Every now and then, on these forums someone posts a link to an E-bay auction, old/obscure amplifier, that is either an old solid-state that well-known death metal bands have used at some point, or an amplifer head boasting 8 tubes and 100 wats with a Russian name no one's ever heard of ... what's peculiar is due to their obscurity all these high-quality amps are going for prices well under what you might pay at a music store for a mediocre piece of equipment.

What I am suggesting is that for guitarists who are frequenting these auctions selling unknown but stellar-performing amplfiers, enlighten us as to names of products we're never going to see advertised in a Musician's Friend or Guitar World. Not just "off-brands", but discontinued models that never really should have been discontinued, and etc.

Sort of like "What's your favorite song", except with obscure amplifiers.

SHIT!!!!!

I put this in the wrong forum . Could a mod please move it?

well not from personal exeprience but

vht
deizel
bogner

(less obscure ones)
engl
hughes kettner
laney

i thik almost all of those are german made except maybe the laney

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isn't vht from america? Diezel is from switserland and Bogner.. I think they're from the US as well?

anyways, here's my list.

odd/obscure/unknown - great amps

VHT Pitbull series
Diezel VH4 (s)
Diezel Herbert
Bogner Shiva
Bogner Extacy
Bogner Uberschall
Hughes & Kettner Triamp MK1 / MK2
Hughes & Kettner Duotone
Hughes & Kettner Acces preamp
Hughes & Kettner VS250 poweramp
Hughes & Kettner ZenAmp
Engl Savage 60
Engl Savage 120
Engl Savage Special Edition
Engl Special Edition (expect to pay more then 4000..)
Engl Jive combo
Engl Screamer combo
Engl Thunder combo
Engl Fireball
Engl Powerball
Engl Ritchie Blackmore signature
Engl 570/580 preamps
Laney VH100R
Vox AC30 (for not so metally stuff )
Koch powertone
Koch classictone
Marshall JTM's (*if I ever see one going for cheap, its mine.)
Marshall Silver Jubilee combo's/heads
Marshall 30th anni combo/heads
Sovtek MiG 60
Sovtek MiG 100
-> other dumble, crown, kooimaker, van weelden, voan, diamond amps. (mostly rare and modified amps, priceles too... van Weelden modded Eddy van Halen's 5150 and Eddy STILL plays that exact amp after all the years)

Yup, thats my list, not all 'rare' but most are 'unknown' to the random guitar-center public. if I see anything on there go used I usually check out the advert, some things aren't great for metal at all but are still great amps. And with those limited marshalls, they can be worth way more in the future plus its a cool thing to have around if you have money enough for a cool practise amp

Well , I guess since a mod has'nt moved it, that its here to stay ... these are very good suggestions indeed. Anybody have anything else to add?

so you mean botique amps?

there are tons. i'm going to mention some that def didn't because he had quite a few.

i don't think framus has been mentioned yet. the cobra and dragon are awesome metal-ish/rock amps imo... the ruby riot is also fucking sweet.

i'm shocked that soldano didn't get on def's list... the slo 100 is one of the most awesomist heads ever.

rivera also needs a good look. awesome TONE behind these amp.

orange stuff also.... think marshallish british tone, but thicker and much brighter.

CAE and egnator are brilliant...

ashdown's fallen angel's are pretty heaV.

avatar cabs need a good look, almost botique quality, yet reasonably priced because they don't go through a dealer/store, just factory direct.

thd shit is fucking amazing for thick medium/light gainy tones...

johnson amps are like the unpopular/less mainstream line 6 stuff.

krank, only if you want to sound shitty though.

tech 21 is simply the highest quality and best sounding solid state gear ever, i shit you not, better than alot of tube stuff imo.

hiwatt,ada,badcat,splawn, genzbenz, and matchless are a few others...

i'm sure if i really dug into it i could find quite a few more, but i'm not in the mood.

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yup. I think we got the most important ones listed now

I forgot quite a few, but that was just a bunch from the top of my list, the slo100 and sl60 should definetly be on that list....

Meteora, anyone heard of them?

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Ive tried Marshall 800 900 and Solid states and was not impressed with the distortion. Is there ANY amp out there with as much crunch as a 5150?

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loads. allmost everything on the upper end of my list has more crunch, but they're in a totally different pricerange though. can't beat peavey when it comes to bangs for bucks.

In regards to my pedal thread, ill try the V-twin out first, and if its no good then I will probably get a triple x head, or maybe a 5150. Probably the triple x. I wont spend more trhan 600 bucks on a head.

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there are tons of amps out there with more crunch than a 5150... some are more expensive, some are rarer....

if you go with a vtwin, i suggest you get the rack preamp version instead of the pedal.... the you could just buy a nice poweramp... and use that setup instead of a head... vtwin rack preamps go for like $200-400 depending the condish.

a great poweramp for the money is the marshall 9005... they're sooo cheap, all tube 2x50w... fucking sweet sound, imo the best sounding marshall poweramps ever. it's four fucking spaces, but for the prices they go for(under $300) and the tone they give i'd say that it'd probably be worth it.

or the peavey classic 50/50(2x50w, or 1x100w) is also about the same price range, i like it better because it has el84's instead of el34's... more unque tone methinks. plus it's only 2 spaces and a bit lighter..

but i can vouch for the vtwin having tons of crunch... i used to own one ad that thing was a tone mosnter. i liked more than the 5150..

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* saving lists to microsoft notepad*

I'm certainly thankful for these lists, as in the near future I am looking to replace my Marshall AVT50 combo ( 0% headroom ) with a serious amplifier, head and stack style-setup.

Man, you fucking know EVERYTHING about amp setups. I've learned more in school on this site than in this class. The v-twin sounding better than the 5150? I plan on using my vtm still, and putting the v twin pedal before it. I cant even find a v twin rackmount right now let alone buy one.

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well, i currently own a classic 50/50... and i used to own a vtwin rack preamp...
i've played the vtwin pedal and didn't like it as much, and i've played the 9005... pretty sweet.

my guitarist has a 5150 so i've spent many hours on it and know what they can do.

when i said the vtwin sounds better than the 5150, that was completely MY opinion... you can use your own ears to judge that.

the rackmount vtwin is discontinued, so you'd need to look at a used one. check ebay or something.

and i still think a dedicated poweramp will sound better than using your head. even with the pedal version.

is your head tube? does it have an fx loop return with an adjustable level?

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Yea, 4 6L6 and 4 Ax7's. yes fx loop, no adjustable level, also high/low gain input. Would I use a preamp on the low gain input or fx loop? There is no other input anywhere else on the amp except "booster output/remote standby'.

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Do my amp has a low level and high level effects loop and i can get really loud with the high level, and it has tubes, i dropped my amp of at a store to get them changed though, i dont want to get killed fucking with my amp.

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The 5150 II?

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I'd like some opinions on this amp, I know is not that obscure... but i could not find anywhere to ask about it:

Carvin SX100

I am thinking on getting one, so if any of you have some opinions on this amp, or some sujjestions they are more than welcome.

www.harmonycentral.com

jeasus, i thought everyone knew that.


Hear u g0
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guit.../SX_100-01.html

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i love carvin amps.i love carvin guitars.but the steve vai amp is over rated imo

i'd try using the fx return as your input with a preamp.

but if that doesnt work out volumewise for you(you can still adjust the preamp's volume, but who knows how loud that will work with your head non adjustable fx loop level) with the vtwin pedal there's a way you can send balanced outs(like line outs to send to a mixing board) into an input on your head, but then you'd also be running it through the heads preamping and it wont sound the same, when you use the fx loop return it bypasses the head's preamp completely....

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