2 amp recommendations

[jgcable]

If you can find them.... Sovtek MIG100H and the Sovtek MIG50H Tube Midget. They are both beasts. Especially the Midget. Single channel, master volume, no effects loop amps. Similar to the old Marshall JCM800 2203/4. I own both of them. Absolutely amazing amps. All handwired inside. Build like tanks. The MIG 50H is just sick. It has more gain than a 2203. With the gain on 4 you could play AC/DC. With the gain on 7 you are in the metal. These aren't amps for the scooped death metal player. This is classic Marshall JCM800 high gain. They are also VERY pedal friendly. I use an OKKO Diablo with either of them and it just sounds amazing.

[kamanda]

EHX Reissued these this year and by what I can read...did a damn fine job.

[xenophobe]

Eh, they're ok. I owned a couple of the Gibson Red Bears. They were good amps, all point to point hand wired. Not very complex and you needed a good boost to push the preamp.

My Orange Dark Terror is probably the best tone I've ever played. If I get back into gigging, I'll buy a Dual Dark.

[straycat]

I had a kick ass Mig 60 for quite a while.
The Mig 60 was point to point hand wired //s247.photobucket.com/user/scat52/media/Amps/050.jpg

[Tetsuo]

Eh, they're ok. I owned a couple of the Gibson Red Bears. They were good amps, all point to point hand wired. Not very complex and you needed a good boost to push the preamp.

My Orange Dark Terror is probably the best tone I've ever played. If I get back into gigging, I'll buy a Dual Dark.

I am so with you on the dark terror. I had a thunderverb and a Rockerverb. Neither do exactly what the dark terror does fwiw the dual dark might but I think there is something in the el84's that make it sound so perfect.

[jgcable]

I am reviving this thread about a year later. I still have the Sovtek MIG50H Tube Midget. I sold the MIG100H because a local guy paid me an absurd amount of money for it. After playing through and hearing several Marshall JCM800 2204 amp heads I can say with sonic confidence that the MIG50H Tube Midget is pretty much a spot on JCM800 2204 50w head. It has the same amount of gain, its just as loud and its voiced the same. I can barely hear the difference. Throw a stock MXR GT-OD pedal in front of it or any other tube screamer type overdrive pedal and you can do pretty much whatever you want. It cleans up ok... not great.. just like the Marshall, it excels in the AC/DC medium crunch tone, its extremely clear and the best thing about it is its literally bulletproof. Turn up the volume to around 6 and leave the master around 3 and you could play 80's metal gigs all day long with no pedals required. Just like the JCM800 2204.
Its a great amp and if they weren't selling for upwards of $750 and climbing yearly I would own an entire room of them. I paid $600 for this one when I bought it and that was a steal. I need to look into the EHX reissue amps to see if they made a reissue of this one. If so... and if it has an effects loop... that will be the next amp on my hit list.

[jgcable]

I got 4 new pedals to use with my MIG 50H tube midget. A Zakk Wylde MXR Bullseye overdrive, a Zakk Wylde Bullseye stereo chorus, a Tomsline Michael Angelo Batio delay pedal and a Boss PW10 V-Wah. I throw all of them out in front of the amp. For a cab I am using a Blackstar 2 x 12 cab loaded with basic Celestion 80w speakers. Its a great sounding rig. Very high gain, very clear, very easy to hear. Believe it or not... but... those Zakk Wylde pedals really do make you sound like Zakk. I use about 1/4 of the gain from my Sovtek amp (plugged into the high gain input) and the rest of the gain comes from the overdrive pedal.
The Black Label Society MXR stereo chorus pedal is probably the best stomp box chorus I have ever used. It does remind me a lot of the BOSS Super Chorus. The Zakk Overdrive pedal reminds me a lot of my MXR GT/OD pedal. In fact.. its hard to tell the difference.

[jgcable]

Oh yea... I have one more pedal in the chain... a Electro Harmonix LPB-1 which is just a single knob clean boost. I use it to boost my volume for guitar solos. It works out in front of the amp because I am not using that much gain from the amp itself. If I was using a lot of gain from the amp the LPB-1 would only add more gain. It wouldn't add volume. The way I have it set up it adds volume and a little more gain which is perfect.

[Hellbat]

The Zakk Overdrive pedal reminds me a lot of my MXR GT/OD pedal. In fact.. its hard to tell the difference.

Funnily enough the some of the MXR Classic Overdrive pedals can be converted to ZW OD's by flipping an internal switch...

http://www.instructables.com/id/MXR-Classic-Overdrive-Flip-a-switch-to-make-it-a-Z/

Best part is the Classic OD is a fair bit less expensive due to no artist affiliation.

Edit : looks like the GT-OD is in the same boat...