Off Topic Does the choice of amp label the player?

[Stevie]

I have been looking at a number of amps lately as it is time for a change. My current amp is a Marshall AVT2000, and my next amp is to be a valve amp. I have in the last week been drawn towards the Peavey 6505+ 112 combo as it is just one beast of an amp with enough gain to melt your face off and i must admit i had a ton of fun playing with it in the guitar shop. However, by and large the reviews refer to it as a metal amp, whilst i have nothing against metal, its not my perferred choice.

So this is more of an open question/s, hoping for of an opinion of the amp, for those of you who have tried it, and whether the purchase of an amp like the Peavey then labels me a fan of the metal sound.

BTW my music choice of playing is fairly limited but it it includes Van Halen, Queen and Led Zeppelin.

Thanks,

 

[Mpcoluv]

Do YOU like the amp? Does it give you what ever clean sound you like? I assume that amp has tons on gain for the VH stuff you like.
If it gives you the tone you like, who cares what people think?

 

[jam3v]

ENGL and Mesa both make great amps than can do metal and less extreme genres.

See: ENGL Savage, Steve Morse - Mesa Mark Series / Roadster / etc

 

[Colin]

Stevie have you considered Egnater? I have the Tourmaster combo and it's 4 channels, really versatile.

 

[jmmp]

It does not label you as a certain kind of player. I was searching for an amp that was versatile, but had to have an extremely good classic rock/british kind of a sound. I bought a mesa roadster. People can think whatever they want about you and your amp, but as long as you like the tone, then who cares what they think. On a related note, the 6505 is an evolution of the original 5150 which was designed for EVH, therefore it makes perfect sense that you would buy one for that sound. Good luck amp hunting!

 

[Tanax]

An amp can be equiped towards a certain genre. While this is true, the amps usually gives you tons of options to tweak your sound to (almost) any genre you want. Simply put; No, it does not label you as a certain type of player.

 

[metalmarty]

People with little combo amps often label full stack players as "needing compensation"...does that count too ?

 

[jakedawgwhite88]

Check out the mesa dc3, tons of gain, individual channel eq's and gains for both channels, has an assignable graphic eq which essentially gives you another channel or two if you choose to make it footswitchable. You said you like queen, this thing has el84s in it so the distortion is thick but its defiantly got the chimey cleans. The lead player in my band plays one he's a queen/dream theater hybrid essentially but we cover van halen in our band too and it sounds great. They are very versatile amps. They don't make them anymore but you see them fairly often on the used marked either craigslist, gc used section, or ebay. if you want to hear one cranked visit our facebook page and listen to our ep preview or watch the music video all of the guitar sounds on every track is dc3. Bipolar Echo | Facebook

 

[littlephil]

I think some people might label you depending on what amp you use, but you should ignore them really. There are a few exceptions, it would be pretty hard to find blues guys using 6505's or metal guys using Twin Revebs, but a majority of amps are versatile enough to be used for quite a few different things.
There are quite a few jazz guys who use Mark IVs, and I've seen a guy on youtube get a good bluesy tone from a Dual Rectifier!

 

[Stevie]

Thanks all for your responses so far.

Colin, i intend on looking at the Egnater rebel 30 this weekend so i'll know more then. This amp (Rebel 30), is circa AUD2k whilst the Peavey is AUD1k...big difference!

 

[Colin]

That's like comparing Mesa Boogie to Peavey. My Egnater is 4 channel with selectable wattage for each channel. You can run channel 1 at 100w while running channel 2 at 25 watts, channel 3 at 50 watts etc. Very clever

 

[Roubster]

I would definitely recommend the Egnater Tourmaster as well...plenty of options and the power grid is awesome. You also cant beat 4 channels. It has really great tones. On that note though, I honestly did not like the Rebel 30 for its gain. It sounded sort of weak and brittle...clean was nice. I would also recommend Blackstar. The venue series are actually really awesome and quite versatile...I'm gonna be getting the 20W head...but the other combos have more options.

