What if you had stopped when you found it?

[braintheory]

It isnt warm, or tube like - and i think thats part of the magic. It isn't trying to sound like a tube amp, and it has this glassy, sterile thing going on that's really recognizable. Especially with like youngblood in Kamelot, and all the death metal bands that use them.

I appreciate the amps that are unapologetically solid state. It sounded like you said, quite brutal, mean, easy to play and glassy, but when I had other good high gain tube amps in the room like mark iii’s, Recto’s and a few others at the time, it honestly just sounded like a clearly way worse amp comparatively. Sounded much smaller, less ballsy, way more compressed and somehow muffled despite having that glassy quality that I also remembered of it. Nice cleans on it from what I remember

 

[braintheory]

Never played one, but I imagine the triple rec would make most amps sound small and like a toy!

Absolutely! And that was just a MW, which IMO isn’t on the same level as the early revision ones like F and earlier

The only amps I’ve got that sound even bigger than my triple Rev F/C are just my coliseum’s, Blueface, and Beta, although the Uber Rev 1 is close and if there was ever a 6 powertube version could very possibly be the biggest sounding amp ever lol

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Absolutely! And that was just a MW, which IMO isn’t on the same level as the early revision ones like F and earlier

The only amps I’ve got that sound bigger than my triple Rev F/C are my coliseum’s, Blueface, and Beta, although the Uber Rev 1 is close and if there was ever a 6 powertube version could very possibly be the biggest sounding amp ever lol

Loved the MW Dual I had...always wanted to try a triple.

 

[DanTravis62]

I appreciate the amps that are unapologetically solid state. It sounded like you said, quite brutal, mean and glassy, but when I had other good high gain tube amps in the room like mark iii’s, Recto’s and a few others at the time, it honestly just sounded like a clearly way worse amp comparatively. Sounded much smaller, less ballsy, way more compressed and somehow muffled despite having that glassy quality that I also remembered of it. Nice cleans on it from what I remember

totally, i agree. It's just miles better than most of the solid state stuff thats been put out in recent years IMO. I think that Katanas high gain tones sound like garbage, for example; i guess I just dont hear what others are hearing in it. Same with Quilter, i dont get it at all.

And its original sounding; I know its gonna piss you guys off, but i'd rather record with 140c, than like a Modern Metal© 5150/recto v30 808 tone. I know tons love that sound, but I dont It just isnt my personal "thing" for all sorts of reasons.

The 140c absolutely is compressed and not "big" sounding. It's just something that I personally prefer to other stuff because of nostalgia, and because its simply different and off the beaten path. It certainly doesn't outpunch the tube monsters, but it has its own niche. And I imagine its the same for guys who like the valvestate stuff and that dino ibanez amp.

 

[braintheory]

Loved the MW Dual I had...always wanted to try a triple.

I like the triple even better, but seems like the Dual’s have maybe a little better mids (often the case with the lower wattage counterpart). The difference IME isn’t as big as comparing like a regular mark to the coliseum version, but I think you’d probably like the triple even more and the older revisions sound even better

 

[braintheory]

totally, i agree. It's just miles better than most of the solid state stuff thats been put out in recent years IMO. I think that Katanas high gain tones sound like garbage, for example; i guess I just dont hear what others are hearing in it. Same with Quilter, i dont get it at all.

And its original sounding; I know its gonna piss you guys off, but i'd rather record with 140c, than like a Modern Metal© 5150/recto v30 808 tone. I know tons love that sound, but I dont It just isnt my personal "thing" for all sorts of reasons.

The 140c absolutely is compressed and not "big" sounding. It's just something that I personally prefer to other stuff because of nostalgia, and because its simply different and off the beaten path. It certainly doesn't outpunch the tube monsters, but it has its own niche. And I imagine its the same for guys who like the valvestate stuff and that dino ibanez amp.

Never tried any quilters, but yeah haven’t liked much any solid state amps from recent decades. I liked a lot some of the older Randall’s too for what they were

I actually never was a fan of the 5150’s/6505’s. They sound way too congested for my taste. Even though some of my favorite metal bands use them, I never liked their tones, just their playing and music itself. However, I think if compared directly I’d probably still prefer it over the VH140, despite the unique factor

I like to have unique tone when I can, but ultimately the quality of it’s tone is most important to me. I’ve tried SO many things gear-wise that I’ve never heard of anyone trying before, but then look at what I’ve actually kept and it’s mostly stuff that’s not unique, but we all know is great (like a c+, old Marshall’s, vintage Gibsons, aged nitro Charvel’s, pre-rola gb’s, Alnico blues, JBL’s, Klon, etc). I guess actually I use unique combinations or applications of some of those things, but each individual ingredient is in not unique itself

 

[DanTravis62]

