Best Rock gigging amp

monquixote

Onpar said:

This is the thing I'm confused about. If someone had a marshall style amp with no effects loop, how would they increase volume for a solo boost and cut through? 

Some have 2 master volumes.

Also mid focussed overdrive provided you don't use too much gain.

hollywoodrox

Our very own @fastonebaz uses a DSL40 combo to gig with  to great effect 
  Gotta be a Marshall hasn’t it .

mrkb

monquixote said:

Onpar said:

This is the thing I'm confused about. If someone had a marshall style amp with no effects loop, how would they increase volume for a solo boost and cut through? 

Some have 2 master volumes.

Also mid focussed overdrive provided you don't use too much gain.

Or ABY pedal to bring in another amp!

cruxiform

Blackstar HT40. Great all rounder.

AndyJP

How about a victory v30 mk2?

monquixote

Studio Rats have recently done a video about how stupidly cheap JCM 900s are and that will at some point be considered a classic and go up in value.

fastonebaz

hollywoodrox said:

Our very own @fastonebaz uses a DSL40 combo to gig with  to great effect 
  Gotta be a Marshall hasn’t it .

Damn straight I do. 

The Marshall DSL40cr is so versatile.   Loads of headroom.  Good cleans and crunch and thick saturation.  DI out. Speaker options etc

Change the speaker to something better than stock.  I use it with an extension to run as 2x12

Put a clean boost in the loop for a volume hike for solos.

Note, built in reverb is rubbish it's barely detectable. 

monquixote

fastonebaz said:

hollywoodrox said:

Our very own @fastonebaz uses a DSL40 combo to gig with  to great effect 
  Gotta be a Marshall hasn’t it .

Damn straight I do. 

The Marshall DSL40cr is so versatile.   Loads of headroom.  Good cleans and crunch and thick saturation.  DI out. Speaker options etc

Change the speaker to something better than stock.  I use it with an extension to run as 2x12

Put a clean boost in the loop for a volume hike for solos.

Note, built in reverb is rubbish it's barely detectable. 

It has midi so it works really well with a multi FX.

Dave_Mc

Onpar said:

I want to ensure it's loud enough for slightly larger venues un mic'd, and something that will get louder when I stomp on a boost pedal rather than just gainier/mushier. So I'm guessing 40 Watts is probably the sweet spot, same as the HRD. I was looking at the Marshall Studio series but at 20 Watts I just don't thinks it's going to be powerful enough and unfortunately the other decent Marshalls are 100watts, which will be too loud. 

There's a 50 watt JVM head. It's only the 2-channel version, though. But might be worth considering.

Kebabkid

I'd take a look at the PRS MT-15 (watch the Studio Rats demo).

Loud enough and a light, small package. The clean channel is very good (keep the boost on) and depending on how hot your pickups are, if you keep the gain on the lead channel below 11 o'clock, it'll work for what you want and I'd think of it as a less aggressive sounding 5150 but it can do that as well, if you want it.

One went on here this week for just over £300. Bargain and it has an fx loop.

ecc83

IMHO you don't want an amp with a strong 'character' if you are doing such a range of band covers?

You don't for instance buy a PA with "attitude"! No, you just want it to amplify the band's sound that you create.

Of course, virtually all guitar amps are 'voiced' i.e. they have their basic tone tweaked to someone's idea of the best sound but you don't want TOO much character.

Dave.

Jonathangus

Onpar said:

Jonathangus said:

If it weren't for your penultimate sentence, I'd say DSL40.  Really flexible, especially if you add the 6-way footswitch.

How do they sound? Are they cheap and fizzy compared to the UK made Marshall"s? 

Not heard the 40 in the flesh, but they sound much better (IMO) than the 20.  The 20 lacks the crunch channel, which is JCM 800-ish.  The drive channel of the 20 starts with quite a bit of gain and gets more saturated from there.  If they did the 40 as a head, I'd probably have bought one.

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Late 70s Marshall JMP 50watt head or early 70s Lead and Bass (20 watts). 

I got one of these instead. 

TTBZ

Onpar said:

Jonathangus said:

If it weren't for your penultimate sentence, I'd say DSL40.  Really flexible, especially if you add the 6-way footswitch.

How do they sound? Are they cheap and fizzy compared to the UK made Marshall"s? 

No, not at all. As I've said on here before I A/B'd the DSL20HR and the SC20H/Studio Jubilee and you can dial them all in to sound so similar. The main difference is in feel, the Studio Classic just has a more uncompressed and dynamic feel and the mids are a bit more "modern" on the DSL. The DSL40CR on the Vintage Crunch channel gets very close in feel and sound. I wish there was a DSL40 head. If you want a solid workhorse for rock and metal you cant go wrong with a DSL. Good enough for Scott Gorham and Gary Holt. Even better through a Creamback too.

JMP220478

Remember to factor in guitar speaker preference and associated sensitivity as it has its part in the actual volume experience .

Ie EVH Greenback 96 db vs V30 100db -  same amp into both speakers will result in a markedly louder experience with the V30 ( I hesitate to say twice as loud but look up a 3db change in audio terms ) 

Im using a boogie 25W head and through a V30 1x12 rectifier cab and have gigged it unmic’d in average bars n pubs n never any complaints about not being heard :-) 

Might have had a few about what they’ve heard  

Danny1969

JMP220478 said:

Remember to factor in guitar speaker preference and associated sensitivity as it has its part in the actual volume experience .

Ie EVH Greenback 96 db vs V30 100db -  same amp into both speakers will result in a markedly louder experience with the V30 ( I hesitate to say twice as loud but look up a 3db change in audio terms ) 

Im using a boogie 25W head and through a V30 1x12 rectifier cab and have gigged it unmic’d in average bars n pubs n never any complaints about not being heard :-) 

Might have had a few about what they’ve heard  

Yep, I gig'ed a Blackstar HT5 for about 5 years in a Thin Lizzy tribute and a generic classic rock covers band. I had it going into a 1 x 12 cab fitted with a Celestion Lead 75 speaker which was so sensitive the amp was plenty loud enough. I though years of driving it hard would result in failure and started carrying a spare but never needed it 

Dominic

Marshall mini Jubilee is brilliant for the money but the clean channel is a bit thin although the drive is great.
Carr Mercury V is the ultimate (but pricey) tool for this job........it's 16 watts but ridiculously loud .....it drowns out most 30w amps and makes mincemeat of the 25w Jubilee . 

sweepy

MkV Boogie, it’ll do the lot 

Barquentine

I was in a rock covers band for ten years doing the kind of stuff you're talking about. For the last four years I was using a Yamaha THR100 Dual into the matching 2x12 cab. It sounds phenomenal. I had mine set up for Marshall tones with three foot-switchable sounds. Low gain cleanish/crunch rhythm/ lead tone with a little extra gain and volume for solos. I was really happy with it and sold my Cornford Roadhouse as it wasn't being used.

JayGee

Blackstar Series One (in my case a 104 EL34) - it’s heavy, the transformers are all up at one end (which with a single handle in the middle makes it an awkward bugger to carry) but it covers a lot of ground, four channels makes it very flexible in use, and it’s loud as hell…

monquixote

This is me bashing away with mine on the Trent.

I think it sounds alright when I do some AC/DC type riffs.

I'm straight in on a guitar I'm unfamiliar with and it's not very loud so any mug should be able to do the same or better at a pub gig.