Need help on choosing an amp...

2815 Views 23 Replies 13 Participants Last post by red5, Sep 14, 2005

Battle-axe

Discussion Starter · Sep 5, 2005

Well, i have been looking all over the net for quite some time and am quite confused on what to get. My budget is 1000$ for an amp, a guitar and i wld like to have some money left over for a few pedals (but it ain't totally necessary). I have decided on the RG7321, but am confused about which amp to get. I know i won't be able to get much for the amount i am allowed to spend, but this amp will just be for practicing at home, untill i can afford something better. I would prefer it to be all tube. The sorta music i play is basically tech. DM, black metal, metalcore, and grind. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

1 - 20 of 24 Posts

guitarshredder7

· #2 · Sep 5, 2005

1000 for amp guitar and money left over. you must want a 2x12 combo, get a carvin mts id say.

Battle-axe

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 6, 2005

Those Carvins sure are nice, but the MTS 2x12 is 700$ and that wld be a bit much considering the RG7321 is around 350$.

I was looking at V-Series amps, and they seem to be pretty nice, specially the V3112. It's got decent reviews too, but i have heard a lotta bad things about Crate in the past. What do you guys think o' them?

guitarshredder7

· #4 · Sep 6, 2005

crate is eh alright, but since you said carvin was nice get a sx series solid state combo since you wont be able to afford the tube

AlexBLA

· #5 · Sep 6, 2005

you can get a used carvin x100b head off e*ay for around 300 ish.. i dont know how good it would be with a 7 string.. its the amp vai used in the early days(zappa)

Gex

· #6 · Sep 6, 2005

If your looking for a really greasy dirty heavy metal tone, I'd look for a used Peavey 5150. Make sure you get the 5150 cab with it, it sounds the best on that cab, Marshall cabs sound thin with it.

jallen

· #7 · Sep 6, 2005

I know you said you want all-tube, but do check out some of the Line 6 stuff. Mainly because it would take care of your amp/pedals thing in one swoop and give you lots to play with. It is also a good way to get a large variety of sounds. You can always "upgrade" to all-tube later, if needed.

Battle-axe

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 6, 2005

Thanks for all the replies! Crate i am trying to avoid as much as possible, but if i have no other choice left i might have go for one of them. The Carvin X100B seems to be really good, and so does the 5150 (but it's kinda expensive for me). I really don't want a Line 6, i have a PODxt Pro, which i'm selling off tomorrow to this guy, and altough it;s great, its jst a bit too "fake", and plus the distortions on it arn't that great. I have been looking at Peavey Ultras on the 'bay, and they seem to be really good for the price. I read a few reviews on HC, and they all say it's a high-gain head, which is exactly what i'm looking for. Can anybody fill me in about these a bit more?

Thanks!

red5

· #9 · Sep 7, 2005

Carvins are good buys in the price range. I would support that.

In fact, I have seen a Carvin half stack at a local music store sell for $550. That leaves $450 for a guitar.

Gex

· #10 · Sep 8, 2005

I dunno about the X-100B

Its a fine amp, but its not really suited well for the type of music you want to play.

Line6? Nope, sorry. Someday you'll buy a real amp and understand what the rest of us are talking about.

The 5150? You can get these for relatively cheap used dude, if you look in the right places at the right time. There are LOADS of these out there on the market, and Peavey's pumping out the new 6505's so there will be no shortage of that amp. (the 6505 is the exact same amp as the 5150, just a diffent name because EVH owns the rights to the name "5150". He quit his endorsment, and Peavey couldn't just drop such an important amp in the metal scene.

If you wanna hear what a 5150 sounds like, go listen to some of "The Haunted"

Those Ultras are GREAT amps, and for pennies. They are the fathers of the XXX, George Lynch took the Ultra and tweaked some stuff and they were going to make it his signature amp but he backed out of the deal, so they called it the XXX and made it anyway. (George Lynch uses Marshall Plexis, He loves them, and always goes back to the plexis)

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sanchez

· #11 · Sep 8, 2005

I thought Geroge was using a Bogner Uberschall??

Gex

· #12 · Sep 8, 2005

He does.

He goes though Marshalls, Bogners, Soldanos, Randalls, Engls, Laneys, anything with overdrive basically, he always floated around and experimented plenty, but the plexi was always a staple of his in the studio.

Battle-axe

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 11, 2005

Thanks everybody for helping me out.

I have decided to get any cheap solid state amp for now, so that i can save up and buy something good later.

peace.

Battle-axe

Discussion Starter · #14 · Sep 11, 2005

I just need a little bit of advice to make my final decision. I have narrowed it down to 2 amps - the Hughes & Kettner Edition Blue 60R, and the Tech 21 Trademark 30 (Trademark 60 would be out of my budget). The reviews i have read of both haven't been too helpful, so just wanted to hear your comments on them, and which one you would choose from the two.

Thanks a lot!!

Kontalonis

· #15 · Sep 11, 2005

don't mean to get off track here but have you looked at the roland cube series? There 60 watt version is like 350$, and has a ton of effects and modeling built in.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/details.asp?CatID=7&SubCatID=32&ProdID=Cube 60&PageMode=15

Here are some clips and a couple of videos.

And if you are worrying about it being loud enough, my guitar tech just gigged a bar with the battery powered version (with a mic of course).

Drew

· #16 · Sep 12, 2005

Gex said:
Those Ultras are GREAT amps, and for pennies. They are the fathers of the XXX, George Lynch took the Ultra and tweaked some stuff and they were going to make it his signature amp but he backed out of the deal, so they called it the XXX and made it anyway. (George Lynch uses Marshall Plexis, He loves them, and always goes back to the plexis)

Gotta call you out on this - I saw Lynch at a Peavey clinic about a year ago, and he mentioned that he and Peavey were fine-tuning a signature Peavey amp, the Brahma, which would be out on the market fairly soon and would completely change conceptions of what Peavey was capable. This was the last I heard of it, but while I wouldn't be surprised if Lynch was partly involved in the XXX, he's definitely still working on a sig amp with them, and if the name and his current gear is any indication, it's probably targeting Bogner.

I for one will be VERY curious to try this if and when it hits the market. I'm continuously blown away by the tone and flexibility of my Nomad, but Lynch has one of the best tones I've ever heard so I'd be curious to see how that translates to a signature amp.
-D

King Knall

· #17 · Sep 12, 2005

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I recently heard that Lynch had some connections to Randall.

rgr

· #18 · Sep 12, 2005

That would be the Penta, but a Peavey/Lynch deal fell through again, not sure who is the culprit but that is 2X now.

Yes, George is working with Randall on some modules for the RM/MTS series. They are also going to be building a Lynch model RM100 head with better transformers and loaded with his modules.

For $350 street new, check out the Peavey ValveKing combo, 60W all tube, 2 channels, hard to go wrong, class A/AB mix control.

Roger

Praetorian

· #19 · Sep 13, 2005

hmm, so basically, NOBODY KNOWS! And I've always wanted to try a Carvin X100b but it's definately not for death or hardcore. Heck, since you can't afford a recto, you may as well find yourself a cheap solid state and get a mesa bottle rocket for the massive gain. But I'm sure you can find a cheap tube amp somewhere.

ScottB

· #20 · Sep 13, 2005

rgr said:
For $350 street new, check out the Peavey ValveKing combo, 60W all tube, 2 channels, hard to go wrong, class A/AB mix control.

Roger

I'll second that opinion!

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