Tell me the truth about AMPS

[hardheartedbill]

IMO this is a job for solid state, a Tech21 is a great choice. the only tube amps that can reach a sweet spot are the single watters, and then cranked you get more of a Neil Young tone, not 80s metal

[jisham]

[Jakeboy]

My Lil dawg Pug (Marshall 18 watter 1- channel clone) will give you all the old-school gain you'll need with HBs from 9-12....with an efficient speaker you can easily gig anywhere...especially when you add a 1X12 cab with a hyper-efficient Emi Red Fang!

[Hamer95USA]

Here's a picture of my 15-20 watt amp collection that I use as my home rig. I'll have to say that the Soldano Astroverb 16 1x12 combo amp with an 8ohm Celestion Vintage 30 speaker is awesome for high gain tones for low wattage. One of the best trades I've ever did. I also have the Reverend Goblin with a Jensen Neo 10" speaker for blackface cleans and the Vox AC15CC1 with a Celestion Blues speaker for that in between semi-clean/dirty tones. I switch them all with a Lehle Dual SGoS via MIDI with a Boss GT-3 effects processor providing effects & MIDI switching.

Guitar George

[bubs_42]

Egnater Tweaker will solve all your problems. I've had Marshall's, Mesa's, Fender, Laney, and i'm perfectly happy with the Tweaker. I use a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive for a little more hair but the amp is good at all levels up to about 12:30 on the volume. Gets a little angry past that point. It is loud enough to keep up with a drummer and not be miked.

[KH Guitar Freak]

Those Mesa Boogie Transatlantic are great as well. In 5W mode, you get all the saturation, but at lower volumes. However, it still wouldn't be as gainy as a gained up Rectifier though...

[sledhead44]

I just wanted to try out some different equipment to see if it will give me the tone I want.

I'm curious, what did they say at the store when you asked them to actually test drive a few at higher volume--or wouldn't they let you? Don't they have the facilities to let anyone really TRY an amp, or are they just selling expensive furniture? I'd recommend trying a few at the volumes you're looking at before throwing cash down. You might change your mind.

Their resident sales shredder said I might like a VOX VT-100 or an Orange something or other, but they did not have any of those, so he plugged into a Line6 amp to show me how cool it was (or he was). And never offered for me to check it out. I felt that he was just pushing that amp at me probably to get his spiff.

I left and bought a barely used VOX VT-100 for less than half of what they wanted for a new one.

This was about 6-8 months ago. I just still think about having something else everyday and if what I have is the best out there.

None of those 18 waters will give him high gain on their own, which he's looking for I believe.

Yep!

Oh yes!

Wait. AMPS or TRAMPS?

I'd like to hear the truth about tramps too!

[zenmindbeginner]

1. Is there such a thing as a "sweet spot" on a big tube amp that I won't be able to attain because the volume would be too high inside my house?

Yes. My Master Volume tube amps peel paint from the walls and run me out of the room at levels that coax power tube distortion that sounds like God.

2. If #1 is correct....can't I just get an attenuator? Or would that ruin the tone?

Yes and yes... I've never tried it, but my amp tech says that I would hate the sound. If you absolutely have to have quieter sounds from a tube amp, attenuators work like champs and will keep your marriage or rental agreement intact. You might not hear a difference but that is all due to how fine your hearing is. Most guitar players have horrible hearing due to standing next to half and full stacks, bass amps, drum kits and high watt sound systems.

3. What do you recommend for 80's hair metal?

80's metal relied heavily on preamp tube distortion and the motto was always "more gain". Large tube amps with only a volume knob rely on power tube distortion which will give you two different sounds even though they are related by heavy clipping.

The Marshall JCM800 is the sound of 80's metal and can give you instant Vivian Campbell if you have a super strat with something like a JB in the bridge.

Everyone was modding their JCM800 heads back in the 80's to have more gain, leading the way for amp modders like Paul Rivera to develop his own line of amps giving birth to the full blown boutique amp market that we see today.

Stay away from Master volume tube amps if you are going to be playing 80's metal.

4. Would I need an assortment of pedals or a Multi Effects Processor? I just have a Digitech RP200 now.

My POD X3 Live has an AMAZING 80's metal sound... actually it contains many amazing metal sounds with models of many high gain tube amps. The best thing about the PODX3 Live is that the sounds are tight. Many low cost digital solutions don't have a tube sound and many that do have flubby bass and an unfocused low midrange. I play mine through an incredibly clean solid state amp with a nice open sounding 15 inch speaker, which allows the X3 Live to shine without any undo coloration.

I am going to give you some amazing advice here... get one of those old Marshall Artist 3203 heads and stick a Compression Sustainer (Boss CS3) in front of it, turn the attack and sustain all of the way up, kill the tone and you will have one of the sickest 80's tones for real cheap. That was my sound through the late 80's and 90's.