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Ian F
Ian F PowerDork
3/25/13 1:35 p.m.
poopshovel wrote: Mike is playing through a solid state 100 watt Marshall and says volume is never above 5, with gigs being 50/50 mic'd/not mic'd. Should a 50 tube be enough? I'd rather have the output valves screaming on a 50 watt than have to keep lower volume on a 100. Thoughts?

Going by my experiences a 50W tube amp will have no problem keeping up with a 100W solid state amp.

However... (again - my experience) the typical "Metal guitar sound" is tighter and more "controlled" if you get what I mean. I think you'll get that with a 100W amp turned down easier than with a 50W amp cranked.

Bearing in mind there's a big difference between what guys use in the studio for recording for quick 5 min takes vs pushing an amp hard for an entire gig in a room with piss-poor ventilation. If touring with a 50W head, I'd have a back-up on hand and a list of amp repairs guys along the tour route...

DILYSI Dave
DILYSI Dave MegaDork
3/25/13 4:59 p.m.

FWIW, my .50 caliber was a noise son of a bitch, and I certainly prefer the "tighter" and "controlled" sound Ian mentioned. Putting an Alesis Microgate in the effects loop cured it of all objectionable behavior. It would loosen your shiny happy person, then as soon as you mute it, bam - nothing. Though we definitely ended up more Speed / black metal, we started on the Hardcore end of the spectrum, with lots of starting and stopping, and the Microgate was key to that.

gamby
gamby UltimaDork
3/25/13 6:12 p.m.
poopshovel wrote:
gamby wrote:
poopshovel wrote: Is the JCM a total workhorse? Easy button??? http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/msg/3638144953.html
If you look back at the great rock music that has flowed through them, there isn't much of a counter argument. I'm an equipment luddite, though, so I'm skewed. A nice, thumpy Marshall cups my balls quite nicely, thank you very much.
Man, I love the berkeley out of a 69 plymouth Valiant, but I'm hesitant to travel thousands of miles in it when other people are depending on me Tried a 40 watt blackstar combo at a different shop today. They're getting an EVH and a 50 watt head version of the blackstar for me to try side by side. Thinking I'll pull the trigger on one or the other as I think either will suit my needs well. Mike is playing through a solid state 100 watt Marshall and says volume is never above 5, with gigs being 50/50 mic'd/not mic'd. Should a 50 tube be enough? I'd rather have the output valves screaming on a 50 watt than have to keep lower volume on a 100. Thoughts?

When I was playing out a decent amount (in the 90's, in Boston) I had a really good amp guy in Boston re-tube the thing and go through it. It was super reliable.

The JCM800 is a VERY loud 50 watts. Master volume on 4 and pre-amp on 5 was already plenty loud through a 2x12. I'd let the PA do the rest of the work, since it would get mic'ed/monitored, anyway.

I'd rather turn the 50 up a bit and make it strain just a tad rather than stifle a 100watt. 100 watts of Marshall is just a STUPID (stupid-good) amount of volume. My clean channel was still nice and clean at a decent volume level.

I was playing grungy alt-rock/indie, but I didn't have a noisy sound. Cream live farewell show, Screaming Trees and Dinosaur Jr. were my guidelines for that nice, fat Marshall sound I was after. JCM800 + Rat2 achieves that quite nicely.

dabird
dabird Reader
3/25/13 8:35 p.m.

seriously, if you don't want to drop big $ on an amp look into the Peavy VTM 60. you can buy them for 200-400 all day and they are killer metal amps. all tube. they are ugly as hell and i think that keeps the price down. a lot of the early soundgarden stuff was recorded with these amps and current bands are using them as well. most notably Black Breath. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g74LSUiVyf8

poopshovel
poopshovel UltimaDork
3/26/13 9:59 a.m.

And then there's this...local, hand built and I think hand-wired in South Carolina....

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/3692143265.html

Ian F
Ian F PowerDork
3/26/13 10:33 a.m.

In reply to poopshovel:

Interesting. Made in Dallas, NC.

http://www.splawnguitars.com/amps08.htm

Judging by the $1950 new price, you should be able to haggle him down from $1400.

poopshovel
poopshovel UltimaDork
3/26/13 11:25 a.m.

Aaaah. NC, not SC. As fate would have it, the guy has family in property in the same town where my shop is...so he's bringing it up for me to try out tomorrow He's also bringing a guitar he said I might be interested in...so we might be working a package deal Also, the amp has "Provenance." I'll spill the beans on that one way or the other tomorrow.

poopshovel
poopshovel UltimaDork
3/27/13 9:40 a.m.
Ian F wrote: In reply to poopshovel: Interesting. Made in Dallas, NC. http://www.splawnguitars.com/amps08.htm Judging by the $1950 new price, you should be able to haggle him down from $1400.

Dude is showing up in about an hour. I'm thinking IF I love the thing I'll offer $1k, knowing he'll want to meet halfway at $1200. Still kind of torn because I freaking LOOOOOOOVE the sound of that EVH, but I'm scared I'll be pushing it hard at 50 watts...then again, there are a couple of "gently used" 100 watts on ebay for $1400. Decisions, decisions....

Ian F
Ian F PowerDork
3/27/13 10:16 a.m.

Good luck. They look like neat amps.

poopshovel
poopshovel UltimaDork
3/27/13 11:23 a.m.

It's tough to type with all the blood gone out of my brain. $1300 delivered. It rules the berkeleying school. Definitely a hot-rodded JCM sound right out of the box. I'll probably try to get a little bit "scoopier" sound out of it, but I figured fuggit, if it doesn't do everything I want, I don't think I'll have too hard a time selling or trading and not losing my ass.

My ears are bleeding with the volume at around 1.5. It does have a half-power switch, which is where I'm guessing it will stay most of the time.

gamby
gamby UltimaDork
3/27/13 8:23 p.m.

I told you 50 watts was loud.

Let's see a pic of the setup!

So what is the provenance? Was this the one with the provenance? A friend of mine whom I used to play with got an amp from the dude from Sparklehorse (while that dude was still alive). That's the only equipment with a history that I know about.

poopshovel
poopshovel UltimaDork
3/27/13 8:38 p.m.

Yeeeeah. This is only 50 on half-power. Pics in the CL ad. Supposedly owned by Rich Ward of Stuck Mojo. Rich is a Christian now and this dude supposedly goes to church with him and sets up his guitars and stuff. I have no reason not to believe him.

Not a big fan of their music, but saw them live a couple times in high school, and Rich had a berkeleying HUGE sound, and is a good player to boot. Nothing spectacular, just kinda cool for an ATL boy.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
3/27/13 9:19 p.m.

My 30-watt tube amp is wicked loud, but our house is all tile. Congrats. Sounds like you did good.

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