New Amp Purchase looming - Input anyone?

[GermanCdn]

The 5150 is only because I am a huge EVH fan (if only he'd find a singer).  The rare time I need a lot of gain, I'll throw a Boneyard or my Keeley DS-1 in the front end.

[oldhousescott]

Have you checked out the Traynor DarkHorse 15H? I've not personally tried one, but I figure you're in Canada, they're in Canada, L&M probably carries them.....

[Matt Gnarly]

As far as the 5150 goes are you looking for something new specifically? Have you ever heard of any of the amps from the series right before 5150? Like Peavey Butcher, Mace or VTM-120? You can grab any of those 3 of Craigslist pretty regularly for 200-300 bucks.
I recently aquired a VTM-120 which is a hot rodded clone of a JCM800! I got it for 200 dollars and its freaking heavy duty!! A whole interactive EQ in the front section..check them out on youtube. That's if you want a high gain head and want to save!! 

The 5150 III is a EVH (Fender) product, the old 5150 (current 6505) is Peavey and they don't have a small format head, just a 60 watt combo (heavy as heck for a 1x12).

[pietro_moog]

well, i don't have a suggestion, i can only describe my amps:
currently i have 3 amps, all built by myself

1) a fender princeton aa964 with a 5y3 rectifier and better filtering, with phase inverter and tremolo taken from 5g9 vibrolux. 3 ways switchable feedback.
i have even a reverb unit in the cabinet, with one 6bm8 and one 12ax7.
actually built in a 5f2 cabinet.
sweetest amp i ever heard. very nice clean, very nice break up. the tremolo is hypnotic. the reverb from the unit is very beautiful and flexible, but i had to use the short springs because of the cabinet ( 5f2 was the original project 2 years ago). if i could co it again i would choose a bigger cabinet and a 12" speaker. that's the only regret. more space, easier to build and to drill. probably i would use a princeton BF cab and chassis.

2) a dual channel, el84s based 18w with channel switching. basically a soldano atomic 16 built on a slo100 board, with an ef86 based clean channel. 3 ways sw feedback, but no feedback on el84s is ear-piercing.
the crunch channel is AWESOME! sounds like a mini jcm800.
the clean channel is powerful and thick. no eq, just a sweepable hipass.
i use this amp basically for home recording, so that's why this particular configuration.
the clean paired with a Mudbunny with mids and germanium diodes is TOTAL  DOOM.
but it's really good even with a Slambox. sort of an AC10.

3) a 100w, which i use as gig amp. 3 channel amp, based on the Soldano Slo100. clean is a fender preamp
with reverb, like the twin. crunch and lead are based on the slo100, with separated eqs. no loop. 3 feedback modes. this amp is truly awesome but f**king LOUD. the overdrive is unbelievable.
the crunch i very tight and full. the clean is like the twin. it becomes a good bass amp removing tonestack with a switch and feeded by a faultline.

i'm renewing my pedalboard right now, so i plan to use this stuff with:
 
Slambox, Collosalus, Green Bean, Mudbunny (with focus kn, mid kn, and switchable diodes system),
phase 90, small clone, DMM, and the weener wah.


that's all my stuff, i hope this post to be inspiring for someone.

oh, and i built my guitar too, a warmoth jazzmaster with an humbucker at the bridge.
(splittable, of course)

[jubal81]

2) a dual channel el84s 18w with channel switching. basically a soldano atomic 16 builted on a slo100 board, with an ef86 based clean channel. 3 way sw feedback, but no feedback on el84s is ear-piercing.
the crunch channel is AWESOME! sounds like a mini jcm800.
the clean channel is powerful and thick. no eq, just a sweepable hipass.
i use this amp basically for home recording, so that's why this particular configuration.
the clean paired with a Mudbunny with mids and germanium diodes is TOTAL  DOOM.
but it's really good even with a Slambox. sort of an AC10.

Wow, that sounds like something I'd love. Did you build it yourself?

[pietro_moog]

yeps. i still have some leakage problems with the crunch channel (it spills into the clean) but it's just a matter of finding out what's the voltage the VTLs work best.
it's a small head, not a combo. you can't put an ef86 in a combo and expect it to live more than a week.
honestly i find that clean very limited in a dual channel solution, too much contrast with the soldano (the lack of a tonestack, and the incredibly thick tone). it would be very nice in single channel amp.

i can give you some advices, schematics if you want, some tips, but you can find everything you need in places like music electronics forum or sloconeforums.

building an amp it's not easy, it's not an overdrive. it takes a lot of work, a lot of learning, and if you don't pay attention you can risk your life because of the hi voltages. and it's not cheap.
but it's awesome.
if you have no experience and wanna start with amps i suggest an "easy build" like a 5f1 head.
if you need some additional info just PM me

[jubal81]

Thanks a bunch. I've been itching to do an amp build and I've read a few books and been researching on the web, so I feel pretty confident I can handle it. 

This EF86 kit at Brown Note has gotten my attention recently.
http://store.bnamp.com/voxlite18kits1.html

[kevnkar]

I would say, "Save your money.", and get a couple of really good amps. After a long convoluted path which included having all of my gear stolen. I have arrived at having an amp that is really good at gritty blues sounds and which allows me to switch between 6v6, 6l6 and el34 at will. Then, i have the el84 based one that does the whole bright slightly hairy, clean tone, That provides two really good canvases which can be tweaked for pennies through manipulation of cap values etc. in pedals. It becomes an act of balancing filtering of frequencies vs. modulation to illicit certain emotions.
 I guess my point is this. The amp should provide all the responsiveness and a little character but remain basically a transparent canvas  for further tone tweaking with pedals. Or leave the pedals at home and still sound great.
Hope this confuses matters even more.

[keysandguitars]

I built an Allen Encore and love that amp. The cleans are amazing and the reverb and tremolo are the best I've owned. The amp was a kit and had perfect instructions, they had to be because I built one and it fired right up. check David's stuff out if you need fender tones www.allenamps.com

That said, it doesn't do heavy and real rocking stuff. I was looking at Carving V3m, Egnater, Jet City, Tiny Terror, etc. I wound up playing through an old Carvin X100B 100 watt head with a matching 4x12 cab (the ugly gray carpet model). I knew Zappa and Vai played the amp back in the day. I plugged in and was pretty amazed with the cleans and got some great chunky hi gain tones. I went home, grabbed my EgoDriver, Uproar, Rainy Day, and Glitteratti and returned to the shop. I spent an hour just ripping on that amp and every pedal just sounded amazing. I bought it for $535 out the door. If you can find an older X100B, try it out. It has a 100w/50w/25w setting, fx loop, 4,8,16ohm cab setting, can be modded easily to accept 6L6 or EL34s. I really like the active tone controls, TMB and an assignable 5 band graphic eq. You can get some good marshall tones and some Mark III tones. I've played my pedals through my Allen, an old Peavey tube amp, Mesa Dual Recto, Marshall Class 5, and they sound best through the X100B. Rant over.

Best of luck. I'd pass on the Class 5. I bought the first version, modded it some and still don't really like it. I was leaning between that and an Egnater. I should have bout the Egnater. I wasn't in love with either, but the Egnater was more versatile and is a better buy IMO.

I agree with kevnkar, save up and get the best amp you can. I had a Bad Cat Hot Cat 30R, which I sold to chromesphere  only because I needed money to put in to my keyboard arsenal. That amp was so inspiring to play, even if I was banging out simple power chords, it just sounded so damn good. The next amp I'd like to save for is a Bogner Shiva...yikes.