 

[peterd79]

i've been playing an Orange AD30HTC and Orange 212 and i tend to play mostly clean and a lot of blues... occasionally i'll bust out into good 'ol rock but the amp does what i want it to do and when i want it to do it...

but if i were to be in the market for an amp right now i'd certainly go with an egnater... almost every time i go to GC i try to plug into an Egnater amp and kick back and have fun... they're just incredible amps all the way around

 

[jamie_au]

In regards to the original question, I think the answer is: if you let it.

I play my Two Rock, and the current show we're doing goes from Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Black Crowes to Blues to clean. It can do it all...but it's not a 'metal' amp, or a a 'rock' amp...if anything, it's more of a 'blues' amp...

 

[Colin]

we did get off topic (slightly) the 5150 is a fine amp. I had one but sold it because it didn't do the fendery cleans I wanted. A clean sound is what sells me on an amp because it's much easier to get a distortion sound than a clean sound.

 

[straycat113]

Forget what a lot of reviewers say as a lot of amps are much more versatile than one would believe, and that is what settings are for. If you really enjoyed the tone you were getting from that model than go for it, as you know what tone you should be pulling. I mean your choice of music is excellent and is not exactly light, so if it pulls off the tones you need and you can push it even harder that is a plus.

 

[ScoobySteve]

I have been looking at a number of amps lately as it is time for a change. My current amp is a Marshall AVT2000, and my next amp is to be a valve amp. I have in the last week been drawn towards the Peavey 6505+ 112 combo as it is just one beast of an amp with enough gain to melt your face off and i must admit i had a ton of fun playing with it in the guitar shop. However, by and large the reviews refer to it as a metal amp, whilst i have nothing against metal, its not my perferred choice.

So this is more of an open question/s, hoping for of an opinion of the amp, for those of you who have tried it, and whether the purchase of an amp like the Peavey then labels me a fan of the metal sound.

BTW my music choice of playing is fairly limited but it it includes Van Halen, Queen and Led Zeppelin.

Thanks,

Absolutely not man. You're a musician, the amp and guitar, and all that extra jazz is just a means to express yourself and add flavor. That's it.

If that amp suits you, if it reacts to you, and you can groove with it, then that's the one to get. It blows my mind that so many people buy things for the "image" only to realize later, there are other options that suit them better. You gotta go for what you dig, and what works for you. As simple as that.

Good example? Mr. John Fogerty has been seen on numerous occasions sporting a red JP6. Yes, John Fogerty. But he's not playing bone crunching distortion through it, while shredding scales all day. He uses it quite nicely.

Buy what you want, and what sounds good to you. That's my advice.

 

[Stratty316]

we did get off topic (slightly) the 5150 is a fine amp. I had one but sold it because it didn't do the fendery cleans I wanted. A clean sound is what sells me on an amp because it's much easier to get a distortion sound than a clean sound.

I had a 5150 combo and it was able to play much more then just VH type stuff. The 6505 115 is a kick ass little amp (if 60w is little) I think you will be surprised as to how versatile the 5150/6505 is. If I'm not mistaken the 112 version has a similar set up to the 5150 II with an eq on the "clean" channel to help with the cleans. Also, that amp is very reactive to the guitar you put in front of it... I had an Axis Sport at one point with MM90's and a St**t that I ran through mine and I could get some decent dirty bluesy tones. The amp just takes a little patience and tweaking of the EQ and gain to get what you want. It will do Zeppelin very, very well! Just like a Twin Reverb will do metal with the right pedal in front of it.

 

[Colin]

Mr. John Fogerty has been seen on numerous occasions sporting a red JP6.

He did change the pickups though, cool seeing him play a JP

I had a 5150 combo and it was able to play much more then just VH type stuff.

I had the combo as well, the Lynyrd Skynyrd stuff was a tad harder to get than I'd have liked. Quite possibly the heaviest amp I've ever owned!

 

[Stevie]

For a combo, the Peavey 6505 is a monster of an amp weight wise too.