High Gain Heads

[Wizard of Ozz]

Get a Mesa MK V.

 

[155]

hang around here a while and your bank account is fucked! oh yeah a mark iv for LOG tones but be ready to spend some time with it..

 

[roboboticus]

Cool. Thanks for the input, guys. Lots of Mesa mentions, especially the Mark series. Still, I'm curious what companies/heads you'd recommend for high-gain if I hadn't mentioned Lamb of God.

 

[SirBoye]

Get a Mesa MK V.

THIS!

 

[glpg80]

Cool. Thanks for the input, guys. Lots of Mesa mentions, especially the Mark series. Still, I'm curious what companies/heads you'd recommend for high-gain if I hadn't mentioned Lamb of God.

high gain that you have not heard of?

mike fortin is worth checking out, newcomer to the scene and an EET engineer graduate. he knows his stuff and is one of the nicest guys ive ever come across. check out his company fortin amplification.

FJA specializes in mesa and peavey 5150 modifications - check out his work. he also has done a marshall called the "nick mod" JCM800 which you should check out. some of his work i dont like, others i do. still a nice guy and very awsome.

Friedman has some mods out but i dont know much about them other than the kitchen sink mod, brown eye mod (?), and other wierd names he has for them. check out clips and recommendations.

Engl is another big one for the german type of high gain tone. if you are saying high gain, engl needs to be at least honorably mentioned. more gain than anyone else mentioned so far (good or bad depending on how you dial it in and the volume you play at...)

check out larry amplification. EXTREMELY expensive amplifiers, but he is the guy that built the tone for iced earth. if you like iced earth's tone, check out the dino939. this engineer knows engineering and electrical theory very well and is one hell of a pioneer. Fortin will agree he is extremely talented. beware of the wait times and the price.

and on that note, Mark Cameron. another great guy - if you can look over the drama and past history he is a cool dude with alot of talent and a very awsome amplifier line called the CCV and CCM for vintage and modern voicings. hard to come by and a long wait time because he builds them by hand one by one per customer order. worth the wait for some, not worth the wait for others.

ive got an amplifier line coming out through a company i am starting. i will have more details as time passes, probably delay another year or so.

BC audio - military grade construction and very great engineering/tone to boot. not necessarily high gain, but check out his amplifiers.

Wizard amplifiers falls into the wait category - you have a wait time thats pretty long if you order one. plus if you live in the USA there is a 14% tax importing fee since they are made in canada and over a certain price range. i believe these cost more than cameron's CCV's and also fortin's work as well. do your research.

Diezel Herbert/VH4. i have heard a herbert live, did not get to play one, but that does not matter on account herbert's dont cut through the mix at all. they have a complicated gain structure which sounds great and a great clean tone but live the amplifier does not cut it. i wrote a writeup on this on the forum, you can search the forum for a review. the VH4 sounds amazing - cuts great and sounds great. i think it has a darker tonality from either the caps diezel uses or something simillar - not my type of tone. still worth checking out as either amplifier can dish out the gain like no other.

duesentrieb (sp?) Olaf here on the forum has a few amplifiers he has built worth checking out. i dont believe he has any models that are high high gain but still could possibly get there boosted.

Scott Splawn is local to me here in NC, however he will be moving soon up north because of family medical needs. his amplifiers you just need to listen to and try to play before you buy. what you hear and what you get is not always true in my experience with them. great amplifiers for the price.

Trace @ voodoo amplification does great mods and has an amplifier line as well - dont go by the clips on his site though as they are heavily processed. research a few of them on user accounts if you like what you hear this way.

Wallace Amplification - i have spoke with him through email and he knows marshall vintage high gain well. i will be ordering transformers through him as a dealer in the future.

thats all i got for now

 

[glpg80]

Both the IV and the V can do the heavy 'modern high gain' negative feedback loop bypass thing

Explain pls? Negative feedback loops are used to increase the average saturation amount that a gain stage produces allowing you to get more gain per gain stage. Are you referring to the fact that the Mark series amps use more, but cleaner gain stages?

negative feedback in the sense of the term does not add gain/tone at all, that is a very misunderstood statement. it lowers the effective output impedance of the amplifier while also removing signal AC imperfections allowing for more solid low end and high end reproduction - further tailored with the use of "depth and presence designs" to tailer the effect. the more negative feedback voltage the less preamp gain you have and the less distortion you have. too much NF and you can permanently clean a high gain designed amplifier quite literally on every channel.

you are limited to how much NF you can use due to OT impedance though. the above statement is simply for theoretical knowledge.

mesa modern switch does not bypass the negative feedback, it disconnects it. vintage mode keeps it in. thats the design section of a mesa.

hope this helps

 

[EXPcustom]

Fuck the Mark V








I would explain better but I am posting drunk so I jsut gave a blanket statement so you can save 2k.

 

[the rossness]

Also, I'd take a look at a both a TriAmp and a Trilogy. Both great amps made by Hughes and Kettner. They make some really nice stuff!

