I own a Marshall MG100DFX and its continually fucking up (i highly dont reccomend one) and while its being fixed im just going to trade it in for something new. Now what im wondering is what's a good brand of amp for playing heavy metal. O and it definatly has to be a tube amp.

I can't really give much info cus' XdislexicX is the man for that..........................I can tell you this though. LOOK ON EBAY!!!!!!

What wrong with that amp? Is it a valvestate model? What did you do it...and what kind of sound are looking for (besides a heavy metal sound...that is why we are here.) Give some specifics.

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most marshall SS stuff sucks except for old 8080 combo's and shit.

get a used marshall jcm900 or peavey 5150 if you're on a budget.

urs have fucked up? my band both the guitarists go throguh them ( i know they suck, but we use effects and we just want cheap volume ) none of ours have fucked up, well one, when u turn it ont he fan goes the wrong way!?! and soudns weird so u have to turn it on and off a few times

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peavey 5150 or 5150 II
marshalls
crate blue voodoo

if you really wanna get pricey and shit then
engl
laney
hughes and kettner

but those are like 2000 just for the head here in the US and im not sure where you live so...

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exactly guitar_demon

maybe some blue voodoo, 5150, Triple-XXX, DSL100, Randall on ebay, wouldn't cost too much. you definately should go and try em out, because they are very different. those are just a few possibilities, of course.
but if you want the probably best metal amp ever...

engl powerball

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If you already have a cab, go for a 5150 head, If you dont have a cab, 5150's come in combos. Id definately go for that.

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word...

that's why I play one

DEF WILL YOU SHUT UP!!! I'm turning green here goddamit... I mean c'mon you have a motherfucking engl powerball bitch

so you bought the used one you were talking about? well c'mon, how is it tellmetellmetellme... well I already know but anyway...

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do you know why exactly you want a tube amp?

i think it's common these days that people think anything that has tubes and or a high price tag is good.. and anything cheap and or s.s. is bad.
ever played a b5s stealth whatever? blows ass, how about krank? that shit is fucking pricey and really sucks balls.

there is a reason i play the gear i do... it sounds good. i have both an all tube poweramp and a s.s. poweramp. i couldnt possibly say which i like the sound of better, they each sound different.. but good.
i've owned a couple tube preamps and currently play a valve preamp(uses a tube over a s.s. signal for added warmth, roundness and more natural sounding tube harmonically rich distortion).
right now i'm selling it for an all analog s.s. preamp because i like the tones better...
i don't think you should limit yourself to tubes only...
tech 21 makes excellent s.s. stuff, better than alot of tube stuff i've heard.
and the roland jc series are hands down the cleanest amps ever made imo.

but at the same time... there are alot more cheap and shitty s.s. amps than there are nice and expensive ones. while with tube amps there are more nice and expsensive ones than cheap and shitty.
why? tubes amps are harder and more expensive to build. so everybody wants to do it right the first time.


and i hardly consider the powerball to be the best metal amp ever... a framus cobra or dragon would slay it any day of the week imo... as would a bogner uberschall, and not to forget the vht pittbull.

in overall tone for engl i think more people should look at the fireball, i like it better than the powerball, and it's cheaper too. $1,200 from rocksolidamps.com
very simple amp, hard to get a bad sound out of methinks. sweetspots left and right. and the range of tones is pretty wide too. nice cleans and killer lead sounds.

but for the cheapest tube amps with that simple heavy metal tone i think the 5150's and blue voodoos are the choice.

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hooked up at the same time?

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Yeah sorry forgot IMO there...?
I'm sure that any VHT Pitbull or Diezel VH4 are "not bad" amps... but never seen one nor tried one.

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I've tried them all, from bogner uberschall to the rivera knucklehead... still bought the powerball. that tells you enough.

HAHA! have you played the cobra and the dragon? obviously not! slay it my ASS!!

If you've compared the four you just named, you wouldn't be talking out of your ass.

I've compared them all before buying the powerball, and the framus are in the same price range, anyone with a sense of tone would agree that Engl's sound way more agressive then any framus amp.

A dragon is just lame. do you even know the difference? the Cobra is the hot-rodded version of the dragon and I compared that to a savage 120 and a powerball. its nothing special in the distortion deparment. I wonder if you ever played one of if you have shit up your ears. The cobra is the most brutal that Framus has to offer. It's nicer then a mesa recto, but it didn't really convince me to buying one.

Bogner Uberschalls aren't as agressive either. just ask DerekB, he sells all the stuff and even he agrees with me Engl owns both Framus and Bogner when it comes to sheer brutality. Bogner are more for 'rock' bands. they're all the rage here though.

A VHT pitbull is like double as expensive and has more usable gain and it can get a lot of tones, but I'de rather get a diezel vh4s then. Even though you're talking about amps that none of us can afford. For the cash I wouldn't ever get those. I'de prolly get an se.

