Guitar Amp Head

[nicolaad30]

Hey, well, I'm about to get a Guitar Amp Head. This one needs to be a tank... It won't be used by me, it will be for a practice room and you know how guitar players are sometimes... so I need something that lasts.

My options are not expensive heads... The Peavey XXL, the Carvin MTS and the B-52 AT.

I cannot try them 'couse I do not live in USA, I'll purchase through internet somehow... so it's hard to decide on which one of them.

Please, any recomendations, opinions, thoughts, ettc. will be welcomed.

Thanks guys.

 

[sile2001]

Did you have any ideas about what power range (wattage) you are looking for? My suggestion for a practice room would be nothing over 30 watts if any of you plan on being able to hear when you are 50 years old.

 

[amra]

What kind of music!

 

[nicolaad30]

Every kind of music. I don't really care, I won't be the one playing... I'll be the one renting the room... I wanted something around 100W... the three of these amps have 100W output (this in case I rent it for gigs and stuff as well). The amps will be used for recording too. So... any thoughts??

 

[sile2001]

100w in a practice room could potentially deafen anyone in the room. It is almost guaranteed hearing loss. 50w should be plenty even for most gigs. If there's a gig that 50w isn't enough for, then you're at the point where you need to mic the amp, and not only for volume's sake. I would say no more than 30w max for your purposes.

 

[nicolaad30]

So, what you're saying is that none of these amps are made for playing??... Well, I think at least one of them has got the 100-50-25W switch... so... I can't think of any other amp... it won'r be cranked at 10 anyways... so... I wish I could really try them all...heck!!

 

[punkin]

I'm going to get beat back for this but, I just picked up a THD UniValve...a very tasty and flexible (tube interchangable) amp with a built in hot plate. It may be worth your while to check it out.

 

[Wireneck]

I have no first hand experience with any of these amps. When you say "its for a practice space" , I assume you are renting the gear to bands along with the space? If that is the case, my vote would go torwards the Peavey. When my last band was playing a lot, we had some older peavey PA gear that had seen its time and then some. We never had any trouble with any of it. I guess the point im trying to make is that the Peavey gear may not sound the greatest but it can take abuse night after night and still be functional. As far as the wattage goes, get whatever works for your budget. My guess is that most serious bands are going to have their own gear they want to play on anyways.

 

[zappo]

I play with a 100 watt jcm 2000 and a drum kit in a small confied sound proofed room for practice. Im pretty positive ive suffered hearing loss so you might not want to get a 100 watt because belive me they are really god damn loud.

 

[nicolaad30]

Believe me, if a get any of these three it will be the best amp around the city and I think no one will take his own amp to practice, having this one instead. In moving towards the Peavey for the same reason WIRENECK explained. Peavey can play hour after hour and it will ask nothing instead. The other two seem to be really good amps as well, so I'm not decided yet. The Carvin thing costs the same the XXL does, and you get some tube power there... on the other hand the B-52 AT is 100 bucks more, but you get tripple thing there. Hard... hard....

 

[nicolaad30]

Finally I got the 212 B-52 AT... pretty cool and nice sounding amp.. thanks guys

 

[gcapel]

I own two mesa boogie DC-5 heads. They will do any type of music and not lack in any genre. They are 50 watts but it can put a JCM 2000 100Watt in the dirt. It has two independant channels(reverb adjustments for both). It also has a master volume and 5 band fader master eq that is footswitchable off or on. You really dial in any sound you like, from screaching weezel metal to fender cleans. It also depends on the cab you use too, to get a certain sound. They are also cheap. I found both of mine for 500-600 usd. One of the dudes from slipknot uses the DC-10 which is the hundred watt version. The DC heads are no longer in production. The production era was 90's. I would look at ebay or other online actions. I've have own my first DC-5 amp for 10 years now. The only thing I've ever had to do is change tubes. Also it is good to know that boogie amps are fixed bias. So no bias adjustments, just replace the tubes and rock, cry, or get your groove on. I have also owned a dual rectifier. I hated it. It sounded synthetic to me. They are overpriced and over hyped if you ask me.

