I'm getting a half stack. Money is not an object where this purchase is concerned.

My friend has a 5150 that's modded somehow, but to get the sound he wants, he's using a rocktron hush and a bbe sonic maximizer. Fine and dandy, but I don't want to go through that kind of trouble.

So i've basically narrowed it down between the crate shockwave (450w SS) and the BV300.

This is where the problem is. I've played the former, but not the latter. I played on a bv120 but there's not as many tubes and it sounded just "ok". So given the fact that it's a 300 and something mile drive to play on one, and not too far to see if Guitar Center can get one into the store for me to play (I'm pretty well in with the manager), are there any sound clips on the web? I'm looking through harmony central's reviews, but that's always a touch and go process. Or if any of you have them, could you do a few sample recordings for me to preview? I'm thinking about getting it, but I refuse to do it blindly.

Thanks for any and all help.

why the hell do u want a 300 watt tube head? have you got a death wish lol, unless your playing stadiums i wouldnt recommend it. As for the shockwave, i ve played that alot and its fairly good, nice clean, and the solo channels pretty good but the rythm channel sucks a bit. I find that amps far better for soloing than rythm, i couldnt really find a good rythm setting.

anyways look at somet else, perhaps a marshall jcm dsl 100 , awesome amp

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I didn't have a problem dialing in a nice rhythm sound. You see, I want to buy an amp. Key word being an. Singular. I don't want to have to buy another amp down the road, for volume purposes or for variety of sound purposes. So the question still stands.

do u realize how loud 300 tube watts are??

unless u live in a old football stadium or sumtin like that, i wount but it.

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Hmm 300 watts...my 100 watt amp almost creates earthquakes in my basement if you set it on lik 3,5. Then 300 watts should create like a explosion. 100 watts is enough, 200 is much and 300 is like donington worthy.

hmmm. If money isn't a issue. you should get an engl savage se with a marshall 1960 cabinet. and you won;t have to buy an amp ever again


And yess. 300 watt all tube is kinda over the top. I had a framus cobra 100 watt al tube head. the wall of sound coming from the speakers kicks you in the nuts if you stand in front of it. literally

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the BV300 isnt much different from the BV120. More power is the only clear and noticeable difference.

i know it's a subjective matter and all... but if money isnt much of an issue... why crate? have you looked into other common brands like peavey(other than the 5150) mesa, or marshall? what about like a framus? engl? splawn? bogner? vht? soldano? orange? hughes & kettner? ect....

there are alot of amps out there. and if you're looking for an amp that can do it all with no help from other accessories, i think you should read up on some stuff from the brands i mentioned, shop around a little, check ebay and harmony central. it's probably not going to be the first and last expensive amp you buy... you might drop alot on some botique head just to find you're still looking for something else. so you sell it and get something else. i've been playing that game for years, and just when i think i have it, there is something better.

not that anything is wrong with crate... the shockwave, and the blue voodoos are good amps imo, and some of the older stuff they've made.

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i don't care to go through the trouble to get the peavey to sound the way I would want, gave up on mesa and marshall a long time ago (just not enough, and timbre issues I didn't care for). I don't have access to the others.

The reason I'm looking at the BV300 is because I've heard it can get a massive crunch sound, and I'm looking for live purposes anyways.

All the amps I've tried just don't have enough distortion. And from seeing the BV300 in action with no rack and little effects (that I recall), it seemed like it would have the sound I'm looking for.

dude, there is much better stuff for your purpose than the crate your looking at. you'll never get tube distortion. thats the best sound ever. silly pre-amp distortion is important in your sound and gives the most grind, at least for us metal heads, but the power tube saturation is the mother of tone. i recomoend any of those latter companys xdx said. and for versatility maybe an egnator or hughes & kettner tri amp. those can be very versatile and get good tone. what kind of stuff you playin?

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It runs the gauntlet really, power, thrash, death, melo-, all kinds of metal. Might be playing some jazz sometime soon, and I play blues and classic rock on the side. I just can't find an amp that can get ridiculous amounts of crunch (aside from the shockwave, and a mesa triple rec on the second channel with a smash box on top of it). I might play one of the AVT heads again just to see how it is, but otherwise I might just skip it entirely.

Well bro if you got your heart set on the crate , fuck it go buy it ,
Like all the dudes in here say , Theres alot better than a crate, But if you dig that sound , GO FOR IT.

And as far as A noise suppressor most Hi gain amps need one and for the BBE , thats a nice piece of inexpensive equipment that adds to your tone IMHO

That second part certainly helps but honestly, stop the half-bashing. If they were merely ok, they wouldn't have the artist list that they do. And that list is pretty impressive.

I used to be this forum's most ardent supporter of the Shockwave. Until I played it extensively with a drummer.

