Picking an amp (Fryette, Diezel, Hughes and Kettner, ENGL...)

hsnyder

hsnyder

Harris Snyder
Dec 5, 2009
217
0
16
Toronto, Canada
Hi everyone,

I'm suffering from the amp dilemma. I know I'm willing to dish out some money for a good versatile amp. As good as 6505s can sound, I really would want a good usable clean channel (and ideally a good mid gain channel as well), and say what you will, Recto's and 6505s might as well be one channel amps to me. I'm also maybe a little overly used to that sound and looking for something a little different.

I'm looking at these amps essentially:
- Fryette Ultra Lead or Sig:X
- Diezel VH4 or Herbert
- Hughes and Kettner Triamp Mk II
- Something by ENGL

I definitely want something where chords (other than power chords) remain audible at metal rhythm guitar gain levels. My band uses the occasional high up minor second chord, and even wierder stuff like a Dmaj7 add#9 and all that crap.. Recto's tend to fuzz out with those chords I find.

Now, I'm actually thinking that I might NOT want an ENGL, because I've heard them a lot.. Unless they slay all the other choices, I'd rather go for something a bit different / less common.

The Triamp I tried sounded amazing, but didn't have all of the clarity I wanted on the minor seconds, for example, has anyone else experienced this (or the opposite - my demo wasn't as extensive as i'd have liked)?

I've never played a diezel nor even heard one in person, but I LOVE the recorded VH4's tone. That said, I question the metal-ness of the VH4... I have only heard one clip from it that I really thought was heavy enough for my music - no matter how much I may like the tone. The Herbert.... I like the clips by and large - much clarity - but it seems almost as if its not as aggressive sounding as some others on the list? I know it sounds "big" but I wonder if it will really crush in a live setting the way a H&K or Fryette might...

Which leads me to the amps which I think are maybe the top competitors... Fryette. I haven't actually played one, but I heard a Sig:X in person and it blew me away.... certainly my favourite tone I've heard in person... But then of course, theres the Ultra Lead, which I can't seem to find one of in Toronto to demo, but supposedly are one of the most brutal sounding amps ever made... I'd love to hear from anyone who has or had played both heads what their take is..

Gonna go see if I can demo all these babies, but hey if you guys can knock a couple off my list that'd be great... the nearest Diezel shop is 5 hrs away, haha.. Also other people's views ARE useful. I won't be able to demo the amps all through the same cab, with the same guitar and same speakers, etc...

Thanks
 
+1 to the 5150III. I liked the Diezels I've played, but I wasn't blown away. I have my eyes on a Triamp MKII, myself.
 
Well, I love these tones!
Cannibal Corpse - Mesa
Exodus - XXX, Savage 120
Nevermore - Mesa, 5150
Fear Factory - Marshall, Krank
Aborted - Madison Divinity
Hate Eternal - Powerball

6 different tones there, but all sound great.
Havent heard a Diezel in person, but I dont like Hetfields tone with em.:puke:

Go to your nearest store and spend a day in the control room fiddling with everything. A 5 hour drive is worth it mate, if it annoys the shopkeepers, boo hoo, tell them to harden up! :hotjump:

EDIT: Or try this stinking amp,
This may just be on my shopping list!

 
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Pitbull Ultra Lead = my favorite heavy amp ever. The Pitbull has a brutal tightness/definition that I've never heard from any other amp. The clean is okay (to be honest I still haven't found a multi-channel amp that excels at both clean and heavy tones, it's always one or the other) - the Sig:X wins out for cleans but the heavy tones can't hang with the Pitbull. You've got to be able to play because the Pitbull is very defined and it won't hide sloppy playing, but if you can play it's pretty unbeatable IMO.

The 5150III is a good suggestion as well, the blue channel is flat out incredible for rock tones.

I haven't ever been amazed with any of the ENGLs I've tracked (Powerball, Savage 120, Savage SE, Fireball) - they all sound GOOD but they don't blow me away. Same with the Triamp.
 
I have the Sig X. I fucking love it.

