I'm about to do my first show in June. I'm guessing I'll need a halfstack, and I'm broke right now. So, would there be anything wrong with me getting a cheap line 6 head and a behringer cab? Or are these amps terrible? I don't need anyhting too great.

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go for a spider halfstack if you absolutely need it. They're loud enough, have stage presence, and you can do alot with them. They also cut real well too (which is surpising). The only thing i'd be careful of is that Line6 has a tendency to slash its prices, so if you buy a new one, try to resell it as fast as you can.
i'd say go for the spider 2 because its price has already been slashed, and will be a super fuckin cheap find. Hell, you could even buy mine if you really want to, it will retain is virtually nonexistant value now that its been slashed to nothing If you get a spider 3, expect it to lose at LEAST 50% of brand new floor value... hard to resell...
Lets put it this way, i bought the halfstack and the footswitch for 1300 brand new... and i'm now selling it all (practically mint condition) for 550.

And please avoid behringer, their stuff likes to fall apart, and big dissapointment is to be found in the cabs.

Now, this is all in consideration that you dont need something great. They aren't great, but they sure as hell can get the job done. You can turn your eye to a dream setup later, just stick with what you need until you get some cash.

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You most certainly do not need a half stack to do a gig. What is the size of the venue, and exactly how much do you have to spend?

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Definitely. It depends, but i used to use 212s. Me and my other guitarist.

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A 2X12 combo would do the job.

I'm using a 2x12 at the mo and it cuts through and is louder than my friends head and 4x12. I may add a 2x12 cab to it for larger venues but I don't think it would really be necessary.

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well the thing is I don't have a lot of money, and my other guitarist has a marshall halfstack and I need to be clearer and louder since I solo and I'm just cooler in general. The max i can spend (and this is with whoring myself) would be around $400(US). So what should I get?

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don't expect that $400 will get you far in terms of a half stack. would you be able to borrow a cab? That would help you out a bit ... you could spend the $400 on a head for the gig and then get a cab when you have the funds ...

400$ for a half stack? No way, at least not for a decent one. BUT, 400$ in the US will get you these killer combos:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ampeg-VH-140C-G...1QQcmdZViewItem

More than enough for gigging, will cut through like a mother fucker. THE legendary death metal amp.

Or this if you don't wanna wait, and prefer tubes:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CRATE-BLUE-VOOD...1QQcmdZViewItem
Equally as if not more loud than the Ampeg.

Btw, what Marshall does your other guitarist have? Keep in mind that if it's an AVT or MG series, he might be the one having trouble being heard with these amps!

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The only thing about 212s that sucks is the self monitering. They project well and can be heard, but unless you prop them up on something, tilt them or something of that nature, good fucking luck. We used to put the 212 combos on like a table or somethin when we gigged, when we were in my bedroom practicing we would just tilt them up and filled the room witht he sound.

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Nah, I've been able to hear myself using a Fender 2x12 with a drummer and other guitar player + singer and I had no trouble hearing myself, just crank it more if you feel it's not projecting at your head, those 2 amps have assloads of headroom! With lower wattage 1x12's that's a different story, they're very uni-directional because of the single speaker.

Just buy an amp stand/tripod, the kind that let the amp still touch the ground, keeping the low bass frequencies intact.

For 400$ he won't find a half-stack or any amp for that matter as awesome for gigging as a BV6212 or a VH140C.

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That works too.

I find that turning up the volume just because you can't hear vice good placement ruins the balance between you and the rest of the band to the crowd.

My bassist did this all the time, and t pissed me off. He would constantly be way fucking louder than us because "he couldn't hear himself"

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Maybe you needed to cut off some of those br00t3l lows from your amp. Most metal bassists seem to complain that they need to crank their amps to enormous levels, can't blame them as I love to crank the bass knob on guitar amps, which eats them out of the mix.

Edit: So yeah, get an amp stand/tripod, should set you back less than 30$. Get a good one though, you don't want your amp to fall back or make the stand snap under it's weight! Make sure it works for 2x12's.

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Oh yeah, you could just stack your amp in between your friend's head and cab, and get a longer cord to be able to move around more on stage, plus you'll get even better projection that way.

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Actually it was like street punk haha. I've never played metal in a band. I also had to beat the hell out of him for putting hte eq at ridiculous levels. Basically the high mid and highs were completely maxed out. There was no bass about this bass.

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Also remember if the venue is going to run you guys through a P.A. it doesn't matter how big your amp is. The mixing guy will turn make your signal louder or equal to your other guitarist's. When I saw Cliteater live 1 guitarist had a Marshall half stack and the other had a little Marshall 50 watt amp. But both were the same volume and loud as hell. It's all about eqing the P.A.

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I would have still said it was important to have an amp loud enough so you could at least monitor your sound through it.

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