Thee Kirstie amp quest: Continued (Slightly less neurotic)

[qersty]

Or do I just not know shit about this thing?

I want (need, really) to get a new guitar amp, since the carvin combo I have played since forever has crapped out and is probably too expensive to repair Also I am probably about to start a hardcore band in which I will play guitar. I tried getting into high-gain monster amps cause that's what you can get here, really, and clean amps are so hip now you can't come by them at reasonable prices. Kinda scrapped that idea tho cause I started feeling bad over the thought of having a lot of dirt pedz and like 3 channels also (yes kinda stupid but I like the sound of only my pedals). I did almost score some fender twin amp that the connoisseurs hated, sadly the seller broke it before he could ship. Since then I haven't been able to find anything in a reasonable price range that isn't either really tiny, a jcm2000 or too far away. Add to that that I'm just really non-knowledgable about amps in general, I know hi-watts are the shit and that I like voxes but their amps only are troublesome. Also marshalls aren't my thing, they just get really trebly and sound bad. Like I really dig icepicky tones but marshall icepick sounds bad for some reason

I mean my bass setup probably would kill any guitar amp any day but I would like to have an amp that stops being loud at some point and craps out instead. Thank you for coming to my ted talk

[frigid midget]

Sounds like you should start by figuring out what sorta tone you're after. If there's a typical style of amps that's being used in the specific genre of hardcore you're gonna play, maybe that could be a starting point.

To each their own, but "marshall are really trebly and sound bad"...gives me the impression you had a bad experience with a Valvestate combo, or that you're maybe refering to the cleans of a dsl/tsl/jcm or something

Plexi style marshalls are the shit impo, but they won't do twin reverb cleans or ac30 cleans. I had a silverface twin reverb for a long time, was a great pedal platform. Lacked the low end oomph and sag of a Marshall slp half stack though.

I had a vox phase too. Never heard of them being troublesome, at least not the newer stuff
The AC30 tends to be picky with high gain dirt pedals imo, I personally wouldn't wanna rely on an AC30 for a gainy hardcore band.
Vox does nice cleans though, but I don't know if it's a good idea to focus on clean tones when you're starting a hardcore band

[qersty]

I just want an anonymous not-really-clean sound, kinda hard to describe but not much tone just that it amps stuff and makes loud stuff more distorted. Like just crunchy enough. Plexi marshalls rule its the jcms I dont like, the distortion is just like all treble but in a not cool way. otherwise i like. being all treble.

[MechaGodzilla]

peavey? traynor?

[frigid midget]

I've had my Traynor YBA-1 for long enough now to say it's probably the best amp I owned, at least for me, for the kinda stuff I like to play these days.
It's in the vintage-y Marshall ballpark I'd say, but it's still its own thing. Looks cool, build like a tank, costs a fration of a Marshall branded point-to-point alternative from that era.

Does glassy cleans until you turn it up, with the volume control around noon it starts growling. Not even in a crunchy sorta way, your notes and chords just start to sound pissed off and bloomy and full...if that makes any sense

The key is to push the front end with something like a microamp. That's what I use, but I'm sure any klon/lpb-1/sho/etc would work as well.
Or just run yer favorite dirt box in front of it, it takes all pedals like a mother. Singe channel, no master volume, no fx loop...and enough low end to be used as a sonic wheapon.

Still though, if the sort of hardcore you're into needs a chug-worthy responsive amp that doens't have the plexi-esque spongyness...you might want to look into the mesa mark series or something

I get what you say about the Marshall jcm series. Awesome for a lot of styles, but that extremely compressed overdrive just isn't for everyone.

Fwiw, if I needed a back-up or replacement for my Traynor, I'd check out the Victory Sheriff 44. Pricey, but probably better build and still cheaper as the current Marshall equivalent.

[crochambeau]

Every time I see this sort of puzzle my brain spits out "power amplifier paired with a preamplifier".

That said, it could be argued that my brain has it in for my back, so listening to my brain must be done with the sort of caution one would extend to a cornered wild animal that has somehow wound up inside of your house.

[MechaGodzilla]

oh yeah, musicman. clean machines.

[themeanreds]

Super cheap:
Old Randall solid state (Commander Series, for example)
Old Peavey
New Peavey solid state or tube
Some Acoustic (as in Acoustic Control Corp.) amps can still be found cheap, especially if they are not in collector condition
Ampeg SS150

Cheapish:
Traynor (old or recent)
Red Knob series Fenders
Higher wattage old Guild
“ “ “ “ Gibson

[Blackened Soul]

oh yeah, musicman. clean machines.

An HD130 is funking loud and when distorted is unpleasant and mean sounding like a old man trying to attach you for getting on his lawn

or you could get a sunn 200S

[themeanreds]

Also: you want to have amp that stops being loud at some point, and craps out instead?

Is there a typo in there? I am confused.

[JonnyAngle]

You have a few options

Get a separate pre and power amp like Curtis said
Get an old peavey or something similar on Craigslist. Could be an old pa or something similar not necessarily a guita amp.

[odontophobia]

What kind of hardcore band is probably a better question.

JCM2000 DSL is legit great. Plenty of good bands make 'em sound good. Can be had for cheap. Dial it in. Probably just skip the JCM 900's the everybody hates. Inter Arma uses it and they're sludgey and heavy as fuck. Doesn't sound like ice pick to me. Also, don't be afraid to just dial some shit out. I used to use the Presence knob on my Dual Rectifier to add treble in, actual treble knob was at zero.

Peavey Butcher or Peavey VTM 60/120 would be legit. Pedals fo' sho' on that. Peavey Ultra is pretty lit, too, but that starts to get closer to Peavey XXX territory.

Johannes of Cult of Luna uses a Traynor and an Orange. I would fuck hard with a Traynor. Kurt Ballou used a Traynor all over some Converge shit.

Oranger Rockerverb fucks even though it's a modern, high gain Orange. I love mine. I keep saying I'm going to sell it, and I list it, but I always back out.

Ampeg V4 would slay. Can definitely do hardcore. Loma Prieta used them and pulled off some good shit.

[BoatRich]

What type of hardcore is important. I run a Peavey Butcher and a 5150 in stereo for my Converge worship band. An old Traynor or a V4 is never bad, Plexi’s are sick, consider a Bassman if you like running pedals for dirt?

[qersty]

Defos had my eye on some of the peavey stuff, i see their newer amps pop up often. I find the new peavey stuff confusing though, it's either almost the same amp with different names or the same name but very different amps. That or 5150s which I do not want. Also the windsor, which I understand sounds like a cranked marshall at all volumes. Running a preamp+power amp is my plan B as that's how I run my bass rig and sometimes I see the mesa studio caliber for ok money and the kobain thing seems like a pretty nice setup. I also have looked at some fender stuff but most of them are pretty far away, not a bassman but I did consider a showman that wasn't that far away. Also not as pricey as I've imagined compared to other culty amps I've seen, still alot of money and I'm worried I have no reference point for exactly how loud those things are. Another one I have looked at was some red knob 60 watt that was rack shaped but I can't find any serious info on it other than "it ain't one of them twins".

Also: you want to have amp that stops being loud at some point, and craps out instead?

Is there a typo in there? I am confused.

Ok yeah I may have worded that weirdly. I don't want something that's super saggy and tuby, just so that when you turn it up loud you can hit it with something and get more dirt.

Hardcore like not sub-genre hardcore, that's why I want a cleanish amp so that I can sound like a shitty distortion pedal but I want the option to drive the amp a little if I get sick of that