New Members! Heavy Metal Amp Guide

[Drew]

Good idea, Leon.

My rig history, at least from the point it got interesting:

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe - Great amp, but absolutely not the right amp for anyone looking to play metal (though, it takes distortion pedals pretty well - the clean channel is very "deep" at sane volumes. Fairly bluesy, Everclear was about as heavy as I think it'd get. Traded it one week later for

Marshall JTM-30 - Again, not really a metal amp. Great, glassy clean - sort of fizzy distortion channel, but one that filled out awesomely as you turned it up. This would kill for a heavy blues project, as it got pretty Jimi-esq with the poweramp set to full meltdown.

Mesa Rocket-44 - the first amp I owned that was really voiced for metal. In a pinch, I'd categorize this as a dumbed-down Mark-IV. Two channels, clean and lead, with two footswitchable modes on the lead channel, normal and "contour," which was basically the Mark-IV "V-shaped" EQ. Not super flexible, the EQ knobs didn't really radically change the sound (again, much like a Mark-IV), but if you wanted either a Petrucci-like lead sound or a Lamb of God sort of rhythm, you could probably get it here, especially if you boosted it (which I never tried). Great lead sounds, if nothing else - this is the amp that kick started my long love affair with Mesa.

Marshall TSL100. Sold the Rocket-44 after playing through a DSL401 at a gig and being surprised how well it cut through the mix, and wanting something with a bit more flexibility. Clean was... Well, it had an honest-to-god clean channel with a fair amount of headroom, a rarity at the time for Marshall. I missed the glassiness of my old JTM, personally, but this was a more traditional "good" clean. Crunch was a blast - not particularly high gain, but enough on tap to solo, especially with a boost. This channel probably would have worked for a warmer thrash sound with an OD out front. Lead was a little gainier and much darker - still not an ultra high gain amp by any means. This was actually a great channel for hard rock riffing, provided you didn't oversaturate it - a lot off attack and snap, but still a pretty dark, heavy sound. I'd take this for hard rock before I would metal, however.

Mesa Nomad-45 - 2x12 combo. One of the most sorely underappreciated amps in Mesa's lineup, IMO, as it occupies a rare space, covering sounds from both the Mark line and the Recto line. Good but not great clean (it didn't seem to have much body to it), and I was never quite sure what to do with channel 2, but channel 3 owned. Vintage mode was very Mark-esq, smooth, dark, and liquid, and could have worked well for any sort of tone you'd normally associate with a Mark-IV. This was my main lead channel. Modern, meanwhile, was a slightly less dry take on a Rectifier - deep, crunchy, a ton of presence, but a more gradual gain taper. The range made it perfect for playing Dream Theater stuff, since they're really associated with the full range of Mesa tones. Footswitchable solo volume boost, too, which rules. Only downside? my favorite lead sound and my favorite rhythm sound were both on channel 3, so I had to pick one and stay there while playing live.

Mesa Rectoverb 50 - this amp really needs to be LOUD to be fully appreciated, so a Hot Plate is strongly recommended. Great clean - lush, sparkly, full, and capable of being pushed into SRV territory if need be. The gain channel is a bit brighter than the rest of the Rectos I've played, strangely. It fills out when the master volume comes up, though, and is a pretty awesome lead voice when running hot. Because of that brightness, it's probably not quite as dark and bassy as one would assume a Recto to be, but then again that's not really a bad thing. Strangely, throwing EL34s in this amp completely changes the character of the distortion - it crunches up enough to rip your face off. It's a shockingly aggressive sound. For leads, I actually got the best results by running the treble and presence at 0 - it opens up the midrange, somehow, and gives a surprisingly balanced sound.

Tech-21 Trademark 30 - Everyone should own one of these. If Marshalls actually sounded as good as "Brit" mode does on this, I'd still own one.

Mesa Roadster - For me, this is the current be-all, end-all. It fixes everything I didn't like about the Nomad and the Rectoverb - darker and WAY less volume sensitive than the later, a much better clean than the former and my favorite lead and rhythm sounds are no longer on the same channel. It's also staggeringly flexible - I'd hate to say it's good for such-and-such a sound, because I haven't yet run into anything it CAN'T do, from Jimi clean to Recto crunch to the smooth Andy Timmons sort of Mesa saturation to Mark-IV sort of rhythm tones to bluesy lightly overdriven Gilmour stuff to 80s thrash to... Hell, it'd probably even do djent if I wanted it to.