It's quite a dry sounding amp, and doesn't hide mistakes. It's very crisp, but still powerful and full sounding. I can't speak for the high-gain tones of the Sig X versus the Pitbull because I've never played a Pitbull.

A few Siggy clips, and bear in mind, this is just how I used it - the amp has a wide variety of tones.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/630473/Wolves Of The Calla.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/630473/SheWhoShootsWithHerHand_TomRollOff.mp3

To be honest I would personally avoid ENGL amps. It may be the way people dial them in, but any time I've heard them live they seem to really get lost in the mix.
 
If this help: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/695243-help-me-choosing-amp.html

Anyway, if you surf on internet you will go insane because people says things about and amp and other people says just the opposite... don't believe what you read and try the amps by yourself. People talks bollocks about amps and they have never tried any of them, they talk because the read in other forums or "I've been told that"... bullshit.

I finally ended up buying an Engl cause was my best option for my style and playing. I would have liked to try a EVH 5150 III but I coulnd't so I didn't buy it, even though I was recommend by people of this forum (the only people you can trust BTW)
 
Eh, I'm on a budget in the sense that if i can get more for less or the same for less, I will do it, but on the other hand, I really want something I'll be happy with long-term.

Thanks for the 5150 III suggestion... I'll try it out again, I tried it once and sort of forgot about it to be honest, but that was when it first came out.

Yeah leaning hard towards the Fryettes, I think. Thanks for those Sig:X clips! I've been having such a hard time finding clips of these amps!

Its tough to demo stuff in Toronto, I'll probably have to go to guitar center in NYC next time I'm there.

Its also worth mentioning that I have a handbuilt marshall silver Jubillee which I absolutely love the lead tones of.. but it can also function as a 100 watt poweramp, so if the consensus is that the Sig:X lacks the 4 tube sound on the heavier tones, then I can split it into both power amps (marshall is running KT66s). I'm sure that the Ultra Lead probably IS more brutal sounding, but I guess the Jury is still out on whether or not its versatile enough for me to want to use as my main stage head... I do need a range of tones, so.... maybe I'll get both - the Sig:X now and the UL in a year or two :) (or the other way around perhaps - both together are barely more expensive than a diezel)

Edit: Just listened to those Sig:X clips again and DAMN :)
 
Well, I'm not struggling for teh br00tz from the Sig X. I've seen some people say they're not too good for metal, but I just think they're not dialing them in right.

Since I got it, I really haven't thought about another amp. I am however feeling the need for a new cab!!
 
I have owned or extensively tried each and every amp on that list (well, aside from the Engls, since you don't list any).

I currently own a Herbert and it's without a doubt the best sounding amp I've ever touched. There's truly not a single tone this amp can't do.

Like you, I really like the recordings of the VH4s I've heard, but I can't for the life of me seem to get them to sound anywhere near those clips when I've tried them (and I've tried A LOT of them). While it's a nice sounding amp, it's not worth its price tag IMO. It's also not an amp I'd buy for modern metal, I'd place it more in the territory of the Soldano SLO and Bogner XTC - A modern high gain lead amp. I've also owned an Einstein before. Cool sounding amp, but a little boomy for my tastes, that amp had a huge lowend, but it was a bit on the loose side... kind of their take on a Recto, except much more versatile, even more so if you add the custom switching so you can change the modes on the channels with a footswitch.

The UL is probably my next favorite on your list. The first one I had, I was left very much underwhelmed, the UL had been an amp I'd always wanted to try, and an amp that I thought might be my be-all-end-all amp, there must've been something wrong with the first one I had, because it didn't have nearly as much gain as I thought it would, and it was just dead and lifeless sounding. This completely turned me off from the entire VHT line for a while. The second one I had though, was brutal as hell, with tons of clarity. I'd say, if clarity is your main concern, the UL beats the Herbert, but the dry tone isn't for everyone.

The Herbert is more organic than the UL and has more "feel" to it, absolutely menacing for rhythms on the crunch channel, but it has a bit more sag and isn't quite as clear (though, it has plenty of clarity for me, and clarity is a big deal as a criteria for amps I buy).

