im looking for a new amp that wont suck. i play a lot of death metal like Cannibal Corpse, Deicide and other things. im thinking like a marshal maybe?
i have like $500-$800 to spend.
any suggestions for a kick ass amp
BTW-- i use a Boss MT-2 distortion pedal

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Your in the same shoes as me man, but right now im saving up for a mesa dual Dual Rectifier head, it might be a little more then you have to spend (im talking about canadian cash here), but with an MT-2 (what I also have) it will have a nice death metal like sound.

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a used 5150, or a use xxx should do it

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if you want death metal, $500-$800(u.s.). a used marshall jcm2000, a used peavey xxx,5150, or even a 5150 II. a new or used crate blue voodoo. or a used mesa f series, are all within reach.
one of the guys from cannibal corpse plays a 300w blue voodoo, and the other plays a mesa triple recto. and the 5150's are pretty much establishing themselves as "the metal amp".

and FYI, you will be throwing that mt 2 out the window once you plug into a good tube amp like one of the listed above.

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Try a B-52 amp or even a H&K Warp 7, there pretty cheap and sound pretty good.

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That Warp 7 is horrible.

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It aint that bad seemin the price, it sounded good when i played it. But i much prefer B-52's.

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the only b52 i liked was the tube one i played at guitar center, and it wasnt anything too special.
the warp 7 is alright i guess, it just totally screams 'nu metal' for kids wanting to play 7 string guitars in their korn knockoff bands, and it has a really cold tone imo.

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ok the ones that xdislexicx said seem like what im looking for, but any other opinions?

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If you dont have much money a B-52 is a great choice. Its probably one of the only SS amps i can stand

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Here's my 2 cents:

If you want cheap but powerful and crunchy, go with the Peavey Bandit 112 combo. It's what i'm using, been using for 3 years, and it's wonderful. I play in a band, and my amp competes with a 5150 II Head and 5150 cabinet, and it does so just fine (as long as he keeps his volume below 5, hehe).

If you're willing to save up, go with the 5150 II and Cad set up i just mentionned. It can have the same sound as the Bandit 112, except it's louder and more powerful.

Both set ups have great crunch, high and low end, beautiful clean tones (who cares right?). The Bandit even has 3 different distortions built into the amp, i think they're called Low Gain (think of 50's rock), Modern (Nile, Cannibal Corpse style chunk), High Gain (60's rock). I kept mine on the Modern one all the time and it's great.

Bandit 112 will run you probably around 450-500$ american. Mine cost about 650 canadian.

The 5150 II set up is nearing on the 2000-2500 range.

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...or get a 5150 212 combo which will cost about $950.

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I would go with a crate half stack for $500 brand new. here's a link:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/487796/

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I also use the Mt-2 in my rig. I couldn't see throwing away one of the best pedals ever made. Let me tell you what I use to get my tone. I run from a kramer fx-404sm guitar into my metal zone, which is flat, then into my Korg 411fx multifx processor, which is just effects when I want them, stereo out of that into an Art dual 15 band eq. From that I go into a Behringer composer pro (compressor), which I use to smooth it out. And finally, into an Art SLA-1 studio power amp pushing 130 watts a side into 4 ohms, which is connected to an Ampeg 4-12 cab and an Avatar 2-12 cab, which is loaded with Eminence Betas (P.A. speakers) that handle 150 watts a piece. The whole thing is powered by an Art PB 4x4 power supply in a MTS 5 space rack. Talk amongst yourselves, but I love the tone I get out of my rig. I can just sit here and chunk D and be happy. Oh, and another thing, my rig sounds basically the same on 1 or 10, the difference being the speaker reaction.

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used peavey 5150=$500
used marshall 1960a 4x12 cab=$350
having a dependable amp with amazing tone= priceless

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I was looking at the b-52 Stealth Series amp. its $600. Any one have an opinion on that one? Im still undecided. Remember, I only have $600-$1000 to spend.

