Considering some amps

[pagemalicious]

Hey guys. It's my birthday in three weeks time and i've already started to put some money away for something. So i'm thinking of a new amp. Each week i find something else that i fancy having so here's a list so far, haha.

ENGL Powerball
Framus Dragon
Framus Cobra
Laney VH100R
Hughes and Kettnet Triamp (used)
Mesa Mark IV
Marshall JCM800 reissue


What i'm basically looking for is something that's really versatile. From clean Blues and Jazz tones, to Blue Rock and Pop Rock to Hard Rock/Stoner to Shred like tones right up to Thrash/death metal. But without all that damn Fizz that you get from some high gain amps. My ADA MP-1 set up sounds cool, though i can't turn the presence or treble up too far or the sound gets too fizzy and i don't know what that will do for me when playing live.

Whilst trying out a Mark IV the other day i thought the 2nd channel wasn't too great for metal rhythms, though really good for shred/rock tones and everything between. The Lead channel would be good for Thrashier tones. The clean channel was pretty nice.

I've heard clips of Powerballs and both Framus', they all seem to do the things that i'd want it to do but i can't decide which one. I like a really Mid heavy tone so that i can cut through really well live and have alot of definition and clarity whilst playing arpeggios.

Never had a chance to hear the Triamp and VH100 before. The JCM800 is something i've liked before but i'm not too keen on the fact that it's just a 1 channel amp as i like to switch between two channels (one for rhythm and one for lead) but i surpose there is other ways around that.

So going from my post, which would be the best for doing EVERYTHING? haha thanks for your time

[Nazgul]

sorry for not helping at all, but your profile says your birthday is in 3 months time, not 3 weeks.

[pagemalicious]

Ok that's odd. It must of changed by itself when the new board went up.

[hippietim]

Well, the MK IV can do most of what you want for sure. You don't seem thrilled with the tones though.

The JCM 800 is not going to do everything you want - great sounding amps but they aren't the most versatile.

I played one of those H & K amps - it is definitely versatile although I didn't personally like many of the tones.

I don't know about the rest.

[jgcable]

Considering all the tones you are looking for I think you left the one amp out of your list that would cover it all....

VETTA

If you are stuck on getting a tube amp you should look at:
Mesa Road King
Mesa Mark IV

[Fragle]

from that list, i'd say laney or framus dragon. the cobra is too much of an heavy metal amp for you, the powerball severly lacks mids, HK sounds fizzy imho, and the jcm800 isn't versatile enough - however, it surely can do everything you mentioned except for the super clean stuff.
seeing how you're located in england, i'd guess you could try out a vh100r rather easily, huh?
but because of the sheer awesomeness that's called framus cobra, i'd suggest the dragon anyways

[Twisteramps]

If you go tube, consider the Randall MTS series... pick three of several different preamps, can run EL34 or 6L6, each tube biases individually, so you can mix any combination of octal paired tubes, and if matched tubes means a lot to you, you can make sure that the tubes are PERFECTLY matched. Parallel or series fx loop, midi controlled (so your amp can switch channels with your rackmount effects easily). Mine should be in this week, can't wait to run it through the paces. I'll have five modules to check out - XTC, Recto, Blackface, Brown (Early VH) and Clean. Any three can be used at once. I know it won't be exactly like the amps the modules are named after, but should be very versatile, and if I don't like a channel's tone, I can swap out a different one. Right now there are around 20 modules to choose from.

Pete

[jtr]

You could get a Fuchs or one of his mods( mods best bang for the bucks)it'll will do everything except maybe the Thrash/death metal thing. I own a couple and they cover it all.

[siggy14]

if the triamp is a MKII i say go for that, great amp and you can get so many different tones.

[GodOfRhythm]

Mk IV. I was able to put the Quad through it's exercises yesterday and it was like I expected, every tone I ever wanted is in there. A quad has a bit more gain than an MK IV and is voiced a little different, but overall an MKIV is still AMAZING.