Hi guys I have around $500 - 600 to spend on another personal amp. I play mostly death metal and am a n00b about what gear to get.

Do you guys have any suggestions about what amp t o get and are the line 6 amps (which fit in the price range) any good?

Just stay away from the Line6. I haven't tried their new tube models yet but thay are out of your price range anyways. You will want an amp that can do metal without the help of a pedal. In the long run you will like your tone and amps better that way.

I know guys bitch about solid state (SS) amps but to hell with them. For the money you can't beat Randall SS crunch. You can save some money if you know how to buy right on Ebay too. I also like tube amps but they eventually cost way more because you will have to replace tubes within a few years at best. That also means paying labor to amp techs unless you know what you are doing. I charge $50/hr labor and I'm cheap.

My suggestion.... Randall amps. Good metal tone and decent quality.

__________________

^As a solution to needing to pay techs money for tube replacements = just buy a tube amp with a fixed bias, that way you won't need to worry about getting it biased every time you get new tubes for it, just swap em in like new light bulbs and voila.

I definitely advise against line 6 amps as well. some of their effects and modeling devices are great but their amps not so much.

Randalls are nice but I would go with an Ampeg VH-140 or SS-140(older design, similar sound), solid state amps that were extremely popular among late 80's to mid-90's death metal bands. Chainsaw-like distortion, immensely brutal sounds. They're now discontinued but you can find both the head versions and combo versions of it on ebay for around 400$, I really suggest you check them out. The only problem is those amps are really old, and finding ones in good/perfectly flawless condition is becoming very hard.

If you don't have luck finding either of those or don't want an SS amp, I suggest a Peavey Ultra head or 2x12 combo. The newer peavey XXX and 5150 amps were based on its design, so the amp has some serious balls on the distorted channel. Very reliable, and changing power tubes also requires no biasing on that amp, it's auto-biasing, so you'll save some money when you need to change tubes every 2 years or so(depending on how much you play it and what volumes you play at).

If I were you, I'd look for an ampeg in the 300-400$ range, and if nothing pops up I'd just go with an Ultra.

__________________

Just as he said above, last year Soeru convinced me to get an Ampeg SS-70w combo. It lives up to his description. I just added a bose 7band EQ and holy shit it sounds good.

Be patient though. With the ampegs, and i'm not sure about the other peavey and randall models described above, you might have to watch ebay for awhile to get it. Waiting an additional month for just the right amp will pay off big time with years of good tone.

A buddy of mine just won a VH140c combo off of eBay for $207. Talk about a win-win situation.

__________________

Alright thank you guys I will check out these suggestions and stay away from the Line6 amps. If anyone else has any other suggestions I would appreciate them.

The ss line 6 spider III halfstacks are actually not that bad. I have heard some shitty sounding line 6 amps before but if you find a good eq these ones can actually sound pretty good. Just don't use that gay "insane" channel. These other amps mentioned are better, though.

__________________

... they dont sound bad if you dont mindd it sounding like you're underwater.

seriously man, i had a spider II, a spider 3 is the exact same thing but with more presets. My friend has a spider 3, it sounds just like my spider 2. I could never coax a decent tone out of it, and furthermore i could never jam with it because it couldnt cut well.
I was reminded of this on tuesday when my friend had his prs going through a spider, and i had my mockingbird special through a mesa nomad... and we got so fed up with the spider that he started drumming instead.

__________________

Jcm 800 50 watt original $600 w/tubescreamer, Bam! I bought it locally but you can still find great deals. I use the SD-1 and sold the tubescreamer and everyone tells me my tone is second to none. If you don't like marshall go for what's said above, I picked up a 5150 combo for $389 the other week. The deals are out there just wait for them. If you want a randall hold out for a T2 or V2, those go for around $500-600 on ebay here recently. Say no to XXX though

I have a spider III, and like the insane setting. What's a good solid state amp that won't get me bitched at, and that is currently in production....

__________________

hahaha tech 21, orange crush, roland blahblah.

spiders are decent if you're playing alone, because its a practice amp which doesnt have to sound good. But otherwise theyre poop.

__________________

RANDALL