You could snatch up a Marshall JVM combo. They're in your price range and I think the sound is close to what you're looking for.

 

I think they sound great. At low, med and high volumes in fact. Have you asked yourself if you require three channels?
The front layout is pretty straight forward, so dialing in good tone is quick and fairly simple with these amps.
Do you have any experience with the 5150/6505? Maybe consider the 6505 if you only want straight ahead rock tone. Although they are very loud. Or is a clean channel necessary? If you want a combo, there is the new 60 watt 6505+ 1x12 combo that also sounds great.
I also recommend the Peavey 3120 and JSX. Both sound great at all volumes, and can be had for fairly low prices.

 

The EVH 5150 is the kind of amp you use for stadiums, arenas or on scaffolding in the middle of fields. Look at something else... Don't get a stack either if your doing small to medium gigs...

If you like your cleans and metal tones, try and find a Diezel. Its the only "Do everything" amp ive ever played! Its just they're damn expensive.

Failing that a Marshall combo will do you nice. like a JCM2000 TSL 602 is pretty much plug in and play with minimum dialling time and great with pedals.

There's not a lot of amps that don't take time messing with them for instant satisfaction. Try a Fender supersonic too. They're plug in and play.

 

So when you say it is made for arenas and stadiums, is it just incredibly louder then other 100W heads? Do you really have to crank it to get decent lead tones? I want something that will sound good at home, in the studio, small to medium clubs AND bigger venues. (Tall order, I know) I am not opposed to a less powerful amp for sure, as I always mic them anyway. My Mesa Mark 4 head wasn't too over the top for the type of gigging I do. It was only 90W though. I already have a Marshall 2x12 cabinet, so looking for a head, not a combo. Big tube combos are usually so damn heavy. @ Van Noord, yes, need 3 channels for sure.

 

If you like the Soldano sound try out the Jet City stuff, he designs them and is co owner. They sound great and really carry his tone nicely. It's not quite the same, but it's pretty close and it's affordable. I've heard a tube change does wonders for it, but I like mine just fine with the stock tubes.

 

I was going to say Jet City since the OP likes Soldano. Get the 20 watt head or combo. Will sound great at home volumes, and gigs too.

 

Agreed. But the 20H is only one channel (so far) and Jet City doesn't have anything three channel but the JCA50H is a two channel, 50 watt monster and would be plenty loud enough for anything you're looking for. Or if you would be good with a combo, the JCA5212RC might be your amp. Check them out, seriously.The price is ridiculous for the amount of amp that you get.

 

Meh.

There is never enough loud!

 

Yes, 100watts just about anything will NOT do for home and small venue use. And as for the combo, not all combo's are stupidly heavy, hell, a lot of them have wheels on them!

Well, anything over 60 watts and you'll struggle to use it at home.

Im sticking to my guns that a Marshall JCM2000 TSL is perfect for you.

Its good for metal, decent cleans (not fender clean)
It has 3 channels
60 watts
its also VERY easy to dial in, its pretty much plug in and play.

Its the same with a Fender Super Sonic (60, or 22 watts, three channel, easy to dial in). Beautiful tones, amazing fender cleans, and the burn channel is alright but it really shines with a distortion pedal. I would certainly go for the super sonic, but that's just me, I prefer my cleans to my overdrives.

I'd suggest you go and try both of them, you can also use both with your cab. However id sway closer to a supersonic 22, only because it's quieter, and I would enjoy the clean tone more

 

Ill check out a Super Sonic & some Marshall amps tomorrow, and let you know what I think. They look pretty sweet indeed!

 

Cool, make sure you try an overdrive pedal with them too!

 

Yeah, the Supersonic with the burn channel and a tubescreamer just might be the ticket judging by the demo video I saw

 

Vox Valvetronix. 1 tube, effects, nice tone, versatile and nicely priced.

