Amp suggestions for live gigs.

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awx

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Hi,

I'm currently looking to get myself a new guitar amp large enough for gigs. I want to spend a minimal amount of money but still get the sound I am after. The sound I am looking for is a warm kind of sound in the style of bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Tomahawk, Tool and Kyuss.

I really just need to know what wattage would be required and what brand/model would give me the desired sound that I am after.

Thanks in advance.
 
I'm not sure what those bands use brand-wise, but for live applications you'll want 100W or more.
 
The answer depends on how you play live gigs, how the PA is used, the size of rooms, and a dozen other factors.

Give us some other details about the band, how many, how loud, etc.

Ed
 
Elton Bear said:
I'm not sure what those bands use brand-wise, but for live applications you'll want 100W or more.
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Not necessarily. I gig with a 22 watt Deluxe Reverb. Even my 50 watt Marshall would be way too much. It really depends what type of music you are into, what size rooms you'll be playing, if you intend to mic your amp or not, and if you are concerned about being able to hear in 10 years.
 
if you play heavy rock/metal with pounding drums and a heavy bass, youd probably want something with a lot of punch in the 100+ watt range. full and half-stacks are obvious choices not only for sheer volume, but also for aesthetic appeal. noones impressed with a 5w gorilla practice amp sitting on a chair mic'd to oblivion through a PA system. if you play blues, softer rock, country, jazz, etc, and want true tonal quality, maybe a lower wattage tube combo would suit you better.
 
Greg_L said:
if you play heavy rock/metal with pounding drums and a heavy bass, youd probably want something with a lot of punch in the 100+ watt range. full and half-stacks are obvious choices not only for sheer volume, but also for aesthetic appeal. noones impressed with a 5w gorilla practice amp sitting on a chair mic'd to oblivion through a PA system. if you play blues, softer rock, country, jazz, etc, and want true tonal quality, maybe a lower wattage tube combo would suit you better.
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Do you really believe that anyone cares about aesthetic appeal? Look around, people dress like skid row bums and have bed head hair cuts or worse yet shaved bald heads. Obviously none of those people care about how anything looks or they would never leave the house looking like that. Nobody cares whether you use a Backline of Marshall stacks with a dozen dummy cabinets or a Gorrilla practice amp. Most people are happy just to get drunk and flop around as you play a bad version of Mustang Sally. They certainly arn't there to stare at your amp.
As a guitarist I would be much more impressed by someone getting a killer sound from a practice amp on a chair than I would by someone ripping your head off with a full stack.
 
ocnor said:
Do you really believe that anyone cares about aesthetic appeal? Look around, people dress like skid row bums and have bed head hair cuts or worse yet shaved bald heads. Obviously none of those people care about how anything looks or they would never leave the house looking like that. Nobody cares whether you use a Backline of Marshall stacks with a dozen dummy cabinets or a Gorrilla practice amp. Most people are happy just to get drunk and flop around as you play a bad version of Mustang Sally. They certainly arn't there to stare at your amp.
As a guitarist I would be much more impressed by someone getting a killer sound from a practice amp on a chair than I would by someone ripping your head off with a full stack.
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lol. i shave my head. got a problem with that? :cool: :p

maybe im giving people too much credit, but i personally care about aesthetic appeal. i guess im just old school. i like seeing a band with impressive equipment. i agree that many people may not care about the visual effect of playing live, but i do. i play in a band. we put a lot of emphasis on looking like we belong on a stage as well as trying to sound as good as possible. and i know for a fact that people appreciate that. bands that just plop themselves up on stage and go through the motions with half-assed equipment usually sound half-assed too. i never said you need a wall of marshalls behind you. i simply stated that they provide visual appeal - if thats important to you. i also made a case for the smaller combos. it all depends on what you want. if youre cool playing in flip-flops through a practice amp, then have at it. all i know is that for my money, if someone goes that route, they better sound damn good through that practice amp while wearing flip-flops.
 
Elton Bear said:
I'm not sure what those bands use brand-wise, but for live applications you'll want 100W or more.
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Weird - I've never needed more than 30W for live stuff.
Generally I get miced up by the sound guy...

I guess if you're playing places with no (or a terrible) PA, then you might have to rely on the backline - but that's so rare IME that it's not worth basing your amp choice on.

In-fact, you'll find that it's generally inexpereinced teenagers that go for 'as loud as possible' amps. Once you've been around a while you realise that the quiter the sound from your backline - the better your monitor mix, and more importantly, the sound out front, is likely to be.

Sound guys hate fighting the backline and you *will* get punished for being too loud on stage.
 
