help me choosing my amp

painman · January 2006

ok guys iam about to get a compo amplifier 2x12 but iam really confused on which amp to select from these amps:

1-B-52 LG-10012S 400$.

2- crate rfx120 combo 450$ .

3- Randall RG100SC G2 487$.

4-Kustom Quad 100 DFX 100 Watt 2 x 12 350$

and i want to know are all of them made in the U.S.A

about the music i play (alternative , rock ,melodic metal) so please guys help me up i only have 500$ and i really dont wanna waste them .....

dmock66 · January 2006

The thing I notice about this list is it's solid state. I know tube amps are more expensive, but you get such better sound out of them. Have you considered any of them? I know the Crate Palomino V32s are getting RAVE reviews. It's a 30 watt Class A amp with a single 12\" speaker - but I've read a lot of guys with very discerning ears who swear by them. I have a Traynor YCV40WR that I really like. I know there are several other similar amps that sound awesome.

I don't want to sound like I'm raining on your parade - but I read the last sentence of your post, that you don't want to waste your $$$. I've owned more than a few amps over the years. To me, the tube amps just sound better, and tend to sit in the mix of a band better as well. That's my experience. I'm not a tube snob, per say. I've heard some nice sounding solid state amps - but they typically are one trick pony type things.

Just my opinion.

glp_78 · January 2006

If you want to go tube there are some affordable ones on the market. Peavey makes an all tube 2X12 combo for around 500. It's the ValveKing. Also Ebay has some tube amps. I bought a Crate and like it very much. It's a solid workhorse and gets the job done. If you are using the 3K though, just buy the bare bones model, the GT212. It sounds good, it just doesn't have effects and stuff, which you won't need with the 3K. I have owned lots of tube amps, but the thing I didn't like is that I had to really crank the amp to get it to saturate and sound good. This is hard when you live with a Wife or play small venues.

Kewlpack · January 2006

Painman - I have (and love) a Crate Palomino V32. It is an excellent stand-alone amp and it serves all of my MFX units VERY nicely.

Fantastic tube amp at about $500. Very hard to beat. Save a few more pennies if needed.

Don't go solid state. I've owned numerous SS amps at many different levels and none of them really worked well with MFXs... some did a fairly decent job, but couldn't hold a candle to a true FRFR rig.

Tube based warms up everything and adds some nice harmonic richness to everything.

Just a few thoughts from someone who's gone down this road. 8)

kensmith · January 2006

plug for a \"colorless\" amp:
I use a GNX3 and have been seeking a nice amp to back end it. My search ended last month when I found the Tech21 PowerEngine60. I had heard rave reviews of the quality of the Tech21 amps (Trademark line) but I was working with a less than $300 budget and wanted at least a 12\" speaker. I think you need at least 12\" speaker or 2 10s in order to get the full rich sound that my blues and rock playing requires. Since the Trademark60 runs over $500 I thought I was out of luck, until I saw some reviews on harmony central of the Tech21 PowerEngine60.
The PowerEngine has no pre-amp, only a 60 watt amp with volume, 3band EQ, and ground lift. It is designed to acurately reproduce and amplify the input without any coloration. After a week or so of playing around with it and my GNX3, I can say that I it is a must for anyone with a multi-effects unit (Pod, tonelab, digitech gnx, boss, etc). If you have good patches and amp models, you will be amazed at how nice they sound on this unit. It is a quality cabinet, built in the US with great materials, and a very nice Celestion 12\" speaker. I would love to try it with a tube pre-amp (such as ToneLab or Tonebone or Tubeman) to add even warmer tube sound. Disclaimer: To all the tube loyalists out there.....and I respect all the various reasons that you are loyal to the tube ;-) - I am by no means saying that this is exact replication of tube sound amp, but if you want the versitility of a multi-effects processor, and can live with some of amp modeling artifacts, you may want to try that setup. I got mine for $250 brand new and love it.

0Dannyboy · January 2006

This is not a hip product and probley uncool to say but my brother had a solid state Crate 2x12 120 amp he brought over. I thought the distorted channel was pretty crappy but the clean channel was pretty colorless and at 120 watts it was very loud so I plugged in my GNX3...it sounded awsome for the money. 299.00 I think.
Now I know tubes are warmer I use a fender hotrod deluxe when I use a real amp but for the money this peavey sounded great through my GNX3. and was way loud enough to play with live drums.
Go Figure

painman · January 2006

first thank you guys for your replies , and i can see that you all guys want me to get a tube amp ?!!! ok speaking of tube amp there is Peavey Triple XXX Super 40 EFX Combo on musicians friend for 500$ so what about this amp .

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/481394/

second i have a GNX2 and i love this thing but my question here is :

how can i run my sound for (stereo) on one amplifier ?

and i think that if iam going to run it stereo it would be beter with 2x12 amp or what?!!!

secound what is the (effects loop \"send \\receive:) and dose it make my sound stereo or not ?

guys i know that i have no knowlegde in amplifiers so please help me

all what i want is a good sound amplifier and use the stereo option in my GNX2 coz i love the sound ( because iam now playing throught my stereo head phones and i want the same sound to came in the amplifier)

long live sound community....

glp_78 · January 2006

That is my feeling of the Crate 212. It has a good clear clean channel that sounds good with the 3K. Also, it has an effects loop to run into. Both ways sound good to me, just eq'd differently. My suggestion is pick a day to go to guitar center with your GNX. Try out a lot of different amps and see which one suits your ears. We all probably have different tastes and what works for each person, but you need to find what works with you. Take your time and try em all.

thehootman · January 2006

to run your guitar stereo effectively you need a stereo amp and a quad with at least 2 speakers.

help me choosing my amp

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