Right amp for me?

[booyah14]

I finally have a little bit of money saved up and definitely want to get a tube amp finally. I have played a few amps and thought it sounded good with tweaking and messing around for 5 minutes but nothing that really jumped out at me.

I guess I should list a few bands that I really like the tone of. I am in no way saying that I want this tone, but just that I like the style of it. A few bands would probably be unearth, killswitch engage, earth crisis, god forbid, darkest hour. I don't know if it is because these bands are more "commercial" so they just have better production or not, but I have seen all of these bands live and they definitely have that tone that I like.

The money is around 1000, I can swing a little above if need be but would definitely like to keep it around there. 5150 and mesa's are the only ones I really hear getting hyped so I figured I would ask the experts, haha. I have no problem buying used either so if you have any suggestions that would probably fit my description, please do tell because there are just too many options out there.

From the few amps that I have checked out so far, I would probably say a mesa single rectifier was my favorite if that helps.

 

[006]

Used 5150 combo's can be had on eBay for about $450-570. I bought mine on eBay years ago and have been happy ever since. I bought my Mesa Dual Recto new, but my Engl Powerball on eBay as well. It is a fat chance to see those on there (Engl Powerball) so if you ever see one, you wish you had the money, luckily I did at the time.

Peavey 5150/XXX/JSX
Framus Cobra
Mesa Rectifiers/Mark IV
Bogner Uberschall/XTC
Engl Fireball/Powerball
Soldano SLO100

All great amps for metal. Just look for the deals man. But like I said, a 5150 combo can be had at a cheap price always. Kinda like a plan B or something. You have to remember that it is best for you to actually play the amps yourself before buying so you can find one that suits YOU the best. I can only suggest amps that *I* have experience with and/or own myself. I don't know what YOU want. Hope I helped.

~006

 

[Fragle]

if you liked the recto stay away from an engl, pretty much exact opposites. the recto has a certain low end sag which can be good or bad depending on what you're looking for, as well as a low mid spike which you either dig or not. engls on the other hand have scooped low mids and are very tight.

i'd say for around 1000 bucks look for either a used recto, a 5150, or a peavey XXX. check out the framus cobra, too, but that one is way out of your price range.

 

[booyah14]

Framus cobra is definitely nice but I highly doubt I could spring for it on my budget. I wish though.

 

[sorceron]

i dont know about earth crisis but i can say for sure the rest of those bands have used 5150's at some point live. not to mention its probly the cheapest one you can get used as far as bang for the buck.

 

[booyah14]

I've heard the blue voodoo cab works pretty good with a mesa head. Just thinking of keeping cost down.

 

[Carrier Flux]

I've heard the blue voodoo cab works pretty good with a mesa head. Just thinking of keeping cost down.

it's generally not advisable to skimp on the cab, because you'll be less motivated to upgrade your cab in the future when your budget is tight than you will to upgrade your head (us metal folks always find a way, even if it means credit card debt..heheehhee)...so if you buy a good cab you'll probably never need to replace it...at least for a really long time. even a beat up old mesa cab is a good investment if the speakers still work.

 

[booyah14]

That is a very good point. A small music store has a 5150 in there store that I will try to play this weekend. Only problem is they don't even have a room to play in, so I'm not really sure what to do with that. Any more choices would be good.