Greg_L said:
lol. i shave my head. got a problem with that? :cool: :p

maybe im giving people too much credit, but i personally care about aesthetic appeal. i guess im just old school. i like seeing a band with impressive equipment. i agree that many people may not care about the visual effect of playing live, but i do. i play in a band. we put a lot of emphasis on looking like we belong on a stage as well as trying to sound as good as possible. and i know for a fact that people appreciate that. bands that just plop themselves up on stage and go through the motions with half-assed equipment usually sound half-assed too. i never said you need a wall of marshalls behind you. i simply stated that they provide visual appeal - if thats important to you. i also made a case for the smaller combos. it all depends on what you want. if youre cool playing in flip-flops through a practice amp, then have at it. all i know is that for my money, if someone goes that route, they better sound damn good through that practice amp while wearing flip-flops.
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Yeah - audiences care about aesthetics a lot!
They care about what you and your instruments look like.
But frankly, they couldn't care less about your amp the vast majority of the time.
 
amp ?

i use 2 marshall combos one 50w and one 30w i have giged many times w/ one or both amps .. the 30 is a little small for some of the gigs so i got the 50 and that was all i needed.. i run through both in case i ever have a problem i can still play [had a problem w/ a bad power chord once] 50w should be all you need... if you do any huge gigs they will mic you anyway.
 
Codmate said:
You'll find that it's generally inexpereinced teenagers that go for 'as loud as possible' amps.
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Not gonna attack you - 'cause you're right of course. BUT... although I'm a teenager, I don't like my guitar overly loud - I have a love of sound quality, especially live, and I HATE punk kids who shout at the engineer to turn the bass, drums, and vocals up all because their amp is too loud!
Erm, anyway....

I said 100W 'coz I generally play pub gigs where the PA is vocal-only, and the backline IS your guitar sound, I play rock & punk-based music, and I also like headroom.

Oh, a ggun? I use earplugs whenever I play :p
 
Elton Bear said:
Oh, a ggun? I use earplugs whenever I play :p
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FWIW, I hate earplugs. When I use them, I feel all disconnected from the music. I would much rather play at a reasonable level where I don't need them, although some will say you should use them whenever you play with a drummer.
 
ggunn said:
FWIW, I hate earplugs. When I use them, I feel all disconnected from the music. I would much rather play at a reasonable level where I don't need them, although some will say you should use them whenever you play with a drummer.
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Try Elacin ER20s if you haven't already.
 
hate to tell you man, but you'd have to plop down a shitload of cash to get the tone that guys like adam jones and josh homme have...not only do they have the finest gear available, but they also have had a good deal of their stuff customized/tweaked by some of the top techs in the world

your best bet, without dropping too much money, is probably going to be some kind of 30-50W TUBE 2x12 combo
 
Deffinately try to keep it to a 100w halfstack, or some smaller combo. Unless you are playing outdoor pavillions in front of ten thousand, its overkill. Try to have something you can get a good sound out of at a lower volume, cause it will make live sound much better. They can always make you louder out front. Trust me, don't piss off the sound guy by being overly loud.
 
Greg_L said:
all i know is that for my money, if someone goes that route, they better sound damn good through that practice amp while wearing flip-flops.
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Perfect example.......SRV at the Mocambo. The gear on the stage is not what I'd call "aesthetically appealing"......he could have been using a mic'd pignose and no one would have cared because he grinds that axe so darn good!

I'm heavily biased toward the (newer) Traynor YCS100. Switchable 30 or 100 watts, EL34's, 3 channels, EACH CHANNEL has its own pre and post gain, 3 band eq, AND fx loop......on EACH channel! All footswitchable. Built like a small tank.

And you can get it for $720 + shipping. All you need is a good speaker, and those are pretty easy to come by if you know what to look for......

But for small combo, you cant beat a used Mesa, THD, Orange, or Rivera. On a budget, look for a Vox AC30 or AC15, or a Peavey. I'm not familiar with the artists you mentioned, but hope this helps....
 
ocnor said:
As a guitarist I would be much more impressed by someone getting a killer sound from a practice amp on a chair than I would by someone ripping your head off with a full stack.
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As a guitarist I somewhat agree, but not everyone is a guitarists and they don't know anything, they want to see amps....Marshall logo's...sad but true!
 
Elton Bear said:
I'm not sure what those bands use brand-wise, but for live applications you'll want 100W or more.
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ive been told that there are 30w tube amps that will kick a 100w solid state amp in the but, so i definetly recomend getting any tube amp, maybe in mesa, or marshall.

hope this helps

- Lou
 
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