Which New Hi Gain Amp Should I Buy? Vote Now!

[7th Hell]

I'm currently having a real bad G.A.S. attack for a new head. I have a Soldano Super Lead 60 right now, but would like to "trade up" to something more agressive in the gain department. Seems like I can NEVER get enough of the stuff!

If anyone has one of these monsters, please let me know what you think of it! As always, forum brothers, your help in Greatly Appreciated!

[\m/(00)\m/]

wanna sell me that soldano

[Nightburst]

This link contains tons of recorded clips with various well known amps. Not exactly high-gain clip but it's interesting to hear the differences in amp voices.

http://www.proguitar.de/AudioDemo/Co...mpareAmps.html

I'm going to buy a Mesa Rectifier myself, I need huge amounts of gain and I know this amp will deliver.

[Jeff_H]

What do you want to spend?....I'm not crazy about anything on the list.

[7th Hell]

What do you want to spend?....I'm not crazy about anything on the list.

Thinking in the $1 grand area- little more, little less. I'll keep my cab though- just want to switch heads. I thought about buying another head AND keeping my SL 60, but I'd most likely end up playing the new one all the time. Why settle for second-best tone, right?

I tested out the Line6 HD147 at Guitar Center today- had some good crunch tones. The solid state stuff is getting closer to tubes, but I could still easily tell that it didn't have any tubes in it. It still suffered from that fakey-instant response that all solid state amps have. I'm used to that delayed, swell sound that only tubes can deliver. Something in the way that a tube amp responds to your picking.

I'm looking for an amp that can do the 80's shred thing as well as some nu-metal krunch. I'm not a big fan of Mesa/Boogie, even though that's what everyone I ask recommends.

[Benjy_26]

Ampeg VL502 is a righteous amp if you can find a good clean one (discontinued in late 90's).

If you like the Line 6 stuff, MF is blowing out the Duoverb heads at $399 right now.

[Jeff_H]

I like these options in the thousand dollar range:

Bogner:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...739467988&rd=1

This is a very mean Marshall:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...739193654&rd=1

And so is this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...738576043&rd=1

Or if you want something truly unique, voiced the way you want it, and with as much gain on tap as you can stand, combined with Fender cleans for $1000….pick this up and then spend a few hundred dollars having Jeff Seal mod it to the EXACT sound and specs you want from a head:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

[7th Hell]

This link contains tons of recorded clips with various well known amps. Not exactly high-gain clip but it's interesting to hear the differences in amp voices.

http://www.proguitar.de/AudioDemo/Co...mpareAmps.html

Of these I think the ENGL Special Edition comes close to what I had in mind. Unfortunately, at $4399, it's a little out of my price range! Hell- at that price, it BETTER sound damned good!

[TattooedCarrot]

Check out an ENGL Powerball...yum

[Nightburst]

Of these I think the ENGL Special Edition comes close to what I had in mind. Unfortunately, at $4399, it's a little out of my price range! Hell- at that price, it BETTER sound damned good!

Have you listened to the Soldano SLO100OD heavy clip?
That's my favorite of that site.

Why are all high-gain amps so expensive btw?

[7th Hell]

Have you listened to the Soldano SLO100OD heavy clip?
That's my favorite of that site.

Why are all high-gain amps so expensive btw?

I heard it- My SL60 sounds similar to that. Soldanos have a weird trebly rattling sound- inherent to the brand. I checked out the Peavey site, and clicked on some Triple XXX soundclips- Very Nice! I know what I'm doing on my next day off!

http://peavey.com/products/shop_onli...de/2/trile.cfm

As far as why they're so DAMNED expen$ive, they're kind of like a designer amp. Think of these as the Ferraris and Lamborghinis of the Amp world!

[Fatty]

Check out a Laney VH100R or a Marshall JCM 2000. The XXX heads always sounded kind of "fuzzy" to me.

[Nightburst]

I heard it- My SL60 sounds similar to that. Soldanos have a weird trebly rattling sound- inherent to the brand. I checked out the Peavey site, and clicked on some Triple XXX soundclips- Very Nice! I know what I'm doing on my next day off!

http://peavey.com/products/shop_onli...de/2/trile.cfm

As far as why they're so DAMNED expen$ive, they're kind of like a designer amp. Think of these as the Ferraris and Lamborghinis of the Amp world!

Oh well the SLO clip sounded pretty good to me.
Yeah I've heard those Peavey clips before, not bad but it doesn't sound like it's going to be fat enough for my tastes. Need to try it out for real to be shure of course.

[inter]

Peavey JSX.

There's a link in here somewhere with Satch giving a demo. Though they are pretty new so maybe wait awhile?

[joelap]

Rivera Knucklehead.

[bryvincent]

save more for a bogner

[Jeff_H]

Seriously....a modded Marshall will do all you will need, and will be a hell of a lot less than a Bogner, you really can get it done for right around a grand. If you have the $$, then that's cool....I still want to own a Bogner Excacy, but my modded JCM 800 2295 circuit is an amazing amp.

[That90'sGuy]

A modded Marshall from Trace or Jeff or others will do the trick very well for around that price. Don't discount my Triamp, with the right tubes the high gain channel can almost do the full extent of a Mesa Dual Rectifier without the muddiness or lack of detail.

I'm surprised you don't like your Soldano. However, don't look into a XXX and expect it to sound better than yours. If you're looking at a one hit wonder, you might also want to think about a 5150... still, that Soldano should be doing the trick...

[7th Hell]

I'm surprised you don't like your Soldano. However, don't look into a XXX and expect it to sound better than yours. If you're looking at a one hit wonder, you might also want to think about a 5150... still, that Soldano should be doing the trick...

I guess I'm a little tired of the SL60. It's a sweet lil' amp with some real nice crunch, but as of late, I'm looking for a more agressive scream-type tone. Also, having footswitchable channel switching would be nice (I have to unplug from the lead input and plug into the clean input to do this with the SL60).

I tried a 5150 when they first came out- that thing had tons of unusable gain. I must've had the master on like 3, and the thing was all over the place like a runaway truck! I suppose you just need to dial it in, but overall I was not impressed with it.

I've been reading up on the Peavey XXX on Harmony Central- they keep mentioning that the amp was tweaked by Lynch (rumors that it was supposed to be his signature series amp). Anyone here know something about it?

[ledzepp29]

how much would one of those jeff seal mods cost for the fender clean, marshall hi gain and some kind of plexi styled mod cost? I'm talkin about on one of those jcm800 heads.