I'm finding I'm playing less and less, mainly because I'm starting to dislike my tone more and more. I don't have a whole lot of cash to spend, but I'd like to upgrade to a decent practice amp. I've been reading some reviews, but would like some metaltabbers opinions on what to look for. Yes, I realise you need to play around with an amp before purchase, but I'd like to have a few in mind to try out first.

I play mostly prog/power metal, aswell as some death metal. Not looking to spend over $300, but if the amp's amazingly good, I'd be willing to break that limit.

Thanks.

we have had a big discussion on this. it should all be uner decent 2X12, and Crappy amp help

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Roland's Cube series probably has the best sound, power, and versatility you're gonna get in an inexpensive practice amp.

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^ Agreed, go with the Roland Cube 60. It's only $80 more than your budget.

Cube 30 will do the job fine, trust me. Go and try it.

make a list of amps, go to a store, try them out.

Roland cubes
Marshall MG's (i like them for stoner rock, but they dont get heavier)
vox... the modelling kind... valvetronix?
line 6 spiders or whatever
peavey rage/bandit/whatever <-- good for metal
Crate practice amps (i dont think you'll like them)
even check out the orange crushes hahaha.

just go play everything.

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agreed.

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I grabbed a Peavey bandit 112 for 275 on ebay brand new, a steal. It's pretty good, brutal distortion, sounds a little muddy at times, but is excellent at low to mid volume. It starts to sound cheesy at higher volumes, but it's a cheap SS amp, so that's expected. It is a tad noisy if you dime the gain. Overall it's a good amp for me right now. You should check if there are any deals on it.

I tried those roland cubes too. They were very nice, and I think I actually liked them a little more than the bandit, but the bandit was just such a good deal that I went for it.

I also tried those Crate practice amps. They sucked, I actually bought one and returned it. Also, do not get duped into buying a metalzone pedal. They are not good either, although I have heard people put them to good use in a more complicated situation. Probably not for you though.

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The Tech 21 Trademark combos are far superior to all the modeling stuff. A 1x12 would be perfect.

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Cannibal Corpse has the metal zone on their gear list (http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/equipment.php)... I always wanted to try one... Why do you say it's no good?

+1. Infinitely superior to all the Cubes and that other shit.

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The cubes will end up just like you are now - you play less and less because you feel it gets shittier and shittier.

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Yeah I particularly advise against the cubes... sure they're priced ok, but if you've been playing for more than a year they're just going to sound like rubbish, and they're built very cheaply too.

And Stormrider, buy this immedeately:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-CRATE-STEA...1QQcmdZViewItem

All tube, kickass high gain sounds, after all it was designed by Lee Jackson. Plus it's 50W tube, so it can get extremely loud too, and can easily overpower many drummers. They sell for under 300$ all the time, that's pretty cheap there.

Or:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PEAVEY-BRAVO-11...1QQcmdZViewItem
Also high gain and all-tube. 25W RMS, insanely loud too with great tone. They sell for 200-250$.

Or:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Crate-Blue-VooD...1QQcmdZViewItem

Great too but they're a little unreliable.

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Cube's are not cheap, trust me, go fucking try one out before listening to anyone else out there. If after you try it, and you don't like it, fine. Try the Cube 30, not only does it have good Metal tones considering it's size, it's also battery powered. This amp doesn't just have 2 channels....it has about 7 or 8 models that sound different and can cover styles from Jazz, Blues, Rock, Metal.....It also comes along with decent sounding effects too. You can't ask for anything more for the price.

the cube 30 is not battery powered (only the micro cube which is maybe 5 watts?). cubes sound great and they're plenty loud for their size, but they don't have quite enough gain for getting that thick, sizzling brutal dm sound. i don't care a lot for the onboard efx, but the delay and reverb sound great. if you didn't know how much they cost and tried one out or better yet, heard somebody playing on one, you would probably think it was a higher end combo. yeah, usually less expensive gear sucks, but clearly not always.

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Hold your horses buddy. I have played the Cube 20, 30, and 60 as well as many other combo amps in the same price range on my search for an affordable loud combo for playing out. I was THOROUGHLY unimpressed with the cube series. I have nothing against solidstate, in fact I love it, but DSP/digital modeling combo amps are really the lowest of the low, they sound horrible IMO and should to anyone who's developed even the slightest taste in tone. The EQ on em is practically useless as it doesn't shape the tone much, so if you don't like the Recto model it has you're pretty much fucked, because you can't do much to tweak it. They are built cheaply, and the speaker will crap out in a matter of months if you use it extensively, it already even sounded farty at TV volumes on all of em, the 60 had more headroom though...

But for the price of the Cube-60 you can get so many other infinitely better amps 2nd hand. Under 300$ will get you a Crate Stealth, Peavey Bravo, Ampeg SS-70 or Crate Blue Voodoo combos. All sound incredible, all have tubes except for the Ampeg. It's unfortunate that you can't find new amps that sound as good as those in stores these days. If you want to get the best out of your money for an amp under a grand these days you really have to look around in the used department. You probably won't be able to find these amps easily outside of ebay, so you may not be able to try them first hand, but take advice from someone who's spent a long time looking for a decent inexpensive combo. If you buy any of those you won't be disappointed, I think I'll be buying a Peavey Bravo within the next few months.