[kostein]

Great idea and great thread guys! It's a fun read and very informative for a new member like me. Keep it up

[Mr Gobz]

My Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 ( it`s better for Metal than a TSL model ) through a Marshall 1960A Lead cab sounds pretty cool. Use the high gain controls and set to about 7 or 8 and then set the output control to 3 for recording purposes, don`t use the sub bass button, use the mid scoop button & crank up the presence & EQs to about 9 O`clock ( more like 6 or 7 for the bass ). A lot of the time I use an Ibanez tube screamer pedal as a pre amp too for that extra clunky sound like Exodus etc ( make sure to only use a small amount of distortion gain on it ).

cost ? - AMP head about £800, cab about £450 and the 1980`s tube screamer about £40 from ebay ( or about £180 for an original 1970`s model )

And it`s important to have at least 1 pro high gain pickup fitted at the bridge position of your guitar, none of this stock pickup nonsense, e.g EMG 81, Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB, SH-5, SH- 8 Invader, SH-6 etc etc.

Mic up a speaker in the cab with a Shure sm57 mic about 1 or 2 inches from near the centre of the cone and also use another 57 or 58 mic about 8 inches away at the edge of the cone and at a 45 degree angle ( blend that one in during mixing at a much lower volume than the other mic ) a trick that I picked up from Andy Sneap.

Well that setup is working for me these days now that it`s time for me to get back to making professional records again.

I`ve heard good things about Blackstar gear as well but have not tried any myself.



Horns Up, Stay Dark, Paint it Black !

[WarriorOfMetal]

Crate G10-XL: My first amp. Huge piece of shit that only worked right about half the time. Traded it along with a couple cheap guitars for my B.C. Rich USA Gunslinger.

Marshall MG50RCD: A bit underrated, actually. The old MG-RCD line didn't sound too bad for metal, although it took me a while to get used to the sound...especially coming from a DOD Death Metal distortion pedal! The clean channel had a "gain" knob, rather than a volume knob, intended to make it act like a non-master-volume amp. This meant that any distortion pedal run through the clean channel sounded absolutely awful when the amp was turned up. I also ran a Johnson J-Station through the FX return for a while, which sounded ok, but I always had trouble cutting through the mix with that rig in a band context, and I got a lot of feedback.
MG50RCD clip: netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database

Peavey Transtube Bandit 112 (black/silver '90s): I traded one of my old high school bandmates the Marshall for this. It actually sounds pretty good for metal (I still have it), and for a short time, I was using it as a head through a Genz-Benz G-Flex 2x12. Decent clarity, but relatively boring sound that makes most guitars sound similar, but takes to a clean boost pretty well. Currently used as my at-home practice amp.

Red Bear MK120 / Genz-Benz G-Flex 2x12: My first tube amp. Basically a 120W, 6L6-powered JCM800 clone built in Russia and sold by Gibson in the US. More low-end than anyone could/should ever need (especially combined with that cab). Needed to be LOUD to do metal effectively, but I found myself needing to use settings that sounded a bit harsh in order to have an aggressive enough sound for me. As I recall, this meant the mids and highs were turned up a good bit, with the gain and volume around 7 (). It LOVED bright guitars, too, and I found that anything on the darker side wasn't very pleasing to my ears. I ended up having it modified for more gain, along with less extreme highs and lows, and to take 12AX7s (the stock preamps tubes were some oddball Russian ones). It sounded much better to me that way, and I used it for about a year, before selling it for something else. Capable of Slayer/early Metallica and other '80s thrash type sounds, but nothing really modern.