Even after adding an EQ and Aphex Aural Exciter, it STILL could'nt get loud enough without the 'farting' that happens from cranked solid-state. I'm someone who prefers the sound of an Ampeg VH 140 or a Randall Cyclone to a 5150 or Engl anyday, so this was a big issue for me.

The Crate GT350 gets 350 watts RMS ( supposedly ) into 2 ohms. Fine and dandy, big goddamn deal. My Carvin poweramp will get 350 watts into 8 ohms on a single channel, and that's just non bridged ( for the uninitiated, when you hit the 'bridge' switch, it doubles the power of the single channel you're using, meaning that I'm running 700 watts at 8 ohms ). And you know what? My preamp/poweramp rig costed just as much as a new Shockwave from Musicians Friend.

I've found that it has more to do with the genuine build quality of the amp you're using, as opposed to the number of watts that the manufacturer says that it has. The Ampeg VH-140 is a measly 140 watts compared to the Crate, but we all know what its capable of.

And yes, I'm aware that a few months ago I was practically worshipping the Crate. Well, it DOES sound good. But only at a low volume. I've wondered if they skimped on quality just to make a buck : At the music store, I remember cranking it to 2 and it being just a little less loud than a Peavey XXX on 2. "If its this loud at 2, then it'll hold together at 5, and I'll be able to gig with this sound!" WRONG. It sounded good enough at volume 2-3 that I chose it over a 5150, but incidentally, turn it up to match a drummer and bassist and you have a steady stream of shit from your cabinets ( And I know for a fact that it was the Crate and not the speakers I use --- my modified Genz Benz 2x12 handles 800 watts ). I wonder if they MEANT it to be like that ....


I know that's a lengthy post, and I could give you more reasons why you should'nt buy a Shockwave. Oh wait, I just can't help myself :
As I said earlier, the Crate Shockwave is heralded as the Savior Of Solid State by Crate for running 350 watts into 2 ohms. What does it run at four ohms though, since not everyone has two 4 ohm mono cabs : 220 watts at 4 ohms. What about 8 ohms? 160 watts. And so on and so on ... how many s.s. heads have you seen that run anywhere from 100-150 watts at 8 ohms? Thus how is the Crate really that special?

To stay on topic :

If I were you, if I wanted that Pantera/Dying Fetus/Suffocation tone, I'd go for a super-high wattage clean solid-state poweramp and a preamp. I just would'nt do a Shockwave. But if you're dead set on one of these two amps ... I say go with the Blue Voodoo. And you're looking at the 300? I say go on E-bay, and find an old 120 or 60 watt Blue Voodoo for even less than a Shockwave. As others have said : Good luck getting poweramp distortion from a 300 watt tube head.

aparently you don't know how it works... artist lists don't mean shit... that has to do with endorsements...

hell, krank has so many bad ass bands sporting their shit.. and honestly i hate their amps.

though imo crate has some pretty good shit... way better than krank... but if money is not an obstical, crate would not be my choice.

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Its not that we're downing Crate all together. Its just that if money is no object, don't limit yourself to one company.

All Im saying why do you ask if you sound like your convinced that you want the crate.
And all I was stating was my own opinion that there is better than Crate, especially if you say money was no problem.

I appeared to be convinced on the crate because it seemed to have what I wanted: titanic amounts of distortion, and a whole lot of balls, but at the same time had good cleans and was otherwise capable of a wide range of sounds. Since I can't really play it, I wanted to hear it in action. No big deal. I've tried a lot of amps, and they just don't quite get the sound I want, at least where distortion. And that's what I want. A (preferrably) tube head capable of a wide variety of heavy (heavy. I typically use a smash box and a metal zone together, with at least close to max on both, and varying eq settings) sounds (power, death,thrash/speed, black, grind, everything should be attainable), and at least decent cleans. But I'm not going to make anywhere near a blind purchase. Money's not an object, but I'm not going to throw it around with reckless abandon. So now what should i be considering with these requirements? John seems to be very informative

And btw, a thing about artists and endorsements. They wouldn't pay it if it wasn't good. And with some of the people behind crate (O'Brien, Friedman, Reid, Blackmore, Haynes) they have to be doing something right, especially given that they are big on live settings. But that's not the point atm.

just gave such a vague description....

you're wrong there... but if you say so....


never said that crate sucked... i'm just saying if you have all sorts of money.... it would be foolish to limit your choices... and to crate of all amp makers(that was only ment to be a half bash).


oh shit? are serious? that kinda made me laugh.... don't know why...

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Nice

Oh I'm sorry, I left out versatile. And that's what I want in a nutshell is versatility.

And I'm not wrong. That's not absolute, but it's not completely off the mark. They're not going to use something (especially live) that's not going to work well for them.

I said something about half-bashing.