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I would just go to the music store and try out every amp they have..... and with your own guitar of course.

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thats the only b52 worth buying imo, but at least make sure you like it, and don't team it up with a b52 cab, ask them to let you try it with a marshall 4x12 or something.

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I much rather cut out all the fat and excess. Why spend all the money and go through the risk of spending 3 hours trying to troubleshoot when you can get just a good as or better tone out of a nice dependable tube amp, which in the long run will probably cost less.

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Because I'm not an idiot. I can figure out how to wire up a few pieces of gear without getting lost. I have a dedicated piece of gear for each function of my rig, and you think some nappy tube head is going to be better? There's only one tube amp I've heard that sounds good by itself, the Uberschall. At over $2000 for the head, my whole rig cost me half as much. Maybe if I was playing in Van halen or some other hair band I could use a tube amp, because that's mostly what I hear when I play through them, 80's metal/rock tone. I don't think I'll be going antiquing anytime soon.

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calm down buddy, no need to get all defensive over your rig. he was just saying that with a setup like that there are alot of things that can go wrong. you need to chill out with that "got something to prove" attitude. your rig sounds like it has potential to sound good to me.
but you don't honestly expect us to give up our amazing tube tone that we love, just because some guy came on these forums and bashed a few tube amps with his opinion, do you?

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I hopw your rig fucks up right before a gig. Have a good day

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I can't figure out where you think that I would have a problem with my rig. All it consists of is 2 pedals, an eq, a compressor, and a poweramp run through a surge protector. See, my rig is modular, which means that if something does go wrong, it can still keep going in some form or fashion. What happens if your rig blows a tube? Do you have to bias new tubes? Do you have to pull the whole amp apart to fix it? Do you get the same tone when you get the new tube in? Same thing with a S.S. head, what do you do if the power won't come on, check the plug, then what? I'm sorry, but a modular rig is better than any all in one solution. Plus, with a dedicated piece to each function you get greater flexibility. But, the real thing is that I can't be satisfied with what amp manufacturers tell me is the coolest thing. I don't believe the hype from anybody, I trust my ears to make me happy. Until about five years ago they didn't make a single amp I liked all by itself. They really don't offer anything that's flexible enough for me now, so why would I buy one? I'm not trying to be pissy about this whole thing, but if they made an amp I liked, I would have it and be screaming about it from the rooftops, because I've had a hard time finding an alternative to the generic sound everybody else seems to be happy with. My friend jokes that Guitar Center should make a package deal out of a PRS guitar and a Mesa/boogie triple rectifier, because he worked there and seen them go out the door all day. And I'm not saying that the tube tone sucks, I hear a lot of good sounding tone on CDs, but not my tone.

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I bought the B-52 ST-100A tube head thing. I probably would have got the 5150 or something if I had more money. Plus guitar center had a deal on it so i didnt have to pay for a year

So now i ask, does any one have that model? If so can you give me your settings for the best tone - DEATH METAL tone

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what cab do you have it going through? you shouldnt worry about other people's settings, find your own... try scooping out the mids a bit, but not completely or you'll have a really hollow sound that wont cut through the mix, but just enough to give it a little bite.

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Cool! I havent tried any of the b-52 tube heads because the last time i went to guitar center those werent out yet. Got any clips of the amp? Id like to hear it

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I have a randall RG100SC combo its actually not that bad for about 700 bucks. It compares to the 5150 combo i tried.

Sorry to be a dumbshit but, Scooping the mids? What do you mean by that?
I currently have the mid turned all the way down.
The cab is the b-52 one unfortunately. It was way cheaper and its really fucking loud

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my two amps are perfect for death metal

peavey 5150 II stack 1600 for the head brand new and 1000 for each 4by12

and my practice amp is a crate gtx212 120 watts it cost me 700 bucks canadian brand new

and its loud and wicked

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scooped mids means they are turned down... no mids at all will usually give you a killer distortion at low volumes and or when you're by yourself... but once you have a bassist,another guitarist, and a drummer going, you probably wont cut through the mix unless you turn your mids up a little.

