my guitarist just got the 100watt half stack and it sounds bassy and chunky as fuck. Would you guys recommend this for Brutal Death Metal in vein of Internal Bleeding, Stabwound and Misery Index?

Cuz I got a Crate GLX1200h and I think I could of done better.

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Dude I know for a fact almost every Guitar Center in Cali has at least one B52 stack sitting around, go and try one out!

"Cuz I got a Crate GLX1200h and I think I could of done better."

Welcome to G.A.S. [Gear Aquisition Syndrome] man...

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Oh yes, i have the AT-100. Brootal as fuck. In my opinion its one of the best amps out there, throwing mesa in the trash like a fuckin cardboard box amp

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that hit me SO hard when i saw my marshall 6100 sitting there for 800 bucks... i just had to have it.


oh, ps. about the b52's... the amps are nice, but i've heard that the cabs dont speak very well for the amps... just something to keep in mind.

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I tryed out a tube one, at the music store in Homosassa and it was lame, in my opinion.

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all tube amps sound lame until you get the volume up LOUD. trust me on this.

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My amp is tube, An Ampeg VL1002 head, from around the early 90s, forget what year. It has a badass sound, and I know how to work with tube amps, and yeah I turned that shit up. I really thought the b52 was lame, I dont know, its not the sound I go for.

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I have that shit so bad its ridiculous sometimes.

I've heard the lower B52 cab isn't good but their expensive one is well worth it. Its hard to impossible to find used on ebay, trust me i looked for forever and a day.

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This is nonsense, at least with most high gain tube amps. Sure tube amps are meant to be played at eardeafaning volumes, but you can get incredible sounds out of any high gain amp at low volumes, because you don't need to crank it loud as shit to get that extra gain. As you push the volume, you cut down the treble and gain to reduce noise and let the poweramp do its magic, that's how it works.

My Fireball at bedroom levels sounds better than any other amp I've played at similar volumes. As well as cranked volumes. I've also played a JCM2000TSL top at TV-like volumes(perhaps louder) and it sounded pretty fucking awesome, so it's not just with Engl's.

Ampeg Lee Jackson heads rule! You have quite a gem there mate.

The B-52, despite all the bad comments I've heard about it, is pretty interesting. I would consider one used if I had the chance of trying it if I was on a budget. Can't speak for their reliability, but I hear they're kind of ripping off the 5150's circuitry? If so it must sound incredible for high gain shit. They have spring reverb so that's interesting, and work with 4/8/16Ohms and comes with a footswitch. My Engl Fireball 60W costed twice the price of the B-52 60W head and that one came with a footswitch.

Their cab is something I wouldn't buy with it though. Just go with a standard Marshall, Crate BV(the v30 ones), Ampeg, or other well-known cab builders, just to be on the safe side, plus they're cheap 2nd hand.

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I bought a non v30 crate cab, its celestions but its not the v30s and it sounds pretty good. Of course the v30s would be better but i just literallycould not afford that pricey mofo. Any of them for that matter.

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*pat pat* you think you know what you're talking about. You're right in a respect, but not towards the point i was making. Your head is also 60 watts which explains why it sounds decent quieter... but consider OTHER AMPS... play a blue voodoo 120 at bedroom volumes... then play it at "im alone at home" volumes... it will sound 10 times better... the ear is more sensitive to tones at higher volumes, therefore you hear more dynamics in the tone. Ontop of that, with tubes, to get full harmonic content, you NEED to run a minimum level amount of current through them, so with a 100 watt head, bedroom level is not enough to get the full amount of tone, and
<thesis>
therefore will sound lame compared to one with higher volume.
</thesis>

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I said MOST HIGH GAIN amps. The blue voodoo is one exception, it's not even all that high gain(have you played one?). But pick up any Laney GH, Engl, or 5150 and you won't come across this problem. A 100W valve head is not all that louder than a 60W valve head, if at all in many cases.

I already mentioned I've played a TSL100 on several occasions at low volumes and it sounded amazing, that's a 100W, rendering A 100W valve head is not all that much louder than a 60W valve head. Some dude at HC owns a Laney GH50 and it's a lot louder than his Savage 120, and he runs them into the same cab with same ohmage.

Great sounds can be had with many tube amps at low volumes, but of course, they're meant to be played loud because they'll always sound better than same-wattage solid state at gigging volumes. But in NO WAY will a real high gain tube amp sound lame at low volumes unless it's shit. Hi volume does not equate to good tone, less you play something like a JCM800. But if you play in your bedroom exclusively, then you shouldn't be considering a tube amp anyway, that defeats the purpose of having all that headroom at your disposal.

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jcm 2000's are designed to be rediculously high gain at low volumes so that you dont need an attenuator... theyre marshall's answer to the "attenuators are too fucking expensive" problem.

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But you must agree that any good amp will sound great in any situation, not lame in any of them, including bedroom levels. I couldn't justify paying 1000$ for an amp that can only sound good at fighter jet plane takeoff volumes.

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hells yes i agree. And i agree to the fighter plane thing too, i want to find out how i can build half power switches so i can make any amp good... i want a splawn

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Man you are absolutely and completely totally incorrect with this. Your ears are NOT more sensitive at higher volumes. Hence once you get to a certain point a linear increase in volume will not produce the same apparent loudness of something. This is a fact.

If you were to plays omething really loud, and slightly increaes the volume you could possible not hear a change in the volume (this has happened to me MANY MANY times while playing with my old band, and ended up drowning them out). If you were to do the same thing with lower volumes, the same increase is very audiable.

For one your ears start attempting to mute out damaging volumes, which is always why eventually listening to really loud music, doesn't appear to be as loud anymore.

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There's no way around a powerattenuator. The half power switches are supposed to turn off a half of the poweramp like on the Orange Thunderverb 200, but that amp has like 8 powertubes, so it's like 2 amps in 1. I don't think you could split the PA of a regular 100W or less amp head without some serious expensive modification...

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dude, you misunderstood. Of course its not sensitive to change in VOLUME, but its more sensitive to the TONE, as in the EQ. Thus i said TONE and NOT VOLUME. Notice how you typically lay off some of the eq at higher volumes.

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EQ and volume are the same thing. And tone isn't EQ.

Volume adjusts the entire spectrum of eq up or down, whereas "eq" as you're putting it adjusts the volume of different freqs.

Tone refers to the tamber of sound, and not the "volume" of different freqs. Although tone can be related to adjustments in eq, volume (pushing tubes and what not). although i get what you're tlaking about (now), you're using the incorrect terms to describe what you mean.

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