I want to settle my amp predicament

[Thared33]

For a long time, I've been trying to figure out which amp to get, so let's look at the detail below.


I am definitely more of a metal kind of guy, but lead stuff is what I really want to concentrate on; so far, I've been looking into something from Boogie or Engl and I don't know what to get.

I believe that an Engl (I'd probably get a Powerball) would be a great amp to have, but at the same time, I've heard so many good things about Boogie that I think I might just be leaning towards it because of the lead tone. An Engl would be great if I were going to play something really extreme, but as I said, my playing really isn't in the black/death metal vein like the stuff I listen to (I'm not saying Engl doesn't have great lead tone though...)


I'm thinking that if I did get a Boogie, I'd most likely be more satisfied because lead tone is what I want to concentrate on here -- the crunch on it will most likely be very acceptable as well.

I'm not opposed to Marshall or Peavey even, but I'm thinking that Engl or Boogie is right up my alley. As I said, Engl would be great if I were playing brutal death metal or something, but Boogie would probably (I think) suit me better because of the lead stuff that I do.



Now that this is out of the way -- if I were going to get an Engl, it'd definitely be something like a Powerball because of its notoriety; if I were going with Boogie, I'd have no idea what to get.


If I did settle on a Boogie, do you think that a dual rectifier or a Triaxis would suit me better? The dual rectifier of course doesn't have the diversity of a Triaxis, but from what I've heard about the triaxis -- it can be a real pain to get it set up and find a proper tone.


I think for Engl, I'd go with the Powerball as I said, but I'm not sure if a standard dual rectifier, a Triaxis, or even something else from Boogie would make me all the more happy of a guitar player.



One more thing -- why is it so damned hard to find a Boogie anywhere? I'm thinking that I read something about how Boogie doesn't deal with mailorder mags and big chain stores because of the price thing that they have, or something

[Scali]

I quite like Engl. Their amps seem to be very versatile. They not only have a devastating metal tone, but also have good clean and crunch tones with a nice 'vintage' character.
Most modern amps, like the Recto series, seem to have a compressed and 'scooped' character, even on the clean and crunch sounds, making them sound really lousy in my opinion.

My favourite Boogie amps are the Mark series. Try a Mark IV, I think you'll find it to be excellent for lead playing (think Santana, Steve Lukather etc, but also early Metallica).

Back in the day I was actually looking for a Mark IV combo for myself. But it was hard to find a secondhand one at a decent price, and in good shape (a lot of them seen to have been converted to rackmount).
I ended up with a good deal on its British rival, the Marshall 6101 30th Anniversary... whose lead tone I may actually like better than the Mark IV now

[screamndemon69]

I would vote to try out a few different Boogies. I have never tried an Engl so I can't pass on info for those.

Check the used section of guitar center .com and type in "mesa" in the amp category. The 'Bay is also another place to check. You should be able to check the Mesa website and see if there are any dealers in your area as well.

There are lots of choices for a good Boogie. If you can try some out first that would be my best recommendation. I just bought a NOS F-50 combo and it is a serious rocker for under a grand. I also have a Mark series head that has tone for days. I want to buy a Mesa Roadster 2x12 this year - my grail of amps.

[bammbamm]

My personal opinion would be Triaxis and a nice power amp like the 2:90 or 100:100 into a 4x12, if you need less power, then by all means, go with the 20/20 or 50:50. The Triaxis has the Recto sounds as well as the Mark series.
Amazing range of tones are at your fingertips. The one caveat with mesa, that to me isn't really one, is the method of dialing in your tone is a bit different than just cranking the gain up on a Marshall. Your tone controls decide the amount of gain in each part of the frequency spectrum. IF you get a Tri, READ the manual! It's well written and VERY informative. They give some tutorials and how tos that are very useful. One thing I still use is the Realtime control where you can be playing in one patch and then with a CC have your EQ gain volume, etc adjust by a predetermined amount. VERY nice for solo sections, instead of kicking in a noisy Boss pedal or something, just move the controller and no pop/ crackle, whatever.

I know nothing about Engle, so I can't opine either way, I've seen nice stuff from them, though.

Let us know what you do.

[microdmitry]

You need to listen to both Triaxis and the Recto. They're fundamentally different in the way they shape tone. Triaxis has a typical "Boogie/Fender" tonestack placement - after the first amplification stage. That's why it farts out on the lead channel with Bass dialed above 4. Recto has a "Marshall" tone stack placement - it's placed after the preamp and preceded by a cathode follower, so it takes a lot more bottom end for it to fart out (unless you heavily overdrive the power amp). Another issue to consider is the volume at which you'll be playing. Recto only comes alive when cranked, while Triaxis can be dialed in to sound OK at near-bedroom volumes.

Frankly, if you like Boogie tones, I'd rather get a combo. I heard the new Express combos are great. Or get a used Mark IV with EVM12L speaker.

[Darin]

Don't rule out the Fender Super Sonic till you've demoed it. You'll be surprised.