Amp buying

[Strat Man]

Looking into buying a new amp to replace a crappy Marshall solidstate head and 4x10. Looking for a head and 4x12 cabinet. My budget is somewhere around USD$3000 all up (head and cab). I've looked around but I'm still totally at a loss of what to buy. Tempted to buy a Mesa (probably single) but worried I should save more and get a Triple or maybe a Marshall DSL2000 or Mode 4. But honestly I have no idea, as well as what combination of head and cab is best ie go for mesa with marshall 1960A cab?
I play a Fender Toronado loaded with humbuckers through a boss bf2, ibanez de7 & sm7 (the sm7 goes once I have decent amp distortion), boss tu2 and 535q wah.
Go to www.inverseorder.co.nz for streaming samples of my bands music to get an idea of the sound we have at the moment, the single (good mourning lullaby) was recorded with a borrowed JCM900 running through a mesa 4x12.
Any advice would be very appreciated, with the budget in mind!

 

[perceive]

I think any valve marshall or any mesa will do the job for you from what I can hear. I would not recommend one specifically but your recommendations are all going to be good amps
and in recording .... who can tell anyway... but for live, you also need to guess your needed output as well i guess..... but $3000 should be plenty anyway...it would even buy me my dream hiwatt head and maybe leave some change if i was lucky

 

[-=¤willhaven¤=-]

If you've got $3000 to spend, don't buy a new Mesa. You'd be wasting money IMO.

Go for the Triple Rectifier and get the matching cab and be done with it.

Actually, you could afford a used Road King head if you wanted. They're about $2000 used, and a cabinet is well under $1000.

Try out a Road King. It may be too much for most people, but they are super flexible and have a million settings.

 

[Ronan]

Very cool sounding band!

This is just personal opinion, but I think you may be better off with something like a vox AC30 style amp for the kind of band you are. Something with a really sweet break up for that medium gain stuff. Maybe even an old fender twin. I do not think the modern hi gain amps like a dual rectifier will suit your music as well as some other options. Rivera has some great options and my slightly obscure favorite option Jule Amps

 

[David Katauskas]

All I can say is that those tunes on your site are really good.

 

[Strat Man]

Ok so to cut down a little:
Is it worth settling for a single rectifier and a mesa cab, or should I wait a bit longer till I can afford a triple and live with an average cab (some cheap marshall 4x12) for a bit (none of which I will buy new) - till I can afford a decent 4x12. This would be predominantly for live use in smallish club settings. That is considering a recto is the way to go, not a jcm or a TSL. Yes I will shop around and have a listen to a bunch but its great to get some guidelines first. Much appreciated!

 

[Outlaws]

Ok so to cut down a little:
Is it worth settling for a single rectifier and a mesa cab, or should I wait a bit longer till I can afford a triple and live with an average cab (some cheap marshall 4x12) for a bit (none of which I will buy new) - till I can afford a decent 4x12. This would be predominantly for live use in smallish club settings. That is considering a recto is the way to go, not a jcm or a TSL. Yes I will shop around and have a listen to a bunch but its great to get some guidelines first. Much appreciated!

Why is a Marshall cab considered 'cheap'? Some people have a never ending headache trying to find the exact cab that sounds right with their heads. Who is to say once you play a Marshall cab that it doesn't just click? A 'match' (by brand) head and cab is over rated and is just stupid IMO. Thats not to say it won't sound fucking awsome.....but if you can close your eyes.....you never know what you might find.

example.....

(mine)
http://berntson.us/guitar/1960ax_half.jpg

 

[-=¤willhaven¤=-]

I played my Mesa Triple through two Marshall cabinets for 4-5 years. I finally just decided to get rid of both Marshall cabs and get one Mesa 4x12. The difference in tone was drastic. The Mesa cabinet was a lot tighter and more focused than the Marshall cabinets were. They feel like plugging into little rattling buzz boxes in comparison. Even with the same speakers...

It depends what kind of sound you want though. Many people use Mesas with Marshall cabinets and have a great sound. Not that my sound was bad before I switched cabinets, it just has more definition in the low end and midrange than it did before.

 

[vcgeetar]

If you have 3k you may be able to look into getting a bogner or soldano..... both badass boutique amps. if i had the money thats what i want but until then ill have to settle with my 5150's(check out those as well... now known as the 6505 from peavey because van halen broke his contract with his new charvel guitar)

 

[nkjanssen]

I'm with Ronan. Given the style of music, I'd rather hear you through an AC-30 type amp. If you have your heart set on a Mesa, though, the Triple seems like mucho overkill.

 

[IronFlippy]

Wow, your band is what I want mine to sound like, more or less. We have a slightly more classic rock lead/rhythm guitar lineup (did that make any sense?). I use a Fender Champ (soon to be a HotRod Deville) and our lead guitarist uses an old Randall SS combo and a crapload of effects. You don't really need a high gain amp to sound heavy. Are you the only guitarist? If so, then you might need slightly more gain than if there were only two, but remember to let your bassist take care of the low end (if he isn't using a little bit of OD, then suggest the idea). Your job is to harmonize with the band, not destroy them. My $.02

 

[rory]

I'd check out matchless, man. One of the best amp makers in the business. Gets anywhere from pretty clean with a touch of dirt to plexi marshall. Killer amps.

 

[robin watson]

I'm with Ronan. Given the style of music, I'd rather hear you through an AC-30 type amp. If you have your heart set on a Mesa, though, the Triple seems like mucho overkill.

An AC30 is a good call, given what I'm listening to on your site. That chunky, defined Brian May growl comes to mind.

Has anyone else popularized the AC30? Can't think of anyone who uses one than ol' Bry.

 

[Clive Hugh]

I think any valve marshall or any mesa will do the job for you from what I can hear. I would not recommend one specifically but your recommendations are all going to be good amps
and in recording .... who can tell anyway... but for live, you also need to guess your needed output as well i guess..... but $3000 should be plenty anyway...it would even buy me my dream hiwatt head and maybe leave some change if i was lucky

Don't get NZ prices confused with USA prices, conversion rate of the dollar, shipping and any other excuse to charge like a wounded bull usually equates to a price way different to the US

 

[Outlaws]

Has anyone else popularized the AC30?

The AC30? R.E.M. did a lot with them. I always think of the AC30 whenever I hear an REM song. But not a whole lot of bands made big use of them as their spotlight amp...though they might have used them in the studio.

But the AC50 and AC100 were used by the Beatles.

 

[robin watson]

Weird how everyone's heard of the Vox AC30, but few people use one, and it's still in production in it's original form, isn't it?

 

[nkjanssen]

Weird how everyone's heard of the Vox AC30, but few people use one, and it's still in production in it's original form, isn't it?

Lots of people use AC-30's. Radiohead, U2 and REM would be some of the bigger bands off the top of my head. I was at the ACL festival in Austin last month and saw more AC-30's than I saw Marshalls, that's for sure.

It's not in production in its original form. Vox is now a division of Korg. They are no longer point-to-point handwired (other than a few special production units). They still sound damn fine, though. They also have a less expensive line that are made in China and are supposed to sound quite good. I haven't tried any of those yet.

 

[jonnyc]

Weird how everyone's heard of the Vox AC30, but few people use one, and it's still in production in it's original form, isn't it?

I had heard several times that the current run of AC30's aren't like the originals, that they are still pretty good but don't have the goods like the older models. I don't no much about Vox's but seems someone said all the new ones, the Custom Classics, were chinese built which some consider a really bad thing. I may be wrong on this but do a search.

 

[Ronan]

A lot of the Led zep stuff was AC30s