I Need a Good Combo Amp

[sambo]

Heya all

I am in the market for a good combo amp for gigs / recording. I have a 100W Marshall Plexi (with Powerbrake) but it a little large to cart around (and loud) and I only want to really use it for recording now anyway.

So far I have looked at:

Laney VC212
Vox AC30
Carvin VL212

and only played the Vox. I am looking in the 30W-50W Class-A or equivalent in terms of volume. I love a warm saturated tube tone (I don't play much metal anymore, plus, my SansAMP GT2 infront can fill that gap if need be) and will find it hard to go to solid state (unless my ears tell me otherwise!)

I also do not need a lot of "bells and whistles", just a reliable great sounding amp.

Thoughts guys and gals?

Cheers!

[jojo2371]

carvin has the better warm tube tone than laney imo but it is impossible to get them worked on or fixed by anyone othere than carvin ,they have a nice little amp called the nomad that thing is all tube and rocks like it was hand wired by jesus himself ! but i have been warned by every amp guy i know to stay away from them ,because if it breaks u box it up and ship it to them to have it fixed!!!!they dont hand out there specs for other people to work on 'em! but if your sticking to the 3 u listed i personally have never like vox ,but thats just me ,and i have never had any problems with laney ,i'd go with laney ,u might wanna check out peavey too ,they make some nice combo's too, there tube sound is warm but leans toward a slightly metallic sound were as laney has a better all around tube sound . right now im saving up for the genz-benz el-diablo combo i cant say enuff about that thing ! if money is no object thats what might like its 1800$ switch between 50w +100w a buddy of mine that works at chuck levins here in MD turned me onto it ,he actually told "dude if darth vader had a practice amp,this would be it !" he wasnt joking either,in 3 months i plan to be terrorizing my neighbors with that thing and my lousy playing too!!!! i hope any of this helped u bro !!!!!!!!!!

[sambo]

Jojo

Thanks bro! You've done well. I am not a big fan of the Vox for what I play and the Laney has been well recommended.

Carvin has been applauded for it's customer service and we have a good dealer / service centre in South Australia from my enquiries so far. The Carvin I mentioned is the Vai signature combo with Celestions and from all reports (and sound files) it looked pretty good was just another alternative to the Laney. I am not committed to any amp as yet.. those were just the first three I was looking at. I like my Plexi tone and don't want to deviate too far from that in a combo.

Might go check out the Genz-Benz..don't know how I will go in Australia though.

Most appreciated... cheers, 5 stars for you!

[jojo2371]

hmmm maybe thats just a problem here in the states with carvin ,i have played the vai combo and it is very nice ,then again the laney is a little more affordable version

[saint]

I played an Orange AD1512 the other day and it blow me away, it got that smooth, sweet sound, and for a 15w its really loud. If I played more often and had the money I would own one my self.

[Big Troubles]

Re: I Need a Good Combo Amp

Originally posted by sambo
Heya all

I am in the market for a good combo amp for gigs / recording. I have a 100W Marshall Plexi (with Powerbrake) but it a little large to cart around (and loud) and I only want to really use it for recording now anyway.

So far I have looked at:

Laney VC212
Vox AC30
Carvin VL212

and only played the Vox. I am looking in the 30W-50W Class-A or equivalent in terms of volume. I love a warm saturated tube tone (I don't play much metal anymore, plus, my SansAMP GT2 infront can fill that gap if need be) and will find it hard to go to solid state (unless my ears tell me otherwise!)

I also do not need a lot of "bells and whistles", just a reliable great sounding amp.

Thoughts guys and gals?

Cheers!

I just picked this up. Nice features. Lightweight. check out the samples audios.

http://www.line6.com/spiderII/about_30.html

[sambo]

Heya BT, Happy New Year

Pretty versatile amp. I like the samples, in particular the clean and insane settings.

I also like the fact that it is lightweight... one of the downsides of tube amps.

I have a G-Major and a few pedals that I have used for my fx over the years, so I just don't know if I need fx with my amp.

Apart from that, impressive. Just take your guitar and the Line 6 and you're set... nice work; thanks man

[Eyes of the Night]

Line 6 ...

Hey Sambo, will the Gmajor rackmount read my notes if I drop my tunning to D or even C#? ...

I have a Rocktron Xpression rack that's pissing me off ...

[sambo]

Hey Eyes

Short answer is yes.

Mine does, although I have to tweak it a bit when I go to C# (which is not often).

Drop D (+ down whole step) and other alternate tunings present no problem.

Also does Bass Guitar.

check this out... http://www.tcelectronic.com/G-Major

I looked for while before settling on this...

Cheers!

[sambo]

Re: Re: I Need a Good Combo Amp

Originally posted by Big Troubles
I just picked this up. Nice features. Lightweight. check out the samples audios.

http://www.line6.com/spiderII/about_30.html

Still looking at that site BT and I like what I see.. everything in one package. The gap between Solid State and Tube is lessening and technology is getting so much better.

SlipKnot are playing at our National Music Festival (Big Day Out) so I will be very keen to hear how they sound live, may just be tempted...

Nice work..

[Knucklebones]

Roland Cube 30 or 60

Cheap as shit

Sounds good

[sambo]

Originally posted by Knucklebones
Roland Cube 30 or 60

Cheap as shit

Sounds good

Heya KB

I've heard nothing bad about these babies, will go have a look. As I've said, I am not committed to any amp at this stage, only what I need to hear.

Thanks mate!

[Panamark]

Demeter TGA 2T-100 Head ,

Unashamedly a direct copy of a Plexi (for the dirty tone) and
a Fender Amp for the clean tone..

Sounds interesting huh ! Fookin expensive though..

Hey Sambo wanna sell that Plexi Head ??

[Eyes of the Night]

Cool idea Pana ...

oh and sambo, I dialed her in so no worries and thanks ...

[kentuckyklira]

Get a Peavey Classic 30 combo. I´m sort of GASing for one myself!