High End, High Gain amp suggestions

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Splawn for more upper mids or a Slo for more lower mids.

[ezbprimerib]

Mesa Road King?

+1

What a great, uber-versatile amp


And I'm not sure about the comment on the Engl's build. I've had a lot of Engl's and they all held up just fine.

[thetroy]

Personally I'd hold out for a Mark V. That way you could be the coolest cat in town for a little bit.

[horns666]

Personally I'd hold out for a Mark V. That way you could be the coolest cat in town for a little bit.

Mrk V?

I owned a MRK IV as well as a Mrk III. I never tought of them as "high gain" but do remember NAILING Gary Moore's "cooridoors of power" tones. I guess it's in the context of the style you play. Mark Morton sounds great with his..But he runs two at the same time. One with the mids scooped and one with the mids boosted. Then he blends them how he wishes depending on venue. I had them in the early 90's and remebered I didn't slam the front of either. I also owned three cheaper Soldanos HR 100, HR 50 and a SL 60..the SL sounded the best to me and nailed the "Unchained" tone. My fave was the SLO 100 which I couldn't afford at that time, but I played them alot at my freinds music store where I hung out often..Those sound EXACTLY like the Scorpions "Blackout" to me, great at that time but not near what I need these days. I do prefer the few VHT heads that I've tried for my style, it has more of a "brown sound" that inpires me to play VH instantly. I never got along with either Rectos or Marshall DSL/TSL tho..bit other players sound fine with them. My friend John C toured with Tim Owens and had the priviledge to try many great amps when he opened for John Oliva's Pain. He's also the guitar manager at my local GC. So he always encourages me and values my opinion on whatever amp he likes. He owned two Engl Powerballs, and played both Framus and Deizel while tour. He liked them over his Engls..but always said the Uberschall is the most authorative high gain amp he's played. He was one of the first that suggested that before I bought one in 2002. He came over and played mine several times and jammed with my son on drums..he wanted to call Bogner in hopes of an endorement but I guess that fell thru, and he was buying a house. He ended up with two 6505s (5150)..all that to go back to 5150. They're great for the $$$. Personally, I haven't found anything close to replace the Uberschall..including the JSX, JVM and the Randall RM100. I remember when John got the Krankenstein in after he tinkered with it for a week, he told me to give it a try..then waited and laughed at my response while attempting dialing it in. I couldn't get anything worth a damn out of it. The last time I visisted him he was hellbent on the KK Marshall and wanted me to play it. It sounded pretty cool but nothing far from some cool Marshalls I owned before such as various 50/100 wat JCM 800. It sounds kinda like a 2203 with a TS-9 in the front to my ear. The built-in noise gate is a cool feature and worked well. Something they should have on the JVM, it ceratinly needs one. After I played the pretty expesive KK Marshall I plugged into the JVM sitting on top of it and instantly dialed in a much chunkier metal tone that made the KK sound kinda weak, which made him do a double take but people are freaking about build concerns. John C advised me he only recived one faulty head, but it was something minor. He had more returns with DSLs. I couldn't wait to play The Randall RM 100 and it didn't impress me too much, BUT John wasn't there that day and I didn't get to turn it up where it needs to be..I only do that when he's there. So I'll try that one again when I return. I did try an Egnater(sp) ..that is definiteley not for me. I also wasn't impressed with the 5150III..neither was my wife..who heard all my bullcrap everday for 25 years.

As far as sound goes..The Uber is king. Amps that I enjoy playing at the store since are the JVM, JSX. I can plug in a go within' a minute of dialing, and they seem consistent. I'd go with the JSX because Peavey are built like tanks, if I didn't own the Bogner. It conveys the tone/style I like pretty well..which is somewhere in the Arch Enemy/ Nevermore ball park. But I still think the 5150 is the best bang for the buck if you could score a nice used one. I do think the JSX sounds more focused and polished both the 5150 and XXX. I owned five 5150s thru the years..never had a prob with any of them. Clevo- John launched one 100 feet from his car in a auto accident and it still worked perfectly..even tho it banged up.

You gotta be your own judge with amps. Don't rely too much on clips, they can only give you an idea what an amp could be capable of. Remember, that's not you playing, you didn't dial it in and don't know how it was recorded. Choosing amps must be a hands on - ears on experience..with your face and body right in front of the speakers.. up loud and over and drummer or better yet a band if you have that luxury. Don't worry about people's opinions on what amp makes you happy. Half your tone is in your hands, not theirs..if you can get a amp to convey your best..you're on your way in finding the perfect amp.

BTW For what its worth I like ALL the Splawn clips I've heard. I did NOT like most of the Uber clips that are availuable.

[Spivonious]

+1. News to me. And ANY of these amps will be tough fixes if something breaks. It's the natural of a complex multi channel amp.

I'm also surprised no one has mentioned the Diezel Herbert or VH4 or Genz Benz El Diablo

The El Diablo is great, but I don't think it's high enough gain for what the OP wants. Perfect for me though.

[thetroy]

Mrk V?

I owned a MRK IV as well as a Mrk III. I never tought of them as "high gain" but do remember NAILING Gary Moore's "cooridoors of power" tones.