The Sig:X is a cool amp that I'd like to try again, but there's just something about that amp that leaves me wanting something more out of it; a little too sterile for me, maybe. Also know that, Fryette/VHTs tend to sound their best through certain speakers. There are a few combinations I've used them through that just flat out sounded horrible, whereas I went and put it on a different cab, and it sounded great. They are extremely picky amps.

The H&K is a very versatile amp, but I've always found them to be more of a "jack of trades, master of none" type thing. While they can sound cool at metal, I don't feel like that's really their strong point. If anything, it's more of a rock amp IMO, but really, there's not a single tone on those amps where I felt like it really excelled at, as to where I could decide what kind of tones H&K was really trying to go for on the amp.
 
I'll throw in a suggestion for the Mesa Mark V. I'd say it's my desert island amp. Ola did a walkthrough of it a while ago to demostrate all the channels and he also has a couple more video's where you can hear it in a full mix. I like it.

 
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MatrixClaw said:
The Sig:X is a cool amp that I'd like to try again, but there's just something about that amp that leaves me wanting something more out of it; a little too sterile for me, maybe. Also know that, Fryette/VHTs tend to sound their best through certain speakers. There are a few combinations I've used them through that just flat out sounded horrible, whereas I went and put it on a different cab, and it sounded great. They are extremely picky amps.
Click to expand...

Hey dude,

I'd be interested in knowing what cabs sounded good versus what sounded shit, as I'm thinking about getting a new cab :) Don't mean to hi-jack mind....
 
About the Mark V, its funny you should mention that, because the first time I heard a Sig:X, I was testing a Mark V, and i just hear this beastly sound from behind me - instantly better than any tone i'd dialed in in the past hour.. Turn around and theres a guy behind me plugged into a Sig:X.... The Mark V is a good amp and its versatile, but the Fryette Roasts it IMO.

MatrixClaw, thanks for your input, Interesting to hear from someone who has actually used the Herbert and the UL... I sort of agree that the UL sounds dry.. from the... one clip I heard, but on the flip side the herbert almost seems a bit too wet, haha... As high a concern as clarity is, I'd say just general brutality/explosiveness is my main concern. I want to hit the first chord of the night and let it ring out and have it sound like an explosion with musical pitch :p The herbert does seem to be able to do that from the clips, but then it starts to lose aggression (from the clips...) when you switch to single note riffing.
 
Axe-Fx is always an option ... the results have been spectacular thus far for us and everyone else I've heard that uses it in a live environment ... now I'm waiting for some bashing from tube-purists ... COMEATMEBRO
 
I had an AxeFx and sold it... It nailed all the tones I didn't want, if that makes any sense, lol.

Its has amazing recto sims, marshall sims, fender sims, 5150s, etc... all that stuff... But given the amps I'm looking at, those aren't the sounds I'm aimed for... Someday may get another one, but it'll honestly just be my reverb processor, and it will supply other tones, but I want my main rhythm tone to be a bit "different"
 
hsnyder said:
I had an AxeFx and sold it... It nailed all the tones I didn't want, if that makes any sense, lol.

Its has amazing recto sims, marshall sims, fender sims, 5150s, etc... all that stuff... But given the amps I'm looking at, those aren't the sounds I'm aimed for... Someday may get another one, but it'll honestly just be my reverb processor, and it will supply other tones, but I want my main rhythm tone to be a bit "different"
Click to expand...

Hey. I think the H&K Switchblade is better than the Tri-Amp but that is just my opinion. I hear you about the lack of ops to try out most of these amps in the GTA. For those Fortin amps (which absolutely slay BTW), they are in Whitby and you can likely get in touch with them to try out one of their custom amps.

Cheers!

Geoff
 
Great Scot! Fortin NATAS! Okay, I'm definately going to try to demo one of these... Even Youtube clips of it sound amazing.

Earforce Two is also blowing me away from the clips.

Has anyone here played both the Fortin or Earforce and an Ultra Lead? I think those are my current top competitors, with the sig:zipit: and 5150 III being runners up
 
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