Half stacks

[ageisler18]

as you can probably see i am looking for some upgrades

i currently have a solid state 120 watt amp with piss poor distortion and chorus.  I'm looking for something a little better for playing so i don't have to rely on the p.a. as much.  preferably tube amp and reasonably priced my budget is a little tight at the moment especially since i am looking at new guitar and new amp.  i am looking for some thing with good distortion on it.  not real heavy distortion though i don't want gay nu metal sounding distortion like i currently have and hate.

[bucketsixx]

You want a nice 50w tube amp....I wouldnt go for a half stack...no way....tube amps are louder than solid state amps anyway, so a 50w would be more than enough....and you could still use it at home

I'd look on ebay for a bargain. Im currently looking at a Marshall JCM 800 combo....you might want to try and find one of those.

[Sean]

plus 1

peavey classic tube series also...  classic 30 is sweet... they make a 50 watt also. all you need. great price. they make a head now too. 5150 sweet too if you want huge gain

bargain marshalls on ebay....  no need whatsoever to pay there fucked up new prices = waste.

 :eek:

[Kilamite]

I'd go for a stack.

You won't realise how much you rely on the 4x12 combination.

I'm using an AVT275 2x12" combo, and in a small hall (can seat 200 people) I had it blarring out quite a bit.

It's not power you need, it's the amount of speakers. The sound quality as you increase the volume will remain bright and colourful if you have more speakers. Less natural distortion within the sound basicly.

Yes saving up for a nice valve amp will sound good when you practise, but it's not worth it. You are far better just buying a half stack.

I damn wish I had bought a Marshall AVT150 Half Stack instead of the AVT275 combo.

It a) looks sexier and b) sounds better than chucking it through 2 speakers. Also, with a stack, you can remove the head and take that to a studio without having to carry a huge heavy fucker of a combo.

So my recommendation:

Marshall AVT150 Half Stack



Has a Gain valve that can put out some sweet tone. Yes it may not be a full valve amp, but compared to my old solid state, it does sound a lot nicer.

We aren't gigging Wembly yet remember...so you don't need the best of the best equipment. Never the less though, the AVT150 is a fucker of a stack.

[Landon Lucas]

Depends where your planning on playing gigs at...

stacks would be great! except they're very roomy and heavy and shitty to carry around, me i got myself a laney amp. Has a van halen sound to it  and sounds GREAT!!! and Laneys quality is unbelievable especially in this amp and it just fucking drives, i plan on playing a lot of gigs with this thing

[bucketsixx]

Dude...what Laney have you got? I'm looking at their valve range right now...

[Kilamite]

A Half Stack ain't heavy.

I can carry that no problem...whereas carrying my combo weighs a ton.

So much easier when you can remove the head and just wheel the cabinet about.

[Landon Lucas]

Dude...what Laney have you got? I'm looking at their valve range right now...

hold up man, before you buy anything lemme get it to you the laney i got is amazing.. it has a van halen sound but a bit more ronchier and raw.  Thats what i got right now anyways, you can get a lot of sounds outta this amp.  i'll tell you what one it is tomorrow, cause its all the way in the studio right now

[CivilWar]

ok, here's my gear:



i have a Marshall MG100HDFX (yes kila ;-), its no valve amp, but it sounds fuckin ace and has endless power - moreover it comes much cheaper, if you're on a limited budged)

plus

a 400 watt Behringer BG412S Ultrastack with 4x 12" Jensen Speakers (which absolutely rock!)...

OK - this thing fuckin blows you away, with master volume set to only 3 (!).

When practicing with our band, i just take the head with me (which is surely not as heavy as the combo would be) and drive it through the PA.

The cabinet is a pain in the ass to transport though. I remember when i got it, i couldnt even put it the back of my car, and i needed the help of another to get it up the stairs to my bedroom - so sure it has wheels, but they dont climb stairs... ;-)

Its great if you wanna play REALLY loud but has an absolute great and accurate sound if you want to play while others in the house for example want to sleep, i never had a problem with that! Its great for every purpose - and its a good feeling that you know you could take it out on stage any time you want, and have a FUCKIN loud and great sound to blow the audience away.

I'm very happy with my desicion, its just so fuckin awesome when you can literally FEEL the solo you're playing through your damn chest!

Half Stacks rock!

[Kilamite]

lol CW, the MG Head isn't too bad.

Nice setup though, that cabinet looks a fuckin beast! How much?

[CivilWar]

Behringer has great PA stuff - i had one of their amps (nice one, but actually no competition for a MG) before i got that stuff above, and i loved its Jensen speakers, so i got myself a Behringer cab..

the cab cost me 300 € back then i think... i'm still very pleased with this setup...

[nemo]

um, yeah, i'd stick with a combo like the marshall dsl 401 or the peavey bp suggested, maybe a fender combo if you're not looking for heavy distortion, they sound pretty beautiful, but you sacrifice a lot of gain for the purity of the tone (guess you could just rectify that with a ts9 pedal or something similar though).  best advice i can give would be just go down to the nearest massive guitar shop near you (like a chain store or something) try everything up to about $200 dollars over your max budget, see what you like best, then go buy it from somewhere else for a lot cheaper

the other guitarist in my band has a tsl 100 head and 1960 cab and basically whenever we practice, even with drums he can't go beyond 4 volume wise on the lead channel without drowning us all out and deafening us as well, it's a bit of a waste of time really, i doubt we're gonna be headlining arena's any time soon

[Kilamite]

That's practising Nemo.

Onstage is different...playing in a hall that can hold 250 people, he'd probably have his volume up to about 6-7, as he'll have to play over the PA System and Drums if the drums are mic-ed up.

Plus stacks just look so much more rock n' roll than a combo that sits 3ft off the ground.

Although you get volume from a cab, you also get a fuller sound. Since the sound is coming out 4 speakers and the top 2 are usually angled if it's a floor cab, you fill the hall much better giving a nicer tone than trying to power your little combo too much to compete with other volumes.

Take my advice. I have a 75watt Combo into 2 speakers, each speaker taking 75 watts. That is not loud enough for a gig where you'd play infront of 250 people. It's great for practising, but gigging...nah.

[nemo]

That's practising Nemo.

Onstage is different...playing in a hall that can hold 250 people, he'd probably have his volume up to about 6-7, as he'll have to play over the PA System and Drums if the drums are mic-ed up.

Plus stacks just look so much more rock n' roll than a combo that sits 3ft off the ground.

Although you get volume from a cab, you also get a fuller sound. Since the sound is coming out 4 speakers and the top 2 are usually angled if it's a floor cab, you fill the hall much better giving a nicer tone than trying to power your little combo too much to compete with other volumes.

Take my advice. I have a 75watt Combo into 2 speakers, each speaker taking 75 watts. That is not loud enough for a gig where you'd play infront of 250 people. It's great for practising, but gigging...nah.

we've played a gig to over 500 people in a room with fairly shabby acoustics with me using a 60watt peavey combo and it was plenty loud, i've also used that same amp to play an outdoor gig at a gala type thing

anything bigger than that i'd imagine would have a decent p.a. system and the power of the amp wouldn't matter so much, amps sound better when you run them hard, not when they've got the volume down at 3 or 4, so you should be buying something that's gonna be loud enough to fill whatever size of room you're most likely to use it in, not just the biggest thing you can get for your cash