I've spent months searching for a decent combo to bring to rehearsals but finding a good one nowadays seems to be fucking impossible. I just want something that's gonna last and sound decent at rehearsal volumes. I've narrowed out a LOT of amps, to the point where I'm most certainly going to buy something from ebay in the US used, because everything I find at stores seems to be shit. I'm going with a 1x12" because shipping for 2x12s is wicked expensive, plus I want something light.

After searching through an assload of old MT threads, here are the top 3 I have in mind:

Crate BV60 combo. I know it's going to sound great BUT I keep hearing nothing but bad things about their reliability. Cheap input jack, loose ground(what does this mean), and poweramp failures. How much do they usually sell for? There's one on ebay but it's a store auction and it's 400$.

Carvin SX-50. Solid state, but I still hear about some reliability issues in the HC reviews. I also hear it just doesn't sound very well.

Crate GX series SS amps. Not the GX130C that Jack Owen used, but a smaller 1x12" version(like the GX40). I think this one isn't going to sound too great because I assume they cut a lot of corners on the build quality of the lower wattage models(plus they have shite reviews at HC).

I was considering a Laney LC15 but given the fact that it has no FX loop, very little gain, and costs 260€ plus shipping(350$USD or more) made me not want to get this. I used to have a Tech 21 TM30 which I loved but they're well over 320€(400$+) here, so as you can imagine I'd rather buy a BV combo for that much.

Which of those 3 should I go with and why? I just want a decent tone for practice and transportation, I already have an Engl Fireball + cab to satisfy my tonal needs.

Blue Voodoo is your best bet, will be much louder than those other two for practice, and have a better tone also. I dont know what kind of music you play, but you cant go wrong with this for death/thrash metal. My friend owns a blue voodoo head/cab and has a wicked tone, he mainly plays old school death metal. My fathers old guitar player also played through one, and he had a pretty ripping tone, more of hard rock/ozzy styled stuff though. I really do not know much about their reliability, but I think its the best bet.

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Yeah yeah I know of their awesome tone. Fuck, if so many Floridian DM bands used it it's good enough for me tonewise. :P I do play DM/thrash/brutal DM for the most part as well as fat-sounding 70's and 80's melodic metal and rarely some reverbed clean shit so I know it's perfect for me.

BUT I hear that the combo version is very cheaply manufactured/very flawed in some aspects. I don't want to have to bring it into a shop for repair every six months because a component failed(ie: input jack, FX loop died, speaker fried, poweramp acts up). I've also heard about some noise/hum issues but I have a Boss NS2...

So I need to know from people who own the BV-60 combo, is it built well? Does it give you any problems?

I also hear BV-60 combos don't need biasing when you swap power tubes, they have automatic bias, is this true?

I want an amp that will cover my ass should my Engl Fireball ever die on me too. Or if I should have to sell something for financial/moving reasons, I'll still have another decent amp and not a shite DSP amp(ie: Roland cube) that's going to gather dust in a corner because of the horrible tone.

i have the blue voodoo 6212 so i'm close. the build quality is..good enough for me.
yeah, the input jack went out, and i had to replace the speaker cable that came on the combo but other than that its sweet.
it only auto biases between standard 6l6 and el34 tubes. no other. not even those el34L or whatever.

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Changing the input jack, is that an easy/cheap repair that I could do myself? Why did the speaker cable need a change, was it noisy?

Gonna Hi-Jack your thread for a momment.

Well kids what amp should i get i play trash and 80's hair metal. Should i get
a) Randall Half Stack
B) Mesa Boogie HS
c) Crate (Blue Voodoo)
D) Line 6

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Crate BV or Randall head, now fuck off!

There's a beat-up but working Crate GX130C 2x12" combo on an ebay store right now for 300$ with the best offer thingy. I hear they're good for DM as Jack Owens played one but they have shite reviews at HC, that they switch channels by themselves spontaneously and the sound quality is poor. Is it worth checking out? How much do they sell for in a beat up condish?

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^ Saw the amp your speaking about on another auction site for $200 dollars with a chorus pedal. Also might be able to compare it with that below!
Crate GT212 Guitar Combo Amplifier with Reverb (120 Watts, 2x12 in.)
* $329.95

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That's not the same type, that's a GT series. Those are newer and they're said to be pretty meh. Their preamps(Flexwave 5) are based on the Ampeg VH-140's but I'm sure they don't sound nowhere near as awesome.

This one is a GX series(discontinued), 130W, 2x12. The model is a GX130C, the C probably denoting the Chorus feature, like on the Ampeg VH-140C.

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BV-60 by FAR, followed by the GX series if you need a second choice. Call me crazy or a solid-state fetishist but I actually love the tone of the GX series amps. Now, I love Carvin gear [I'm getting a DCM600 poweramp in about a month actually] but I used to own a Carvin SX-200 2X12 [the SX-50's bigger brother] from like 1999-2002 and I didn't really like the sound of it at all, not to mention it was a fucking bitch to carry around.

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