Help Me Pick a Heavy Sounding Amp

[Racerxrated]

For the money, nothing sounds better or more brutal than a 5150(II)/6505(+). Nothing. Very few amps of any price compete when it comes to cutting through the mix, either.

I say this as someone with a Herbert, XTC 20th, Ultra Lead, JCM 800 Killer Kali ++, etc. The 5150/6505 can hang with any of them, no problem. The snobbery on this forum is hilarious

-C

When you say 'for the money' that at least qualifies it a bit. But to say nothing sounds better....period...I have to disagree. I've heard equally brutal amps sound better...and not sterile sounding like every 5150 variant by Peavey I've ever played. Sorry. Its not snobbery....just opinion. I've had plenty under 1k amps sound killer. Just not a Peavey. They were biased up and had better tubes....still sterile sounding. I paid 700 bucks for a VHT D60 and that amp sounded as good as almost everything I've had. Stupidly sold it......so I don't judge by price tag. But that's a hell of a statement, "nothing sounds better". I respectfully disagree.

 

[Mixman]

Don't mind the 5150 and I may still get one soon,I have heard them and while not my personal favorite, it is still a good amp..... but I am asking about these particular amps because they are a little more expensive and a lot of money to make a mistake on. I can get a 5150 and not feel so bad because I know I can flip it and not loose my shirt. Hell, I even thought about getting a 5150 Stealth.

 

[anomaly]

Never liked the Mesa Recs at all. To me it has too much sizzle on the top, loose bass and also not enough gain. I want an amp that has enough gain that I can use without a boost pedal.

You gotta crank em. They lose that top end sizzle once it gets up to band volumes.

 

[Steinmetzify]

The snobbery on this forum is hilarious

It can be.

To be fair, a lot of these guys have had a 5150 variant, and just moved with the times and their playing styles onto other things....I agree with you though; for what it's worth I don't think there's anything out there in the used 5150 price range that can sound half as brutal.

To the OP, you didn't state what you wanted this amp for.....just heavy at home once in a while, for gigs, for recording, etc....if all you want is something to bring the pain in Madison Square basement and don't want to spend a lot, a 5150 variant will kick ass for cheap. Otherwise based on your list:

Bogner Twin Jet- Heavy sounding, but not very flexible? More flexible than you'd think, but heavy as balls.
Diezel Herbert - Not sure if I will like the Diezel sound all the time but it has a heavy tone: seriously crushing...monster amp.....great tones, heavy as fuck, badass cleans etc...
Diezel VH4 - Same as above: to me never having owned one but played a few? This is an unforgiving amp. The sag that some of the other amps you have listed here will be 'easier' to play....I play for fun and a couple gigs per summer, mostly record at home when I have a few quick minutes. I want it to be fun, and to me the VH4 can be hard to play. SOLID as hell though...if you can find a good deal I'd definitely say give one a shot.
Friedman JJ - Kind of grungy sound, not sure if it is a " modern metal" type of sound, but it does sound good. Never touched one...I'd like to as there are some guys here whose opinions I respect that know what I play and have told me I'd dig it.....I'm not a 'modded Marshall guy' but this one sounds different.
Axe FX II XL - Kind of like a jack of all trades type choice that can sound like many amps and have great effects: I chose this for that exact reason, plus a silent recording solution need at home. It will NOT sound as good as any one of these amps at doing that 'signature' sound that amps have.....it's an approximation and it does some better than others....modded Marshalls and Mesas being among the best. I have some IIC+ settings that I love and a couple 5150 patches that kick ass....if you've ever listened to Mark Day's HBE patches you know this thing can sound really good.


Good luck man.....you have a ton of great choices listed and it's a fuckin great time to be a guitarist.....look at everything we have for pretty much any style of music and any application!

 

[anomaly]

5150/6505

So many bands use it for modern metal its not even funny.

+1. It's a standard for a reason.
Absolutely killer.

If you're careful, you can find one on CL for $600-$700. Nothing sounds better. Price doesn't matter.

Nothing?! Sounds better? You guys are fucking on crack.

Ya, no doubt. There are A LOT of amps better than 5150/6505's... They are for kids that like too much buzzy gain. They have no clarity to them.

 

[Mixman]

Yeah right now I think it's coming down to either a Twin Jet or a Herbert.I can get either right now at a good used price. The Vh4 is hard to get used now. The JJ is damn near impossible to get cheaper than list at the moment and right now I think I will get a real amp since the modelers will just get better. I'll pick one up at that point.

 

[apophis]

VHT/Fryette

 

[thiswaythatway]

Never liked the Mesa Recs at all. To me it has too much sizzle on the top, loose bass and also not enough gain. I want an amp that has enough gain that I can use without a boost pedal.

 

[Mixman]

You need to crank Mesa Recs to smooth them out and since I don't play live right now, a rec is not a great basement amp. I know, ideally all of these amps need to be cranked to sound best but definitely the Recs, which is the main reason I have crossed them off my list.

 

[stompboxfreak72]

The Splawn Nitro will need a boost IMO. It does not have tons of gain as you may think it does.

The guys saying 5150/6505 are not crazy. My 6505+ made me question ever spending crazy money on an amp again. Ill go one more and say go with a 5153 50 watt. That mean little lunch box amp is fantastic.

