Amplifiers: What do you use?

[Damien Thorn]

I am just curious. What do you use?

I own a Mesa Boogie Mark IV (85 Watts), which I run through a 2 x 12 road king cabinet (150 Watts at 4 ohms). This thing is amazing; it offers extreme tonal versatility (clean and crunch are all well defined) and immense power. It beats all hundred-Watt amps that I know of, even if they're connected to 4 x 12 cabinets. It's the amp used by among others John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and Blind Guardian. I play Ibanez mostly, but I'm considering getting a Music Man Axis or an EVH Wolfgang...

Cheerio,

Damien

[adrian9]

Damien mesa boogie is awesome, they can do all the job you may need.
I never used a EVH wolfgang but im pretty sure is better than any Ibanez go for it.

I suggest Vox ac30 for the amps ( those are classics!) and gives you some class on your playing and for guitars im mostly a Gibson Les Paul gold top lover and also a Black Strato david gilmour edition:D there are some many great stuff out there.

[Kecos]

a

[AAAAAAAAAAAA 3.0]

Engl all the way!! Mesa Boogies are also Great!!

[AGAG]

I just got myself a couple D7xc2's and some other dutch/russian X772a cabinets from a homeless guy's van. He even gave me free chocolate and some CYs for the analogues. He knows his shit.

[Plisken]

Engl Special Edition E670 in the studio, Engl Powerball II for shows.

They are amazing amps 0_0

[Damien Thorn]

Damien mesa boogie is awesome, they can do all the job you may need.
I never used a EVH wolfgang but im pretty sure is better than any Ibanez go for it.

I suggest Vox ac30 for the amps ( those are classics!) and gives you some class on your playing and for guitars im mostly a Gibson Les Paul gold top lover and also a Black Strato david gilmour edition:D there are some many great stuff out there.

Yeah, Mesa Boogie builds some really good amps; thanks! That being said, the Vox ac 30 is absolutely awesome too, loads of character! One of my favourite guitar players, Brian May, always played Vox too, and I simply dig his tone. And, man, with those guitars you own, you can't go wrong! Rock on!

Cheerio,

Damien

[Damien Thorn]

Engl all the way!! Mesa Boogies are also Great!!

Cool. Doesn't Blackmore play Engl? (Not when he's doing one of his folksy gigs, of course...)

Cheers,

Damien

[Damien Thorn]

Engl Special Edition E670 in the studio, Engl Powerball II for shows.

They are amazing amps 0_0

They sure are. Do you also hook them up to Engl cabinets? I heard that Mesas shouldn't be hooked up to Marshall cabinets, because that just won't sound right. (By the way, always be careful when doing that. Never connect a low-impedance cabinet - say 4 ohms - to a higher impedance output on the top - say the 8 ohms port.)

What's your experience with creative and unorthodox top - cabinet combinations? Anyone else, feel free to share your experiences too...

Cheerio,

Damien

[AAAAAAAAAA]

What's your experience with creative and unorthodox top - cabinet combinations?

Do I look like an interior decorator?

[Damien Thorn]

What's your experience with creative and unorthodox top - cabinet combinations?

Do I look like an interior decorator?

This automatically generated SPAM is awesome. What programme do you use?

Cheers,

Damien

[NeonVomit]

How did I miss this thread?

Other bassists will know the curse we all face: we need TONS of power. Anything less than 300w will not cut it if you're playing metal onstage without any extra support, which means cost + weight issues that guitarists simply don't share.

I've used a whole bunch of amps, but stuck to Ashdown cabinets almost from the start (mainly because the importer in Cyprus is a good friend of mine). My 'main' cabinet is an Ashdown ABM 4x10 (the older UK-made model). Sounds wonderful, but is REALLY heavy. I have that one in Cyprus.



Over here, I use a Warwick 211 Pro cabinet, mostly because it was the cheapest one I could find as soon as I moved here. Pretty good, though, and very light.



The first 'proper' head I had was a Hartke 4000, which was alright but nothing great. Had some pretty features but seriously lacked any character, to my ears.


ZZZzzzzzzz

I sold it and got a Gallien-Krueger RB400IV, which sounded amazing but at 280w, not really powerful enough for metal. The sound really was outstanding and I still have a soft spot for Gallien-Krueger stuff to this day... perhaps I'll invest in a RB1001 at some point in the future, who knows.