 

Ok, tried some amps, but it has only added to my confusion. I liked the Fender, one channel, clean amps, with an overdrive/ distortion pedal in front. That gave me a good range of sounds. I LOVED the Engater amp I tried. 4 channels, but easy to dial in. Lots of AWSOME clean & high gain sounds, and wattage settings from 100 watts, down to 10 watts, and everything in between. I did not like the Marshall. I guess NOW my question is do you guys think it is better to get your distortion sounds from a high gain amp, that channel switches to great cleans, or just run a clean amp, and use pedals for your overdrive and distortion sounds. I know this is very subjective, and has probably been an on going debate forever. Just looking for some feedback. I seem to like the sound of the distortion coming from the amp, but like the pedals because they seem to forgive little mistakes better. I need to step up my playing a bit to use a marshall Im afraid

 

Tubes are far more touch sensative, with them you get so much more improved dynamics from both your playing and the guitar itself, thats why using overdrive/distortion pedals are more forgiving; because you are covering/coloring the tone with OPamp gain that only responds flatly.

As for which kind of tone and gain saturation works best for you, thats really up to you. Which kind of Egnater did you try? The Tourmaster? I had a friend that is a recent tourmaster convert from 5150's...so I dunno, he uses a Vader cab and it sounds awesome...The supersonic never did it for me except for medium gain rock...my pick would be the Marshall, it can do alot...unless you wanna get a Mesa The new Mark V is divine...

 

Yeah, it was a Tourmaster, and it blew me away. I had a mark 4 boogie and found it much more difficult to dial in then the tourmaster. I think tube amp distortion sounds better, and will force me to work on my chops. I think I'm going to go ahead and go with the Egnater. I've heard the boggie mark V is easier to get good tones from then the mark 4 however...

 

I use a Mark III personally and yeah, boogies are very hard to dial in, they are tweaker's amps. Most people aren't used an amp thats very mid heavy and you actually have to dial out the bass. The V is a little more straightforward, but not by much, it actually has MORE features, but lacks the pull shifts voicings. I've never personally PLAYED the Tourmaster only heard my friends, and he gave up a Mark IV for the 5150 (twice! lol) and now the Tourmaster, so who's to say, maybe that is your tone...

 

i've owned the tourmaster (head). i originally wanted the 2x12 combo (same wattage and features), but that thing weighed 95lbs which is way too much for a weakling like me. even the head is like 65lbs, which is a lot for a head. that being said, i really liked the tone of this amp, especially through the egnater cab. it is also a tweaker's dream, as it has so many options for tone on each channel. that being said, i found that even if i set a channel for 10w, it was still too loud for bedroom playing, assuming that you are trying to get some sort of poweramp saturation.

in the end, mine ended up sitting in my home gathering dust. i discovered i prefered a much simpler amp that had 1 or 2 good tones and applying pedals to that. 4 channels is wonderful, but i'm more of a one channel amp kinda guy.

 

Ah, an Egnator. Forgot about them, i've never tried one but they always struck me as a tweakers amp (Which reminds me, Mesa's are tweakers amps, you can spend hours into dialling in tones).

However, im going to ignore the fact you want three channels, just get pedals, or use your volume knob on your guitar to lower the gain down.

You want good old rock and roll? A fender Deluxe Reverb Re-issue WILL do that and then some. It does plug in and play. And works incredibly well with a good overdrive pedal offering hard rock sort of tones, but not metal.

I warn you, these amps have NO gain knob. just a volume and EQ controls. you WILL need a distortion pedal with that amp for more modern tones. The amp also has NO Effects loop, which isnt really a problem since you've already got reverb in your amp, every other effect will do nicely infront of your amp.

Don't let that scare you, these amps dial themselves, seriously, you'll spend almost no time on the treble, mid, and bass controls.

Also, its very light, portable and it has the genius Fender Tilt Back legs which WILL get your sound out more than a regular amp just stood up straight.

