Metal head on a budget

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Killcrop

Killcrop

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I am looking to get a high gain head for $1000 or under. Ideally I would get a Deliverance but I don't think you can get them for $800 anymore. I've never played a 5150 before. I think I've always been too much of a snob for a Peavey but I don't care about that anymore. I see 6505s for $700. That might scratch my itch. Do those amps even remotely resemble an SLO? I think I read somewhere they lifted the circuit. I might have it confused with a Mesa. Not sure.

Anyway, what is a good buy for over the top gained out metal head? Prefer USA/UK made tube amps.
 
5150/6105s are a motherfucker of an amp. All generations.

Deliverance? That's a brutal amp that takes a brutal man to play it. If that's you, then more power to you.

Rectos with a SD-1 boost are my fave. What is the 'metal' you are going for?
 
squealie said:
5150/6105s are a motherfucker of an amp. All generations.

Deliverance? That's a brutal amp that takes a brutal man to play it. If that's you, then more power to you.

Rectos with a SD-1 boost are my fave. What is the 'metal' you are going for?
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I owned a Deliverance about 12 years ago. At first I was like WTF is this? It was so quick to respond. I listed it for sale. Then in the couple weeks I owned it, I got used to it. I started to warm up to it, then it sold and I just let it go. It was too soon. My bad.
 
There is a 3 channel dual rectifier in here for $1100 . I always keep that amp in my collection. And the seller is great to work with
 
You can find dual recs and Engl fireballs in that range $ can’t go wrong with either for metal .
 
Deliverance, 6505, Blackmore, DSL100H in this order. My bandmate plays Deliverance and I saw him this week with his other band...man, that VHT sounded fabulous. It dominated to second guitarist Triple Rect in band.
 
If you can get a cheap 50-100w amp with an FX loop ($300 or less- Peavey/Crate type) you can buy one of these Lunchbox heads from Soldano/Engl/Friedman as another alternative.
 
Just get a 50 Watt EVH (Newest Version) and be done with it. Any of the 5150 type variants will do as would a Mesa Rec of some sorts. Can't go wrong with either really. Depending on how much volume you need, you may be able to get by on a PRS MT-15 which is much more than 15 watts and sounds great. Amp 1 Iridium comes to mind as well as a nice option. Good luck, there are a lot of nice choices for you and I hope you find one you are happy with the first time. :)
 
JCM 2000 DSL is a formidable beast if you dial it in right. People slag on them, but probably because they use the tone shift and or deep switch, or simply because they regurgitate what they heard on the interwebz. I had a Wizard Metal X and a DSL50 years ago and the DSL sounded every bit as good and I sold the Wizard. Not that the DSL was " better".... That is subjective, but it certainly held up just fine for 1/5 the cost. A good buddy of mine has an MC 25 and the other guy in his band plays a DSL 100. They both sound equally good in a live mix, just different.
 
You could get a first gen Rivera Knucklehead in that budget. Killer cleans with a built in Ninja boost and the lead channel can do metal without breaking a sweat.

Second choice would be a Peavey 5150/6505.
 
What kind of tones do you like? I'm a huge carcass fan so I always go towards a 5150. I'm also a Mastodon and pelican fan so an 800 with a pedal would suit me for that kind of stuff.

Peavey is always a safe bet with the XXX, JSX, 5150 etc. Ceriatone for an 800 or hot rodded Marshall. You could possibly find a used splawn for around a grand. Single rectifiers, evh 50 watt heads.

Personally I've never played a Slo except with modelers and plugins so I say this fulling admitting I'm talking out my ass but I've never liked the Slo sound when I've used a profile or model of one. I know it's completely different ballgame but nothing has every made me want to explore it further especially at 3k a pop.

You could look into a KSR Ares for just a little north over 1k (probably 1500-1600 used). The Ceres and a good tube power amp is just as good imho. We are in a pretty awesome Era for getting good tones on any budget or size.
 
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