Eh I guess you're right, I think my real answer would be:

If the 5150 (+ Blackouts) doesn't have enough gain for you, I'd really like to hear a clip of your tone and your ideal tone. I'd all but guarantee that tone uses less gain than a dimed 5150 with Blackouts.

[roodyrocker]

BTW For what its worth I like ALL the Splawn clips I've heard. I did NOT like most of the Uber clips that are availuable.

Thats strange Bill, I liked the Uberschall clips on Bogner's website quite a bit. The Youtube stuff doesn't sound that great though. Now Randall OTOH, their clips on the Randall website were all sounding the same to me no matter what module they had in it but in person its totally different and sounded much better! But you're right in that perhaps clips aren't the best thing to judge by. I can say however that I've never heard anyone complain about the Uber's high gain so it must be doing something right.

[Anthony7]

I've owned many of the amps listed here - Mesa MkIV, Roadking, Stiletto, Bogner Uber, Splawn, VHT Deliverance, . I stopped looking when I found the Elmwood Modena. $3300 new but you can find them used in your range. Only a few select dealers here in the U.S.

Look on Youtube for some of the videos...

[horns666]

Eh I guess you're right, I think my real answer would be:

If the 5150 (+ Blackouts) doesn't have enough gain for you, I'd really like to hear a clip of your tone and your ideal tone. I'd all but guarantee that tone uses less gain than a dimed 5150 with Blackouts.

Troy, I never dimed a 5150..that would sound like ass. The far as I ever pushed it was around 6..after that its mush. I've always dimed my Uberchall from day one. I wish I had a better recording. My demo recorded on a 80's Tascam 4trk is in the MP3 section. There is one clip my friend told me to "play anything" just to get a level and I just dicked off a sloppy eruption-like thing. I wish I knew I was playin' for keeps. But its there..gain is dimed and in the raw.

Yeah, Rudy I actually like my sound at home better than any clip I've heard so far. But there was a guy here named THINGMAN who posted some killer Uber clips before I bought mine..unfortunately his Uber was stolen right after a gig. He dissapeared from here soon after that.

[khabibissell]

I recommend checking out the Soldano Avenger and the Mesa Roadster. I'm fortunate to have both and I can tell ya, they both kick some ass! I don't play metal in a modern sense, but for the 80's/early 90's style hard rock/metal original tunes I play both do great. The Avenger is very 3D sounding, to the point where it almost sounds like there is a slight chorusing affect going on... you can almost hear the tubes breathing very hi-fi sounding. It also feels great to play... it is a pretty tight amp (not overly so) but has an elastic feel to the notes. It is hard for me to describe. I love it! The only downside is that it is one channel and does not have an effects loop. I cure that problem by not writing clean parts in the songs!

The Mesa Roadster is a great amp is well. Very versatile. The clean is great (though I wouldn't put it in a league with the F series for example which has a great, chimey clean). Much better than a standard Recto (I've owned a single and dual in the past). The distortion channels sound great, and they have less low end thump than a Dual, which is a good thing. The play and sound tighter as a result. The effects loop is series, so you can use an EQ in there to shape it further, unlike the parallel loop in a dual. I don't notice any tone suckage using devices through the loop, though some cork-sniffers may disagree The amp definitely does have the Recto thing going on so if you don't like Rectos, you may not get along with the amp.

[thetroy]

Troy, I never dimed a 5150..that would sound like ass. The far as I ever pushed it was around 6..after that its mush. I've always dimed my Uberchall from day one. I wish I had a better recording. My demo recorded on a 80's Tascam 4trk is in the MP3 section. There is one clip my friend told me to "play anything" just to get a level and I just dicked off a sloppy eruption-like thing. I wish I knew I was playin' for keeps. But its there..gain is dimed and in the raw.

Yeah, Rudy I actually like my sound at home better than any clip I've heard so far. But there was a guy here named THINGMAN who posted some killer Uber clips before I bought mine..unfortunately his Uber was stolen right after a gig. He dissapeared from here soon after that.

it's cool I think I've been listening to too much UJR recently - hardly any gain at all by today's standards

[toejam]

Mrk V?

Mark V! http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82547

[horns666]

it's cool I think I've been listening to too much UJR recently - hardly any gain at all by today's standards

Uli Jon Roth and I are apples and oranges..he's awesome and I'm not!

Thanks Joe..I'll be sure to play one whenever those come out.

[The Honorable]

Wow thanks for the great feedback guys! Seems like the overall is an Uberschall but I definately want to try out many of the amps mentioned. I have tried both the JCM800KK and was honestly super disappointed with it. First I definately need a head with a clean channel and I didn't like how I couldn't switch the "beast" feature on and off by footswitch. The JVM I realllyyy liked except not enough gain imo , tho I really liked how defined my tone still was when jamming with my band. It seemed to cut through the mix very well. Michael and Chris Amott's tone is AMAZING so good. Is Michael's limited edition Randall not on the market anymore? Anyone played one of these? Maybe I can rent a good mic from Long & Mcqueade next week and get some clips for you guys.

[The Honorable]

DAMN that is one sexy lookin amp!

http://www.guitarsite.com/news/amps/randall_amps_launches_michael_amott_signature_stack/