What is a good versatile combo amp?

[ripley]

Mesa Mark 4...
Or VHT...
VHT is always my top pick, but they don't make too many amps, especially in a combo that are as verstile as a Mark 4.
Steve

oh I dont' know, man... mesa mk 4's all make that "one" sound... if you can track down an old musicman combo (I used to have a 1x12 w. reverb) that I just loved... it pretty much did everything that I needed from jazz to pseudo-prog... the power sections can be a little "ify" sometimes though.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

If you can get one, I would recomend a LIne 6 Duoverb. The best sounding digital amp out there. All you need is a good OD pedal for high gain tones and you are laughing! I love mine!

 

[Spudmurphy]

Vox valvetronix.

My mate just picked up a mint 60 watt Valvetronix - great, great sound for £150 on evil bay

 

[Jonny Dubai]

I got one of these valvetronix and it is FABBY.

Try the Laney VC 30 and the extension cab. also looks the bizzzzzzz.

 

[Pundix]

Mesa Mark 4...
Or VHT...
VHT is always my top pick, but they don't make too many amps, especially in a combo that are as verstile as a Mark 4.
Steve

I have to chime in and say good things about the Mesa Mark IV. I've been using one for years and have never needed another amp. They go from country to metal and everywhere in between.

That said, I've had a couple of the Rivera R series too and they sound fantastic. My only complaint about them is compared to the Mesa's they are a bit weak volume-wise. Rivera's 30 watts sounds more like 15 and their 50's sound more like 30. But they do sound good.

 

[SteveLINY]

oh I dont' know, man... mesa mk 4's all make that "one" sound... if you can track down an old musicman combo (I used to have a 1x12 w. reverb) that I just loved... it pretty much did everything that I needed from jazz to pseudo-prog... the power sections can be a little "ify" sometimes though.

I guess you didn't spend much time tweaking...There are literally dozens of great usable tones that cover just about every style and then some....
Steve

 

[vexed73]

I like Carvin amps. I have owned 2 in my short life and like both. One was an XV-112 and currently I am using a BelAir with some mods done to the soak channel. Carvin amps have great clean channels and have an amp for all different gain needs. They have recently come out with a three channel amp "V3" that needs to be looked at. If it is as good as the others it would probably be the best bang for the buck.

 

[Roubster]

How about Vai's Cravin combo? Is that any good, if anybody tried it? I think I might go tofay to guitar center and screw around with a lot of things. But then again I have a pretty GIGANTIC hang over from last night.....or shall I say this morning . Well anyway, the more people that speak up, the better for me to look into things. Oh yeaaaa. How about those Marshals than? Is it worth looking into or not?

 

[Spudmurphy]

How about Vai's Cravin combo? Is that any good, if anybody tried it? I think I might go tofay to guitar center and screw around with a lot of things. But then again I have a pretty GIGANTIC hang over from last night.....or shall I say this morning . Well anyway, the more people that speak up, the better for me to look into things. Oh yeaaaa. How about those Marshals than? Is it worth looking into or not?

I've owned a few Marshalls and the best one I ever had was a 1969 50 watt head.

I've owned a 50 watt combo since 1987. I was kinda pissed off with it because the first one I had was just amazing but a week after I had it it went up in smoke and was replaced by the dealer with another one- it never sounded the same.
I was going to sell it but bought a POD which has transformed the little s.o.b.
By itself it felt a bit limited but now it sounds great - the only drawback is ITS BLOODY HEAVY!!! - you can see a picture of it in my thread "a picture of the boys waiting for albert"

If I had bottomless pockets it would be a Mesa but I would just love a Dumble like Sonny Landreth.

Let us know what you get.

 

[vexed73]

I have never tried the Legacy but that is what I really wanted but the look of the bel air and the difference in price won me over. You can go to carvin's discussion board there are alot of great people there just like here. You can find lots of sound clips and opinions. You may want to look at what people have to say about the Hasserlized Bel Air which is what I have. I am sure there are amps just as good but not at the same price.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Its a shame, all these amps of which you speak of, Mesa, Carvin, VHT and the like are SO expensive here, they are almost not an option. Besides not many people stock them.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Vox valvetronix.

My mate just picked up a mint 60 watt Valvetronix - great, great sound for £150 on evil bay

Just got back from my mates gaff after comparing my Marshall 50 with the Vox.

The Vox is quieter so if you want to pump up the volume don't go for the 60 watt Vox, go for the "next one up". (120 watt?)