Peavey Rock Master / Mesa/Boogie 20/20 / Genz-Benz G-Flex 2x12: Cool little rack rig that sounded awesome at lower volumes, but the EL84 breakup from the poweramp wasn't really to my taste. I did a short tour with this rig, though, and it worked out pretty well. The Rock Master preamp is basically a Peavey Ultra series amp in preamp form, with three channels, FX loops for each channel, and a master FX loop for the whole thing. Capable of most types of metal tones, with an active EQ on the Ultra channel. It has push/pull gain knobs that give some extra compression and balls, somewhat along the lines of a clean boost in front.
Rock Master clip: netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database

Peavey Ultra+ / Genz-Benz G-Flex 2x12: Pretty much the same sound as the Rock Master rack rig, but louder and with more balls due to 120W of 6L6 power. It's the predecessor to the Triple XXX, and came out around the same time as the 5150. Usually found for $400 or less used, and arguably sounds better than later amps from the Ultra Series lineage (Triple XXX, JSX, 3120). I had some issues with this amp and a 7-string, but I think that was due to the particular guitar, and nothing to do with the amp. Definitely a solid lower-budget metal amp, and I wouldn't mind giving it another shot at some point, since it's been a few years since I've played one of these.
Ultra+ clips:
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database

Ampeg VH-150 / Genz-Benz G-Flex 2x12: The perhaps slightly-less-known brother to the VH-140C, with a single 150W power amp, and no chorus. Solid state brutality, capable of metal tones with the gain knob at 3, and voiced perfectly for death metal. I also used it for a while as my primary amp in a power metal band, which it also did well with. Good clean channel, but nothing really amazing...pretty much a one-trick pony, definitely known for being one of the best solid state metal amps available.
VH-150 clips:
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database

Engl Savage 120 / Ampeg V-412TL with CL80s & V30s: This is what I sold my Ultra+ to get. After having the opportunity to borrow one of these heads and a cab loaded with the aforementioned speakers for a show where I was unable to use my own amp, I decided I needed one. Absolutely badass high-gain sound on channel 4, with a nice midrange emphasis, neither too dry or saturated, and very tight and punchy due to the 6550/KT88 power section. A bit like a more refined-sounding 5150II. MIDI switchable, 2 FX loops, lots of features, and actually capable of being used as a preamp while in standby mode (meaning that you can run a line-out into another amp's power amp, or record directly from the XLR or 1/4" line-out without needing a speaker attached). Listen to Darkane and Nocturnal Rites for an idea of what channel 4 can do. Channel 3 is tighter, lower gain, and also very cool, but artificial harmonics have a somewhat unusual sound to them, that I'm a little iffy on. Listen to Angel Dust's album "Bleed" for an example of what I'm talking about.
Savage 120 clips:
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database

VHT/Fryette Deilverance 60 / P50E-loaded 4x12: No doubt about it, these tend to be love-or-hate amps. One channel (with a switchable 4th gain stage), nothing footswitchable, no FX loop, and the ability to go from clean to metal with your guitar's volume knob. Typical VHT/Fryette stiffness and clarity (another 6550/KT88 power section), and extremely sensitive to small details in your playing and the rest of your rig. This amp has forced me to become a better player, and learning how it responds to dynamics has affected the way I play other amps as well. It responds extremely well to a clean boost for some extra saturation, but is capable of metal on its own...from early stuff like Maiden and Priest, all the way up to modern stuff. Great for low tunings and extended-range instruments.
Deliverance clips:
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database
netmusicians.org - the guitar gear mp3 database




I'm pretty sure that covers everything I've owned (that's worth speaking of, at least).

[craig9045]

nice (apologies for the uselass gaba)

My favourites (from what i have properly played)

Peavey XXX
Great live amp, cosistent and powers through any sound wall

Peavey 5150
Great recording amp, not agreed by everyone as a live amp but for its genre certainly stands out on record.

Mesa Triple Rectifier/mark IV
Great amps, only had a fiddle about with them when i was recording a band whos guitarists had this combination, but real easy to work with and wouldnt mind one myself :-).


Yeah im no expert, and these are your average metal joe's go-to amps i suppose.

Great post guys

[Neznaroz]

Line 6 Spider II 1x12 (G12T 75 watts): I've always spoken highly of these amps, because they're the ideal practise/at home amps. You can get virtually any tone You want and it will sound better than most solid state amplifiers. When You switch to Valve amps You begin to appreciate how You didn't have to re-tube Your old Spider II

Line 6 Spider II 150 watt head + Crate GT300(0?) 4x12 (not sure what speakers were in those): Again, brilliant amp and I still miss it's easy to tame tone and effect accessability. I'll definitely be buying the 15 watt combo equivalent for christmas.

