This is my first post, so, first off, hello forum. Anyway, I've been on another forum for awhile getting opinions on amps and I believe I've gotten most of their opinions and views, and have yet to reach a conclusion on which amp I want to buy, so I figured I'd come here for opinions. As far as sounds, I'm looking completely for a sweet overdrive (I'll probably end up using a Fender Twin Reverb or my own current amp for clean sounds) and distortion channel. I want an overdrive that can go from slight blues/rock breakup, to hard rock crunch, to classic metal gain, to thrash metal rhythm "chug", and I want the high-end of the distortion to cover at least Zakk Wylde-esque levels of gain. I'm not picky about built-in reverb or anything, I plan on getting a Line 6 Verbzilla to cover reverb needs. I need a good effects loop so I can run a Boss NS-2 through it to cut out amp noise when using high gain settings. As far as budget goes, I'm only 15, but I plan on getting a job so I can pay for guitar gear soon, and I don't have much else to spend on, so I can save up as much as I need to, but I'm putting the roof for the stack at $2800 (I don't mind waiting a long time so long as I'm getting the amp I want). So far I've been looking at the Marshall TSL60 and JCM800 Reissue. Any opinions on these or other amps I should look at?
First off, welcome to GN!
I wasn't quite able to grasp your particular uses for the amp or where you currently plan on using it.
My experience is with this.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/481442/
The sounds are amazing and it'll part your hair if you're not careful or give the warm tones or gut wrenching distortion even at low levels. I can get great tones at home in my 14X14 music room without disturbing the rest of the house. I can also take it to auditoriums and scare myself with loud.
Great amp. Very versatile and (snicker - easy to carry)
Bish
"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds!"
Sorry if I kind of made that too wordy. To sum it up, I want a warm classic rock crunch and a good all-around metal sound. As far as usage, all I need is to be able to cut through the mix, I'm a firm believer that if an amp isn't loud enough but it sounds good, mic it. Whatever amp I end up getting should be the amp I won't ever have to replace for my distortion needs(in terms of getting a better amp anyway)
Bahamut
First of all, Welcome to GuitarNoise. :D
Well, if you are into Zakk, then you would probably be happy with the JCM800. That's what Zakk uses. Here is a page on GuitarGeek showing artists who use this amp. As you can see, it is very popular.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Welcome to GN!
A JCM800 outperforms a TSL any day of the week. Maybe just me but the harsh and grainy sounds of the TSL series are not really my cup of tea. A problem with the JCM800 will be volume and versatility. You'd have to really work on it to get that anything close to metal but it totally owns the rock scene.
For your needs I would take a look at these tube amps:
Engl Powerball. 50W, clean, crunch, soft lead and hi-gain channels.
Koch Twintone II. Three channels, covers clean till hardrock perfectly.
Vox AC30 Custom Classic, re-issue of the AC30 but with some nice features that allow for a bit more varied sounds.
Note that with your budget you can easily get two of these, or other, amps. For example, with $2800 you should be able to get the Vox and Koch together and that should get you massive tones.
