amp help needed

[adam-antium]

Greetings fellow ball abusers. I have a problem not guitar related as you can tell from the title!!

I am just about to part ways with my ENGL powerball as I wanted to downsize and just get something a little more flexible for different musical styles. Im looking for either a combo or a head and a 2X12 cab im a complete technophobe and need help guys,please keep it simple!!!!!!

I play a bfr petrucci and am looking for something that can cover a lot of different styles, im playing covers in pubs and small venues.
Nice clean and blusey tones are a must, but also something that you could shred with!

Been looking on youtube and reading reviews on every amp you can think off but have kind of narrowed things down a bit I think….

Mesa boogie lonestar- Been listening to so much Andy Timmons and love the clean tones he gets from this amp, the reviews I have read about this amp and mesa boogie amps in general state that this amp is very one dimensional great for cleans ( I hope none of you mesa heads get annoyed with me for saying this) and that these amps have a lot of issues with the tubes blowing? this has put me off a little and also these amps cost double over here in Ireland than what they do in the USA.

Have been also looking at the suhr badger problem with this amp is that there is no stores in Ireland that stock these and I would be going for this amp only on what I heard on youtube….

Lastly this amp seems to have it all covered to and extent the Orange Rockeverb 50 watt head, nice clean and crunch tones and can reach some really nice metal sounds also.

 

[Spudmurphy]

My Mesa covers cleans and gain beautifully but as you say are very pricey. For what it's worth there is a New Old Stock Mesa F50 combo for sale in a music shop in Cardiff.

However the new range of Blackstar amps look interesting. Lower wattage and by naturally driving these hard, you will get a nice bluesy tone.
Jamie Humphries gets great tones from these amps.

 

[Sweat]

+1 on the Blackstar amps, many models and wattages to chose from very versatile and priced killer,see my post in pearlredburst thread about guitar problems, where i stated issues with high end amps, really no need to spend that much cash, i picked up my HT-5 head and double stack from GC for well under 500.00 US, new in the box

you dont have to spend thousands to find great amps, i have learned my lesson well, for a hell of alot less than I spent on a Mesa, etc. I now own 3 different very nice amps that cover anything I need.

 

[Dante]

+1 on the oranges. try a thunderverb 50. nice tones there and 2 dirty channels. rob chappers has a couple of great thunderverb clips. i don't know if i trust all the blackstar hype.

 

[Sweat]

+1 on the oranges. try a thunderverb 50. nice tones there and 2 dirty channels. rob chappers has a couple of great thunderverb clips. i don't know if i trust all the blackstar hype.

blackstar hype???????
Have you tried any??? Oranges are one trick ponies and way over priced in the US.

 

[adam-antium]

hey spud ye checked out the express models from mesa which i think took over from the F series, they seem to be able to cover a lot of different tones. im just really put off by the price of these things €2000 new over here and wondered what the best alternatives are..

Fingbeagles you sound a bit like me ,you have obviously lost money on equipment over the years? I have heard good things about the blackstar amps from my friend Colinboy, i haven't played one yet but intend on doing so, im always just a bit weary about new lines of gear blackstar being a pretty new brand... i dunno

i have been looking at that rob chappers guy!!! what a ledgend!!!! really liking what i hear with the rockeverb and thunderverb

 

[look_at_her]

Rivera Chubster 40 or 55 is my tip.
Classy cleans and hair rising over driven tone!
Also,this beast works well with the external pedals=I use BB preamp and TS 9 to saturate the sound a bit.As Butthead says, it kix ass!!!!

 

[jcm900]

I tried an express 5:25 combo, nice amp, but the clean channel didn't have enough headroom (or at least, for that price)

 

[jcm900]

Rivera Chubster 40 or 55 is my tip.
Classy cleans and hair rising over driven tone!
Also,this beast works well with the external pedals=I use BB preamp and TS 9 to saturate the sound a bit.As Butthead says, it kix ass!!!!

Yeah, Rivera amps are great! I played a small combo some years ago, probably the chubster or the clubster, it sounded great! it was rather a pony ,though, but if you want to use it with some external pedal, it doesn't matter.

 

[adam-antium]

Dont even think can get rivera amps over here guys!
I obviously have a lot of thinking and trying out to do
its just so hard

 

[look_at_her]

Dont even think can get rivera amps over here guys!
I obviously have a lot of thinking and trying out to do
its just so hard

Come on,have you ever tried Ebay

 

[colinboy]

Happy new my friend and welcome back.long time no see around here,you need to start posting here more often my jackeen friend!