NOTE: Almost with all SS amps, they dont clean up when You roll down Your guitar's volume when You are on the higher gain channels.

Randall RM100 All-tube 100 watt head + Rivera Knucklehead cabinet (V30 60 watt speakers): I'll be completely honest, I haven't played all the popular amps people like around here, I don't enjoy the people who work at most of the music stores in my area. I love those amp and I'm looking forward to being able to afford the pedals I want for it (Boss SD-1 or Ibanez TS-9, some kind of reverb and a delay). Without a doubt, it will sound brilliant. The two downsides to this amp are: The lack of a built in delay, like the one You would see on a Marshall JCM900 and the fact that, unless You have 3200 NZD, You have to save up for the modules after You've bought the amp. With that being said, it is obviously a rediculously versatile amp.

Crate GT300 + Rivera Knucklehead cabinet (V30 60 watt speakers) [I used this Crate while my RM100 was being re-tubed: LOL. That is all.

[guitarguru777]

Bugera 333XL:
I own one and its the workhorse of my studio! 3 Channels, with 2 modes each. Built in noise gate, Switchable Series FX Loop with Boost, and swappable between EL34 or 6L6 Tubes with the flick of a switch! Also has a bias trim pot which is a great feature!

120 Watts

All this for about $600.00

For the price this amp is tough to beat! For a while people were complaining about "quality" of the amp, but its been PERFECT for me since I got it. No issues AT ALL! Everything from Jazz Clean to all out Modern Molten Metal!

Clean Channel: Pristine fender-esq cleans at any volume. With a boost in front like a tube screamer its got a really amazing bluesy tone!

Cruch Channel: Can someone say 80s marshally goodness! OMG this is my fave channel on the entire amp. Everything from AC/DC crunch to full on 80s thrash!

Lead Channel: Mesa to the extreme! More gain on tap then you could ever want, scoop the mids and its DJENT approved!

Series FX Loop: has a level control that can be used as a volume boost on all channels. Up to 6DB of boost! More then you will ever use!

================================================== ========

Krank Rev Jr

20 watt

High gain all tube amp with plenty of power for live performance for about $600 (20 watt version). 2 Channels (non-foot switchable, the PRO version has channel switching). Plenty of gain on tap! Pure shred approved tones. Everything from 80s thrash to DJENT is in this little 5 pound baby!

I love this little guy. I use him as a backup to my 5150 live and in times of need he has never let me down. He gets a ton of use in my studio as well.

KLEEN CHANNEL: is CLEAN and when I say clean I mean Jewish Virgin on her first visit to Israel clean. It totally shocked me this high gain monster has such a beautiful clean sound. even all FULL VOLUME the clean channel is CLEAN!

Krunch Channel: HEAVY, sweep control takes you from mid heavy 80s honk, to ultra scooped DJENT approved mayhem.

[shuriken-guitar]

I am not in a place to tell people to get a certain amp, because i dont know much... but i can give my experiences with the equipment i have used.

Line 6 spider II: it's a good amp for the bedroom. you can get pretty good metal tones out of it, but the cleans are pretty lame. a lot of the pre-sets are junk, and i doubt you'll ever use them. i think theres only going to be two amp models you will use in this amp; metal and clean. a good thing though is that it comes with some effects built into the amp. the mods sounded very cheap, but the delay, and the reverb were quite nice. i recommend this; if you can find it cheap used and if you plan to just use it for home. note: no noisegate on this, like the other models of the spider family. it will hum and hiss and sound like diarhea on higher volumes.

Line 6 Spider III 150w head w/ 4X12 spider cab: this amp is basically like the spider II, except it sounds better, and you get little to no hum. it was actually quite clean, and also had an added booster you can access through a pedal. generally it's just the same as the Spider II except it's more powerful, with more headroom. still, one thing i noticed is that it turns to mush when you turn up the bass. don't expect it to be tight. The amp models sound much better than this series, but again, the pre-sets are
nothing.