 

[glpg80]

Fuck the Mark V








I would explain better but I am posting drunk so I jsut gave a blanket statement so you can save 2k.

i was expecting someone to open those can of worms

what you say is true though - i could not dial in a respectable high gain tone at all in the V's with the amp itself. very underwhelming.

the III's and IV's ive heard sounded good though live. i thought all mesa mark series amps sounded like the V but i was wrong and glad to be honest.

 

[EXPcustom]

Fuck the Mark V








I would explain better but I am posting drunk so I jsut gave a blanket statement so you can save 2k.

i was expecting someone to open those can of worms

what you say is true though - i could not dial in a respectable high gain tone at all in the V's with the amp itself. very underwhelming.

the III's and IV's ive heard sounded good though live. i thought all mesa mark series amps sounded like the V but i was wrong and glad to be honest.

Actually I have heard a few good ones but that is after the owner changed the tubes out because new Mesa tubes just sound like ass in general, also alot of that has to do with knowing how to dial in the amp in with the new tubes.

Personally there are better amps for less money.

Also note how John Petrucci rig sounds like shit now compared to his older IIC+ rig.

 

[Motorpud]

So, what exactly is the tonal difference between Mark III, VI, and V? I've never played any of these amps.

The III starts off very raw, but transitions over time into something that's basically a IV with a shared EQ. The IV is more refined than the earlier IIIs. The V lead is similar to the IV lead, but with an improved clean and rhythm channel.

Why do some people seem to prefer the IV over the V? I think there's a V at the local shop I might go play around with tomorrow, but I've been looking into clips/vids of it lately and it sounds great. I would rarely use any channel but the lead, most likely, so which in this series has the most aggressive lead channel?

If you're only going to use the lead channel you don't need to waste the extra couple hundred bucks on a markIV. All you would get would be more options and twice as many knob that you dont need. The MarkIII red stripe had the best lead tone out of any amps I've owned (a lot) and I picked it up for like $800. The three is also more raw and aggressive IMO and sounds more like what you'd be after.

 

[CaseyCor]

I say Mark III (any stripe will do) if you just want the Lead sound. Mark IV if you want the clean sound and the lead sound. And if you want that type of tone cheaper, check out the Mesa Dual Caliber stuff. Someone has a 100% mint one in the Classifieds here right now that looks great.

As far as other brands for High Gain, ENGL, Fortin, Friedmen, Cameron, Dyer, FJA, Voodoo Amplification, Hughes & Kettner, Wizard, Peavey XXX/5150/6505, Laney, Diesel.

 

[Zachman]

Here is a video of a sound check, for a gig I did last week-- where I am using a 50 Watt Marshall Cameron/Jose, 100 Watt Marshall Cameron High gain Jose, Mesa/Boogie MKIII Coliseum Simul-Class, and a '65 Fender Super Reverb.

I'm hoping it may help to focus your search a bit.

 

[CaseyCor]

A few more..
Randall
Egnater
Fryette/old VHT models.
Framus
CAA/Suhr
ADA MP-1 or 2 pre-amp

Lots of great stuff you could check out. Both LoG and Metallica used Mark IV's. LoG is using Mark V's now, and Metallica is using Diezels/Mesa Rectos/Randall RMs. They used the Mark IV on MoP and ...AJFA, and the Black Album slaves into an old Marshall. Kirk used an ADA MP-1 for some leads on that album as well.

 

[droptrd]

A few more..
Randall
Egnater
Fryette/old VHT models.
Framus
CAA/Suhr
ADA MP-1 or 2 pre-amp

Lots of great stuff you could check out. Both LoG and Metallica used Mark IV's. LoG is using Mark V's now, and Metallica is using Diezels/Mesa Rectos/Randall RMs. They used the Mark IV on MoP and ...AJFA, and the Black Album slaves into an old Marshall. Kirk used an ADA MP-1 for some leads on that album as well.

They used the MArk IIc+ on MOP and AJFA

 

[CaseyCor]

A few more..
Randall
Egnater
Fryette/old VHT models.
Framus
CAA/Suhr
ADA MP-1 or 2 pre-amp

Lots of great stuff you could check out. Both LoG and Metallica used Mark IV's. LoG is using Mark V's now, and Metallica is using Diezels/Mesa Rectos/Randall RMs. They used the Mark IV on MoP and ...AJFA, and the Black Album slaves into an old Marshall. Kirk used an ADA MP-1 for some leads on that album as well.

They used the MArk IIc+ on MOP and AJFA

This is 100% true. The Mark IV was just on the Black Album.

 

[Mudder]

Has it been decided how much the budget is here? Because most of the amps I'm seeing recommended are going to be a little spendy.

Some cheaper options:

Peavey 5150
Peavey Ultra
Jet City JCA 100

 

[155]

yeah just get the 5150 and call it a day

 

[droptrd]

5150...the Official amp of Rig-Talk

 

[Mark Day]

Here is a video of a sound check, for a gig I did last week-- where I am using a 50 Watt Marshall Cameron/Jose, 100 Watt Marshall Cameron High gain Jose, Mesa/Boogie MKIII Coliseum Simul-Class, and a '65 Fender Super Reverb.

I'm hoping it may help to focus your search a bit.

Awesome rig, tone and playing Zach!!!!
I wish I could hang with you in Hawaii sometime!!
Love to try that monster rig!

Mark