I need some amp advice. I currently have a vox ad15 and after 4 years with it, it's time for a change. Some background, i play only at home in an apt, looking for nice cleans and a 80's metal distorted tone. I don't like any of the other modelers out there.
Looking at the following options:
1 - Peavey Valveking 112: I liked the second channel of this but the clean wasn't as great as i would have liked. The 50 W is overkill for my apt but i can always play lower.
2 - Fender Vibro champ xd: very nice cleans, distortion is lacking. I would use a pedal for my 80's metal tones. Tried and liked the Seymour duncan twin tube classic, want to try out their metal mayham. This option seems more appropriate but is more expensive.
3 - Mesa boogie subway rocket: have to buy used, always wanted one since they came out but cannot try one now. Always liked the mesa cleans; don't know if the rocket can handle 80's metal though?
Your thoughs/advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
1 peavey valveking is a great amp, but they lack in qualoty parts since they are soo cheap
2 fender makes some good amps, but not realy the vibro
3 mesa, well dont get me started
I recommend the Mesa because my experience witht he company has been top always. I love all of their products except the F series.
But for the price that Peavy looks really good. And the fender option is alright, but that Seymour Duncan pedal is good, but I would look into others before I bought one, it's not the best for metal IMO.
I had a Rocket 44 ages ago, most of the way through college. It wasn't the greatest clean I'd ever played, but it could get nice and bluesy with a strat.
The gain, well, make sure you try it before you buy one. I thought it was an awesome sounding amp, very Mark-like, but I wouldn't describe it as at ALL 80s sounding, unless you're thinking Metallica. That's really more of a modded marshall sound you have in mind, which isn't really Mesa's forte, or at least not that particular amp. Maybe a Stiletto Ace or a Nomad?
I think the best tube amps have great cleans, personally. It is a million times easier to fuzzy up a nice clean than it is to dial a nice clean into an amp that doesn't have one :lol:
I think you're on the right track with what you were saying about the Fender Vibro-Champ; get your nice clean, and a pedal that will give you the distortion you want.
I'll let someone with more experience with the other brands advise you on them, but for the Mesas, pass on the express series. It's an amp I was sure I was going to love based on the spec list, but then didn't really get on with. It's an updated F-series (the F-50 is just that, not Express F-50 but merely F-50), with additional gain modes, and adjustable "contour" mid shift instead of an on/off switch, and switchable poweramp wattage, from 5 wats to 25 or 50, depending on the model. Sounds absolutely awesome, and I was sure I was going to want to sell my Nomad after playing one.
However, after A/B'ing one with an F-30, I was let down. The clean didn't gush with quite the same lushness as the F-series in any mode or poweramp configuration, and the blues/burn gain modes were a letdown. Blues would have been a nice addition to the F-series, since it has a pretty fast ramp-up on the gain knob, but even I felt like burn was under-gained, and I take a lot of crap from my guitar buddies for being practically allergic to gain.
The switchable wattage was awesome, and the 'verb wasn't bad, but I couldn't get on with the actual tone of the amp itself. It was nice for lower gain blues/rock stuff, but if that's your thing any of the Lone Stars absolutely own it, anyway.
The F-series I'd still strongly recommend, especially since these days if it isn't used (and therefore cheap) it's being cleared out (and therefore cheap). Also, the DC series is worth a look too, as these were pretty much the precursors to the F's and are a little more Mark-like, which if you're into 80's tones may be even more your thing. I like the Nomads too - I ended up impulse buying a Rectoverb that day I was demoing the Express amps, and was so blown away once I got to really open it up that I haven't played my Nomad combo since really, but I can't quite briing myself to sell it.
The Express though... I know a few guys here like them, but I'm not one of them.
Yeah I think the metal zone is the exception - it was one of Guitar Players top 50 pedals ever. But they didn't rank them. It could be that the metal zone was number 50, and they only threw it in to add some teenage drop D credibility to the bunch.
And the Metal Zone actually isn't too bad if you don't overdo the gain and scoop out the mids - not good enough to make me ditch my mids, but try putting the gain at or just below halfway, the bass and treble straight up (i think, I don't remember where I used to set them) and the mid shift and mid amount at maybe 3 o'clock and 1 o'clock, respectively.
Again, not gorgeous, but the problem with that pedal is more the people using it than the pedal itself.
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