I then sold that and got myself an Ashdown 2x10 ABM combo, which sounded pretty good but was a total bitch to transport as it weighed a ton. There were loads of tonal options - a very features-heavy amp, but eventually I got a bit bored of the fiddly-ness of it all. I've become something of a minimalist since then (I use very few, if any, effects for example... I'm a firm believer in keeping your rig simple, but all of good quality stuff). The tube preamp was pretty cool, though.



When I decided on moving back to the UK, I sold that off and got myself a Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0 so I could transport it easily. 600w at 4ohms (340 at 8ohms) and a tube preamp in less than 2.5 kg, sounds outstanding and built like a tank. A really excellent feature about it is the footswitchable EQ presets, like scooping mids or boosting highs or lows, which if used properly and subtly can really add another dimension to the sound of the bass. The controls allow you a lot of control with the sound but aren't overly-complicated... you just plug in, tweak the knobs a bit according to the space you're in, and off you go.



That's the amp I was using on the Stratovarius tour at the beginning of this year (I didn't have a cabinet for the tour, but ran it from the DI as a preamp and funnily enough, it actually weighs less than many pure preamps on the market) and it held up like a champ.

As for my dream rig? I really don't know. Something simple, powerful, and good sounding.

[adrian9]

I ´ve never heard of this gear you mention NEONVOMIT, however I´ve heard than in the UK the voltage is different that in some other countries , is that true?

[hiro23]

Adrian9:it is true, I have the classic albums dvd of Black Sabbath's Paranoid and they have a funny story on there about one of their first trips to the united states where they had brought all their gear over from england and when they plugged in it exploded on them because they use different electricity in england

[ggonza43]

Adrian9:it is true, I have the classic albums dvd of Black Sabbath's Paranoid and they have a funny story on there about one of their first trips to the united states where they had brought all their gear over from england and when they plugged in it exploded on them because they use different electricity in england

Haha, epic situation if you ask me !

[Plisken]

I ´ve never heard of this gear you mention NEONVOMIT, however I´ve heard than in the UK the voltage is different that in some other countries , is that true?

USA and Japan use used 110v (100v-120v)

The Rest of the world use 220v (220v-240v)

The 200's is considered safer and better then the 100's

[hiro23]

ggonza43:I agree, they even said it was one of the best spinal tap moments that they had.

[ggonza43]

ggonza43:I agree, they even said it was one of the best spinal tap moments that they had.

That's why the wrote "Shock Wave" ?

[hiro23]

could be

[BBBBBBBBBB]

MESA BOOOOOOOOOOOOGIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

[hiro23]

well when in rome :banana1: :banana2: :banana1: :banana2:

[Damien Thorn]

MESA BOOOOOOOOOOOOGIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Here's a nice example of a Mesa Boogie in full flight. Really, check this out; you'll love it. John Petrucci doing his best Dave Gilmour...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtAnOuxp17c

Cheerio,

Damien

PS: Tomorrow I'm going to buy myself the entire Pink Floyd back catalogue... Wow...

[NeonVomit]

I ´ve never heard of this gear you mention NEONVOMIT, however I´ve heard than in the UK the voltage is different that in some other countries , is that true?

North, South America and Japan all use 110v power sources, everywhere else it's 220. The annoying thing about the UK is the 3-pin plugs that they use! (and use in Cyprus as well).

Ashdown is a British brand, but they've been expanding a lot lately and produce their all-tube bass stuff in the US now, and their cheaper stuff in China (of course).

Gallien-Krueger have been around for a while as well, they've got a very clean, sharp 80's style tone... great for slapping and stuff. If you want a clear sound, they're hard to beat.

Genz-Benz is a relatively new firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona. They're not a big company or anything but they deserve to be... amazing products, great prices and just brilliant customer service - they really care about people enjoying and making the most of their products.


As for guitar amps, our guitar player uses Engl and he loves them.

[hiro23]

my brother uses Peavey amps

[Rebel]

I run my guitar through my bass amp stuff, ala Kyuss

[NeonVomit]

Considering the original Fender Bassman was mostly used by guitar players, you're onto a pretty strong precedent there.

And of course sunn0)) only use Sunn amplifiers for that sick sound they have. Seeing them live is an experience I won't soon forget.

[willometal]

Playing my JEM555 through ENGL richie blackmore signature, connected to RIVERA 4x12 (2 V30 + 2 GT65).

[hiro23]

Sweet, how does it sound?

[willometal]

Enormous !!!!!! Will have a Tagima K1 (kiko loureiro signature) next week... I think I will sound great too !!!!!

[hiro23]

I envy you my friend