Dead serious. Those two pedals run through an old 7-band stereo graphic EQ, and old (but still high-quality) TEAC stereo reciever to a pair of five way fisher speakers with 12" subs, and some kenwood bookshelf speakers. A tad noisy, but sounds great, and I can tweak the sound to my heart's content.

Anyway, money is no object, but I'm not trying to milk it. 1200 bucks is a bit much for a 50 watt head.

I gave up on the BV300, but maybe the 120 will work. I'll have to get a sonic maximizer and probably some sort of EQ, and noise control. Perhaps. Any other brands to recommend? Sound clips are certainly a plus, or something that I wouldn't have too hard of a time getting to play on it. I really didn't like Soldano all that much (even though I heard it live, Matt Pike uses them), the only Marshall I ever cared for was the AVT series, and Mesa never had enough crunch for my liking. There's still the SS/Tube preamp combo, but I don't quite know. Just something that will be crisp, and I don't really mind a limitation of tone range, mostly just classic rock and metal will be what it's used for, and I think it's pretty easy to get a jazz or blues tone out of any amp. So I'm very open at this point, I just want to be sure I'm finding what's right. And once the head is decided on, then I'll need to know whether I should get a component cab. Hehe, hopefully I can find something, there's not a lot to choose from where amps to play are concerned. My head's starting to spin!

if you say so... good luck with all that.

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Get a roland microcube.

Ha! I don't think those 2 watts would get me too far. I Suppose I'll go to GC and whatever other music and amp shops around here and try out different things and since I know the manager at the GC, I might not buy from there but I don't doubt I could get some good advice. Man those ENGL's sound phenomenal...

sumtin is not right here, a crate bv120 AND a metalzone????

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i stopped taking this thread seriously a long time ago.

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how wonderfully snobbish! you'd be surprised what useful and/or effective combinations people can come up with. just because it sounds absurd doesn't mean there's no possible way it can sound good. have you heard that combination (or mine for that matter) at the settings he uses? of course not. I'm very tempted to record a few riffs just to show you, but I haven't the time. At the moment.

oh please do, i'd love to hear these combinations in action. when you do have time of course.

you're talking about using a couple entry line nu metal geared distortion pedals together, "maxed out" with a high gain tube amp.... hmmm... i have a feeling it's going to just sound noisey, muddy, compressed, with to much gain to hear the notes in riffs and chords... a stab in the dark of course, seeing how i have played the blue voodoo(not a bad amp), the metal zone(not my thing), and the smash box(not my thing).... just not all together running at the same time.

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cuse me isnt a Distortion pedal mainly used on clean channels , On the gain channel it would feed back like a bitch and probably sound too distorted to be useful. I know Zakk uses his overdrive pedal in front of his JCM800 , But he's Zakk and he has techs and even then Im sure he has to switch the pedal off when he stops playing cause it will humm and feedback like a mutha.

Actually if you recall my setup is different, though looked down upon all the same. And besides, I don't have the ME anymore, so it's back to the
TS7->SM7 combination. Still works. And would you mind supporting a bit, especially where "nu-metal geared" is concerd. Correction, "with at least close to max on both, and varying eq settings". And it's a little crisper than you think. Although on sounding compressed I can't totally disagree with you, of course it compressed, but not absurdly so. The point is that i'm looking for an amp, and I think I'll get something that works for me, regardless of the flaws it may, or may not (presumption being relatively common) have. Although I don't remember exactly what it sounded like (should have blasted it) a triple rec on the second channel with the SM7 sounded pretty decent, though similar. but if I get the rack units, it won't be necessary I don't think.

usually pedals are used over clean channels. however, what zack uses is a little overdrive pedal. basically a small s.s. gain stage to kick his jcm 800's preamp a bit harder and tighten up the sound since jcm 800's are realatively low gain amps.

what speedemon is talking about is the "M3TUHL" pedals(as i like to call all the silly nu metal geared pedals) running over a high gain amps drive channel. two of them, and at high settings.


from what? you said in a few posts ago that you use a smash box and a metalzone... at very high settings... go ahead and look back through the posts.


your point? doesnt sound like you're argueing much.


i never said it wouldnt be "crispy" sounding.... i'm sure it's very trebly and peircing.
as for compression... once you get into those amounts of gain, yes it's "absurd". more gain = more compression. the metalzone and the smash box are both very high gain on their own, running them together(over an amps drive channel none the less) is gauranteed to sound like an elephant is sitting on your signal.


well, when asking for advice. it's usually a good idea to listen to peoples opinions. you just seemed to be so stuck on the bv and nothing we could say would sway your thinking.... making this thread somewhat pointless.

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Not for nothing Speed I agree with XD , you kinda had your mind made up , So why did you ask for advice , you kinda had me confused .
Were you asking or telling.
Well Happy New year anyway.