6505+, Legacy or Rocktron Vendetta (TOL)?

[djrjems]

Hey gang. I'm thinking of picking up another amp. My #1 is a Peavey JSX head through B52 Stealth series cab (Celestion V30 speakers). I typically only play it as a half stack, but have both the straight and slant cabs for those times when 4 12" speakers just aren't enough (or I'm feeling particularly indulgent)

I've been shopping around for something used. I'd like to keep it under $700. I think it's between Peavey 6505+, the Carvin Legacy and the Rocktron Vendetta (knowing I probably won't find a TOL and/or be able to afford one).

Here's my style:
http://www.myspace.com/nucliess

Opinions?

[LordGrendel]

I own a Legacy stack and I have never looked back!!

[Brosa]

I love my Carvin Legacy also, but after listening your songs at your MySpace i am afraid you need a bit more balls than the Legacy can provide.

I think you are more of a Vendetta man:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=oY-4VY5Wn48

[LordGrendel]

Well listen to the song "Pulling Enemies" on my page...

www.myspace.com/mathewpike

[djrjems]

Great tune! Did you use anything to drive the Legacy (like a stomp box) or is that recording just the amp straight up?

I also have a Mesa/Boogie Nomad 55 2x12 combo that I really dig, but it's totally different than a JSX of course.

Ironically of the amps I'm considering the Legacy is the most readily available for the least dough. I've thought about getting one several times over the years, but I've never pulled the trigger.

[Kruiser]

You can NOT go wrong with the Legacy. I've had mine for abotu two years now (head and 4x12) and have never looke dback. It's got the best clean channel I've ever heard on a hi watt amp (it's volume is unbelievable at times). The most common "complaint" about the Legacy series amps is that they don't have enough gain. I fixed that lil' problem with a Keeley mod Boss Metal Zone in fromt of the amp. At a reasonable volume (around 3), you can go from a very clean clean to dirty to straigt up DEATH with the Keeley. Best of both worlds in my opinion...

[microdmitry]

Of course everyone will recommend Peavey or Legacy - no one tried the Egnater. I'm biased, though. I've tried them all and I currently play an Egnater TOL 100. It won't do "nu-metal", but it does pretty much everything else. And for heavy rhythm, I just use Metal Zone into the clean channel. Egnater lead tones can not be improved upon, IMO.

[rastachild]

Originally Posted by microdmitry

Of course everyone will recommend Peavey or Legacy - no one tried the Egnater. I'm biased, though. I've tried them all and I currently play an Egnater TOL 100. It won't do "nu-metal", but it does pretty much everything else. And for heavy rhythm, I just use Metal Zone into the clean channel. Egnater lead tones can not be improved upon, IMO.

+1

totally agree after playing through a tourmaster for about an hour the other day. it will be my next amp, even if i have to sell a few guitars to make it happen.

[Lifeofsobriety]

Originally Posted by rastachild

+1

totally agree after playing through a tourmaster for about an hour the other day. it will be my next amp, even if i have to sell a few guitars to make it happen.

I hear a lot about the Tourmaster, but every time I have played it I havent been very impressed. Maybe I'm an idiot but after 4 different sittings of about a half hour each I've concluded that it is a mediocre amp.

[microdmitry]

You need to play with the presence to make it work for you. Here's how this works for TOL100:
1. Switch to ch3 or 4.
2. Switch to highest gain voicing (modern I think it's called)
3. Set all tone controls @ noon
4. Set channel presence @ noon, set master presence and depth at around 1 o'clock.
5. Play something lead-ish. If there's too much treble, cut the master presence or channel highs.

Also, the amp will sound different with different pickups. So far, I've found it sounds great with Seymour Duncan JB, DiMarzio Super Distortion or ToneZone in the bridge and Seymour Duncan '59 or Dimarzio Super 2 in the neck. The JB comes up to the top when compared to about half a dozen other pickups I've tried.

[rastachild]

Originally Posted by Lifeofsobriety

I hear a lot about the Tourmaster, but every time I have played it I havent been very impressed. Maybe I'm an idiot but after 4 different sittings of about a half hour each I've concluded that it is a mediocre amp.

you know i felt the same way the first time i played through the head. i was at guitar center one day playing through a jsx and some very odd individual wheeled in the tourmaster head and cab. he was tweaking away at the controls and proceeded to crank it (playing through some hollowbody) and it sounded awful. of course he thought it sounded amazing, lol. after chatting with the salesguy for awhile, he turns to me and asks me to play through the amp (i'm guessing because he played like a novice). i was really in there to try out the jsx, so i didn't put a lot of effort into tweaking and completely readjusting his whacked out settings (gain, presence and treble at 10, lol), but i wasn't impressed. i had read a lot of good stuff though, so i vowed to come back and try it again one day.

when i tried the combo the other day, i did pretty much like microdmitry suggested and turned all controls (except for volume of course) to 12 oclock. the tone was very warm, punchy, thick and harmonically active, even at a low volume. i only got better as i turned it up. i was playing through a standard explorer (the real reason for my visit) which has fairly hot ceramic pickups and it was heavenly. one other thing, when i went back in again to just look at the amp, i noticed all the channels were set for 10w, which makes since it sounded so good at low volumes. you may want to play with that (on the back of the amp) because i'm sure it makes a world of difference headroom-wise and tonally.

[Darin]

The Legacy has a tone all its own. I've had one. It was pretty nice. The clean is "it". The gain channel wasn't what I was looking for. That was a few years ago, i'd like to play through one now that my taste and style have changed a bit.