Mesa Boogie, 6505, or peavey xxx ???

[Nezgual]

Ill be purchasing a new tube amp soon, I never used tube before, Ive been reading alot of reviews on these amps, Every review is a good review, Where I live I just cant go to the local guitar store and play one.

I was thinking of getting a single rectifier mesa, People say you really dont need a dual or triple ro have the sound you want, Plus the singles Are loud to.

6505 or 5150 Has great reviews, I read that you have to have them cranked to get the full warmth of the tubes, I dont want to practice having it cranked all day, dont get me wrong I love it loud, But not at all times.

Peavey xxx..Awesome reviews I youtub'e this amp, and its sounds great from the very few people demoing it.

So I got a decision to make, I will be purchasing one of them amps within a month, AND I DONT MEAN MAYBE. I just want some of your info and what you think.

I want something you can plug str8 to the amp and have kick ass distortion. Im looking for something tight with lots of low end and I want to crank it and have people hear what im playing, rather than just loud jajajaja. I want definition.

What should I get??????????

[neilli]

You need to try them all out. Personally, I'd take the Mesa, but it's a very subjective call.
However, I think all Single Recs are 50w (mine was), which is great for lower volumes, but I found mine broke up too much when it was cranked...

[jgcable]

In order.. I would go with..
Single Rectifier (mainly because its very versatile and its pretty quiet even at extreme gain levels) Its an extremely powerful 50watts!! Make sure you use the correct cabs. I would suggest Mesa cabs or Marshall's loaded with V30's or T75's.
5150 (incredible hot rodded Marshall gain, a much better clean channel than the reviews say but.... its very noisy and hissy. A noise gate is almost mandatory)
It sounds incredible with little to no tweaking and it is very cabinet and speaker friendly. It sounds the best with the stock Peavey 5150 cab loaded with Sheffields. Marshall cabs loaded with V30's sound great too.
6505 Not enough experience with one to make a comment.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

XXX by far. why? because it is the easiest one to tweak and will sound great no matter what cab you are using. granted picking a cabinet is like picking your favorite icing for your cake. -and this cake goes well with any icing you choose, but you can still pick your favorite.

[Nezgual]

XXX by far. why? because it is the easiest one to tweak and will sound great no matter what cab you are using. granted picking a cabinet is like picking your favorite icing for your cake. -and this cake goes well with any icing you choose, but you can still pick your favorite.

I like cake, but theirs 3 peices, I can only have 1

[toxikdeth]

Maybe you should consider the jsx

[RJF]

I would take a 5150/6505 over a single rectifier, but I'd take a Dual or Triple rec over the Peaveys.

I think the 5150 has a better distortion than the Solo head since it's a little tighter, punchy, and less fizz. But, the Dual and Triple are good amps that are pretty versatile.

I don't like the single rec because I think the Solo heads need a good clean power section. When I had my Dual I had two tubes pulled and thought it didn't sound very good at 50watts.

[DonP]

You need to try them all out.

I can't agree more. Problem is, you REALLY need to try them OUT.

Me? I'm Marshall through and through.

[velkan]

dude you have SO many options for Metal amps:

ENGL Powerball
ENGL Fireball 100
ENGL Ritchie Blackmore Sig.
ENGL InVader
KRANK Krankenstein+
DIAMOND Nitrox
BLACKSTAR Series One 100 or 200
FRAMUS Cobra
DIEZEL VH4S
HUGHES&KETTNER Switchblade
HUGHES&KETTNER TriAmp MKII
HUGHES&KETTNER Coreblade
KUSTOM Double Cross
RANDALL V2 (hybrid amp BUT sounds huge)

and even the new Spider Valve MKII sounds great!


one advice: DONT listen to youtube demos or anything like that! try amps by yourself and listen by yourself! that is the ONLY way to know if the amp sounds good to your ears or not =)


cheers

[ozzuk1]

You should really consider the XXX/3120, they now only make them with EL34's...

Very underrated amps, if you want to get a decent clean live then the XXX and recto are probably the better options...

Bear in mind you probably need to spend a heck of a lot more time tweaking a mesa than a peavy the upside is it's piss easy to slam new mesa tubes in, the downside is the arent that reasonably priced...

And whilest youtube compression can colour the sound of the amp you get the general idea of what you like, I found some kick ass Valveking videos and they were fairly good representations of how it sounded...

If you can get a S/H XXX you'd get the best deal imo...

And EL34's...

[Nezgual]

xxx sounds great and has great reveiws thats why i was considering it, and from what i hear online, I really want a mesa but the price....wow. I never played thru a mesa, a buddy of mine has a mesa says its worth the money. I think I might go for mesa or the xxx, I know the 5150/6505 is out.

[aleem]

Speaking from Experience

I can highly recommend the Engl Powerball for Pure MEtal Brutality, Classic Rock, Jazzy Cleans, Blues Drive Versatility and everything in between.

Its the greatest amp I ever used.

I was really against Marshall amps as they never did it for me but I witnessed the demoing of a JVM210 that sounded mint and had some cool switching options and a lot cheaper than an ENGL, But not as good.

[Spivonious]

First of all, if this is your first tube amp, you'll love whatever you get, as long as it does the metal thing.

Second, those three amps sound extremely different. Since you're not able to try them out first (no Guitar Center in driving range?) then I'd read up on what your favorite bands use and get what they have. Try to buy used or from a place with a good return policy. If you don't like the amp, then you won't lose much money that way.

[velkan]

Speaking from Experience

I can highly recommend the Engl Powerball for Pure MEtal Brutality, Classic Rock, Jazzy Cleans, Blues Drive Versatility and everything in between.

Its the greatest amp I ever used.

I was really against Marshall amps as they never did it for me but I witnessed the demoing of a JVM210 that sounded mint and had some cool switching options and a lot cheaper than an ENGL, But not as good.

yeah, the Powerball is a fantastic amp for Metal, but its also very versatile =) huge range of sounds that thing can produce!

[Nezgual]

First of all, if this is your first tube amp, you'll love whatever you get, as long as it does the metal thing.

Second, those three amps sound extremely different. Since you're not able to try them out first (no Guitar Center in driving range?) then I'd read up on what your favorite bands use and get what they have. Try to buy used or from a place with a good return policy. If you don't like the amp, then you won't lose much money that way.

YES MY FIRST TUBE AMP WOOOHOOOO......... Ive been playing since 91 off and on, I never thought of using a tube amp. Then I heard one last year and it blew me away. I wish I was driving distance from a dealer that sells mesa, so I can try'em out. I just read reviews. Plus I dont have a huge income, the tubes were alwayz expensive, guess thats why i never really thought about getting one, NOws the time, I will own a MESA or some tube amp before this month is over, and i dont mean maybe