I recently played the Diezel Herbert and every Bogner you can dream up. And you definetly get great tones with these 3k-4k amps. Fantastic tone even. But at the end of the day I still sounded like me no matter what hi gain monster I played through. I mean Wizard makes fantastic amplifiers but after playing two of them last weekend I did not feel the need to even think about buying one.

Dont be fooled by price point. You will still sound like you no matter how much or little you spend. To me buying hi end amps for crazy money was a phase that I luckily escaped because a guy I know has all these amps and I got to demo them and save myself a lot of money.

Call me crazy but I can afford any hi gain amp I want and all I want is my Splawn Nitro and 5153 Stealth.

 

[Mixman]

Don't get me wrong. I did not list the above amps because they are expensive, it's just so happens I heard clips of them and have no access of playing through them, so I wanted opinions on them. Any amp I plan to get will be used I have no intention of spending $4K for any of these amps and used they can be had from$1,800 to $2,800. The 5150 I kind of know, so there is no real need to ask an opinion about it. I still may end up with one with either the Stealth model or one of the combos.

 

[Mixman]

Well I just scored a Mesa OS 4x 12 Rectifier cab at GC. I'll hook it up and see how it sounds a little later.

I have seen/heard clips of the Diezel Hagen and I really like the way it sounds. A little different sound than most other Diezels. Now to find one in the wild.

 

[kylendm]

Check out the Baron Custom Amps K88 or K2. I've had mine for years now and I'm still in love with it.

http://www.baroncustomamps.com/k88.php

 

[Docster]

Btw- the master volume on the Herbert is great! Many shy away from the Herbert's 180 watts - great sounding at any volume.

 

[gtr31]

did you see the Peters thread his amps are pretty damn aggressive. IMO

 

[JeffHenneman]

I'll chime in on the 5150 series. I have tried all of them except the peavey 6534+. I have done a ton of tracking with all variations of the 5150 series.
I have owned the 6505, 6505+, evh 100 and the EVH 100s. I currently only own the 6505+ and the evh stealth. I have spent a lot of time with all these amps.
I really think you should consider the 6505+. It has plenty of gain, has a tighter low end than the non plus version, and has a better "clean" than the evh stealth. I run mine with no boost and still have plenty of gain and saturation. You can run it at bedroom levels and it will sound great. A lot better than the other versions.
Add a eq in the loop, I use a mxr 10 band, and you have a lot of versatility.

 

[strata2628]

I love my Herbert Mk1. You can nail any metal sound from the modded-Marshall 80's to modern Meshuggah/etc. and it sounds great at any volume. That said, I often switch to my (priceless) modified Marshall when the band shows up; it's a crazier sounding amp and cuts better with a seriously loud bass player and drummer (and 2nd guitarist who plays a Fireball II). Said another way: sometimes the saturation and compression of the Herbert is so 'even' it starts to disappear - unless I play stupid loud and cut the lows - where as the Marshall mids cut through regardless.
Also, I've played in a band where the guitarist used 5150's and it's a great, aggressive amp that a lot of people swear by. I think it has some of that 'knock' that cranked Marshalls are known for and it has plenty of gain.

 

[shredhead7]

Having played in a lot of death metal bands and had disposable cash to blow through many amps, my .02.

The 5150 is the standard, but it needs a ts1 in front, otherwise it's more a grindy, buzzy sound. If you're used to Mesa (as I was when I bought it), it wasn't gainy enough sounding. Mesa's sound thick and distorted, where as the 5150 sounded buzzy, but it cuts. The clean is shit.

The Uber has a great sound, thick, distorted, perfect Marshall on roids, but was loose. Perfect for solos, but the clean wasn't great and as I said, loose.

Diezel VH4. $4000 to sound like Aenima. It's 3d sounding, but it's not overly distorted, like the 5150. It was just meh, for $1500 good, for $4000 a joke. Yes, it's versatile, if you like pristine clean and Tool, with midi switching.

I have two different modded Marshalls, a Cameron Aldrich and an Atomica. I love these things, they can do the heavy stuff and are versatile. I imagine the Friedman to be the same. They can be as thick as a Mesa, but they really shine in a band when you cut back on the bass and res a little bit more.

I also had an Engl Powerball and have an Engl SE. The powerball was excellent at being versatile (though the mid gain was a little lacking), but the switching options were great. They can cut through, you just have to turn up the mids. They are voiced lower, so they will eat your bass player. The SE does all of that and adds so much more. It fills in all of the gaps, from clean through to destroy, plus all the bells and whistles. This would be great, but I didn't like taking it out, too much $'s in it.

With all of that said, the new Randalls Diavlo's are really the perfect vehicle for metal at this point. They're inexpensive, have a decent clean and a killer distortion and they're cheap enough that you can buy other gear and not worry about them in the shit holes that are metal clubs.

 

[Mixman]

You guys are right in the sense that the sound you may like at home is not the sound that cuts through in a band situation. I know even though I liked Boogies a lot my Marshall would tend to cut through in a live situation. I think I will definitely try a Friedman but right now they are expensive on the used market and I have learned before to let someone else take the initial depreciation on these boutique products.

 

[JackBootedThug]

Never liked the Mesa Recs at all. To me it has too much sizzle on the top, loose bass and also not enough gain. I want an amp that has enough gain that I can use without a boost pedal.

might help if you turn the treble on zero and then just use the presence as treble. a boost really tightens it up. bad monkeys are perfect for recto's. they are my go to amp's.