A fireball is a great amp, but my savage 60 owns it. it's more versatile. Fireball's are great, but they got a shared gain knob and a shared eq.
They sound great as any Engl but aren't as versatile (no deep switches, depth boost, 4 band eq, like my powerball has..) the savage 60 has more options, but it has not been sold in the US. The Fireball is pretty expensive over there though, Marshalls are cheap all of a sudden then... You guys are just getting screwed over when it comes to european products.

... porno

http://metaltabs.com/forum/attachme...tachmentid=3793

wow...that ^last post was very emotional

Def you bastard .

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Yer with my marshall the fan was fucked with it when i got it and it just got worse as time went on and it eventually got so bad that the only way to get it going was with a careful cobination of kicking punching and swearing.

I live in Australia so all the prices are different over here, im not sure wether to get a head and cab or stick with the combo amps as im only an intermediate player and have no real need for a head and cab just yet (plus the fact im not rolling in cash).

The reason i want a tube amp is because i dont really like the solid state and digital amps as they never give a good quality clean AND distorted sound and i just want a nice sound coming from my amp and guitar and then work on adding some effects in where i want them.

Thanks for the suggestions and im looking for like heavy metal sound like slipknot/ mudvayne/ but im not really into death or black i cant get off on that stuff and i like nu-metal but its just too basic so i wanna stay away from that. I just want a nice heavy metal sound with out all the pre-amps, effects, stomp boxes etc etc.

Keep the tips comming \m/

did you consider the hughes & kettner warp series? their tube amps are really nu-metal oriented and they're priced pretty good.

depends on how much you have to spend though.

looking for a nu-metal sound? H & K
in your case, you might wanna start looking for a combo, if that's what you need... you'd save a pile of money and space. but if you're into gigging and stuff, well the stack would be more like an investment to your future so to speak.

let's say you're buying a combo. how many watts do you really NEED? you're ss-marshall had 100, but if you find a tube combo... you'll probably be fine with about 50-60w. keep in mind that not every ss stuff is crap, look at tech21... btw engl makes good tubecombos (surprise, surprise...)

an d Def, is the 1960 better cab IYO than the engl-cab paired with the ball?
I mean, of course it is, that's why you're playing it...

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the 1960 cabs are nice and not too expensive used thats why I have one.

the Engl cab with v60's sounds similair but with more bottom and the construction is even more solid. the one with the v30's sounds better but is like 300 more just for different speakers. Mesa recto cabs with v30's sound great with engl's too. I might look into getting one of those some day. friggin overpriced for a damn cabinet though.

so v30's are like the best speakers around?
if i would buy a powerball I'd probably go with the standard engl with v60's... or maybe not? at least I got a pretty fuckin good sound from it.

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most people won't notice the difference between the v60 and v30's. I'm just fine with my marshall for now, though I wouldn't mind a v60 cabinet.

most of the time when we play shows we only bring our tops anyways and at allmost 90% of the shows theres a marshall cab waiting. only thing else I ever played over at a show was a 5150 cab, wasn't bad, but I'de prefer a 1960 cab. Oh and those Orange cabs sound cool too, they look silly though.

yeah 1960 is a good basic cab, not too expensive either. and very common.
the problem is with the v's that is it really worth 300€ more for 30's if there's not much difference? weird. I mean, the 60's are good.

I've seen the Orange stuff around, but haven't tested them too much. I'd be too embarrassed nah but they definately look silly. Try placing a Orange cab under your Powerball and post pics here!

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orange cab??


if you want a mu-metal type sound go check out the line-6 halfstack

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http://www.orangeamps.com/products/cabinets_index.html
would you play Slayer with that?
(would you pay 840€ for that?)

oh, and forget the Line6 crap...

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Definately .

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if t sounded good

have you ever seen the red marshalls? thse are kinda cool lokin

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red marshal

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OH MY GAWD ORANGE IS OOGIE!!!

Orange is top notch stuff, great amps for rock. If you cant get past the looks then digest a bullet.

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there good for nu-metal not real metal they guy said he wanted a nu-metal sound

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you're joking right?

framus... lame? no way... you and derek B might not like the bogners, framus's as much as engls... but man. for you to actually say such things makes me want to belive you've never even been in the same room as a framus or bogner.

the uberschall is bonger's only super high gain amp really, the rest are like super hot rodded marshall type rock amps. but the uberschall imo is one of the most vicious amp ever.

the dragon is an awesome amp, i actually like the cleans on it better than the cobra's... but both can get super brutal. i love how they handle low end so well... such thick and tight sound.

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Framus Bogner and Engl just prove how much the germans rule at making extremely well engineered shit. Orange cabs rule, ill probably get one or get an avatar in pink or purple tolex just to see the looks i get for it.

