High gain "metal" amps that sound good without power tube...

[Rock Bodom]

Engl Fireball 100...no issue at low volume..sounds excellent..but when you get it to about 3 on the master that is when the magic really starts..

I agree, I've gotten decent results with actually a number of 100 watters at whisper volumes, but I grew to really like this one as a half stack "bedroom amp" even though that's not why I bought it. Prefer it to using a Fractal for this purpose honestly.

 

[Mikeyboyeee]

5150iii for sure!

 

[sloppy fingers]

EVH 5153 50w, particularly the combo's sound good at lower volumes.
Marshall JVM has a really good master volume but pretty noisy on higher gain channels.

Another thing that has worked well for me is using a volume pedal in the loop. I even do this with my Grandmeister 40 because it sounds better on the 20 and 40 watt settings than the with 1 or 5 watt power soak settings.

 

[reverymike]

Lots of high gain amps sound good at low volumes, however all of them sound better when turned up. That's just the nature of tubes, speakers, etc.

 

[rottingcorpse]

Lots of high gain amps sound good at low volumes, however all of them sound better when turned up. That's just the nature of tubes, speakers, etc.

I agree. My secret sauce is the ISP sub. I don't run mine as high as gsxrbusa does,so it's not overwhelming at low volumes. But it adds that depth you miss when the rig isn't cranked up. Diezels,VHTs,KSR et all sound fine at low volumes as long as you run the master high and the channel low.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

Engl. Pretty much all of them.

 

[nightlight]

One great tip I got from these forums is to run through a big 4x12 instead of a 1x12” or combo speaker for lower volumes. You can actually get a good sound at a lower volume than the smaller cab with single speaker.

As far as the choice of amp, Look for something with a master volume, that will help you keep stuff quieter. But you really should be looking for lower watt amps, that you can push at home to get great tones for recording. I’ve heard the PRD MT-15 is great, and I have an Archon 25 that can get crazy loud, but can also be set at whisper quiet. I do run my VH4 and Savage at night sometimes though, master volume amps are great that way.

 

[HellraiserJohnny]

REALLY?!?!?!?!? Who cares about playing METAL low? If your playing METAL . . . . crank that baby up!
Isn't that the point of playing METAL music?!?!?!?!?
If your worried about playing too loud, maybe you should try playing Hootie & the Blowfish instead.
If you spent all that $$$$ on a boutique\high gain amp and don't let it stretch it's legs . . . . Sell it and take up knitting.
That will not bother anyone.
Sorry . . . . . question kinda hit me sideways.

 

[rottingcorpse]

Thanks for the valuable information,hellraiserjohnny.

 

[Ventura]

Thanks for the valuable information, hellraiserjohnny.

Glad someone spoke up here

 

[stephen sawall]

Most people that play "metal" are are at a age where they have grandchildren. You don't want to wake them up with your old people music.

Most of these amps can sound okay low if you turn up the bass when playing at low volumes.

Fryette Valvulator GP/DI, Direct Recording Amplifier can do metal or any type of music at low volumes.

 

[jdel77]

As stated there's a few key sections to this and they all interact.
Pickups
Wood in your guitar
Preamp
Poweramp
Speakers
The cab
The room

If you want low volume preamp tone you're better off with whatever flavour of amp-in- box distortion pedal you like into a 5w solid state combo or an amp modeling situation of some kind.

 

[sytharnia1560]

tons of amps sound "good" at low volumes as people have said but the one thing you can emulate at low volumes is air movement in the speaker cab which is where a lot of the great tone comes from with a loud amp

The good thing about the amps now is at low volumes you can pretty much nail the tones you hear on the great albums ... it will sound nothing like it did in the room as it was being recorded but we weren't there anyway so

 

[Thunkful]

Get a Jet City 20 watter and let someone mod it. ?

 

[Spaceboy]

Honestly, most modern "high gain" amps are voiced predominantly in the preamp, and have excellent master volumes. It's usually more vintage flavored amps that need the master cranked to come alive. I actually play through digital means at home these days, where I have endless possibilities to spur creativity, and consistent tone. It's not always as inspiring to play as a real amp, but it's close. I keep the tubes for the bands.