 

[travelin travis]

I own two mesa boogie DC-5 heads. They will do any type of music and not lack in any genre. They are 50 watts but it can put a JCM 2000 100Watt in the dirt. It has two independant channels(reverb adjustments for both). It also has a master volume and 5 band fader master eq that is footswitchable off or on. You really dial in any sound you like, from screaching weezel metal to fender cleans. It also depends on the cab you use too, to get a certain sound. They are also cheap. I found both of mine for 500-600 usd. One of the dudes from slipknot uses the DC-10 which is the hundred watt version. The DC heads are no longer in production. The production era was 90's. I would look at ebay or other online actions. I've have own my first DC-5 amp for 10 years now. The only thing I've ever had to do is change tubes. Also it is good to know that boogie amps are fixed bias. So no bias adjustments, just replace the tubes and rock, cry, or get your groove on. I have also owned a dual rectifier. I hated it. It sounded synthetic to me. They are overpriced and over hyped if you ask me.

I'd like to check out a dc-d. I too owned a dual rectifier at one point and was never happy with it. It did have more balls and than any solid state amp that I had owned up to that point and cut thru drums well but it did'nt have any magic for me. I think my issue with that amp really boils down to preference. Some guys like more power tube distortion and some like the buzzy preamp tube distortion more. I'm in the power tube crowd.

 

[Ironklad Audio]

I play with a 100 watt jcm 2000 and a drum kit in a small confied sound proofed room for practice. Im pretty positive ive suffered hearing loss so you might not want to get a 100 watt because belive me they are really god damn loud.

yea no shit

i used to practice in a concrete basement with 7' ceilings and an extremely loud drummer, cranking my 150W ampeg through my marshall cab for hours on end

suffice to say, i had a headache after every practice

anyways...have you thought about trying to score something used? cause i've seen 5150 half stacks going for about $500-600, and i guarantee you that they will kill the xxl heads

 

[TheRockDoc]

I cannot try them 'couse I do not live in USA, I'll purchase through internet somehow...Please, any recomendations, opinions, thoughts, ettc. will be welcomed.

Thanks guys.

Can you get someone to service or warranty what you need? The best one won't sound good listening to overseas when they won't get you parts or serviced...

 

[sk8bobby10]

make sure your practice space has some sort of sound absorbing stuffm atleast carpet. and buy a pack of ear plugs incase some people think its too loud...

 

[dwarf]

Ok I know you've gotten the amp but I was just going to recomend the POD thorugh the PA system. That would have given you alot of versatility I mean It's no "amp" but It would have suited your needs.

 

[Farview]

I play with a 100 watt jcm 2000 and a drum kit in a small confied sound proofed room for practice. Im pretty positive ive suffered hearing loss so you might not want to get a 100 watt because belive me they are really god damn loud.

There are volume controls on these things. And they also invented other things called 'ear plugs'.

Seriously, there really isn't that much potential volume difference between a 30 watt and a 100 amp. In order to get twice the volume, you need 10 times the power. A 100 watt amp will just have more headroom and will be cleaner sounding when compared at equal volume to a lower wattage tube amp.

 

[nicolaad30]

Can you get someone to service or warranty what you need? The best one won't sound good listening to overseas when they won't get you parts or serviced...

Well, I did try some Mesa Tripple, and double, I do not like Marshall, so I decided on this one. I did know that if a problem came ahead, I had to pay intl. shipping just to get it repaired. But I'm carefull enough... I still have a 40 years old Bassman playing and never've been serviced...

 

[darrvid]

For those 100watt amps to really sing they need to be cranked. The idea behind having a 30watt amp (espcially for a practice amp) is so you can crank it up and hit the amps sweet spot without deafening everyone within 100 yards.

I really think you'd be better off with lower wattage, if you want to rent out amp heads for gigs that actually need a full 100watts, then get a seperate amp head for those occasions.

my 2 pennies anyway...