Recommendations for single channel high gain head?

Helios 50. I owned the 100, but actually liked the 50 better. Raw, aggressive modded Marshall tones in both the 70's and 80's modes and pretty decent plexi tones in the low gain input. Can be had for decent prices if you look around.
 
Tommy Von Voigt said:
I could really use some opinions here. I’m in the market for a new head. Here’s what I need to have:

• A single channel of glorious 80s hot rodded Marshall. Rich, saturated, thunderous high gain.
• A buffered loop. Tube or Metro Zero Loss style.
• A killer master volume. I need to be able to get great tones at very low levels.
• 50 watts.


I don’t need a clean channel, since I’ll get my cleans using a clean preamp pedal going direct into the loop return. I’ve got an RJM PBC/6x that makes that super easy to do. 50 watts will be paint peeling loud and have plenty of headroom, while still being a little lighter weight. I don’t need a lead boost, since I can add a clean boost in the loop.

I am currently selling my Egnater MOD100, which has an incredible master volume, but is too heavy to take to gigs and rehearsals, and I don’t need this many channels.

I had a Hopkins Pandora, which had a good master volume and incredible gain saturation, but I had him build it on a 100 watt Plexi clone I’d done, so it was more power than I needed, and the circuit was too stiff and unforgiving for me. Totally my fault, though. Also, I sold it when I got into rack gear. Oops :(

I’ve got a Ceriatone King Kong 50, which I get good results using to track at home with a Suhr Reactive Load, but has repeatedly sounded like garbage at rehearsals and has a dreadful master volume, and the loop in it is an insult to loops. So, it is just not the solution for me for live use, and I think I’d like to skip Ceriatone at this point.

I’ve thought about finding or just straight up building a 2204. I could add a loop, and either with mods, a boost pedal, or mods and a boost pedal, maybe I’d get where I need to go. But if there are other options out there, that I’m just not thinking of, I’d love to hear about them. Especially something that is good to go as is.

All realistic options on the table, too. Low budget to high (though I draw the line at Wizards…that’s just a bit too rich for me). Mass production to boutique. Stock or modded. The only thing I ask is that it be realistic for me to actually get one. Please, no unobtainium amps. Like, if the answer is a Cameron, I can’t get one, so it really isn’t an option.
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https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threads/marshall-93-sl-x-2500-w-el34s.259258/#post-3000145
 
Had a rehearsal today, and noticed that the facility had a 77 JMP 2203 as a rental amp. So I grabbed that for the day. I also had my wife’s Quad Cortex with me, to play around with. With the surprise 2203 in hand, I stuck the QC in front, selected the SD-1 clone it has in it, put the gain on 0, the tone halfway up, and the level on max.

Yep, that was the sound. I cannot believe I’d never gotten around to trying this.

If I were to nitpick, the head was a bit bright, and the tone controls weren’t as responsive as I’d like. But if it had a loop, a little EQ there would have taken care of that. I did add a parametric EQ block out front and goosed 800hz a little bit, and that was super cool. I can see how a 2204 would be just a little bit better, in that I could drive the head a touch harder at slightly less volume (though we’re probably splitting hairs here).

But yeah, that was a seriously eye opening experience today.
 
Tommy Von Voigt said:
Had a rehearsal today, and noticed that the facility had a 77 JMP 2203 as a rental amp. So I grabbed that for the day. I also had my wife’s Quad Cortex with me, to play around with. With the surprise 2203 in hand, I stuck the QC in front, selected the SD-1 clone it has in it, put the gain on 0, the tone halfway up, and the level on max.

Yep, that was the sound. I cannot believe I’d never gotten around to trying this.

If I were to nitpick, the head was a bit bright, and the tone controls weren’t as responsive as I’d like. But if it had a loop, a little EQ there would have taken care of that. I did add a parametric EQ block out front and goosed 800hz a little bit, and that was super cool. I can see how a 2204 would be just a little bit better, in that I could drive the head a touch harder at slightly less volume (though we’re probably splitting hairs here).

