Most versatile amp?

[finsgar]

Hey guys, I'm in the market for a new amp head. And I really would like for it to be as versatile as possible. I play a whole variety of music. Stuff like chelsea grin to stuff like la dispute and modern baseball. It needs to have great cleans and low gain as well as be able to handle extreme metal and metalcore or whatever very well. I want to play everything from shoegaze, pop punk (modern baseball, weezer), hardcore, punk, emo (flowers taped to pens), metal, and deathcore (Chelsea grin, suicide silence).

I've been interested in the following
Orange th30
Orange rockerverb 50 (or 100)
Some badcats
Mesa single rect

Edit:
My current setup:
Epiphone custom les paul studio
into
fender FM100H ss head
Fender FM412 cab

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

My choices would be the Marshall JVM, Mesa Dual Recto, any of the Mark series stuff, or the Carvin V3 if you wanna keep stuff cheap.

EDIT: Even the EVH 5153 50W can fit the bill.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

5153 or JVM would easily cover everything you listed though the most versatile amp I've come across is the Mark V

 

[guitarfishbay]

The latest revision Dual Rec, or a Roadster/Road King will cover huge amounts of ground - just grab a Tubescreamer boost to use for when you want tighter sounds. I've not tried the Mark V but on paper that looks very versatile too.

Not sure what the 'cheap'/value for money options would be in the States. Over here JVM410hs aren't too expensive used and they cover a lot of ground.

The 100 watt 5150 III has got three channels pretty much geared for what many would consider ideal rock/metal usage IMO - good clean, good crunch, good high gain, but they're not as versatile as a Dual Rec IMO as they're always tight and don't sag as much which is great for high gain and clean tones but if you want warmer mid gain sounds the feel will be a bit stiffer than on a Mesa IME. With the Duals they're a bit loose but if you want tight you can add a boost pedal. 50 watt EVH is also great but the shared channel volumes thing might be an issue if you want to use 3 channels live.

 

[ProphetOfHatred]

Get a floor processor for all those tones, for certain styles you mentioned it would require lots of pedals. I really love my GSP1101 so maybe a RP. I hear the Boss GT-100 and Line 6 HD500x are really good too. I would personally go for the HD500X.

 

[mnemonic]

Agreed with prophetofhatred. You'll have to compromise somewhere if you want an amp head. You're better off with an axe fx and poweramp/cab or an FRFR speaker cab if you want that variety of tones (and you also want them to sound good)

 

[jerm]

Maybe a used Kemper? seriously insane

 

[protest]

Are you going to be playing shows where you cover all these genres at the same time? I just can't see going from pop punk/emo to deathcore in the same show haha. If you don't need all those tones on demand, a regular head will work fine, and I don't think you would need a Kemper or Axe to do that stuff. It's all different flavors of Rock/Metal.

Lots of bands in the majority of those genres you listed use Dual Recs. A Roadster, or post 2010 Dual Rec will do all of those if you play primarily rhythm. If you play mostly leads maybe an EVH or Mark. The Mark won't have the big rhythm sound, but if you want primarily fast tracking stuff it'll work very well. Arguably the very best cleans on a high gain head as well. There's also the new DSL's which are surprisingly pretty nice sounding.

 

[cwhitey2]

I own a dual rec and agree with the statements about it. I only have a 2 channel one and I have been able to get any sound i want out of it with some tweaking and pedals.

 

[oracles]

I'd take the 5153 for budget friendly, but otherwise, I'd recommend the ENGL Invader.

 

[cGoEcYk]

Rectos are great. I owned a Rectoverb for a while. Very versatile head with a cool channel voicings. I found the clean headroom to be somewhat limited if you play at loud stage volumes and want your clean to keep up with your gain volume. I use a Tremoverb now and it has a lot more headroom and muscle in general.

 

[lewis]

I would defo suggest something that is an all in one.

Kemper Rack/Axe FX
Pod HD Pro/XT Pro (with 3rd party IRs)
or Vetta ii HDs (can find them for decent money now and they slay)

 

[finsgar]

Are you going to be playing shows where you cover all these genres at the same time?

Definitely not, haha. I have 3 different bands that all play different types of music.

certain styles you mentioned it would require lots of pedals

I'm not really into the sounds of digital processors. However I am definitely getting pedals. I have a plan out of all the pedals I am gonna get.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

B52 AT-100. Nevermind that it won't last you more than a 3 gigs. It's versatile, if nothing else.

I'd go for the modeler/tube power amp/guitar cab route. I needed versatility for a cover band, went that route and couldn't be happier.

 

[sonofabias]

I'd take the 5153 for budget friendly, but otherwise, I'd recommend the ENGL Invader.

The Invader's the most flexible head I've ever owned and the cleans are three dimensional .

 

[viesczy]

Honestly I'd say Road King II or Roadster. You can get any sound in your imagination out of them with proper use of your ears and understanding the EQ.

I'd hate to EVER be w/o my RKII.

Derek

 

[Eliguy666]

Fryette Sig X! Great voicing, great build quality, three independent channels, and look at all those tasty knobs and switches!

 

[mcleanab]

It's not an amp, but rather a preamp, but, in the short time I've had it, the Mesa Triaxis has a whole huge range of tones...

 

[yingmin]

Obviously an amp with modeling of some kind would be the most versatile, so you could try something like a Spider Valve, Vetta or an HD500 into a DT50. For non-modeling amps, I think the JVM410 is easily among the most diverse, and personally I think it's also among the best-sounding amps available. You could also look into the Randall MTS, which you can tailor to the exact tone you want, even swapping modules out depending on which band you're playing with at the time.

You can also get more versatility with a rack setup. There are programmable tube preamps like the Marshall JMP-1 or the Mesa Triaxis, or you could use one or more preamps in conjunction to get your specific tone.

 

[PF Chang]

Randall 667 or MTS.