Shopping for a new combo

  • Thread starter Thread starter Supercreep
  • Start date Start date
Supercreep

Supercreep

Lizard People
I've got a Deville 2x12. It sounds pretty good, but now I've got an itch for something a little more versatile - I'm looking for clean, retro, and high gain in one package.

Anybody have experience with the Mesa Stiletto combos?

Anybody else besides Mesa doing the swiss-army combo thing?
 
Vox AC30CC.

You can get clean, classic jazz tones keeping the channel gains down and the master gain up, particularly on the normal channel using a guitar with single-coils. You can get great crunch tones by pushing the channel gains, and when you blend channels and crank everything, and run a guitar with hot pickups, you get a really good overdrive.

There's not as much gain as the modern high-gain amps, but then again they don't sound as sweet as the Vox at lower gains.

You might want to have a listen to one. I have the Alnico Blues in mine, and they are sweeeeeeet.
 
Rivera fandango or a Bogner shiva.Both have excellent tone and sound fantastic.A lot of people get scared away by the price tag,but what's a
couple of grand when you can go from Muddy Waters or Otis Redding,to
Alice in chains or Van Halen with the flick of a channel switch?
 
You gotta try out a Kustom Coupe. I have a pair of 36's and they go from sweet to nasty faster than my wife when she found out I bought another one......
 
Big Kenny said:
You gotta try out a Kustom Coupe. I have a pair of 36's and they go from sweet to nasty faster than my wife when she found out I bought another one......
Click to expand...
You are not supposed to let them know! :D
 
Second the Rivera. Find a good used one on Craigslist or Ebay. ;)

Stay away from the 100w version unless you have a REALLY big/ well treated place to play it. :p

Of course, I do believe the Knuckleheads have 100/50/25/12w output capability. :cool:
 
Supercreep said:
I've got a Deville 2x12. It sounds pretty good, but now I've got an itch for something a little more versatile - I'm looking for clean, retro, and high gain in one package.

Anybody have experience with the Mesa Stiletto combos?

Anybody else besides Mesa doing the swiss-army combo thing?
Click to expand...

Have you tried putting a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal on it? How hi-gain do you want? Metal kind of gain? :)
 
I'd like to be able to cover as much ground as possible. 2k is about as much as I can spend - maybe I should save up a little more, since the Bogner and Bad Cat stuff looks so nice.


I sure like tube combo amps.
 
Check out some of the Randall MTS combos. You can buy modules for them and get just about any sound you can imagine.
 
SHEPPARDB. said:
but what's a couple of grand when you can go from Muddy Waters or Otis Redding,to Alice in chains or Van Halen with the flick of a channel switch?
Click to expand...

you people scare me.

:P

Andy
 
Supercreep said:
I'd like to be able to cover as much ground as possible. 2k is about as much as I can spend - maybe I should save up a little more, since the Bogner and Bad Cat stuff looks so nice.


I sure like tube combo amps.
Click to expand...
My band mate just bought a shiva 1-12 combo new for 1950.00.You dont
need any more amp than that on any stage, or studio, to have a job well
done.Back when I was amp shopping, the Shiva was on my list(and it is
still)but the rivera fandango 55-112 won out.I like getting that super hi
gain when I need it.Also just prefered some of the Rivera features.
Dont know how many Badcats you have played,but I have played several
of the combo models.They are real nice blues amps,maybe even certain
classic rock,but they are far from versitile for the price range.
The nice thing that I have noticed about Rivera and Bogner is that both
have addressed an issue that no other company in the history of amplifiers
has never addressed:How to have Fender clean, Marshall crunch, over
driven Fender, Hotrodded marshall, Matchless, Boogie, Etc., all in the same amp.
Good luck man,hope you end up with your dream amp,and do some killer playing.
 
andydeedpoll said:
you people scare me.

:P

Andy
Click to expand...
And by "you people" I assume that you mean elderly white cats that are no
longer able to draw a huge crowd of slushpie 20 somethings to the vicinity
of their loins? :D
 
I did the Mesa thing for a while then I went single channel. I liked the F100, this is before they started mounting the output tubes onto the board and having all kinds of issues. Mine is a tank and went through so much abuse and keeps ticking, it's got a really nice clean and a heavy saturation gain which kills for lead. Plus when you buy a Mesa, you're buying a great cabinet too. Watch out for the new f series combos, little time bombs for $1500.
 
SHEPPARDB. said:
Good luck man,hope you end up with your dream amp,and do some killer playing.
Click to expand...


Well, I'll wind up with my dream amp, anyway. One out of two ain't bad. :)
 
I have to say, I'm really liking the sound of a Mesa Boogie Mark IV that I've been playing through. It's got three channels, 1 clean very Fender sending, 2 is rhythm that provides a nice crunch and 3 is lead that give some really nice high gain stuff. All channels have EQ and this amp has a ton of features. Here's Mesa's page: http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Mark_Series/Mark_IV/mark_iv.html

Here's one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Mesa-Boogie-Mar...ryZ43374QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

you can find them in the $1200-$1400 range on ebay. Very versatile amp IMHO
 
I was surprised that this thing sounded so good

Fender Cybertwin. True it's a modeling amp, so if that's a dealbreaker - I totally dig it. If there's one around, give it a listen if you're open to it.
 
The most versitale amp I`ve ever played is a Mesa Boogie Nomad, I`ve had it for six years now, and its my go to amp for everything.
Great for live and studio.

also comes as a 45 combo.

They are discontinued, but you may get a second hand one.
 
I'm looking very hard at the Mesa Stilleto Ace.

It appears to do just about everything, including both selectable tube and ss rectifiers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top