Line 6 Spider Jam: This product is the best, BEST, bedroom rocker amp you can get. it has a built in drum machine, which loops... gets old, but is good for practice. you can also record up to 24 minutes of your own material, recording on top of recorded material as well, infinitely. if you have an sd card, you can record much more. generally, this amp has great tone. even now, i still use it to record ideas and songs if i am too lazy to set up my computer to record an idea(which i tend to do a lot). simply, this amp is simple and ready to go. i recommend VERY highly, for the guy who wants to practice on top of recorded material. the drum machine can be used as a metronome as well
shit pre-sets again.

Line 6 pod X3 Live: I found this unit to sound really flat and uninspiring. sold it after a couple of months. so many amps to choose from as well as different cabs, speakers etc... still sounded like trash to my ears. the emulated amps really sounded digital, and thats coming from a guy who doesn't have much experience with real tubes etc... recommended for someone who has money and wishes to waste it. direct sounds alright, but through an amp, sounds like ass. but still, direct out through monitors, speakers etc... not good. i heard some people get amazing tones from this on youtube... sadly i was not one of them.

Zoom g9.2tt: i dont know if i like this or hate this... definitely dont like it though... and i tried. this unit has tubes in it... haha, thats wierd for a amp emulator, but its quite neat. get it warmed up, and yes, it does make it sound quite nice... however, the sound quality is just... so digital. you can really hear it, and it doesn't sound good. another thing i really hate is that its not user friendly. expect to get real close to the manual while using this. lastly, this unit comes with something called a znr. what is that you say? basically its a cheating tool... a big cheating tool that i despite ~ what this znr thing does is cover up your mistakes. it's sort of like a compressor, which cuts feedback, and all the unwanted noises that you make by mistake. sustain gets killed when this thing is on, plus; you wont know if you're a good guitar player or not if you use it, because it covers your ass too much! i don't recommend this; had it for 2 months... should have bought something else... or saved my money. i am intent on using it, but just cant work around it's sound.

Line 6 HD500: i'll keep this one short... buy it. if you're look for a digital amp modeller with effects, that wont break the bank; get it. I am really REALLY happy with the tone i can get with this. it seriously sounds awesome to my ears... and yet, i am still looking for bigger and better things haha.

[MDV]

Shiiiiiiit

Okey dokey

I think my first amp that wasnt a crappy little practice amp (some 'practice' amps are very good: emphasis on 'crappy'! was

Laney TF300

I was 16, had been playing for 0 years, and wanted something that made more noise and didnt sound terrible. At the time I had some idea what I wanted an amp to sound like (metallica11!!!!!1!1) but no fucking clue whatsoever how to get that sort of sound (or that it was utterly hopeless to try to get something like the black album sound from any one amp, in the room). It basically suited my needs, save that it farted out on palm mutes. So I sent it back. I shant try and comment on the memory of the tone; far too dim and distant.

Its successor was:

Carlbro GLX80

This amp did me for some considerable time. It lasted me until I think my last year of university and I was generally, at the time, impressed with it. It had an odd 'channel blending' feature where you could mix the clean and distortion channels, that was basically useless. I reaquired the same amp recently (got it back off the person I sold it to, then sold it on again) so the tones: cleans, dull and lifeless, distortion, boxy, fizzy and anemic. Why I liked it I have no idea.

First 'High End' amp, 21st birthday present in...shit, wait, how old am I now? Ok, must have been 2003. Rampant guitar forum activity had not yet brought a million and one new amps to try to my attention, and the internet did not yet effectively provide clips and demo recordings, so I was quite content with:

TSL602

For a while, believing that a Marshall surely must be able to provide the sounds I wanted, without having to (or being able to) shell out for a mesa (which is what I thought at the time was my holy grail tone). This aint such a bad amp, but it wasnt right for me, I (fairly) quickly realised. I kept wanting it to be less woolly, more aggressive, tighter in the low end and yada yada. I swapped the valves out a couple of times to little avail and changed the speakers and never really got on with it perfectly well. I used an EQ20 in the effects loop for a bit, which helped, but it was never going to have the modern metal voicing I wanted.

