Amps for ambient/symphonic mixes?

Empathy

Empathy

Bulging Member
Mar 6, 2008
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Perth, Western Australia
Hey dudes - and maybe even dudettes, who knows - need some opinions yonder.

I'm hunting down an amp to use that coincides well with heavily ambient/symphonic mixes. Basically, the most deliciously high gain butt-fucker of a tube amp you know that actually enjoys having it's mids gutted in a mix. From what I remember reading on here, Ermz bought his JVM with this reason in mind, and I love the shit out of that amp so it's a highly placed contender - anything else worth considering? Have had my eye on the ENGL Fireball 100 for a while now - naturally scooped to all hell but still pretty killer to my ears. Was used on PBP and HU by Scar Symmetry if I'm right, and damn do I love the HU sound.

So yeah, nothing hugely expensive, preferrably in the same price-range as a JVM410 (~$2000 AUD). I'm not in the budget to be looking at Diezels or a Mr Hector. God's balls I wish I could afford a Fortin though!

WHAT SAY YOU?
 
Surprisingly, a 5150 can do the job as I say this from experience being in a orchestral metal band myself. If you scoop the mids fairly low, as in 1-2 (1.5 in my case) and keep the highs somewhat low (no higher than 6) than you have a thick sounding amp that is soft and washy enough so that ambient synths and other symphonic elements can shine through. If you are having issues still, it might be your mixing skills or synths/libraries of choice that might be the issue (as is the case with me).

Not too much of a fan of the all lower mids scooped to oblivion cranked upper mids using T75 loaded cabinets sound that most melodic metal bands with many ambient elements tend to gravitate towards, you can have a nice thick and meaty guitar tone and still let the synths come through.

I would say any darker amp would do the job as the main issue with amps not doing so well scooped is because they are too bright or have too much bite and not enough fizz which makes them sound brittle and harsh when scooped. You need a darker, smoother and more fizzier amp to be able to scoop out the mids, so amps that come to mind for me are:

5150: Bright but still smooth and still sounds good with more extreme LPF
Fireball: Scooped but focused
Powerball
Rockerverb: Darker and Middy but has still has that lacking boxy sound that eats up the fundamental area of the mix
Cobra

The Fortin Natas from what I heard sounds like it would work very well, but as you said they aren't cheap.
 
^Fuck thats another amp I forgot, Blackstar. After playing the Series One 1046L6 I can say that amp would probably be almost too perfect, except I only played it in the room so I have no clue how it would mic up.

And Dimmu until Andy did their latest was mostly Engl Savage and SE (6L6) for the previous three albums. The tone really worked too.
 
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