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3K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  rgr 
#1 ·
ok, i need some help and suggestions on a tube 2x12 combo for 600 or less. I want opions and reviews on amps that you thought sucked and amp you have played that where cool and you may own yourself.

i was thinking about the following

peavey 5150 (the hole clean channle thing is a concern though)

peavey xxx

carvin legacy (concerned about the gain a little and how it will act with outside distortion, i know it takes a ds-1 well but ii have never played on in person)

and anything else that is reasonable.

I am looking for either an amp with a good clean channle that i can distort/overdrive the hell out of, an amp with ok cleans and distortion that is thick full smooth and defined , or both if that is possible in the price range.

and if you have a combo and have some clips that you'd like to share please send them to me.
my e-mail is jarledge@cox.net

thanks.

i
 
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#2 ·
peavey classic series is said to be a pretrty good amp. decent all around sound and can be overdriven pretty.. i have never played one myself, but have heard lots of good things. I recently bought a peavey ultra 112 60 watt because it was cheap, and i needed soemthing just to beat around for practice. it just arrived today, but i'm away from home. when i get home and actually play through it a bit i'll let you know what it's like.. they also make a 212. I have gotten mixed feelings about it from other people on here, but decided to go with one jsut cause the price was best for what i wanted to use it for. Actually i think you were one that said it was bad. :p. maybe not though, i don't remember. i'm sure it will be better than what i'm using now. It's probably gonna be difficult to find a really good tube amp combo (especially 212) for 600 or less, other than the ones you listed. good luck man
 
#3 ·
yeah i had an ultra 60 head and didn't like it one bit. Mine may have had problems, i didn't have it long enough to find out.

I also had a peavey classic 50 head, now that i have a bit better distoriton than a line 6 pod the classic 50 may not be a bad choice.
 
#4 ·
Bought a used 5150 combo recently and contary to popular believe, it can do clean. Sure it's not fender clean but I felt that it is better than marshall clean. If it is breaking up, turn down your volume on the guitar or pick lighter.

If I need a crunch and clean sound (crunch isn't footswitchable), I just dial in a crunch sound and clean it up by turning down the volume on my guitar and picking softer.

I absolutely love the crunch, I am able to dial in anything from ACDC, GN'R, KISS, anything rock n' roll. The lead channel is a beast, you have more than enough gain for any era of Metallica, Bodom, any metal you can throw at it.

Only drawback is that this thing weights a ton.
 
#6 ·
well i finally got theta ultra i've been waiting for. it's ok.. it's obvisouly not up to my MarkIV, but it'll do great for practice. i noticed that it sounded much much better when i unplugged the sheffield and put the amp only through my mesa 112 cab, so i may change the speaker and i may not.. it's not a huge priority right now. just wanted to let you know that the amp isn't a disappointment, but it's not killer either. It actually sounds a lot like what my old 5150 head sounded like, but i haven't played that for 5 or 6 years. the sound i remember may be different than what it actually was. keep looking for a great 212 :) I'd say if you are lloking for something really stellar, look for ways to up your budget and get something other than a peavey.
 
#7 ·
if i find somthing i fall in love with and have to have i will sell my peavey xxl which would give me close to 1,000 to work with.

there are so many amps i'd like to try but can't . It sucks living in the middle of nowhere . I am at about 130 miles away from a town that has a decent music store.


how about the legacy combo, i know it'd play ai little different than the head would but can anyone comment on them ?
 
#8 · (Edited)
You can find used Fender Prosonic combos in your price range, they all tube, have 2 10" Celestions, a nice clean channel and gain from Hades. I just picked one up and if I run it through my G-Flex Cab, it's a monster! Other cool features about these is switchable between Class A w/ tube rectifier, Class AB w/ tube rectifier, or Class AB w/ SS rectifier. Yeah, a high gain Fender, these were designed by Bruce Zinky and made in the custom shop from around '96 - '00 or so, don't know why they didn't catch on, probably because Fender didn't know how to sell an amp that wasn't squeaky clean. It looks like a classic Fender and the combos have that Fender reverb, but on the gain channel, no F-word here.

I'm shooting myself in the foot telling you this, I'm probably going to be shopping for another one soon, but oh well, ya gotta help a brother out. Did I mention the clean channel is awesome too, mucho better than the cleans in a 5150, which is a fine amp with a monster high gain channel too.

*edit* I forgot to mention that the early versions of these have a couple of problems, 1) they pop loudly when the channels are changed and 2) the reverb is noisy (only the combos have reverb) and 3) the Normal (clean) channel may have alot of hum. There are Fender tech notes available that have the fixes for these, I have to do it to mine. Just wanted to mention this.

Roger
 
#9 ·
Finally someone that has a prosonic. Welcome to the club.

There are only 2 things that I have against the Prosonic and that is 1: It has shared EQ's for both channels and 2: The lack of headroom makes the Clean channel break up to soon at around 3 -4.

If they made one with separate eq's for both channels and with 100watts it was be untouchable.

There are a few mods that can help with the noise but the popping will never fully go away.

Mine does hum very slightly but it is almost not detectable and does hiss a little when in OD. Still not anything to bother spending money on. Mine is a 99 Head. I run it though a Mesa Oversized Cab and it is leathal. I was running it though a 1960A and it was great too.

The Combo is a top amp for around the $600 mark. I bet you'd be hard to bet it.

Sanchez
 
#10 ·
Not sure what year mine is, I just got it. It pops very loudly when you change channels, gotta fix that. The Normal channels has alot of noise, there is a fix for that too, could also be a tube, it still has the originals in it. Got new tubes on order too. So, tonight I'll be tearing into it to get it ready for this weekend.

Mine is the combo, I'm guessing the head rules! I haven't had a combo amp in a long time because they all sound kinda nasally to me, this one is no exception. It sounds good, but it sounds great running through my G-Flex. I'm thinking I will try it on top of the G-Flex running the internal speakers and the cabinet. It is a loud amp, at least in my studio, that may change some when I get in a bigger room.

It is a hard combo to beat in the price range though, a custom shop combo at mid-range prices. But if you end up with one of the first ones you need to be prepared to do a couple of fixes, or have a tech do them if you don't know your way around tube amps (insert warning about deadly, or at minimum painful, voltages stored in caps here).

Roger
 
#15 ·
Okay, I'm going to take back my recommendation of the Prosonic, based on my experience, apparently most people are very happy with theirs though. Mine is a '96, I've updated it with the Fender Tech Notes from here, http://blueguitar.org/schems.htm#Fender. I have also completely retubed it. I still have a noisy clean channel and some pop when switching channels. I replaced the plate resistors, checked all the tube socket wire connections, and cleaned the sockets. Still have a noisy clean channel, it's a crackle type noise, hence why I replaced the plate resistors. I don't think it is the filter caps, it's not that old and if they were bad it should be more of a hum.

Okay, this amp does sound killer on the high gain side, and the clean channel is nice, more like a blackface, it gets "Fendery" dirty quick as you turn it up. 1st of all, it's loud, definitely not a bedroom amp. I don't think the problem with mine is major, probably a bad relay or tube socket, but I'm going to pass it on and cut my losses and let someone else deal with it. For an all around amp, from bedroom to stage, I wouldn't recommended it, it's too loud and the volume controls are touchy if you try to find a good low volume (linear pots). If you want a good sounding stage amp, and the Prosonic is working well, I would definitely recommend one, if it fits your style. Clean is not "pristine", but more bluesy with high output pickups. The distortion is top notch, very Soldano-ish.

Roger
 
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