help-advice needed on new amp

[luap11]

Hi there, I am in need of advice in choosing a guitar amp. I have recently made the move from playing bass to guitar in my band and I am really confused about which amp I should be getting as the choice is almost overwhelming.

I play in a rock band and we are on the heavier side of things but by no means extreme at all (think somewhere between foo fighters, the vines, and grundge bands from the 90s). I am the rhythm guitarist. I play a 65 Fender Strat Reissue and will shortly be getting a Gibson LP either custom or standard. I deally I need to have 3 chanels a clean, heavy crunch and distorted channel to enable me to play our material however I can get by without the clean. I have no pedals as yet. I am thinking about the following amps -

1-Marshall JVM 410H,
2-Engl E645/2 Powerball,
3-Engl E635 Fireball,
4-Mesa Boogie TA30 Transatlantic,
5-Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier,
6-Mesa Boogie Mark Five Guitar Amplifier Head,
7-Mesa Boogie 2.DR1X.B.LC Dual Rectifier 100W Amplifier Head
8-Hiwatt HGB50C 50w 2x12 Combo Amp
9-Marshall 1959SLP Vintage Series 100watt Super Lead Plexi Guitar Head 10-Marshall MLH2245 JTM45 Vintage Series 30watt Valve Guitar Head

Has anyone had experience, own and/or play with any of these, any comments or feedback would be most welcomed. Positives, negatives, good and bad points, anything really. I need the amp to gig and record with. We are doing a very important recording in about 6 months time.

Thanks very much,

Paul.

[drbob1]

I've only played a couple of 3 channel amps I liked, and none of them enough to choose them over a good 2 channel amp or even one channel with good pedals. Of the ones you've mentioned, I've owned the Marshall 1959, the Mesa Rectifier, and Mark series 1, 2, 3 and 4 (after the 4 I have no interest in owning the 5). My preference would be a REALLY kick but single channel amp, like the 1959 or an AC30 and pedals to do the rest of it. Still, I likes me some high gain... I'd suggest looking at a couple of other amps:

Lots of modern bands using Orange. Sort of a different flavor of two channels: less compressed and perhaps a bit smoother than a Mark series Mesa, lots of bass available.

Randall/Egnator modular amps: nice concept-use an all tube preamp and a shared power amp. They sound good. the Randall versions I've played weren't too reliable, haven't owned an Egnator.

I've also enjoyed the H&K Triamp, the Hiwatt, Fender Bassman and Supersonic as well as the Superchamp from the 80s...

[nedorama]

Unless you're playing at major stadiums, outdoor festivals or 300+person clubs, I think you'll find a lot of those amps are going to be way too much amp, and to get THE sound out of a lot of them, the only way is to crank them, which you'll probably never be able to. Rectifiers sound great when they're cranked; Plexi's only really sound good cranked, but at that point, the club will pull power on you and shut down the show...

For your gigs, where do you mostly play? Is there a PA that everything goes through, or just vocals? It will make a big difference on what you pick. I'd recommend staying 50 watts and under as some of your choices are -- more than that is just overkill and you'll never get put in the PA. 50 watts is still a lot for a guitar amp (vs. a bass amp) and even 30 watts can be plenty loud; with a mic on the amp to the PA it can be as loud as need be.

Couple of suggestions:
I'd say that pedals can help to get you to your 3 tones vs. trying to find an amp that does all 3 well.

I would look at the Reeves Amp line instead of Hiwatt, since Hiwatt is no longer the old Hiwatt - it's owned by Fernandes. Reeves is the real deal still.

Gearslutz is great in that you get lots of passionate people that can help you out. It also means you may get 5 people give 5 different assessments of the same amp for your genre. Take it all with a grain of salt (my advice included) and when you get down to your top list, find a good amp place and go in and audition the amps with your guitar. Big investment, but you need to be happy.

[mikeyman]

Ampeg GVT15
have a friend that likes these