I need an amp to use at home that does it all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TheGASMan

Hi All

Hope you can help me

I have tried loads and loads of big tube amps that I love but I now want something that has tubes to go in front room that has multi Channels and built in reverb, I don't want to use any pedals as I hate leads all over the place.

I want to play clean all the way through to metal

I don't really want to have to mess about with biasing when I change tubes or have to go to the trouble of taking amp to a tech to get serviced and wait for a month with no amp so that prob leaves me with something with EL84s

Before I just cave and buy a Powered Kemper + FS does anyone have an idea of something that will fulfill my admittedly long list of demands

Budget - up to what the kemper rig would cost so about £2k I guess

Thanks

A

RMJ

Why not a Helix  and monitors instead of a kemper? I get some lovely sounds out of mins at home. Whilst I miss having an amp, I have come to realise an amp wouldn't sounds any better

guitarfishbay

Mesa Roadster, but if you want tight metal sounds you will need a tubescreamer. It’ll do pretty much everything else without one.

TheGASMan

RMJ said:

Why not a Helix  and monitors instead of a kemper? I get some lovely sounds out of mins at home. Whilst I miss having an amp, I have come to realise an amp wouldn't sounds any better

Just sold my Helix and matrix - effects and switching were really useful but I was very unimpressed with amp sounds and would go for Kemper - I know it is personal taste but just didn't do it for me

TheGASMan

guitarfishbay said:

Mesa Roadster, but if you want tight metal sounds you will need a tubescreamer. It’ll do pretty much everything else without one.

Had a Rodster before buy had a £700 bill when it went wrong so gonna stay clear of that - Mark V 25 any good?

dindude

PRS Sonzsra seems to cover a lot of ground, has bias points on the back panel for easy use.

TheGASMan

I looked at those but will be too loud I think

Really needs a built in attenuator or low wattage option otherwise home use is not gonna be an option

simonk

The MkV:25 is a cracking little amp but not suited to home use unless you have highly tolerant cohabitants/neighbours.

Kemper and decent studio monitors sounds like it might be the way for you.

Wazmeister

Kemper. Full stop. Imho, having bought every bloody amp out there, at some point...

TheGASMan

Wazmeister said:

Kemper. Full stop. Imho, having bought every bloody amp out there, at some point...

I'm getting to that point again - just looking at Mesa V 25 and Mesa Express 5:25 + to see if they do it

octatonic

Needs more exclamations points.

DrCornelius

Seriously try the Yamaha THR100HD, f you are ever down south come and try mine. I've not gassed for an amp since I bought mine and I've had and sold more than a few before this one (inc  AX8, Helix, Carr, Marshall, Lazy J ).

Admittedly I've never tried a Kemper but the AX8, although awesome was too complex for me plus I couldnt quite get the amp in the room sound I liked through it.

TheGASMan

I knew I hadn't put enough FFS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TheGASMan

DrCornelius said:

Seriously try the Yamaha THR100HD, f you are ever down south come and try mine. I've not gassed for an amp since I bought mine and I've had and sold more than a few before this one (inc  AX8, Helix, Carr, Marshall, Lazy J ).

Admittedly I've never tried a Kemper but the AX8, although awesome was too complex for me plus I couldnt quite get the amp in the room sound I liked through it.

I'm having a binge on youtube demos today - will add to list

ICBM

DrCornelius said:

Seriously try the Yamaha THR100HD, f you are ever down south come and try mine. I've not gassed for an amp since I bought mine and I've had and sold more than a few before this one (inc  AX8, Helix, Carr, Marshall, Lazy J ).

I tried one of these, courtesy of @rossyamaha, and it's the best digital amp I've heard. Very flexible and sounded extremely natural. If I ever need a gigging electric guitar amp again it will be top of the list.

I have heard reports that it doesn't sound as loud as a 100W valve amp in a gig situation, which I don't doubt, but I'd guess it would probably be enough given that I usually play at around the volume of a 15W amp.

RandallFlagg

TheGASMan said:

Wazmeister said:

Kemper. Full stop. Imho, having bought every bloody amp out there, at some point...

I'm getting to that point again - just looking at Mesa V 25 and Mesa Express 5:25 + to see if they do it

I have the Mark V 35 combo, same as the 25 but slightly more powerful (however it does have a 25 and 10 watt setting) I also had the Express 5:25+. Either can be set to sound great at home volume but there are some differences.

When compared side by side the Express sounds less refined with a hard to control low end boom on the clean channel, the Mark V feels, looks and sounds higher quality of build, for example the graphic EQ sliders are much higher quality on the Mark than the Express where they can be a little loose and sloppy in thier movement.

The drive sounds on channel 2 sound better on the Mark than on the Express, despite it's name the Xtreme mode can get some great lower gain tones that can be dialled in to work really well with the clean channel, it can be set to sound just like you switched on a mild overdrive pedal when switching from channel 1 to 2. Walter Trout used this mode for his snarly blues tones.

However, the Express has some features that the Mark doesn't such as footswitchable reverb and seperate jack sockets for all the footswich functions so they can be controlled from a floor device like a Helix if you want to.

The Mark has the cab clone for direct recording or connecting to a PA (never tried it though) and a headphones out.

Of the two I would recommend the Mark V 25 or 35 over the Express which is now discontinued anyway. One thing I like about the 35 over the 25 is the solo boosts on each channel and the larger footswitch with more options.

Dialling in the Boogie needs a different approach that some other amps as well, rather than startIng with controls at noon and tweaking from there, I start with all controls at zero, the work up from there starting with the treble, sometimes I can end up with all tone settings below noon. Also, keep the gain control under check if the master volume is low as things can get too stuffy and compressed sounding until the master gets opened up.

Great amps which reward some time and effort dialling in and can get a very wide range of tones, the crunch mode does a good Marshall flavour overdrive as well.

JMP220478

Adamski

That new Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit seems to cover a lot of ground. Seems like they’ve really thought of everything. 

TheGASMan

I "Think" I am gonna try a 5:25 express combo or a mark - if neither of those do it for me it will be the kemper

Thank you for the input Ladies and Gentleman

Now that brings up a completely different question - are there any ladies on this forum - In my ignorance I just assume it's a bunch of hairy blokes, or bald ones in my case

Thanks

A

octatonic

Wazmeister said:

Kemper. Full stop. Imho, having bought every bloody amp out there, at some point...

Agree.

Or a Helix.
Or an Axe FX 2/3.

olafgarten

TheGASMan said:

I "Think" I am gonna try a 5:25 express combo or a mark - if neither of those do it for me it will be the kemper

Thank you for the input Ladies and Gentleman

Now that brings up a completely different question - are there any ladies on this forum - In my ignorance I just assume it's a bunch of hairy blokes, or bald ones in my case

Thanks

A

We do have a few ladies here.