Never tried any quilters, but yeah haven’t liked much any solid state amps from recent decades. I liked a lot some of the older Randall’s too for what they were

I actually never was a fan of the 5150’s/6505’s. They sound way too congested for my taste. Even though some of my favorite metal bands use them, I never liked their tones, just their playing and music itself. However, I think if compared directly I’d probably still prefer it over the VH140, despite the unique factor

I like to have unique tone when I can, but ultimately the quality of it’s tone is most important to me. I’ve tried SO many things gear-wise that I’ve never heard of anyone trying before, but then look at what I’ve kept and it’s mostly stuff that’s not unique, but we all know is great (like a c+, old Marshall’s, vintage Gibsons, aged nitro Charvel’s, pre-rola gb’s, Alnico blues, JBL’s, Klon, etc). I guess actually I use unique combinations or applications of some of those things, but each individual ingredient is in not unique itself

Good call, those old randalls could very much sound good. I used to dislike them before I tried one because I didn't like dimebags tone, but after hearing lynch and some others play them, i played one at a pawn shop and was really surprised at how good it was.

I guess I probably veer into the other side of the spectrum, my ear tends to gravitate towards the unique and novel, even if at the cost of technical quality.

That's on a sliding scale, of course - someone could make the most unique sound ever with a germanium fuzz and a line 6 spyder on insane mode and it would of course sound like garbage. I think moreso than gravitating towards unique stuff, i gravitate away from stuff I think is banal.

 

[braintheory]

Good call, those old randalls could very much sound good. I used to dislike them before I tried one because I didn't like dimebags tone, but after hearing lynch and some others play them, i played one at a pawn shop and was really surprised at how good it was.

I guess I probably veer into the other side of the spectrum, my ear tends to gravitate towards the unique and novel, even if at the cost of technical quality.

That's on a sliding scale, of course - someone could make the most unique sound ever with a germanium fuzz and a line 6 spyder on insane mode and it would of course sound like garbage. I think moreso than gravitating towards unique stuff, i gravitate away from stuff I think is banal.

On the ‘86 RG100ES i used to own I was mostly using the green channel with an od pedal boosting. Sounded JCM800-ish to me. Very good. Could do much more than the Dimebag tone

I think my ear might naturally go for uniqueness too, but I’ve trained it or maybe brainwashed it to listen more for technical quality. I think now actually, even with my not unique gear, the way it’s all put together can give an overall unique sound and a lot of the uniqueness can also come from the context in the music even if it is technically a very vanilla sound in isolation. About how the ingredients mix

Not sure if this makes sense, but one thing for example I’ve noticed is like in the song “somebody that I used to know”, Gotye’s voice to me sounded almost exactly like Ozzy Osborne, like shockingly close to me, but seems like no one even notices because of the very different context and so I guess it seems like a unique sound to them

The Line 6 example with fuzz can maybe actually be a good approach in some ways like when a sound is so bad that it becomes great in its own way. Sorta like the HM-2. One of my favorite pedals if used in the right context, but over 99% of the time I hate it haha

 

[DanTravis62]

On the ‘86 RG100ES i used to own I was mostly using the green channel with an od pedal boosting. Sounded JCM800-ish to me. Very good. Could do much more than the Dimebag tone

I think my ear might naturally go for uniqueness too, but I’ve trained it or maybe brainwashed it to listen more for technical quality. I think now actually, even with my not unique gear, the way it’s all put together can give an overall unique sound and a lot of the uniqueness can also come from the context in the music even if it is technically a very vanilla sound in isolation

Not sure if this makes sense, but one thing for example I’ve noticed is like in the song “somebody that I used to know”, Gotye’s voice to me sounded almost exactly like Ozzy Osborne, but seems like no one even notices because of the very different context and so I guess it seems like a unique sound to them

The Line 6 example with fuzz can maybe actually be a good approach in some ways like when a sound is so bad that it becomes great in its own way. Sorta like the HM-2. One of my favorite pedals if used in the right context, but over 99% of the time I hate it haha

Exactly, those old randalls have a very 800ish "thing"

And im TOTALLY with you on the chainsaw tone. I adore some of those bands, and their tones - but the hm2 just sounds colossally awful 99% of the time for me. I like the idea with some of the more recent clones of it that have a loop and a blend to run with another high gain sound.

 

[braintheory]

Exactly, those old randalls have a very 800ish "thing"

And im TOTALLY with you on the chainsaw tone. I adore some of those bands, and their tones - but the hm2 just sounds colossally awful 99% of the time for me. I like the idea with some of the more recent clones of it that have a loop and a blend to run with another high gain sound.