Que:

Engl screamer combo

I liked this amp quite a bit. I enjoyed its fatter bass response, greater aggression and after a while grew to like the glassy, ultra-unforgiving high mids and top end. I used the screamer and the tsl at the same time if I needed to make a shitload of noise, to great effect, and kept them both around for I think 2-3 years. I wasnt quite content, however, because it still didnt deliver qute the tightness and punch in the low end that I wanted. I didnt want a huge overbearing low end, both the TSL and screamer had enough on tap in magnitude, I just wanted it to be more solid.

- notable mention in this time:

Roland Cube 30

I loved this amp. LOVED it. I sold it really hastily after I got my ADVT30XL, and was basically alright with that until I moved to a new place and need amps in multiple rooms for practice and people coming round, and now I think "I wish I still had my cube!". 80 poxy quid for one of the best low volume amps I've ever used! What was I thinking? Sounded thick, chunky, not overly fizzy, and was quite articulate at whisper volume.

Which I suppose leads me to:

ADVT30XL

My harping on about 'little' amps may not seem worthwhile, but one thing I STILL stuggle with is a satisfactory low volume sound. This and the cube are pretty much the best I've found. Most of the channels on this are pretty rubbish, but I found some sounds in it that I like and I stick to the same two, and enjoy them. Same basic description as the cube (which is also my functional spec of a practice amp: here it is again: "thick, chunky, not overly fizzy, quite articulate/clear, all at low volume". It doesnt seem much to ask, but its been very hard to satisfy! The vox is brighter than the cube, and I swear I can hear that lone 12ax7 doing something minuscule and insignificant to the tone, but it sounds decent for what it is.

While I'm at it:

Pod XT

Hated it. I listened to recordings and went 'I'll have me some of that', got me some of that, in the mean time learned how to mic an amp reasonably well and discovered that I may as well just use one or 10 of the billion VSTs out there and then decided I didnt want me any of that any more.

Tonelab LE

Same, but with better amp models and effects. It took me longer to get rid of this one, but it went anyway, with pretty minimal use. Was really hard to get a bright and tight enough metal sound from it, but doable (but not worth it in the end!)

Where was I?

Ah, yes, we're up to my current amps (which include the ADVT30XL, still; its infront of me now as my lounge practice amp)

Peavey Vypyr 30

The less I can play this the better. I wanted it to be a second practice amp for the studio. Its high gain sounds are all terribly similar, loose, and somehow manage to be both too squishy and too clangy and harsh. Dont like. At all. The volume is very hard to use when low: one arc second of turn will increase or decrease by a factor of about 5 when below about 2. Cleans and effects are pretty good though. I keep it around for 'variety', 'in case I need it' etc etc

Peavey bandit

You all know this amp: I picked it up for £10, quite like it for what it is and shant complain

The key ingredient of much that follows:

Bogner Ubercab

Dear lord. The right amp/s through this cab and youre worried that youre gonna break your house in half. Very, very tight, punchy, clear and can and will sound gargantuan, if you let it. I've been through K100s and Swamp thangs in place of the T75s and came back to the 75s in the end (though may go all-V30). My only complaint: it could be a little less beamy, but I suppose thats the price you pay: I dont see any cabs breaking the laws of physics any time soon; closed = beamier. Better learn to deal with it.

Engl powerball

A V2, I think. Things I like: ultra-tight, very aggressive, decent cleans, 'wide', highly effective controls (for the most part) let it be pretty tweakable, and I'm still, 3-4 years later, tweaking. Of course, if you dont like the amp 5 minutes after you plug in, youre never going to, and I did. It appeals to me in a mechanically brutal sort of a way. It doesnt have some characteristics that I do/did want, though: its quite sterile souding, I wanted an amp that had a thicker, denser, 'woodier' (never really understood how that term applies to an amp, but I get whats meant by it) bark in the low mids and mids. The PB mids are oddly congested, which can work sometimes, not others.

VHT Pitbull CL100 EQ

This was more or less a blind accident. I'd heard clips and nothing put me off, but nothing really enticed me about what I heard. But I was looking for more amps on account of the complaints I just gave about my PB. I wanted a supliment/compliment to the PB, really. I was offered this in part-ex for a couple of my ibanezes. What. A. Fucking. Deal. I ADORE this amp. Its the amp that I never knew I needed. Slightly darkly voiced, but utterly unforgivingly tight, clear and responsive. Shitloads of (highly usable) gain, but without much saturation, very usefull and well implemented controls (not least of which the 5-band EQ), good cleans (warm and smooth and chimey and glassy is all there), hyper aggressive, and all the midrange bark you can want or need (and not congested, either: they do what mids should; hit you in the chest and make your skull shake).

