6505MH or PRS MT-15?

[Boris_VTR]

From my experience an used ENGL could be found very cheap. We are talking around 500 Eur for powerball2/fireball2 and around 600 for blackmore. I can vouch that fireball60 or engl savage have very good master volume and sound very good at very low volume. And they do have very very solid cleans.
If you are going with new amp and MT15 I would suggest using JHS Little Black Box. Its passive master volume that you put in the loop and will help with MT15 volume tapper issue. Its 44 eur in Thomann.

 

[Millul]

Yep, being in Germany, used Engl makes a lot of sense.
I remember my Thunder not having a really good MV, but if you guys say the Fireball etc have it...I love the ENGL sound!

What about a Gigmaster or Metalmaster combo? Would those be any good? Would they sound good at apartment volume?
The demos sound good, and they can be had for 3-400 Eu on Kleinanzaigen.

Thanks for all the inputs, they made me discover a ton of products I didn't know about!

 

[Alex79]

Yep, being in Germany, used Engl makes a lot of sense.
I remember my Thunder not having a really good MV, but if you guys say the Fireball etc have it...I love the ENGL sound!

What about a Gigmaster or Metalmaster combo? Would those be any good? Would they sound good at apartment volume?
The demos sound good, and they can be had for 3-400 Eu on Kleinanzaigen.

Thanks for all the inputs, they made me discover a ton of products I didn't know about!

I’d save the money for a proper Fireball 25 head, and I am owner of an Ironball.
The Master series can’t hold a candle to either of them.

 

[Bandersnatch]

From my experience an used ENGL could be found very cheap. We are talking around 500 Eur for powerball2/fireball2 and around 600 for blackmore. I can vouch that fireball60 or engl savage have very good master volume and sound very good at very low volume. And they do have very very solid cleans.
If you are going with new amp and MT15 I would suggest using JHS Little Black Box. Its passive master volume that you put in the loop and will help with MT15 volume tapper issue. Its 44 eur in Thomann.

Before I modded my MT15's master volume pot, I used the Little Black Box. It helped, but only a little. because of how the MT15 goes from 0 to window shattering, the LBB didn't make too much of a difference. Trying to balance the master volume and the LBB's knob was a PITA.

IMO, using a linear taper pot for the master volume instead of an audio taper was a bad idea. If anyone gets an MT15, they should budget for swapping out the master volume and get it done before taking the amp home.

 

[Jeff]

I just don't like the MT-15. It's got potential, but the tapers on it just suck. Way too much gain too fast on the lead, and the volume tapers are terrible. The loop is noisy too, unless they've fixed it in recent months. I think if a modder could fix those issues, it'd be one helluva amp.

 

[Boris_VTR]

Before I modded my MT15's master volume pot, I used the Little Black Box. It helped, but only a little. because of how the MT15 goes from 0 to window shattering, the LBB didn't make too much of a difference. Trying to balance the master volume and the LBB's knob was a PITA.

IMO, using a linear taper pot for the master volume instead of an audio taper was a bad idea. If anyone gets an MT15, they should budget for swapping out the master volume and get it done before taking the amp home.

I'm using LBB with 6505+ at home with some moderate success It does help reduce volume so it can be played at home but its no Two Notes Reload attenuator

 

[Bandersnatch]

I just don't like the MT-15. It's got potential, but the tapers on it just suck. Way too much gain too fast on the lead, and the volume tapers are terrible. The loop is noisy too, unless they've fixed it in recent months. I think if a modder could fix those issues, it'd be one helluva amp.

It's not the loop that noisy, it's the transformers used being so close together. And yeah, the volume taper is terrible, which is why I had the master volume on mine swapped out for one with an audio taper. Much better.

I'm using LBB with 6505+ at home with some moderate success It does help reduce volume so it can be played at home but its no Two Notes Reload attenuator

It would on the 6505MH because the taper on the volume pots are audio taper. The stock Master volume on the MT15 is linear so the LBB doesn't help much.

 

[Millul]

@ATRguitar91 need to ask you (and anyone who wants to chime in of course) a question:
- let's assume I go for a preamp+SS poweramp setup
- would it sound good at apartment level with a guitar cab (most probably some sort of V30 loaded 1x12)?
- OR, would it be better to run the above preamp+SS poweramp into something like a MOOER Radar + a FRFR speaker?

Thanks!

 

[ATRguitar91]

@Millul it'll definitely sound good in either setup. I prefer the poweramp to cab setup, and it sounds great at whisper volumes to me. A lot of my playing time is after the kiddo is asleep, so obviously can't crank it.