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I still use my mt-2 on the clean channel. The gain channel just doesn't have enough power. Not suitable for Death Metal. The mt-2 on the clean channel fucking rules Real bottom heavy tone. Some times its just to distorted so im gonna take a few hours to fiddle with it. Currently my tone sounds closest to Deicides tone off their new album. So it all works out

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How much did the B-52 stack cost u?

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B-52 Head- $599.99
Cab- $299.99
+tax
over all a great deal

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Using a pedal on a tueb head makes me sick maybe try a one of those tube screamer pedals. The tubes are what give it such great distortion. And BTW what tubes are in there right now?

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I got a Peavey 5150 II head for sale. If you're in the Chicagoland area. Let me know. I currently use a Marshall AVT150 head and don't need a powerful tube amp head like the 5150 II. Currently it's loaded with Svetlana Power Tubes (much better than the stock Sovtek tubes that it came with).

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I have no idea what tubes are in it. Im assuming that their pretty weak thus the wimpy gain I get out of it with out a pedal. Would better tubes get me better tone?

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you're selling a 5150 II for a marshall avt!?!?

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better tubes like jj or sovteks will give you a much better sound than the stock tubes in your b52.
not much point in buying a nice tube amp if you're just going to run a cheap pedal through it imo. unless its a fenderish amp that is designed mainly for cleans. i'd suggest retubing it with sovteks, and then trade in that mt 2 for a seymoure ducan pickup booster pedal or some kind of high output bridge pickup.

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I already got Seymour Duncan Invader Pickups in the bridge pos. Very high output. So how much money would new tubes cost and the installation? Sorry, im new to the world of tube amps.

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I used to have a Peavy, 112 Transtube series amp. I had to sell it last year for other reasons... But anways, it had solid tone, good distortion and effects, with reverb, delay, chorus mixed in there. 100 watts through the High end, and 80 through the low. Good enough in my opinion for death metal. Pretty soon, I'll be getting another one or similiar. If not the peavey, then definitely a Marshall or Crate. Shit, I've messed around with a line 6, I'm even interested in getting that maybe.

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you'd probably be better off taking it back and buying an amp that you actually like the tone of, because although upgrading tubes will help your tone, it will still be the same amp, but with a little nicer sound....it's hard to explain.
but with about $900 you could buy a nicer tube halfstack used, like: a jcm 2000,5150,xxx,or even a blue voodoo.

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I dont know, I'm pretty happy with the tone with my mt-2. I know it defeats the purpose of tube amp, but..yeah..

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if you just want to use your mt2 you might as well save yourself some money and buy a s.s. halfstack.
or maybe team it up with a nice poweramp and a couple rack accesories like a graphic eq,sonic maximizer, and a compressor, then just go from there pushing a nice cab. i think mezzoid does something like that with a mt 2/rack setup....

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*Shudders* ewww....

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I also bought the ST-100A at the Guitar Center and it has Sovtek 5881 output tubes... I get a better tone using the 6l6 flying C tubes...and more output...but i mainly play more rock and these tubes are perfect for that tone...

the st100 is the most hated amp on metaltabs, with the spyder 2 coming in a close second.

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im thinking of getting a new amp soon and i was just wondering how good the distortion is on peavey bandit 1112

this may not agree with some of you, but anything peavey makes outside of the XXX and 5150 doesnt sounds very metal to me.

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I saw a local metal band about 2 weeks ago, and the guitarist was warming up before the show ... incredible tone. Huge, heavy, rich in harmonics, a guy who I knew did not tune below drop-D. I had to see what amplifier he was playing, because it sounded somewhere in between a tube amplifier and a high quality solid state ... Tube, in that the tone was great, and solid state for its tight response. He had this :

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/487798/

And ... his distortion was supplied by a Boss metal master, and he was playing a mid level Jackson that could'nt have costed more than 5-600$ from Musicians Friend ( granted, it did have Seymour Duncans in it, but just imagine what an X-2N or an EMG might do ).

nice, ive been considering a jackson MG series lately, but i dunno. Buying guitars is so confusing sometimes.

