Best amp head for £500?

[ollyanarchy]

Hey, I'm looking for a good (hi-gain)tube amp head (doesnt mater if its 2nd hand or not but its hard to get decent amp heads around here)for up to £500(maybe alittle over if pushed)and it doesnt really matter if its 50 or 100watts. I was wondering what you guys could suggest for a decent 2 channel (clean and dist.)amp.
I play mostly heavy metal/thrash and looking for a clear aticulate, punchy hi gain dist and a reasonable clean.

Ive been looking at various amps and liked the sound(and price of) the Laney GH50L or the 100watt version. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with one and if its possible to get a useable clean AND a heavy distortion for live situations.

[ollyanarchy]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

Any suggestions would be muchly apriciated, i think £500 is around $800 if that helps atall...

Thanks,
Olly

[Mordor]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

I have the GH50L,its distortion is great,but it got just one channel with a switchable gain stage so you can get a dirty clean and a great distortion,at least I've not been able to get a good clean and a good distortion without external gear.

[ollyanarchy]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

Thanks for that, i knew it was a one channel but wondered if it was possible to set it up. Is the dirty-clean channel useable if the volumes rolled back abit on the guitar? Does this pose abit of a problem live?
What kind of distortion can it put out? Will it hold up for heavy metal?
Sorry for all the questions,
Thanks very much,
Olly

[Mordor]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

It has a great Metal tone,plenty og gain,I play Death Metal and I never used distortion pedals.Actually you can roll down the volume pot in "both" channels to get a decent clean,but it's always a bit a pain in the ass during a song....not so good for live use imo.That's why I'm searchin for another head,altough the gh50l has a really good tone.If it can help Akerfeld from Opeth uses the 100w...

[ollyanarchy]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

Oh cool thanks very much, yeah i can imagine it would be abit annoying live. What kind of outside gear could you use to make it easier in a live situation?

What amp head are you looking to get now?

Cheers for your help,
Olly

[Mordor]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

A line6 HD147...

[RacerX]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

Originally posted by ollyanarchy:
i think £500 is around $800 if that helps

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">$847.28 [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Ozz666]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

Engl Fireball head!

[toejam]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

Look into the Mesa F series; F-30, F-50 or F-100. I've got a 1x12 F-30 combo that kicks ass for all styles of music. It's got an awesome clean channel with a pull bright switch on the gain knob, the second channel can get great crunch and metal tones, and there's a contour control on channel two that gives even more gain and scoops the mids, separate reverbs for each channel is also a big plus. Channel, contour and reverb are all footswitchable, too. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] The F-30 is the cheapest at $799 new (I found mine for $600 on ebay), and I think the head version is a little cheaper.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

single rectifier 2x12 or 1x12

[ollyanarchy]

Re: Best amp head for £500?

Hey guys, thanks very much for your suggestions, thing is Mesa's here are seriously overpriced. Wish i could afford one but it doesnt look likely. The ENGL also looks good but it is a few hundred over my budget(i think).

What do you think of the Marshall TSL, 60 watt version? Has it got a decent amount of gain for heavy rythm work?

Cheers