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What amp?
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29-08-2006 11:26am#1Gentlemen,
My 21st is coming up in the next few weeks and the parents have agreed to fund a new amp purchase. Now they've also said I can give them some money towards it also so I'm looking at a total of between €800-€1000 to spend.
Now, what am I looking for....
I had initally really wanted something with plenty of flexibilty and had my heart set on a second hand Line 6 Vetta combo. Unfortunately since they seem to be quite hard to come by at a decent price in this country (unlike the US it seems) I shelved those plans and decided on a Flextone III XL combo. However I recently got a Toneport UX2 (with the Metal Shop plugin giving me all the metal heads of the HD147) and although I'm really enjoying it its clear that the thing needs ALOT of tweaking to get a good sound of, hence I've started to have second thoughts about the whole thing. Thoughts?
First of all tone requirements wise, well since I've only been playing a few years I'm still in my covers phase (I guess you could call it that) and wanted something that I could use in a band to play such material, hence I was looking at Line 6.
Musical tastes wise, well since I've started playing my tastes have gotten progressivly heavier but at the same time a wee bit more diverse. Favourite bands would be Alter Bridge, Children Of Bodom, Nevermore, Opeth, Anthrax, In Flames, Arch Enemy, Shadows Fall, Lamb Of God, Trivium, Metallica, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan. I guess you could narrow that down to metal with some blues and modern hard rock thrown in.
That said, alot of bands I've started getting into use KRANKs so then I thought about trying to get my hands on a second hand Revolution combo but so far, no luck...rather unsurprisingly over here again unfortunately.
One other thing that is rather important is my inability to buy a stack/half stack. Basically since I'm in college space is definitly at a premium so I've been mainly concentrating on combo amps or perhaps a head with a 2x12 cab.
I've also noticed two or three ENGL Fireball amps on adverts. I do believe I've read rather good things about them and since they fall into my price range I could probably get one of those and then look for a 2x12 cab for it to sit on. Would this be a good idea at all?
I guess I'm torn between wanting to get a really flexible amp like a Line 6 or something that sounds great but is less than flexible.
Anyway any help/opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated, ta.
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gizmo wrote:You mean the Fireball head and 2x12 cab?
Might I really need a disto pedal on top of it?
No, he means a combo like this, which is the amp and speaker altogether, hence the term combo. I wouldn't really think you'd need a pedal with that, but that really depends on how heavy you'd want to go.
If you were to get a Fireball, there's no way in hell you'd need any extra distortion. It's incredibly high gain.
Now, I use the Fireball, and honestly, it's the best amp I've ever laid my hands on. That includes the likes of Mesa Rectifiers, Mark IV, Peavy 5150, it crushes them for Metal tones, and has a nice clean channel too. Cannot recommend this amp enough if you're into metal, especially if you like lower tunings, as I play 7 Strings a lot and there's and incredibly tight low end response.
But it's not very versatile. It's only a 2 channel amp, so while you can get a decent range of tones, don't expect to be able to switch between them at ease. As it is, I find the amp perfect, because I only ever use clean and distortion. It's easy to get a nice lower gain rock tone, or a crunchy blues tone, but don't really expect to be able to switch around much, there's only 1 set of EQ controls.
Give a good think about what you want. The Fireball's an amazing amp, but it's not for everyone. If you want some more sounds that you can access easily without re-tweaking it, then you might want to look elsewhere.0 -
Yea I guess thats what I'm torn over, do I want a kickass metal tone or do I want a very good metal tone but the ability to get other tones and switch with ease.
I noticed this though which may put a spanner in the works regarding the Fireball, €600 for the 2x12 cab.
Btw, am I missing something or is this ridiclously cheap for the Line 6 Flextone III XL. It works out at nearly €200 less than Thomann even when all shipping and VAT charges are taken into account? 0 -
gizmo wrote:Yea I guess thats what I'm torn over, do I want a kickass metal tone or do I want a very good metal tone but the ability to get other tones and switch with ease.
I noticed this though which may put a spanner in the works regarding the Fireball, €600 for the 2x12 cab.
Btw, am I missing something or is this ridiclously cheap for the Line 6 Flextone III XL. It works out at nearly €200 less than Thomann even when all shipping and VAT charges are taken into account?
Well for one, Thomann seem to be really expensive when it comes to Line 6 gear, GAK are definetly have the better price.
For the Fireball, you could get a cheap cab, but I can't vouch for how good that'll sound. The Thunder 50 has 3 channels I believe, and the Screamer 50 has 4 channels, so I'd say those might be a little more along the lines of what you might be looking for in ways of versatility. The fact that they're combos means you wouldn't have to worry about getting another speaker cabinet, and they're both within your price range. The only thing is that you might need a pedal to give the Screamer a bit of a boost, as it's not all that high gain.0 -
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Well I saw this Framus 2x12 cab on Thomann which could do the trick alright. Bit annoying when the guy on adverts sold his 4x12 Engl for €450 but sure what can you do. Any idea how the Framus would shape up under the Fireball?
