Cheap amps that are better or equal to expensive ones.

  • Thread starter Thread starter the rossness
  • Start date Start date
the rossness

the rossness

Well-known member
Expensive things are great! What's even better, is when something cheaper can be equally good. A ferrari 458 is a great car and cost about $300k. a Nissan GTR is equally as fast and cost 1/3rd of the price. So here's my question. What's is your favorite cheap amp, lets say under $1000, that is equally good if not better than more expensive amps?

For me, its my Laney Ironheart. What's your favorite?
 
Evh amps are awesome and i am sure the diavlo's are great!
 
Played a show recently with about 1,500 people in the audience that was broadcast on TV.
I show up with a couple pedals and a Stratocaster and there's a 5 watt tube Fender amp with a mic on it. Think it had a volume and a tone knob. Turned it up to about 7. To the point where it was still holding it together. The band sounded killer. Saw the recording later and it sounded great on TV. The sound men complimented my tone all night.
Don't know how much it cost but likely wasn't over $300 or so unless it was one of those Clapton models.
Great little amp. :yes:
 
Mesa mark III or IV. I would put them up against any high gain amp. That said I have never played an amp that costs more than $2k.
 
You can score tons of amps for under 1k that sound amazing, especially used. I personally don't see the need to spend any more. I don't understand the 3k booteek thing. That's way too much for an amp.

Mesa Recto's
5150
Fender tube combos
Marshall DSL's
Marshall JCM 800's
Mesa Mark III
 
"My teacher tells me beauty is on the inside"....Max Reede

"That's just something that ugly people say".....Fletcher Reede

Nothing less expensive can be better than or equal to something more expensive.

It's just impossible.

You get the point.
 
Just imo but if you add in the "combined with pedals" variable, you can get into that high end zone even more easily from my experience with commonly available gear.

Many will pay a premium to have that sound in the chassis because they view pedals as a flawed approach.

Of course there are some great cheaper high gain amps on the market that don't need pedals but adding them into the mix exponentially increases your options imo.

But if I had to pick one amp without pedals...Peavey 5150/6505 series all models. :lol: :LOL:
 
I snagged a used Peavey Ultra+ for 3 bills and it slays regardless of price
 
Easy question. Mark III. Tone and build quality. Bout 800 bucks. Winning...
 
Tone Monster":36xcfqwl said:
Easy question. Mark III. Tone and build quality. Bout 800 bucks. Winning...
Click to expand...
+100 on this. Bought a Red striped for $750 shipped on Ebay not long ago.
And it delivered in SPADES! :rock:

Great deal for the money in that amp series. :yes:
 
I had a Randall Lynch Box RM100 with some pretty aggressive custom modules in it, and installed JJ 6L6's in it. It originally cost me $1200 used, and I invested another $1000 in tubes and modules, but could never quite achieve the high gain tone I was looking for. A friend told me about Peavey 5150's and 6505's and swore up and down that they were the best bang for the buck out there. For quite a while I shrugged his advise off as impossible. Then one day, needing a backup head but not having very much money I saw a Peavey 6505+ head on Ebay for $650 and decided to bite the bullet and take the risk. Within minutes of opening the box, I had re-designated it as my main head and ended up selling the Randall. For just plain sick high gain tone, I'd pit it against just about anything out there with the exception of maybe a Diezel VH4 or a Framus Cobra. My bassist who is a REAL tone monger ended up buying one for himself because I liked the tone so much. He couldn't believe how badass it sounded up against all kinds of high gain / high dollar heads, and I'm in full agreement.
 
rrguitar":kndmb98d said:
6505 or a used Splawn Quick Rod for about a grand
Click to expand...
Those are my two amps. I have no gas for anything else
 
TORMENT FAKTORY":246yaopm said:
I had a Randall Lynch Box RM100 with some pretty aggressive custom modules in it, and installed JJ 6L6's in it. It originally cost me $1200 used, and I invested another $1000 in tubes and modules, but could never quite achieve the high gain tone I was looking for. A friend told me about Peavey 5150's and 6505's and swore up and down that they were the best bang for the buck out there. For quite a while I shrugged his advise off as impossible. Then one day, needing a backup head but not having very much money I saw a Peavey 6505+ head on Ebay for $650 and decided to bite the bullet and take the risk. Within minutes of opening the box, I had re-designated it as my main head and ended up selling the Randall. For just plain sick high gain tone, I'd pit it against just about anything out there with the exception of maybe a Diezel VH4 or a Framus Cobra. My bassist who is a REAL tone monger ended up buying one for himself because I liked the tone so much. He couldn't believe how badass it sounded up against all kinds of high gain / high dollar heads, and I'm in full agreement.
Click to expand...
I agree with this 1000000 PERCENT!! :rock:

I owned the MTS Amps 5 different times. 2 Lynch Box's....Egnater Mod 100, Egnater Mod 50, and a Custom Randall RM100.
Had THOUSANDS of $$$ tied up in modules..
Glad to go back to single amps. And yes.....the 5150 just kills by itself. :rock: ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top