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Yes, right now I've narrowed my next purchase to one of five guitars. As if I could not get any more indecisive, then I start to think about Ran ...

Hey, you've got me quoted in your sig!

of course, that was quote worty. Yeah, ive got about 10 guitars i want... hahaha.

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hahaha, yeah, im not much of a pedal dude my self either.

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shitty head, horrible cabs, worthless pedal, decent guitar... yeh, then he raves about the distortion tone...

haha, i mean c'mon.. can he even justify this opinion? tube doesnt exactly mean good tone.. and s.s. doesnt exactly mean tight response.

and then i just think about the gear he is trying to describe.

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yeah, i dunno john, that crate setup looks pretty worthless.

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I'm not necessarily advocating buying an amplifier like that ... if I were going to purchase a crate it might be a blue voodoo ( but why that when you can get a mesa/marshall? ). But the point is, if you're a truly great player like this guy was, you can use almost anything granted its loud enough.

And the person who started this thread might consider that amplifier then, if they are looking to spend a small amount of money. But my actual advice to him is to save up, and get something tried-and-true.

because the blue voodoo doesnt sound like a mesa or marshall at all, so that might be somebody else's idea of great tone.

and if you think that mesa and marshall are the best you need to play more amps..


not really... i think you're reffering to the common "tone is in the fingers" phrase...
to me it's much overrated. people think they can play through any setup and sound good... WRONG! steve via can not get loads of gain into a jc 120 just from his fingers...

in conclusion, your fingers are only part of the "tone equation". i'd say the rig is just as important if not more sometimes.

sure i could probably get good tones from that rig... i'd rather use the head's distortion than the metal master simply because it's better.. i don't know how anybody can stand those peice of crap pedals.. but i would much rather play a good setup and get even better tones.

but the way you described his tone as if were DA BOMB seemd a bit funny to me...

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If an amp is low gain, you cant make it high gain just from your fingers.

And I am the person that first started this thread about 6 months ago. I no longer own a metalzone, and I have since gotten rid of the horrid b-52 half stack. I now own a Crate 'shockwave' GT3500H which I'm pretty happy with. I dont have to use pedals to get good tone so I'm happy.

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yes good point about the JC 120 xdx

I don't think there is any safe way out of this discussion for me.

No, there really isnt. I suppose the best way to go about is:
1:Admit you're wrong and drop it.
2:Respectfully agree to disagree.
Id suggest #2 because that just seems better, people disagree all the time. You're still cool john, and that guy could have great tone, but since i wasnt there, i dont know.

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it's cool dude... you kept your cool...

and it's not neccisarrily that you're wrong about everything either, good tone is all in your head

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The last thing we want is a typical "fuck-you" flame war, because then we won't be able to converse about amplifiers and guitar equipment, we'll be too busy "fuck-you-ing" each other.

I'd say number 2 : The guy really did have a great sound, not just for the equipment he was using, but objectively for the sound itself. My first impression having just entered the venue was that his amplification was probably a solid-state with a tube pre-amp, or digital, at the least. To see the 700$ Full Stack Special from Crate on the stage was a bit of a shock ( "Wait ... he's not supposed to get that sort of sound ..." ).

What I think we can all agree on is this : spending no more than 2,000$ on an entire rig ( guitar + amplifier caught at ideal prices, preferably half of list price), one can get a good sound, a fortiori, if he is a great player. But he will sound even better once he decides to upgrade to a VHT or an ENGL. Or at least a Marshall, for christ's sake.

agreed, thank you for adressing the issue in a positive way, and keeping it about gear.

Staying on topic, a good DM amp would have to be the Ampeg Vh-140c.

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