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first of all, yes i would play an orange cab, gladly... even for metal. i think it's funny when kids can rave about how orange looks silly and then go play bc rich guitars and flying v's...

the old school orange cabs with modified eminences are sooo much better imo than the current ones with vintage 30's.


they look fucking good imo. and sound better than most.

why?
ever played the hd147? or a vetta II? fucking sweet.

maybe if you're talking about the spider stuff, but otherwise i don't think they should be talked down on so much. they do make some good stuff.

judging line 6 by it's entry level economic amps like the spiders, would be like summing up marshall as crap because all you've played is the mg series.

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want a good cab?, get a genz-benz g force 2x12 cab.insanely sweet...

the g flex you mean? yes, its pretty good.

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I was talking about the Spider stuff... That's what I meant by crap. I got this idea that were not looking at very pricey stuff? And when I heard Nu-metal and Line 6 in the same sentence I thought of Spider. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Line 6. Yes, the HD147 is great, haven't tried the Vetta but I've heard they're veryvery good (and alotta $$$!).

I agree that it's insanely dumb to talk down entire brands just because they ALSO make cheaper stuff for less experienced and less demanding players. Marshall is a great example. They make bad stuff (MG and AVT IMO) and good stuff (DLS, TSL, 1960...) and still people talk shit about them based on their experiences on MG...

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haha, a dragon can't get super brutal, you obviously haven't played it. the cobra can, it's way more agressive, the uberschall is more agressive then both of them put together. Ofcourse terms of 'agressiveness or brutality' is on a high level here, we're not talking about jcm2000 brutality...

next time I'm playing both framus tops and the uberschall I will take pics just to please you, oh and I'll include the triple recto, diezel vh4, bv300, triamp and warp-x too, next time I'm at M-P.

if you like digital shit with a shitload of versatility, yes. the spider isn't as bad for a cheap practise amp, if you like versatility. ofcourse you can't expect it to have great tone for the money. But they're fun to mess about with (that's all that line 6 is good for IMO) The Vetta's don't sound bad, for a digital amp.

wow.

I thought you meant these ltd edition 1960 cabs.

http://www.guitarshop.net/GuitarIma...hallRed1297.jpg

or the 30th anniversary LTD's

http://www.gitaarmarkt.nl/photos/p30105n1.jpg

Seeing that theres such a large range of amps for metal i spose the best thing for me to do now is go in with your comments in mind to the "few" guitar shops we have around here and test them out till i find the right sound im looking for. Yer i was looking for something reasonable cheap but like someone said it would be an investment into my future as a metal god *cough* *cough*

heh, I guess that was me
what I meant there was that you could save some more money, skip the "medium-level-amps" and go straight for a good amp which you will be happy with forever. if you buy something now, you're gonna want something better after some time. the choice is yours...

or you could get a H&K Warp or something for your nu-metal needs. of course you might wanna give the Line6 a try, I guess some like the digital sound and the shitload of effects (I don't!). but if you're absolute on the tubestuff, can't say. you gotta go try 'em all. Geartalk section is full of this tubeamp stuff, sniff around. try harmonycentral.com too.

this thread has some good choices...

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yes i have played them... as an example though, unearth, they mainly use cobras, but they also use the dragons alot. and their tone is fucking brutal.. you must not have turned the volume up very high or something, the dragon is plenty capable of getting heavy.


meh, they ripped of peavey bigtime with those ported cabs... my vintage peavey ported 4x12's are like two g flex 2x12's together.

if you had a gb 2x12 port side down and then another on top with the port side up... but all in one unit that's like my cab(s).
it has a peice of wood in the middle too, just as if it were two 2x12's... and we all know how thick 2x12's sound.... but the ports make them breathe.

probably the best cabs i've ever come across imo.

i'd still probably consider a vintage orange(the older ones with the eminences) 2x12 over the g flex.

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you haven't seen them live lately have you?

I have turned the volume up more then enough, store people let you go ahead with anything if you tell them you're willing to lay down 2.000 euro's for an amp
Cobra's are allright, Dragons are boring. the cobra is like a hot-rodded dragon, but it's still not that agressive. the Diezel vh4 next to it punched its lights out...

whats that supposed to mean

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that a jcm2000 is a joke compared to most of those amps

eh owell

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Nah, it's not that bad, they're pretty decent actually. But in terms of agressive distortion they bore me.

marshall does have its own sound though, nothing quite sounds like a cranked jcm800. that must be my favorite marshall sound, by far.

yea i still thinks its good but...i havnt played any of those german monsters

but im not really after the most nuclear-melt your brain distortion

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oh yes, a cranked up 2203...
best Marshall I've ever known

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yes, i just saw them a month or so ago.... sure enough... framus.. i saw two cobra's, a dragon and a mesa triple recto, the dragon and the recto were their backup heads.

give me a cobra over a powerball any day....

