVERYTHING you're looking for, but I've heard from ppl, and played a Marshall ModeFour, and I thought it was actually pretty versatile, and quite a good amp.
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

The DSL 50 was the first thing that came to mind when i read your preferance...
One option for you would be to get the DSL 50 and put E34L power tubes in it, they have higher headroom than the EL34s..
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

y2stevo said:
The DSL 50 was the first thing that came to mind when i read your preferance...
One option for you would be to get the DSL 50 and put E34L power tubes in it, they have higher headroom than the EL34s..
Click to expand...

thats a good idea:)

I like blues, but also metal. Im not talking like death metal or any of that hard core stuff. Just like 80s stuff, and i kno marshalls can do that :burnout:

I need headroom i hate being limited. WHat kind of tubes do the DSL 50s come standard with?
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

VHT Pitbull 45, I have one - does everything your looking for, Heads and 2X12 combos can be had for under a grand used. This is a rock - rock/blues voiced amp - it's not the high gain amp VHT is normally known for, it has some nice options only found on more modern amps (series and parallel effects loop, direct outputs, midrange tone shifts to compensate for different playing environments, Edge switch to give your single coils a little more grit and girth, presence control, class A A/B operation switch and a decent sounding reverb as well).
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

Well, here's a suggestion. Since you're obviously an SRV fan, I'd go with a Fender that has gorgeous cleans and get pedals to do the nasty work for you. For $1000, you can get a Hot Rod Deville 2x12 and just ignore the drive channel (I didn't like it, you might) and get some pedals for your distortion. Seriously, you can snag one off ebay for 500 or less and have 500 left to put better tubes in, maybe some better speakers and a couple of outstanding pedals.

It's really going to be hard to find all the things you want in one amp.

You need to decide if you want that amp to do incredible cleans or to have an outstanding grind to it. IMO it's easier to add grind to a great clean amp than to try to make a great grinder sound good clean.

Also, how loud do you want it to be? You playing in small clubs, garage/bedroom or stadiums?
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

DSL comes with 4 ECC83's (12AX7)'s and 2 EL34's (DSL50) OR 4 EL34's (DSL100)..

If your really after headroom i'd go for the DSL100 (noly like $100 more new) and put in E34L's then for heavier rock get an attenuator...

But I think Scott F May have a very good suggestion also...

Mabye better...
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

Pandemonium said:
Ahem.... ;)
Click to expand...

yeah, I should have referenced what you said earlier, but you didnt' elaborate too much. so I finished your post for you! :)
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

Well, i don't know about metal...

but a fender bassman halfstack (the blackface kind) work wonderful for blues, IMO... they're pretty darn loud, too. I've seen the heads with cabs go for about $800 in alright condition at guitar shows, but you can prolly pick up a head for around $400, and get whatever sort of cab with it, if thats better...

And i'm sure you could use a pedal to push it into heavier-gain territory.

Only concern would be headroom, because, at least mine, doesn't have just a ton... but then again, mine has a 12AX7 in the phase inverter, rather than the normal 12AT7, and the AX7 has a 'gain factor' or whatever of 100, while the AT7 is at 40, if i remember correctly. So, if you get one and you've got an AT7 in it, it should have pretty good headroom.

Nuther cool thing about these, is the way the volume control ends up working.... all the volume is from 1 to about 4, and after that, you can just use it to dial in different amounts of distortion without raising the volume much at all. It can get quite a bit of gain when its dimed, but part of that might be due to the AX7 in there.

Anyway, my 2 cents....

I'd say go try playing a bunch of amps first. I agree with scott's theory of building on a killer clean tone.
 
Re: What amp would u suggest...?

Hey, thanks for the suggestions!

Yea, I am an SRV fan, but I have a different playing style. I like the kinda gritty sounding cleans, I dunno just a preference. I don't wanna emulate his tone (tho it would be fun!) i want my own... I dunno why but the cleans on the Marshall were to my liking (tho i didnt really do to much experimenting)

I've tried the Hot Rod series, but I didnt really like the overdrive tho it was sparkily clean! I dunno, I think Scott has a pretty good suggestion. I'll give the hot rod another look, see if it would suit my playing...

I kinda have a bit of an electric bluesy playing style and i like to my cleans to be gritty like I said earlier. I kno i didnt really make that clear in my first post, but that is sort of what I meant by "cleans good for blues" I got a clip of the DSL 100 clean channel... ill see if i can post it and try to elaborate from there:)
 
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