No offense to people with Orange or Peavey Valveking amps ..... but

[Spudmurphy]

I was invited around a friends for a meal on the proviso that I brought my Alberts with me.
We had a great curry and 2 amazing bottles of red wine (courtesy of the Times wine club).

We had a guitar fest - and I played my Alberts through his Orange 30 watt combo and 50 watt Peavey Valveking combo.

Well he's been so complimentary about the Als tones I get from my Mesa that I was looking forward to trying his amps out. He says" I have never heard a guitar chime so much"

So now down to the problem - I just couldn't get a tone dialed in !

The Orange had twoo channels a dirty channel which was ... ... ... ... uh dirty!
And the clean channel was far from clean - you had no control over the amps tone controls - they are inactive in clean mode

The Peavey had a terrible clean - the overdrive channel was very good though.

I even took my Pod XT with me but still no bannana!!

So guys - you know how much I love the AL and I want you (non owners) to believe in it too - just try the guitar through a few different amps first.

 

[dannymusic]

I have my AL and my MESA LONESTAR and right now have NO GAS whatsoever. And ta boot, the JP6 sounded just wonderful through the same rig.

I repeat, I have NO GAS at this time...

 

[Spudmurphy]

^
You gotta get an AL
You gotta get an AL
You gotta get an AL
You gotta get an AL

oh you got one!! - no wonder you have no GAS ha!

 

[robelinda2]

Spud you are right, those two amps suck for great AL tones. Mesa Lonestar however is AWESEOME for the Albert!!!!!

 

[Spudmurphy]

I haven't tried a Lonestar - I'll have to hunt one down.
The F50 though is great for both clean and dirty - that amp is sooooo good!!

Last night I was just so disappointed with the tones - I knew that the AL could deliver so much more.

 

[Sub1 Zero]

I personally don't like the valveking much either. Never tried an Orange, though.

 

[CarbonTim27]

Well, this actually an interesting thread to me, because I use a Peavey XXL 212 and I'm not sure I'm satisfied with it. I have a hankering to try out a Mesa F-50 but I'd have to sell the XXL to gather up the funds. I also don't know if I want to become the next John Petrucci soundalike

 

[Sub1 Zero]

I also don't know if I want to become the next John Petrucci soundalike

The man has a point.

 

[marantz1300]

i,ve a silo sss,with studio pre 50/50 power boogies.sounds great. but i like my hiwatt custom 100 better ,excellent clean sounds.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Well, this actually an interesting thread to me, because I use a Peavey XXL 212 and I'm not sure I'm satisfied with it. I have a hankering to try out a Mesa F-50 but I'd have to sell the XXL to gather up the funds. I also don't know if I want to become the next John Petrucci soundalike

I wish !!! - I think it is a really versatile amp.
Certainly no "Tone Sucker" that's for sure.

 

[DrBob]

Both of the AL's I've had the good fortune to have in my hands have absolutely screamed through my Rivera Clubster 45.
I'll grant you it's not as versatile an amp as the F50 but do bear in mind that I don't even use tone pots on guitars

 

[TonyEVH5150]

I have a Valveking, and I do agree, to a point. The clean channel does leave alot to be desired. It doesn't have enough treble to bring out the "chime". The Bright button on it doesn't help much either.

The Overdrive/high gain side is really great. I can get a classic rock tone, a "brown" sound, and a great modern high gain tone out of my 50 watter.

I will still say that it's still a great way to get an all-tube amp for a reasonable price.

I'll admit that I've wanted to change up my amp setup, but not because I don't like what I have. I don't have a need for a 50 watt amp. I'm really thinking about getting a Blackheart Little Giant. I've heard they're plenty loud, and I'm already running a straight pedalboard setup into the amp input. I don't use the effects loop on the Peavey at all.

 

[candid_x]

It's about the match of guitar and amp. Possibly an ASS or 20th would have ripped in the Orange or PV.

Then there's also setting an amp up for a particular guitar. Tubes and speakers can completely revoice an amp. One of my silos LOVES the Em. red white and blues speaker, the other silo sounds flat through it. The devil's in the details.

 

[dannymusic]

Well, this actually an interesting thread to me, because I use a Peavey XXL 212 and I'm not sure I'm satisfied with it. I have a hankering to try out a Mesa F-50 but I'd have to sell the XXL to gather up the funds. I also don't know if I want to become the next John Petrucci soundalike

I tried an XXL and got rid of it pretty fast. Had an XXX combo; dumped that even faster. the 5150 and JSX were keepers; had I not had gas. I heard the valvekings sounded "budget"

On the other hand, my valvetech amp is the schnitz for that tone range.

 

[Multiversal]

The man has a point.

One reason why I've been considering selling my Mark IV......

I've already listed it in a few places.. craigs list is next.. and then E BAY..

 

[Slingy]

The Orange had twoo channels a dirty channel which was ... ... ... ... uh dirty!
And the clean channel was far from clean - you had no control over the amps tone controls - they are inactive in clean mode

This just sounds wrong to me. Aren't Orange mostly famous for having extremely high headroom and for being super clean and favored by country players? Seems like an Al and and Orange would have been a good match. Oh well, I never could get it going with the Orange sim on my Pod.

 

[robelinda2]

I think it depends on which Orange amp, for instance the Tiny Terror has no headroom at all.

 

[pjc812]

Orange is *okay*. Peavey, imo, is largely hit or miss most of the time with a pretty spectacular miss. For a great clean with plenty of headroom, and a wonderful crunch channel I really like my Krank. Most people consider those a purely metal amp but try the Krank side with the gain on like 2 and play hard. It thuds pretty good.

Another amp I was incredibly impressed with was the Marshall JVM410. Someday I will own one. I actually like it better than my Krank, just can't justify it or afford it.

 

[ghunter]

If you think that all Mesa Boogie amps will make you sound like John Petrucci, then you really need to play through more of them. There are many more amps than the MkIV (the one he uses), and so many different voicings.

I highly recommend the Tremoverb/Rectoverb models for incredible versatility and amazing clean channels, with the high gain available from the traditional rectifier circuits. The newer Lone Stars and Stiletto models also offer something unique and different, and the Express models can do a lot without costing the earth.

I've gone through maybe a dozen amps in the past decade, and the Tremoverb has cured all of my GAS. Of course, every once in a while I dream of owning a second one so I can run a stereo pair

 

[Multiversal]

If you think that all Mesa Boogie amps will make you sound like John Petrucci, then you really need to play through more of them. There are many more amps than the MkIV (the one he uses), and so many different voicings.

I highly recommend the Tremoverb/Rectoverb models for incredible versatility and amazing clean channels, with the high gain available from the traditional rectifier circuits. The newer Lone Stars and Stiletto models also offer something unique and different, and the Express models can do a lot without costing the earth.

I've gone through maybe a dozen amps in the past decade, and the Tremoverb has cured all of my GAS. Of course, every once in a while I dream of owning a second one so I can run a stereo pair

I've sat for hours in Guitar Stores for the past 5 years testing all the Mesa/Boogies that I could. I really liked a Single Rectifier head that I played through, but the other ones were horrible. The Lone Star is really sweet.

The Mark IV is definitely one of the most different Boogies from all of them.

I just really really like Carvin amps.