I wish I was a more creative musician because there’s imo a lot of potential of stuff that can probably be done with that pedal, but am focusing mostly on my classical technique these days. I’ve not tried any clones mostly because the clips I’ve seen of the various ones seem like tamed or neutered versions of that sound and that’s just like a self-defeating thing imo

 

[RaceU4her]

ive had my vh140c for 20 years now and for the brutal death my playing tends to lean to there is nothing better. yeah, theres bigger and more complex sounding amps but for strait brutal and sinister sounding nothing comes close to me, and ive put mine against plenty of heavy weights in band situations. this clip i made i think captures the brutality perfectly


https://app.box.com/embed/s/uel5dfqcjbxlryblgldd7tvwl7r5cscl

 

[DanTravis62]

I wish I was a more creative musician because there’s imo a lot of potential of stuff that can probably be done with that pedal, but am focusing mostly on my classical technique these days. I’ve not tried any clones mostly because the clips I’ve seen of the various ones seem like tamed or neutered versions of that sound and that’s just like a self-defeating thing imo

Totally understand that. You get into what your into at the time, and your gear reflects it. And even if you already have it, you arent using it because youre doing other things.

I haven't spent nearly enough time messing around with my super cool and rare 6sh7/6at6 93 matchless clubman, or spent time dialing in johnny thunders tones, because i'm enraptured with recording the larry right now. Not even practicing or woodshedding; just writing songs and recording them.

Your brain finds a lane it likes guitar wise and you have to scratch that itch.

 

[DanTravis62]

ive had my vh140c for 20 years now and for the brutal death my playing tends to lean to there is nothing better. yeah, theres bigger and more complex sounding amps but for strait brutal and sinister sounding nothing comes close to me, and ive put mine against plenty of heavy weights in band situations. this clip i made i think captures the brutality perfectly


https://app.box.com/embed/s/uel5dfqcjbxlryblgldd7tvwl7r5cscl

Yep it IS the sound of that era of death metal.

(edit; i dont even own a 140c, though i'd like to. I just think theyre cool and have their own thing)

 

[glpg80]

I was just starting to lust after a Metropoulos DVL-1...I guess I'm surprised that Metro is at the top of your list, it gets such rave reviews.

The Bogner and Laney beat it at the high gain Marshall stuff, no contest. I also like my 74 Marshall more as it retains more of a 2203 attitude. What the metroplex does well is 1967 and 1968 plexi tones. It can also get super heavy, but it sounds not as good as the others in my collection doing so. Killer amp and worth owning, but IMO I prefer the blue channel Bogner or Laney over it.

 

[PurityS.L.G]

I'm glad I never stopped. Amps continue to evolve and in some instances, sound better and improved. Granted...I've barely got my hands on a Ceriatone Cupa and an EVH Stealth last year and they are the best amps I've owned to this date. If I would've stuck to other amps I would have missed out on a ton of good shit (Driftwood, REVV, KSR, etc. etc.). Funny enough, I still prefer our era classics (5150/6505, Mesa Recto, Splawn, Mesa MKIII/IV, JCM2000, Soldano, So on so on....). Point is I wanna try it all regardless of how proven an old and unevoloved design is

 

[PBGas]

Kind of glad that I didn't stop and tried a bunch of amps over the years. Realistically, I was most happiest with the JVM410HJS that I had and the BE-50.

 

[jabps]

I did stop, for over a decade plus. Didn't even have the "want" to check out anything else. Only reason I started up again was boredom, not with the my main amp but with everything else. When I buy/try now it's because I have the means to do it and it gives me something to do, nothing more. My main amp is still my main amp.

 

[Racerxrated]

Like most others, for me it's all about the journey. In the early days back in 2007 or so I decided to try some modded JCM 800s since I scored a Lee Jackson 2204 for 650. It sounded great...but then I discovered the forums and thought "well, what about the Cameron/Friedman/FJA/Fortin etc etc modded Marshall.." and then I was off. Started flipping them after a few months of gigs for the next amp up....after 13 years of getting to own and gig some of the best amps out there, I'm finally at a point where the GAS isn't painful anymore.
We could always have worse 'addictions' ,....what we own we can always sell and break even, or possibly make a little profit.

 

[errrrrl]

Man I suck at math... For me I was young dumb and stupid and flat out happy from the mid 90s to about 2002 with my Ampeg VH140C until it caught fire and burned up inside... after that I bought a brand spanking new Marshall Mode Four... and was kind of miserable young dumb and stupid.
Got married, had a kid, quit the bands then in 2014 I fired up that Mode four and was still unhappy.. but this time I wasn't as young or stupid and for the first time wasn't broke AF either lol... then I started lurking RT with you bunch of fkn enablers and now I have pretty ridiculous collection I still want another VH140C though.

 

[Bro KV]

Love the AxeFX3 and all it does. Still have tube envy!!