I have been playing for a year and a half, and I have a garage band, and my practice amp won't do. So I tried to reasearch a new one, and I am very confused. It seems like tubes can create better sound, but don't really sound new. I love heavy metal, so new sound is what I'm after. But then it seems like digital ones, like Crate, can be cheap and don't have that great of a sound. I read over and over that you should get the best you can afford because its a life long investment, so what kind of amp would suit my style? I'm looking for lots of power too, but also a sound that suits the heavily distorted, "chugging" muted riffs that can be found in heavy metal, like slayer, slipknot, racer-X, etc. Price range doesn't matter until I buy it, I want to see all options first.
Thanks for the help!
We talk about this all the time. Resident poster Joe (Forrok Star) is the real expert on this stuff and can give you great advice. But there are others as well.
Most people achieve these great sounds with a good tube amp for tone with good distortion pedals to push the pre-amp. And if you use an attenuator then you can really push the tube amp into saturation while keeping the volume to reasonable levels.
There are some high gain tube amps. The Peavey 5150 has 5 gain stages. This amp is almost insane all by itself without the aid of any pedals. I have read a lot of reviews and many say the combo actually has better tone over the stack. You might check this amp out.
There are many great Metal amps like Marshall and Mesa. You need to personally play on these amps to get the tone you are looking for.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I'll be trying the peavey, and some other stuff, at my nearest guitar center soon.
I noticed that there were a lot of different kinds of mesas, which seemed to cover a wide range, but they all promise "great sound", and I can't really tell which ones are for my style. What types of mesas can you guys recommend?
Also, don't rule out the possibility of the pedal. IMHO: a Boss Metal Zone can turn anything into a metal amp. How well the amp responds to it... well that's up in the air.
I have to admit that I'm not really a metal fan, so I haven't given the Metal Zone the full run around, but on the amps I've heard it's been very capable of coming up with something that was crisp, cutting and powerful.
Give it a whack.
Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life...
