Best High End Combo Amps

[MikeStrat]

Looking for suggestions. I know Mesa and Bogner have nice sounding combo amps but there are so many other amps, Dr. Z, Carr, Vox, etc. that I know nothing about. I'm looking for and all around versatile amp. But it must be loud enough to play with a band and have a quality distortion channel. I've had my share of cheap amps in the past. I don't even fool with them any more. A great sounding amp is priceless! I'm looking for those people that heard a combo that made them say holy shit! What ya got?

[MichaelLitvak]

spider II 112 or the 212 stereo version is nice.. depends on your needs

[skorb]

the Vetta is the best combo amp you could ever ask for.

you can get all those Mesa and Bogner and Marshall and Fender and Soldano tones (including about 10 variations of each and more, with stereo delivery of two different amps at once) and every effect you could ever think of.

I love mine, it's like having every amp ever made and being able to combine them in any way you like.

[jgcable]

Yep.. the Vetta is the best combo I have ever heard and I have heard and owned a ton of them.
For tubes... I really like the Carvin Legacy combo, the Carvin MTS3212 combo and you really can't go wrong with Mesa. They have so many great combo's its hard to pick one.

[Robotechnology]

Tons of great sounding ones... I would KILL for a Cornford Carrera.

Other greats in no particular order:

Carr Mercury
Mesa Rectoverb
Carvin Legacy
Vox AD60VTX & AD120VTX
Line 6 Vetta II

[hippietim]

Dr. Z amps are great. In fact mine is for sale in the classifieds *because* it is a combo. I swear I will never by another combo amp again (but I always do it again). I just find a combo amp is to limiting in terms of being able scale up and down. I much prefer head and cabinet. So buy my Dr. Z.

The Bogner Shiva is cool as are the Fender Hot Rod series amps.

[MBreinin]

See if Trace at Voodoo Amps will build you a Witchdoctor combo. I am not sure if they build combos..they definitely build heads. I have a VibroChamp with the Witchdoctor preamp mod...but Trace will not do this mod anymore...he only builds complete amps. Either way, they fucking rule. If you like the hotrodded Marshall tone, you can't do much better.

Of course, you can't go wrong with a new Boogie, or a vintage Boogie..like a Mk III or a IIC+.

Mike

[Endrik]

Boogie Mk IV is the most versatile tube combo amp I've ever seen, and it sounds KILLER!!!

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Im starting to like older combos, like Ampeg and Vox and stuff like that. We have an old Ampeg V4 combo at work with 65 watt Celestions that sounds really awesome turned about halfway up.......

[Ace]

Soldano Lucky 13

[catzodellamarina]

I have a Zinky Bluevelvet combo. 50 watts. 5881's. Awesome amp.

I recently played a Carr Rambler. It belts out a nice 6L6 grit and when we hooked up an OD pedal it got nastier. It has a neat tremolo feature (all tube of course) that sounds beautiful. I could sit in my basement and jam away making up tune after tune with that lush effect. It made me feel like an artist at work. If I hadn't recently gotten the Zinky, I'd probably be gassing for the Rambler.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

rectoverb or vetta II gets my vote.

[CMB]

I've heard great things about those Zinky Blue Velvet's that catzodellamarina mentioned. Also my want to consider the Budda SuperDrive combos - killer dirty channel.

craig

[catzodellamarina]

If High-end combos = boutique
Then what are Vettas doing here?

I took the Zinky to band practice one day. My metalhead, double-bass drummer looked at it and said, "Is that little thing gonna keep up with us?"
I showed him.
I ran it alone and it was loud enough but we wanted a big cabinet sound. Ran it through my 4X12 and it was instant Van Halen I&II. We were all floored. I could gig with it but it's my homey amp. It nails everything rock and country with balls. It's not a shredder amp nor did I buy it for metal, but I'll bet a pedal would solve that.

[clifffclaven]

Matchless, bogner, or top hat.