I also like to run my preamps straight into my interface and play through my monitors/headphones, so basically an FRFR speaker. It sounds great that way too, but it's a different feel as cab.

If you go FRFR, you don't need to get a poweramp as it'll have that built in, you will need a Mooer Radar or some other IR loader.

Do you already have an interface? In that case you can have the best of both worlds. Poweramp and cab when you can, and direct to the interface to headphones/monitors when you need quiet.

 

[Millul]

I feel like there is something missing in the post above this one

 

[ATRguitar91]

I feel like there is something missing in the post above this one

Went back and edited it!

 

[Millul]

Went back and edited it!

Thanks mate, appreciate it!
I have nothing at the moment, only a Yamaha THX10 - so no interface, no cab, etc...(unless I sue the THX as a platform...).
I'd prefer to avoid interfaces/IRs/etc, I don't want to be hooked to my old AF laptop when playing.

Headphone capability is another really interesting thing, so preamp+radar+FRFR speaker might be an option, I guess (or, I could just get a Radar "on the side" for earphones practice and have poweramp+cab as main.

That should work, right?

 

[ATRguitar91]

could just get a Radar "on the side" for earphones practice and have poweramp+cab as main.

That should work, right?

Definitely would work, and as a bonus you could use the eq options and poweramp sims on the Radar when running to the cab.

Doesn't the Yamaha have IR capability built in? Could be a decent stopgap option.

 

[Millul]

Thanks!

Not sure about that, I'll need to check

 

[Nightside]

I'm also looking at the 6505MH. All the videos I've watched sound pretty kick ass.

I'm also thinking people have different ideas of what bedroom volume is. When I lived in the woods in Florida, a half stack was bedroom volume. I even managed a 2x12 in town. However, a Marshall Origin 5 was way too loud for my apartment.

I'm looking at the 6505MH and a custom 1x8 or 2x6 cab, the Joyo Zombie II with the Bantcab, or the Tech 21 PL1 fly rig through a bluetooth boom box.

 

[Nightside]

I just got rid of a Blackstar HT1 MkII head and cab. The gain channel was not very gainy. No fx loop. No proper eq. No high end freqs. So far the worst of the small amps I've tried.

Also thinking about the Marshall DSL1HR

 

[Millul]

I'm also looking at the 6505MH. All the videos I've watched sound pretty kick ass.

I'm also thinking people have different ideas of what bedroom volume is. When I lived in the woods in Florida, a half stack was bedroom volume. I even managed a 2x12 in town. However, a Marshall Origin 5 was way too loud for my apartment.

I'm looking at the 6505MH and a custom 1x8 or 2x6 cab, the Joyo Zombie II with the Bantcab, or the Tech 21 PL1 fly rig through a bluetooth boom box.

Agreed - here we're talking german urban condo levels, to I need to be pretty conservative.
You just reminded me I need to check out some Joyo clips!

The 6505MH sounds really nice in demos, I just develped this "fear" that tube stuff would be to loud anyway (while I don't think I'll ever see the opposite problem, "EL84s sound crap pushed").

 

[Nightside]

Agreed - here we're talking german urban condo levels, to I need to be pretty conservative.
You just reminded me I need to check out some Joyo clips!

The 6505MH sounds really nice in demos, I just develped this "fear" that tube stuff would be to loud anyway (while I don't think I'll ever see the opposite problem, "EL84s sound crap pushed").

I'm in the same boat. I'm in a high-rise apartment complex in Poland.

I had a Blackstar Fly 3 that was decent. Again it wasn't as gainy as I would like so I was boosting it. That was actually the perfect volume level for the flat. However, it didn't work very well with other pedals. Distortion and fuzz sounded like shit with it.

I've also been looking at the Boss Katana Mini and Laney Ministack Iron. The Laney seems like the same type of circuit as the Fly 3 but with 4 speakers instead of one.

Oh, I'm also looking at the Bugera G5 infinium. 5, 1, or 0.1 watts.

 

[Nightside]

Space is also a big consideration for me. I just don't have the space for a bigass 180w head.

 

[Nightside]

Also, I recently tried out the Nux MG300 into the bluetooth boom box and that sounded great and was perfect for volume. I just didn't like all the fiddling with it trying to change sounds. But the main thing was even though it sounded great. Sounds like a tube amp. It didn't feel like it. The way a real tube or ss amp reacts instantly. The modelers feel like I'm playing something and then a sound is layered over the top of what I'm doing if that makes sense. Even though it sounds good, the sound doesn't feel connected to my playing.