Help Me Find My Tone - Amp Recommendation

[chrisf]

really good stuff here. Thanks! I've got a lot to research. Thanks everyone!

[BayRocker]

I'll throw my $.02 in here...

For the price range you're talking, check out a Carvin V3M. It's a 50w all tube head that'll drive that 4x12 cab just fine. It can also run at 22w and 7w...all still driving that 4x12 cab just fine. I run mine with 2 4x12 cabs in stereo (1 Randall & 1 Jackson), using a GSP1101 for effects only. It has great tone versatility and sounds great at bedroom volumes too. Very nice cleans all the way through some great thrash and 80's tones. 80's hard rock/metal is the tonal range I generally stick to.

I run mine in 50w mode since I find I getter better tones at that setting. Master volume dimed, then use the channel volume anywhere between 1, for quiet night practice, to well, paint peeling volumes just to piss off my dickhead neighbor. Gives me the flexibility to play out or at home with the same rig.

Picked mine up for around $500 new, but it seems they've upped it some since then. They have sales all the time though. They also have a V3Mc combo you can check out. There are a couple good YouTube vids demoing a bunch of the different tones.

[chrisf]

BayRocker.. where'd you get it new for that price?

[Axewielder]

Budget = $600
AxeFX = $3000
Educations are free, people, everyone go get one

It was recommended demoing an AxeFX, to get a feel for which real world amps might provide the tone the OP is after

Yeah Newc I guess your "education" didn't include reading comprehension.

[VitaminG]

VG: Are there any dealers who will let one demo such an expensive unit willy-nilly? And do those same dealers sell those in-store demo units as used and greatly-reduced after a thousand greasy-fingered tire-kicking heathens have had their way with it in a month?

The last guitar show I went to, a dealer had one setup and was dragging anyone who walked by in for a play.

Your local stockist may not leave it by the front door with an LTD F-50 plugged into for kids to put their sticky icecream hands all over on their way home from school. But as a mature player, I'll bet if you asked the proprietor if you could give one a test drive in their quiet room, they'd be happy to let you. If you look like you might actual drop a couple of grand on a piece of gear, they'd be keen for the potential sale. If I want to demo a $100 pedal at one of my local stores, they'll take me into the amp room and plug me into a $4k amp to test it. And I'm just a hack

Man, that SRV though. He could really nail that Leadbelly twelve-string acoustic tone with his TS9->Strat->Dumble setup

[BayRocker]

BayRocker.. where'd you get it new for that price?

Carvin has an eBay store that had it on a one day sale or something like that just after this thing was just released...

A quick check of their eBay store now shows that it's $629 and they are throwing in the footswitch. I had to pay extra for that, I think it was $50, but wish I hadn't. I just use a FCB1010 to switch channels.

Still, at $629 it's closer to the budget you mention than what some of these other jokers are suggesting...

[chrisf]

Anybody know how the Laney Ironheart 60 and the Carvin v3m stack up against each other for versatility? I heard this vid of the Ironheart 60 and it sounded good on the metal tones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyallkRbBEs

Seems they both have similar features.