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Wtf do you mean hold your horses? I wasn't even talking to you. Like I said, I couldn't care less what you think about it, I'm telling the guy who asked, to go try it out.

yeah but not everyone likes to spend the money they've saved up on used shit.

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Then why to people spend so much money on vintage and USED amps? I saw a fucking Matamp GTO go for 2100 used, when its only about 1700 new. Or Sunn Model T's which were 300 new, going for 1200. Even the Model T reissues which stopped production in 2002 were 900 new, and these days they go for 1000 used.

Or heres another good one, USED les pauls from the 60's and 70's going for as much as $30,000, when at the time they were only 300-600 new. Or a Gretsch white penguin which was $400 new in the 60s, going for $80,000.
My ass people dont like to spend saved money on used shit.

They dont make things these days the way they used to.

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nothing truer than that

(metal as well )

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i said "not everyone," not nobody.

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DAMN! i have been foiled again... I'll get you next time!

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hehe.. i'd do the beer icon thing but it's kinda gay

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That's fine, I'm advising the guy that the amps are crap. But if he wants to buy one he can go ahead, he just shouldn't expect the things to sound great, especially not for what they sell for.

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I see it that 3 years ago I would have gone out and bought the Cube because it was pretty and the guy in the shop said it was 'cool'. So basically choosing the Cube is for people that don't know shit about what they're buying, and just buy whats new and 'all the rage' at the time. I'm not trying to piss you off TMC, but we have the chance to make this kid actually really happy and offer him info outside of what the guy at your local store will say. If I had had access to this site and knowledge before, I would have much preferred Soeru's advice over the obvious. I'd bite my arm off for a BV or Ampeg SS-70 even now, but I wouldn't even want to plug into a Cube.....

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Thx gorath I take that as a compliment. I've just become so dissatisfied with most new amps under 400$ that I've tried at stores these days that I feel then need to inform people there's better shit out there. It's really hard to find something good new out there, so I always try to help people not fall into the trap of buying into new mediocre overpriced amps and looking for some of the amps I mentioned.

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hey, i'm not getting upset.. i just gave my two cents worth. the guy is looking for a practice amp, which usually means playing at home, lower volumes, recording, etc. the cube was a suggestion, and hopefully the guy will read about it, try it out, and consider other options too. me personally, i never let anyone (especially a sales person) tell me what is 'cool' ..i have worked in sales before, and i can tell you the sales people in guitar stores are usually neither knowledgeable nor persuasive.. they are at best, tenacious.

i didn't get upset, gorath.. so if you want to apologize, do so to Silent Night 6 6. i couldn't care less what anyone thinks, i just made a suggestion. anyone who takes just one idea and runs with it is indeed careless, if not stupid. i just want to say one thing, though, and this is not directed at anyone involved in *this* thread, but... there will always be some hot-headed people on forums who are all too anxious to get in the ring at the drop of a hat and flex their gear knowledge. sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between an informative, knowledgable recommendation or just downright pretentious snobbery. and usually it's not in what you say about the good shit, but how you talk about the bad shit. with that aside, we may continue

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$300 budget? You might as well get something more than a practice amp, like maybe a big ass Crate. But for practice amps, to my surprise, I find the Fender Frontman pretty nice. Real sharp tone and gets way loud, 40W I believe.

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Yes, bigger is better...

It sounds like a bunch of bees in a can, at least on SS amps. I used to have one and it's almost hard to tell the difference in the notes you play, especially on chords. I was using it on one of those big crate SS amps btw. I heard someone around here say it sounds much better with tube amps, though. I guess CC knows how to put it to good use

Go try it though, I was a noob at EQing and basically turned the knobs randomly. I never did find a good tone though. My guitar did suck however, that could have been a factor.

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CC/Pat O Brien I believe only use the Metalzone as a clean boost for their Mesa Recto's, a dry boost in front of those amps(and most flubby sounding tube amps) works wonders in tightening up the sound. You can bet your ass that a MT2 aint gonna make you sound anything like CC's tone, he's definitely not relying 100% on that pedal with a 1200$+ amp.

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Why though? I mean, I think their tone sounds like shit to begin with, but you can't possibly tell me that a Recto is loose or "flubby" in any way. Of all the things they can afford to buy to make their tone wonderful, they choose a MT2.

Promotion for Boss?

Edit: I was thinking... How much would a Dual Rec solo head cost? What is the smallest Mesa Cab you could hook it up to and how much does that cost?

Lastly, What do you need to buy to cut the volume of an amp like that while still turning it up to saturate the tubes? If you bought All of that...that would be the ultimate practice amp....and at the end of the day, you could disconnect the vol. cutting device and use it at gigs.