The only downside of this amp for me is that its made me want a UL as well.

Irksome.

JVM 410h

I got this mainly to record people that want generic rock sounds (its something I've been moving into lately). It wasnt my thing, and I doubt it ever will be. It has none of the wool or the TSL, thankfully, and can easily be a metal amp, but its voicings not what I would use. That said, I do enjoy playing through it: its capable of a midrange snarl and bite that I havent heard out of many amps, and the main beats are all there, present and basically correct, from plexi-ish to JCM800-ish to hotrodded marshall-ish. None quite right, but all quite passable. All in all, looking at it as objectively as I can, its the best amp marshall have released since the JCM800, imo, but its not 'my thing. Were it my only amp I wouldnt cry myself to sleep at night, but I'd be looking for something different. As it is, its a welcome addition.

Current gas for - 5150 II/6506+

Never terribly liked playing through them; slightly squishy pick attack I dont agree with, but always liked the tones and would like to have one round as another option for recording; they do so so very well.

Notable also -rans (amps I havent owned, but in some way have stood out to me when trying them)

Dual rec

Now on its own, I dont like that much, too loose and fizzy (even loud) but boost it and youre in some fine-ass metal rhythm territory. Never bought one because I've always, despite quite liking them, seen them as unjustifiably expensive here (thick end of £2000). Also, I object to buying an amp that I HAVE to boost. (this also applies to the Uberschall, which I positively hated unboosted, and quite liked boosted). But, a boosted DR is a force to behold.

VHT Deliverance 60

Now, see, I'm a metal Rhythm player, really. Think "Someone that did most of his early learning from metallica CDs and now wishes there were more hours in the day to listen to Nile, Origin, Meshuggah and Hour of Penance"...among others, obviously. I can play leads, and often do just sit and shred for hours, but its not something I take seriously, its just for the pracitice and fun of it. But, I plugged into this and couldnt stop playing sweet, smooth blues-based leads with big wide vibrato, slow bends and the occasional incongruous sweep. It was just so responsive and articulate. Awesome stuff. Couldnt keep it together very well in drop B with my jackhammer picking hand, though, so it had to be ruled out (this is the TOTAL opposite of the pibull, btw, which maintains low end itegrity even when theres far, far more of it going on than you can ever want or need).

If I were in a position where I could have a 'lead amp' for recording, this would be it.

I'm not really sure how, but I hope this was of use to someone. Was fun going down memory lane and racking my brains about it at any rate

Edit: because I got the year I was 21 in wrong

Edit 2: Another also-ran

VH4 Similar dark-but-articulate thing going on on most channels to the pitbull, but more saturated and less throaty. More processed sounding. Extremely versatile; you can get a passable tone for more or less anything from jazz to extreme metal from it. Another absurdly tight amp, which I'm a big fan of (in case you hadnt guessed). Its somewhat processed sound (says the powerball-user) and massive price tag put me off, though. Its almost like its mixed and mastered out of the cab, very impressive, but also a bit flat. I like it very much nonetheless.

[lennyechovirus]

Heres my contribution (will mention gig rigs only);

Marshall MGDFX 100h and cab

- Rubbish, Wasp in a can sound!

Marshall JCM900 SLX

- Brilliant tone for AC/DC - Old school/early bay area sound. Nothing else.

Marshall TSL60

- Brilliant pub rock amp, will be perfect for a covers band situation doing any cover versions from the police to pink floyd (but none of them brilliantly). Note i also blew this amp after 4 hours of higher volume use. Ive heard from my amp tech that its common to happen with these amps as they heat up and the cheap plastic expands.

ENGL E640 Invader 150

- This amp has a bigger schlong that i do. Simple. It prob makes love to my gf better than i do when im asleep.

(on a serious note... brilliant creamy tone goes right to hell as well when you need it, dodgy noise gate included tho, one valve went quite quickly too)

Thanks for reading if you did.