 

I recently have been playing small clubs and am using a 5150 iii into a small 1x12 Marshall cab and am LOVING it! I was waiting for the smaller 50w version to come out but I just couldn't wait any longer. The head is quite light for it's size compared to my old JSX head, the tones are very versatile as apposed to the old peavey 5150's that were really a one trick pony. I now could not go back to a 2 channel amp, this thing nails the SLO-100 tone and even a Marshall tone on ch2 and revs up to the 5150 beef on ch3. Perfect for me as I was going for a late 80's-90's VH tone.

Best this is the individual volume and presence controls on each channel so you can set a lead boost channel if you have no pedals or 'genre' channels like Vintage/classic rock on 2 and scoped metal on 3.

 

I played through a JSX in a rehearsal studio and I was really shocked at how bad it was.
I'm a Marshall guy, and it was a typical Peavey noise maker. There's no way Satch uses that thing.

 

Some new amps that are good options. All debuted at this year's NAMM:

1) The EVH 5150IIIM -- They bill it as going from the bedroom to the forum. It has 50 watts, which is much more manageable than a hundred, and they claim it's otherwise identical, apart from being smaller. It's going to list at $999, so expect to see it for $799.

2) The Carvin V3M -- three channels, all tube, switchable from 50 to 22 to 7 watts, USA made and reasonably prived. My only beefs with these is that, from what I have seen, they can sound a little sterile, and I hear that they are difficult to dial in because they are almost too versatile. Lists at $700, IIRC

3) The Jet City 22H -- 22 watt tube head, with the Soldano SLO circuit. No idea of the actual price, but you'll probably be able to get this head and the matching 2x12 cabinet for what you's pay for the 5150IIIM alone.

 

Whoa! 5150 III for $800? I was seriously thinking about the V3M but this changes things. The only thing that really tilts the favor to the V3 is that it's an actual 3 channel amp vs. the 5150's virtual 3 channels. 1 and 2 share their knobs.

But then again, I'm thinking how much do I actually screw around with all those channels at the same time?

 

Whoa! 5150 III for $800? I was seriously thinking about the V3M but this changes things. The only thing that really tilts the favor to the V3 is that it's an actual 3 channel amp vs. the 5150's virtual 3 channels. 1 and 2 share their knobs.

But then again, I'm thinking how much do I actually screw around with all those channels at the same time?

That's a guess. I had seen the MSRP at $999, and they're usually cheaper once they get to stores. I'd bet the cab, with the EVH speakers, won't be cheap though.....

 

As much as the big brother is, I was expecting a much higher price point. The cab doesn't matter to me. I'm looking at a custom White Box 212 cab that should keep me happy for a long time.

 

Yeah, but part of what makes the 5150IIIM an EVH amp is the EVH Celestions (which are fancy Greenbacks). Obviously, though, that only matters if you are going for an Ed-like tone.

I am seriously considering the 5150IIIM myself -- it would be my first new amp in 17 years, so obviously, it has my interest. As does the V3M. I have a Peavey XXL cab that would handle the output of either one, though I'd be tempted to change the speakers.

 

I don't need an Ed tone. It would be a happy accident, of course, but I'm much more looking for just a sound I like for me, personally. And the flexibility to change it around if I want to.

I love my JCA 20 watter but it's just the one channel and, while fairly flexible as such, I still want to be able to pull a little bit better clean tone and a little bit more gain. For giggles. I'm researching the eminence speakers but haven't decided on any yet. I do want a good classic rock/80's rock kind of speaker but I'm not willing to go the prices Celestion wants.

 

I do want a good classic rock/80's rock kind of speaker but I'm not willing to go the prices Celestion wants.

http://wgs4.com/

Those or Eminence speakers should help.

 

Thanks!

 

I think it's overpriced unless you really need all of its features. A Peavey 6505 will get you in the same ballpark as far as gain, but if you really need three channels, you could just a boost pedal for more gain anyway.