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Ofcourse but that's because you can't handle the powerball

I chose the powerball instead of the cobra because the powerball had more shaping options for the distortion (and overall tone/volume controls), powertube monitoring, footswitchable master volumes, contours, etc.
They are pretty similair amps, both 4 channels, boostable depths/brights, wide eq range, etc. the powerball just had the engl distortion which the cobra did not. the cleans are basically the same, but the cobra had less shaping options, it sounded great though, nothing to complain about. Even though I'm used to el34's, the powerball did splendid for me. the only plus the cobra really had IMO was the midi option, though I don't even use midi, its something you only get on higher priced amps, but the cobra was just as much as a powerball here.

I saw Unearth four times now, Buz used a recto every time I saw them and Ken used a rack setup. don't know what preamp, but he had a mesa poweramp, a 2:90 I think. Also, he had a marshall top in it, not a jcm2000, but I couldn't see what it was. one row of knobs though, so prolly a jcm800/900.

they used marshall 1960 cabs and a VHT cab. Last time I saw them they did have a cobra on stage but it wasn't in use. Didn't see a dragon and they're not listed as dragon users anyways. all the times before they played the mesa and that same rack, I think they have started to use framus since a short period, but I'll see them again on the resistance tour so I'll be sure to check it out there, last time I saw them was about half a year ago, so they might use them on stage now.

don't get me wrong, i wouldnt complain if i had a powerball... awesome amp... but there are others i like more... the framus cobra being one of them... but i'd still take a h&k triamp over them both.
that powertube monitoring sounds hella cool, something alot of amps could use.



they had big rack cases, the botton of one was a dragon(which was not being used), then a cobra on top of that, than a 6 space rack with some goodies like a power condish, tuner, wireless, mesa 2:90(or 2:100) ect.

the other had a mesa recto on the bottom(not being used), and a cobra on top of it, with a 6 space rack with similar goodies except this one had a vht 2/90/2 poweramp.

from what one of them said, they break shit alot... being on tour and stuff, not to mention the occasional climbing on top of their amps to do crazy sweeps & shit with his guitar behind his head....
so i guess it would be wise to bring some backup gear.

they just used 2 mesa recto 4x12's last i saw them.

with the nice ibanez 7 rg's and s series guitars... *creamed*

very nice stuff.

the bass player has a shitload of warwick stuff... his shit sounds really good, but warwick arent exactly my kinda basses. i'm more of a fender jazz bass kinda guy though.

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can you two just agree to disagree??

id take the triamp over em too

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yeah, their bassist switched to warwick after they got more well known.

back in the day he played Ibanez BTB 5 strings... when I saw thim he used a hartke setup but I'm not sure it was his or Caliban's.

those Ibanez's they have are cool, like that flamed top S7 they use, I only knew of the black s7, the ones he uses must be pretty rare (it also had a binding and shit, so it must be higher range ibanez)

Guess since they started using Framus they put their recto and other stuff as a backup, I remember they did have a framus when I saw them the last time but they didn't use it there. They're listed as endorsers now too, saying they use cobra's and framus cabs. Didn't ever saw them use the cabs live or in any live pic. Anyways, they must have shitloads of gear to choose from. Hell how cool would it be to be able to walk on stage and think 'I'm in a mesa mood today, lets setup the mesa today' haha.

they're neat live, energetic and friggin tight. I saw the Dillinger Escape Plan last week and I must say its one of the few bands that surpasses them show-wise. Most people can't stand their music though. Same goes for Converge, just crazy shit live.

Oh. on another note, the thread starter left about two pages back haha. we highjacked his thread.

no

I wouldn't take the triamp over it. because it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. If I'de want a mega-versatile, great sounding amp, I'de get it. the cleans on it are the best I ever heard and it can basically do anything. I found one used too, but I didn't go for it. It's an amp I will (probably) end up owning someday when I get older and play all sorts of stuff, I'm pretty sure of that. (If I had the money I would have bought it too, but I don't have the cash right now)

thats why i want it

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Id just like to add this in..

Unearth used a 5150 for some leads parts in the studio

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The savage and powerball are probably the most abrasive/agressive sounding head style amps ive heard. I think thr E570 with the Engl 2x60 is probably more agressive though, but thats just from mike gilberts clip of thrones of blood i heard.

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indeed... very good show... i've seen dilenger too... very awesome live show... the lights were giving me hell though because i couldnt see shit because i was blinded half the time, which isnt good when you have an 800 pound lard ass trying to hxc dance to a band like the dill. if he fell on me i would've been dead.

i love it when a band can top the awesome music with an even more awesome stage presence...

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