But yeah, that was a seriously eye opening experience today.
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Yeah if you didn’t require an fx loop then I’d take a good old 2203/4 over everything I recommend you lol, but the Naylor would still be cool too and a bit different (and has both a great loop & MV). The old Marshall’s are more sensitive than other amps to tube swaps, speakers or pickups, so you can play around with those as other possible ways to tame some brightness, but a good eq in the loop (key word “good” as in don’t bother with recent made eq pedals to ruin the tone lol) is probably the easiest solution. Amazing how an amp that’s 46 years old still kills the majority of amps made in the last 30 years or so and before covid could be had in the $1200 range

A lot of the modded Marshall’s have loops & great MV’s, but they almost all sacrifice some of the great Marshall midrange and other aspects that makes those amps great in exchange for more gain, compression and heavier sounds. This is why I generally prefer these amps just stock with a good boost (again “good” is a key word here lol) over the vast majority of modded ones, even the Cameron mods I’ve had. I find if you use “not great” pedals in these amps it really exposes that and cheapens the tone, while something like my mark iic+ or Rev D Recto still sound great with almost any pedal
 
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Luca79 said:
Diezel Big Max

Never tried one, but have the specs you looking for.
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I own 17 amps and have a Big Max, and it’s actually the one that immediately jumped to mind. It sounds much more Marshall-y than any of my other Diezels (VH4, Hagen, Einstein) and it has all the features you’re looking for. It has PLENTY of gain plus a low input in case you want to do some pedal stuff. Great amp I really love mine. Probably the only Diezel I really truly love.
 
MOAB by Ground Zero. It's perfect for this.
Otherwise, a boosted 2204 does the trick. Just add a Metro loop.
Def try your buddy's SLO. Dunno about the 30, but the 100 is quite a bit thicker, more in your face and less tight than a modded or boosted Marshall. Doesn't have that krang, but it sings on leads.

Other amps that come to mind: DSL50, Runt50, @AndyK JCM900 SLX in the emporium, Mesa .50 Cal+ which is like a Mark, but the Marshalliest(?!) Mesa I've played, and that's why I still own it.
 
I'd add in a Peavey VTM-60.
Mod to take KT-66's and buffer the FX send (the return is already buffered, I believe).

Otherwise I think it covers all of your bases.
 
VHTStark said:
Helios 50. I owned the 100, but actually liked the 50 better. Raw, aggressive modded Marshall tones in both the 70's and 80's modes and pretty decent plexi tones in the low gain input. Can be had for decent prices if you look around.
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I'm curious about this. Can you describe how exactly these two amps are different? I've spent some time with the Helios 100 but not the 50.
 
Some great sugestions here...best master volume is Naylor without any doubt and overall fits the OP requirement. Agree with Helios, great MV, loop, voicings options.
Loop for 2204/2203 is a must, just worth it for any tone sacrifice (which is none when the loop is done right).
Deliverance (with loop) fit the desciptions too, really great amp thaht shines in band.
 
Been rocking the Friedman X for a while

It’s 100 watts but has a great MV. It’s a good choice if it’s got enough gain for you. The Helios is probably an excellent choice too.
 
For any of you that have experience with boosting 2203s and 2204s, have you ever compared the two? Yesterday was a 2203, and was delivering the goods. How different would a similarly boosted 2204 be?
 
2203 sounds bigger and with more bottom end. A bit stiffer and not as compressed. 2204 is more compressed but sounds smaller. There’s a definite feel preference between them which is why they’re always recommended together - one isn’t better than the other just slightly different to player preferences
 
napalmdeath said:
The 50 is more aggressive, more raw sounding than the 100. It opens up quicker, obviously, being 50 vs. 100 watts.
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Beat me to the punch, but from my experiences with both, I agree 100%! Emphasis on the "opening up quicker" part; the 50 gives up the goods and gets its power section humming much quicker. It also results in a better feels under the fingers, with more of that vintage Marshall "bounce" than the 100 had.
 
Tommy Von Voigt said:
I’ve got a Ceriatone King Kong 50, which I get good results using to track at home with a Suhr Reactive Load, but has repeatedly sounded like garbage at rehearsals and has a dreadful master volume, and the loop in it is an insult to loops. So, it is just not the solution for me for live use, and I think I’d like to skip Ceriatone at this point.
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That's weird, as it's based on the Yeti and honestly my Yeti 50 just roars, especially at rehearsals. Not sure if the MV is the same, the Yeti has an Audio taper, which means it takes high pot settings to give you volume, even higher if you're using the modern mode as it's a Jose clipping, let's say it starts delivering at 8-9...not sure if the KK has the same taper, tho.
Yeah, loop is nothing special.
 
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