Best amp for post/sludge/atmospheric metal

[casketshrine]

I own a GH50L. I absolutely love that amp. On contrary to a lot of people who bad mouth this amp for being a 50 watter and not having 'enough gain', it's one of those amps that's almost as loud as a 100 watter with the headroom of a 50 watt amp. It's so fucking loud, I was in my bedroom I cranked it up to 5 and it shattered the window glass behind me. That's where you have to think, if you are planning on playing it at home and you have family you love...this is probably too loud. Gain wise, sure it's not an ENGL Powerball or 5150 but it has very refined awesome distortion. Like a lot of people say, 'its a JCM 800 on steroids'. I use a bunch of OD's with it (TS9/SD1/ZW44) depending on the mood and what's handy at the moment and it sends the amp into total overdrive nirvana without sounding mushy. For sludge/atmospheric stuff, you may want to look into getting some good reverb, delay and pitch fx boxes. When I do play doom metal, Laney fits the bill just perfect. The only thing is, it's a single channel amp so you may want to look at the VH series. Same distortion channel with a dedicated clean channel on the side.

Other options may be an Orange Rockerverb, JCM 2203KK (those KT88s sound fucking huge but a very one dimensional amp. No FX loop either), Dual Recto etc. They are all going to be more expensive than the Laney though. Hope this helps, just my $.02 on the subject.

 

[Dead Undead]

^Great description of the Laney there. They're loud as fuck. The VH100R also has a sort of "master volume" feature. There's a switch on the back for an effects loop or preamp insert, and if you set the switch to "Insert" you can use the return level knob as a sort of master volume. It doesn't sound as good this way (naturally, they sound crazy good when cranked) but the tone is still quite usable, I assure you. It's a very useful feature.

I don't even use a boost with mine anymore unless I need it very tight. It certainly does sound great with one in front though.

 

[Flip Downey]

I have a Laney AOR 8 knob, and it is loud as hell. Great for DOOM, I also run a DSL50 with a Pharaoh fuzz. Great tone. Orange th30 is one hell of a doom machine too. Laney's are starting to get too expensive though. I got mine for 300 and now they seem to be like 6-7 now. Because of the badassness.

 

[Atomshipped]

Do yourself a favore and go with Orange.

 

[7stringDemon]

Off topic but all of these clips sound like shit to me . Is it supposed to sound like that? Because shit, if that's the tone you're looking for, I hear that Line 6 Spider III's are the BEST at it

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Off topic but all of these clips sound like shit to me . Is it supposed to sound like that? Because shit, if that's the tone you're looking for, I hear that Line 6 Spider III's are the BEST at it

You must be new to sludge/doom metal.

 

[highlordmugfug]

Off topic but all of these clips sound like shit to me . Is it supposed to sound like that? Because shit, if that's the tone you're looking for, I hear that Line 6 Spider III's are the BEST at it

Goes to a postmetal/sludge metal/atmospheric metal thread and is surprised that the clips aren't engl-tight and have grainy and loose distortion?

I'd laugh at you if I didn't feel so bad for you.

 

[7stringDemon]

I have never heard of sludge metal in my life until today haha. I never said that I hate the tone either. It's just a shitty tone. But it seems that it's supposed to be shitty.

So is calling it shitty a complament? Becaise if I were a sludge metal guitarist, I'd take it as one.

 

[Dead Undead]

What did you expect from something called "Sludge" metal? Anyway, shitty tone?

 

[7stringDemon]

I was expecting a bit of mud. I thought it was going to be sludgy because of the vocals though.

 

[MFB]

My vote goes to the Tiny Terror for a solid tube head that does Doom/Stoner/Sludge no problem, and is pretty affordable second hand

 

[Lost of All Reason]

I have a Laney VC50. It's a 2x12 high gain tube amp. The 50watt version of the 100w Head (VH100) i.e. Valve Combo 50 and Valve Head 100. I absolutely love mine. A lot more character than a 5150 but still has ridiculously absurd amounts of gain. A lot more crunchy mid range outta these guys (I have mine loaded with EL34s but they take 6L6 too and have built in BIAS switch) These are the amps Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth uses only he uses the GH100 which is basically a single channel VH100. The VC50 is every bit as ballsy as the VH100 and really 2x12" is plenty and makes it a very realistic home studio amp as well. I put 2 Celestion G12M speakers in mine and they were a dramatic improvement over the stocks and lent themselves much better to super crunchy metal valve tone.

So another huge Laney +1

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

I was expecting a bit of mud. I thought it was going to be sludgy because of the vocals though.

A bit of mud = doom
Tone in these clips = sludge
Sustained muddy dirty guitar 'sound' = drone

Also these clips don't show just how 'bad' some doom/sludge tones can get.

To put it another way, it's the anti-tech/djent in terms of tone.

 

[Amerikhastan]

If you havent found an amp yet I'm looking to get rid of my Laney GH100TI, which a few people have recommended to you in this thread. PM if you're interested.

 

[Pav]

Given the ENGL talk, I'll assume price is not an issue at all.

Just get a Mesa Mark V. If you can't get nearly the exact tone you're looking for out of that, you won't get it out of any amp.

That's kind of a big assumption though.

 

[Meldville]

Dunwich Amps (a really small company) makes perfect stuff for this.

Dunwich Amps | Facebook

This.

 

[Theemarkmiller]

That reminded me of this:



Navtone.
Really small amp maker out in California. Sounds pretty good to me. No idea how to contact the guy though.

This amp sounds dope as duck (damn you autocorrect)

 

[Theemarkmiller]

I have never heard of sludge metal in my life until today haha. I never said that I hate the tone either. It's just a shitty tone. But it seems that it's supposed to be shitty.

So is calling it shitty a complament? Becaise if I were a sludge metal guitarist, I'd take it as one.

One mans trash is another mans treasure. To people who love sludge and doom Isis's tone, where they play only with the neck pickups on their guitars, is amazing. It's huge sounding and crushing. It's not about the clarity. To me sludge is about the feel and atmosphere it creates. And of course how heavy it is.

 

[Theemarkmiller]

I'll have to back up that Laney gh50L. I had one and it was LOUD. To put it one way, in a band I was in the one guitar player had a orange rockerverb 100 and the other guitar player had a gh50l. The rockerverb had to go up to about 6 to start to catch up with the laney on 2. When I had mine I'd run it clean and then use my cusack screamer fuzz for gain, then if I needed a boost I'd hit the drive on the amp. If you're looking to do the atmospheric thing I suppose you would want a good clean, a heavy distortion and everything in between that. I know Isis was using vht/fryette ultra leads. I have a elmwood Modena right now and it's a great loud amp as well but pretty expensive. (if your in the market let me know ) 5150 II's can be had cheap and recto's.

 

[jcm900steroids]

My band is playing around sludge/post metal, using Marshall's. My Blood (Is On Your Hands) by First Attempt Denied on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free the recording's aren't the best (bad quality mics/interface) but I kinda like the tone.