I like CC's tone on Kill. I think it's sort of obvious they don't rely on the metalzone much

The whole point is, just don't try and use the metalzone alone and expect great tones, and don't get fooled by the 'br00tal distortion'. You can get much better sound out of most of the amps mentioned earlier in the thread. I remember the guy in the store reeling me in to buy it by saying his friend's metal band uses them, so just watch out.

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Yeah, CC''s Tone on that album is killer...

A Powerball was used on Kill, not a Recto.

Silent Night, from many Boogie owners I have learned that the amps on their own have a loose flubby sound that is tightened up assloads with OD boosts in front of it, or with El34's in the power section as opposed to 6l6's. They are relatively loose-sounding amps, although the Rectoverb I have tried gave a different impression, but ask dislexic or other experienced Mesa owners here.

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The output section of the recto is loose, they didn't have ultra-tight death metal in thought when they made it.. (selectable saggy power supply?)

Anyway the distortion from the preamp is pretty much godly, one of my favorites.. can be a bit muddy, undefined and buzzy if you do shit EQ'ing (i.e. welding the knobs on bass=500, mids=-50000, treble=600,gain=90000, typical nu-metal stuff)

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That doesn't mean the use for a MT-2 though, an eq would do better in just tightening up the tone w/out any coloring of the tone. Or otherwise they could afford anything much better.

Maybe the MT-2 in front of a Boogie sounds good to Pat's ears?

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Who the fuck does Pat think he is? He better get rid of that POS considering he's using a Recto. I'll take his amp and I can get him a Crate GLX1200, maybe then he'll really love his MT2.

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Hahahaha

Seriously though, you can get clean boosts that costs half as much as a boogie (Klon Centaur?), but an MT-2 does the job well too, the parametric mids are cool.

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Yeah, but he could've just gotten something like a Bad Monkey or other generic OD pedal, it would probably do a better job for less $.

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I don't understand it as any of a boost though, I've tried it on numerous tube amps and it colors your tone so much that I don't know how you could just use it as a simple boost.

Gain zero, mids full way up, volume all the way up?

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No, it still doesn't give just a "boost" to it, if it did, everyone and their grannies would be all over it.

It's because there are cheaper pedals that will do it better. Pat is not the only one that uses that setup. There are a few people at the HC forum that also boost their Rec's with an MT-2. Would probably be sufficient if one doesn't have an OD lying around, but I'd trade it for a Bad Monkey or something.

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I think that maybe people go looking for a boost to get 'teh br00talz' sounds and think that a Metal distortion pedal will do it better and get more grind than a simple OD, whereas in fact all it will do is fuck-up your tone and clarity.

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Why is everybody talking as if Pat is a noob.... Im pretty sure he knows that the fuck he's doing.

Because he is a nub.

Like what has been said, the tone is NOT coming from the MT-2. Its JUST used to boost the signal. Just because you cant make it work for you dosent mean that Pat is an idiot for using it.

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You take that back... Pat O'Brian is a God.

Yes, he is a tight guitarist and has a decent tone, I just never came to like CC's music.

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I'd bet a dollar that a lot of the Mt-2's tone is is contaminating the overall tone. The MetalZone is one of the least transparent pedals out there, and regardless of what Pat is using it for, it isn't designed for use as a boost. It will colour the signal whatever settings are being used. I can't believe that people are using these things to boost Mesa's. Why the fuck would you spend all that money on an amp and then put in MT-2 in front of it? Just goes to show that people have too much money and not enough brains to know what the hell they're doing.

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Negative.

dude, just because you hate it doesnt mean that everybody else has to. Its his tone, not yours, and just because you dont like the idea doesnt mean hes dumb.
Have you ever considered that some people hate the sound of mesa's? And since you like them so much, you would probably think that was dumb too.

Get some perspective.

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+1. It's like if someone criticized me for using a 20$ EQ pedal with my Engl Fireball. If it works for you, then all other opinions are absolutely irrelevant.

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This argument is similar to when people say the same thing about nearly any fender guitar. And i'm pretty sure a shit load of influential and beyond amazing guitarist use em.

I kind of go along with whats been said as far as its pretty obvious they know whats going on and have probably played more amps, tested more tones, and have experimented more than anybody on this forum. (for the most part) Hell i would venture to say they've been playing guitar for ages beyond most people on this forum too.

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maybe look at the new ibanez valbee 5watt tube combo or one of those epiphone valve junior amps. I ve heard they can be made to sound real sweet by modding them a bit. For which you can find mod kits dirt cheap in england

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You know I tried the Valbee at a store, thinking it was gonna be the shit and the answer to my prayers... But that wasn't the case. It was noisy as fuck, not just hum-wise, but the sound was like bees in a tin can... And the speaker would fart out at high volumes. Just disappointing really, it could've been so cool.

+1 to the VJ in head format, buy a modded one, I just hope you have an OD boost to get the thing cooking for some metal. You might need 2 to get it super br00t3l though.

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