Looking for a metal/prog rock amp

[D.M.RG7620]

Peavey Triple XXX.

[suffian1]

Vox night train NT15H 15W
Vox Lil night train NT2H 5W
Orange dark terror 15W
Jet city Picovalve 5W
Jet City JCA20H 20W
Hugh & Ketnner Tubemeister 5 5W

well..these are the ones in my shortlist, i'm looking to replace my Marshall SS. i want a smallish stack setup just enough for small gigs/bedroom playing. most come with their matching cabinets but you can use your own/others. Should be around $500.

[suffian1]

my mistake..not all of the above is around $500 MSRP...on sale/used then yes

[D.M.RG7620]

Save an extra bit and get a Tubemeister 18. Those things are AWESOME. Versatile and can do Fender cleans to near brutal distortion! And they have an 18watt, 5watt, 1watt and zero Watt/direct recording setting. So it's great for almost everything.

[bates]

Anyone considering the tubemeister head should go and play it in a shop. All the videos i have seen of it on youtube make it sound awful and i don't believe it is. I think it has just been unlucky and been reviewed by bad players.

Only reason i say that is because youtube can really mess up your purchase if you watch the wrong vids.........and lets face it we all go and look at the amps we fancy on youtube

[j.arledge]

the tubemeister to me was a little more like a cross between an orange and like a recto. I can't really say the exact sound but it wasn't a smooth fluid drive. It was much more of a crunchy/ranchy bright style drive. Not that the sound was bad, i actually dig it but not what i expected. I assume it is closer to the typical H&K style sound, i just dont have much experience with H&K outside of this amp.

so i would check it out before you commited to buy because the sound is a little different from most of your typical marshall/mesa style distortions.

[Philboski]

Originally Posted by bates

Anyone considering the tubemeister head should go and play it in a shop. All the videos i have seen of it on youtube make it sound awful and i don't believe it is. I think it has just been unlucky and been reviewed by bad players.

I played a Tubemeister 18 through a Mesa Lone Star 1x12 cab, and it was incredible. It wasn't a Mesa, but it sounded great, to the point others were coming up to me and asking "What is that? It sounds great!"

As far as I am concerned, the only real flaws with that amp are that it's small enough that someone could easily steal it at a gig, and it gets pretty warm (small metal case).

It might not make your pants flap, but it does sound damn good to me.

[metalhead52]

I have a Carvin Legacy VL212 combo and it is nothing short of amazing. Paired with a BOSS ME-70 it is an absolute beast. I only use the clean channel but the tone is amazing. I play mostly metal but can get any sounds from Van Halen, Rush,TOOL to Megadeth. The distortion channel doesn't have metal gain but it can do any rock gain you want. It is heavy to move around but casters help a lot and it is ungodly LOUD. Basement practice setting on volume is 2. Yes 2! Our drummer beats the hell out of his kit and has no trouble hearing me at all. For playing out it does not need to be miked. I highly recommend the Legacy 1.

[kfm946]

So I decided on a Peavey Bandit 112 Combo for a few reasons:
1. I got it at a great price: $140, footswitch included
2. It's got a great tone for what I'm looking for, 2 channel, all analog, the vintage/modern/high gain switch gives me all three kinds of tone that i'm looking for
3. I took some good advice that I should make this a relatively small purchase so I can save up for a bigger upgrade.
4. The store has a deal where I can trade it back in for 75% of the price to put towards my next purchase

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, and I'll come back to this thread when I'm looking for my next upgrade!

[rty13ibz98]

the bandit is a great little amp. if i could find another great deal on a silver one, i'd have it in my studio. the blue and red ones don't do too much for me, but the first generation transtubes had some cool mojo and tone.


rich

[Drew]

Originally Posted by kfm946

So I decided on a Peavey Bandit 112 Combo for a few reasons:
1. I got it at a great price: $140, footswitch included
2. It's got a great tone for what I'm looking for, 2 channel, all analog, the vintage/modern/high gain switch gives me all three kinds of tone that i'm looking for
3. I took some good advice that I should make this a relatively small purchase so I can save up for a bigger upgrade.
4. The store has a deal where I can trade it back in for 75% of the price to put towards my next purchase

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, and I'll come back to this thread when I'm looking for my next upgrade!

Cool, enjoy. If you get on with it, down the road you may want to check out a few Rectifiers, as IIRC that seemed to be the amp the control layout/preamp voicing reminded me the most of.

[racerevlon]

I would have said, as noted above Blackstar and Tubemeister are great options, but also look at Jet City. Soldano tone affordable. I have three Jet City Amps with more to come...