Hrm, I'll have a look around for some reviews on the Thunder and Screamer, to be honest the only reason I even considered the Fireball was becuase of its freakishly low price and the fact the sound clips I had heard of it were fantastic.
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Yep, noticed the V30's in it alright. Well at least my choices have been reduced. Its down to either* a new Flextone III XL for €660 or the Fireball with the 2x12 cab for €1000 too. Decisions.
Yep, I'll be back down in Dublin this weekend so I'll stick my head into some of the shops in town and hope they have some lying around.
* or *maybe* a Vetta Combo for €1000, saw one last year in Musician in Dublin for that anyway...0 -
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Really? I always thought the amp sims themselves on the Flextone were the same as those found on the PodXT and Vetta? I know the selection isn't as wide as with the extra features but with the Metal Shop Pack I assumed I'd be alright for my tastes.
I'll check'em out anyway, thanks for all the advice man, much obliged. 0 -
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Rock Solid Amps or some site has soundclips of all engls afaik, google it. It can do pure metal stuff, not quite as high gain as a fireball but still pretty high, I stick an EQ in the loop to get death/black metal kinda tones every now and again. 0
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Haven't heard the Engls myself, but they seem to have tons of fans here...probably can't go wrong.
I did find this Line 6 Spider however, which even with a Fat VAT would be in your range.....150w with Celestion speakers and 2 12's.
Unfortunately, couldn't find any Mesa Boogie combos. 0 -
Rustar wrote:Haven't heard the Engls myself, but they seem to have tons of fans here...probably can't go wrong.
I did find this Line 6 Spider however, which even with a Fat VAT would be in your range.....150w with Celestion speakers and 2 12's.
Unfortunately, couldn't find any Mesa Boogie combos.
Yep, Engl definetly have a few fanatics round these parts, and for good reason, they rock.
I wouldn't bother importing an amp of that price from the states though. You'd have to factor in a lot of shipping, customs, and a voltage transformer once you got it.0 -
Plus its a Spider.
€660 inc Vat and Delivery for that Flextone III XL is a steal though, especially since they retail for €860 on Thomann and €845 in Musican Inc.
The Fireballs complete lack of versitility is whats worrying me however, while I know I could get some fantastic high gain tones out of it if I turned around and wanted some easy Satriani, bluesy SRV or classic ACDC I have a feeling I'd be **** out of luck. 0 -
gizmo wrote:Plus its a Spider.
€660 inc Vat and Delivery for that Flextone III XL is a steal though, especially since they retail for €860 on Thomann and €845 in Musican Inc.
The Fireballs complete lack of versitility is whats worrying me however, while I know I could get some fantastic high gain tones out of it if I turned around and wanted some easy Satriani, bluesy SRV or classic ACDC I have a feeling I'd be **** out of luck.
No, you can get some decent low gain tones from it, it's just that with a shared EQ and gain control for 2 channels, you'd have to either switch to the clean channel and turn up the gain really high, or switch to the distortion channel and turn down the gain. Depending on whether or not you want to have a low gain and high gain sound switchable, it mightn't work too well.0 -
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Oh loved the Fireball clip...really
. The Thunder was cool too but the one with the For The Love Of God cover was more impressive imo, showed that theres some versitility there. I guess I'll just wait and see what they all sound like at the weekend... 0 -
Karl Hungus wrote:Oh, and if you're skeptical about what the Thunder is capable of, have a listen to this.
:eek: That poor amp!
That clip alone has put me off ENGL forever. Everyone to their own taste though I suppose. 0 -
gizmo wrote:Oh loved the Fireball clip...really. The Thunder was cool too but the one with the For The Love Of God cover was more impressive imo, showed that theres some versitility there. I guess I'll just wait and see what they all sound like at the weekend...
Good man. You really do have to trust your ears, so it's best to try something for yourself.Quattroste wrote:That clip alone has put me off ENGL forever.
What? Why!?0 -
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One more thing gents, going judging by my complete inabilty to play in a stuff off the cuff in a music store environment I was wondering if you wouldn't mind posting some suggested settings for your Fireball and Thunder so I can play my usual riffs.
Tones I'll be looking for will be heavy metalcore ala Killswitch Enage, Shadows Fall and Lamb Of God, hard modern rock ala Alter Bridge/Mark Tremonti and some other stuff by the likes of Children Of Bodom, As I Lay Dying and 3 Inches Of Blood. Also if you have any idea how to pull off a nice Starry Night tone by Satriani it'd be greatly appreciated too. 0 -
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