 

[Beandust]

Is there a search for an amp that applies to low volume that your looking to buy for some odd reason? I need a quiet 100 watt high gain amp* . I understand liking the sound of 100 watt amps. But that's what they are. There is plenty of gear that doesnt require massive head room that's fun to play and sounds good. So as mentioned. Hard to understand the search or thread or is it a search or just something to get people to chime in on just for the sake of chiming in? Even a 20 watt tube amp pushes air , try headphones and a modeling platform that has every amp ever made in the software and play. Simple

 

[Ratou]

I've had good results with Mesa Mark amps (Mark II, III and IV). If set up properly you can have very good tones at low volumes. A volume pedal in the loop can help as well, adding a 3rd volume control to fine tune (Channel Master, Global master and Volume pedal).

However, it's important to note that the amp settings would be different than if played at loud volume. I don't think you could use the same settings for both bedroom and loud volumes and get good tones in both by just changing the master volume, it would require some tweaking, particularly on the GEQ and both gain settings.

I think the fact that the Marks (at least until the Mk IV) have multiple gain knobs and volume controls is what makes it possible to create good low volume tones.

Also, as someone else mentioned earlier I think that 100W heads sound better at very low volumes than 20w heads. Fact is, a typical 100W head with 6l6s for example will not depend as much on power tube distortion as say a 20W EL84 amp. I had at some point a Mesa Mini Recto (25W) and a Friedman Runt 20 (20W) and for bedroom volume they didn't sound as good compared as the Mark IV or Dual Recto. Their sweet spot would arrive at off course lower levels than with 100W heads but reality is even at 20W, that sweet spot was way too loud for bedroom practice. So when having both amps below their sweet spot, the bigger ones always sounded better. I would recommend the 20W heads for gigging and when portability is needed (they are much smaller and weigh less than full sized heads) but not for home playing.

 

[stephen sawall]

That's been my experience also.... 100 watt amps usually sound better than 20 watt amps at very low volumes. It very much depends on the individual amp.

 

[Thunkful]

I've had good results with Mesa Mark amps (Mark II, III and IV). If set up properly you can have very good tones at low volumes. A volume pedal in the loop can help as well, adding a 3rd volume control to fine tune (Channel Master, Global master and Volume pedal).

However, it's important to note that the amp settings would be different than if played at loud volume. I don't think you could use the same settings for both bedroom and loud volumes and get good tones in both by just changing the master volume, it would require some tweaking, particularly on the GEQ and both gain settings.

I think the fact that the Marks (at least until the Mk IV) have multiple gain knobs and volume controls is what makes it possible to create good low volume tones.

Also, as someone else mentioned earlier I think that 100W heads sound better at very low volumes than 20w heads. Fact is, a typical 100W head with 6l6s for example will not depend as much on power tube distortion as say a 20W EL84 amp. I had at some point a Mesa Mini Recto (25W) and a Friedman Runt 20 (20W) and for bedroom volume they didn't sound good compared to the Mark IV or Dual Recto. Their sweet spot would arrive at off course lower levels than with 100W heads but reality is even at 20W, that sweet spot was way too loud for bedroom practice. So when having both amps below their sweet spot, the bigger ones always sounded better. I would recommend the 20W heads for gigging in smaller venues and when portability is needed (they are much smaller and weigh less than full sized heads) but not for home playing.

That's been my experience also.... 100 watt amps usually sound better than 20 watt amps at very low volumes. It very much depends on the individual amp.

These are always subjective things. I for a change think that a 20 watter with EL84 has better midrange than a 50 or 100 watter with EL34.

And to the OP, best would be that you could actually go to a local store and try few amps. It is always risky to buy one based on what people say on the internet because people tend not to agree on everything.

 

[HellraiserJohnny]

Here is a list of 100w tube amps that sound good at low volumes:









.

I never understand these questions, ALL tube amps sound better turned up. Period. They all sound, well, quiet at low volumes. Lol. They don't sound bad, but of course they will sound a little fuzzy. Every damn one of them. No differences, and I've played and owned all the major names. I've never heard any amp sound really good at a low volume.

My point exactly . . . . Stay Metal!