Blackstar Blackstar Blackstar Blackstar all the way my friend.The 200 head and cab i got a few months ago is the dogs bo**ix i swear to god.the range of tones and versatility from this amp is unreal.
Xmusic have the series one 45 watt 2X12 combo which you could go try out.there and 100 watt head also and they both have 2 clean and two crunch channels.
Obviously me being me mate i done the dog and got the 200 head which has 4 channels with 6 modes.
this amp has more than enough gain to cover any musical situation and i dont think i would ever need to buy a boost pedal theres that much gain in the OD channels and there so crisp and clear.
xmusic dont have the 100 or 200 head as far as i know but ring them and ask them.

you could always come to cork to try mine?

Coverband eh?

 

[smd24fan]

hey spud ye checked out the express models from mesa which i think took over from the F series, they seem to be able to cover a lot of different tones. im just really put off by the price of these things €2000 new over here and wondered what the best alternatives are..

Fingbeagles you sound a bit like me ,you have obviously lost money on equipment over the years? I have heard good things about the blackstar amps from my friend Colinboy, i haven't played one yet but intend on doing so, im always just a bit weary about new lines of gear blackstar being a pretty new brand... i dunno

i have been looking at that rob chappers guy!!! what a ledgend!!!! really liking what i hear with the rockeverb and thunderverb

Express are nice, I had a 5:50 and it was cool. Not really good for your shredding needs though. Use a good OD in front of it and you are good to go!

 

[adam-antium]

Come on,have you ever tried Ebay

YES i have heard of ebay, NO i would not buy an amp that i havnt played..

Whats up Colin happy new year to ye man. im gonna go up to xmusic during the week try out the blackstar and the mesa stuff that they have. They also stock a couple of cornford amps though i think they are more for high gain sounds have to try it first though.

 

[Dante]

well, mesa costs twice as much in continental europe, not really what i call a good price/quality ratio. orange is not perfect, not handwired and all that. but they don't cost much and beat marshall tops by my ears.

as far as blackstar goes, when everyone agrees on something, it raises a red flag for me, that's my nature. the HTs are imports, glad everyone likes them.

 

[bkrumme]

+1 on the Blackstar. Also +1 for the Orange Rockerverb. Both are great amps. The Orange *IS* a little one-dimensional, but has great tone. The HT-5 is a killer little head for the money, but only 2 channel. You might also look into Egnater's offerings.

Have you looked into maybe one of the Marshall JVM models? The JVM 410 is a 4 channel amp and does everything from twangy clean to shred-for-days.

If I were looking for something, I'd probably just start playing every amp I came across. Try it all.

 

[The Devil]

+more on the Blackstar idea.

As Colinboy put it he's gone for the Big Daddy of the range, but if you want everything in one box the 45 watt Series One 2x12 combo is the amp for you.

Lots of gain, or bluesy crunch and a great clean channel as demonstrated by the legendary Albert Lee at the 2009 Knucklehead Bash, you can hear this for yourself on You Tube. It also has midi capability if you are into rack stuff.

I actually use the Artisan handwired series with the Blackstar HT Duel for my crunch/high gain and am considering a HT5 combo.

Your reservations regarding a new amp range I believe to be unfounded, to my knowledge there have been no major issues with any of the Blackstar range, they are built like tanks and will take all the hammer you can throw at them on the road, the 45watt combo also comes with the celestion neo-whatever magnet speakers so it won't break your back when carrying it.

Blackstar all the way for me...... I wonder when they will start making underpants?!!!

 

[fbecir]

Blackstar all the way for me...... I wonder when they will start making underpants?!!!

The Devil wears underpants ????? Normally, you just wear PRADA

The BlackStar HT-5 is a great amp. I recently bought a HT-DUAL pedal in order to have the "BlackStar" sound with my bigger amps (Marshall DSL401 and Fender Blues DeVille).
The BlackStar company was created by two former Marshall employees. I think they know their job.
Perhaps you will not like them, but the BlackStar amps are worth a try.

 

[metalmarty]

Give the Engl Souvereign combo a try. Available in 1x12 and 2x12. I unfortunately had to sell my Savage Special Edition head wich is pretty similar to the souvereign and it gave me everything I could ever ask for. Great cleans, nice crunch, hardrock and balls to the wall metal. That head cured my amp-gas, period.

 

[bkrumme]

as far as blackstar goes, when everyone agrees on something, it raises a red flag for me, that's my nature. the HTs are imports, glad everyone likes them.

Kinda get that "too good to be true" feeling, eh? I can understand that.

The experience I have with them has all been positive, so that's what I base my opinion on. Can't say I've had the time to really see how well they're built since I don't own one, but they sure do sound good. And the price is right.