 

[CudBucket]

The few JSX's I've seen will do just about anything. Sweet cleans, to ultra gain.

+1. A great amp.

 

[Roubster]

OK, so SO far I have tried a Peavey XXL, B52, and the JSX. These are the only ones that were actually worth trying. I did not see ANYTHING else that would interest me. Guitar Center in NY dont have almost anything. They have Line6, Marshall and Fender. Nothin for me there. So I think I will go with the JSX at some point, however I will still go around some more to test out other things since those were basically the ONLY tube combo amps I've seen. Actually, the JSX was the HEAD, not even the combo, but it was still pretty awesome. I'm gonna probably have to go out of my way to try out more amps. I did see a Mark 4 Mesa Boogie in a store where I ordered my MM from, but that thing is going for 2300. That's a little too much for me for such a small amp. Well I'll try it out next time anyway. Ohhhh, and the ONLY EBMM they had at Guitar Center except for the SUB's was a Eddie Van Halen Axis that was SIGNED by him. They are selling it for 6000 bucks .

 

[ripley]

I guess you didn't spend much time tweaking...There are literally dozens of great usable tones that cover just about every style and then some....
Steve

no, honest to god, I just never could get "everything" I wanted out of the mk IV... I did sell it to a friend who still has it and swears it's the most useful thing he ever owned. it honestly could just be my playing style, or how I use my hands, or 50 other things... if this is any indication, I now only use SWR bass amps for my guitars...

 

[savannah_sean]

How about Vai's Cravin combo? Is that any good, if anybody tried it? I think I might go tofay to guitar center and screw around with a lot of things. But then again I have a pretty GIGANTIC hang over from last night.....or shall I say this morning . Well anyway, the more people that speak up, the better for me to look into things. Oh yeaaaa. How about those Marshals than? Is it worth looking into or not?

I had a Carvin Legacy for a few years, I just sold it about 6 months ago. I got it in '99 shortly after they came out- I think they stock them with different speakers now, I'm not sure.

I was happy with it, for the most part, but I didn't have many occasions to play loud. When I was able to crank it, I thought it had a very nice, warm tone- with smooth distortion...but not really too much- I wouldn't suggest it for death metal or anything like that.

I was playing with a drummer for awhile, and when compared to the Marshall DSL-401 combo that I had, I thought the Carvin sounded better.

 

[Philip]

New Marshalls aren't good for me at all. Keep away from the AVT series, I've got AVT 150 and it's crap, especially the Overdrive section, go with JSX combo I've heard very kind words about them

Philip

 

[Roubster]

I did like the Peavey XXL a good amount. I spent the most time with that. It has a lot of options and sounds pretty good. The JSX Head was in this tight a$$ spot where I couldnt even see the front panel. I couldnt find the freakin reveb. It's probably because it is called "presence" or "resonance"? I dunno. However when I was tryin to turn those knobs nothin happened. Plus there was a lot of stuff in the back of the head also, but I couldnt really see what all that was. I think it was the foot switch that was connected that disabled some functions? I dunno damn it, I'm not that great at knowing things about amps YET . But still, can you guys believe that they barely have ANY amps in NY??? Freakin Marshals and Fender and line6 everywhere. Like I said I saw one Mesa Boogie Mark 4 in the smallest guitar store in times square. Thats the only place where the guys a nice and helpful. All the guys suck that work at Sam Ash and Guitar Center. There is very few of the guys that are ok. I was trying out a B52 in a booth, and the guy kicked me out because some little girl wanted to try out a guitar. There was freakin other hundreds of amps which she wouldnt be able to tell one from the other, and the guy had to plug it in to the one I was playing through. Bastards .

 

[neastguy]

ive yet to play a combo I like.... dont know why, i think its the open back on a 1x12.. From now on all I will buy is low wattage heads and mix between closed 1x12 and 2x12 speaks... If Im cranking louder than 25 watts I better be in an outdoor arena......

combos I've tried and did not like, keep in mind this is my opinion...doesnt mean squat....

mesa f-50,f-30
laney ?30
fender hotrod
fender training amp? bunch of funky things on it
traynor yc40 (to be honest I kinda liked this one, I need to play via this again)
crate v30 (newest version)
trademark 60
marshall dsl40 -almost liked it..
thats all i can think of right now.....

umm thats all I can think of..... I would choose my randall rg100es over any of these, also my zinky BV head... and I play classic rock.....

too much info, shut up already!!

 

[tommyindelaware]

make sure you try the roland cube 60......