New amp help

[Lobotomifrit]

Hey, i am a norwegian guitarist, and i play in a active progressive metal band. We are going to record alot in the future, and we play alot live.

I am now buying a new amp head.

I have been alot back and forth, and i have setteled for a Mesa Dual rectifier.

I need a tone that has a very organiq chuggy sound, and still a good clean tone. I am looking for the sound os bands like Textures, TessaracT, Meshugah etc.

IS this a good choise? I have considered a powerball, but i really didnt like the prosessed, metallic scooped sounds of it.

I have about 20 000 Norwegian kr. Witch is exactely the cost of a new Dual rec.

I play through a 12*2 Mesa Rectifier cab with v30s

Id love to hear your opinions.

 

[rareform707]

you could check out other engl models too
ive heard good things about the new fireball 100...and its a little cheaper than the powerball.

 

[Lobotomifrit]

I have tried a regular fireball, and i still feel it has that same unnatural sound of the powerball.

 

[onefingersweep]

You probably don't like ENGL then.

I don't think you'll be much happier with a Dual Rec.

Go for a VHT/Fryette Pitbull or Deliverance, with a good boost infront. The boost is a must to get that extra and the "chug".

 

[Lobotomifrit]

Lets say i put a boost infron of the Mesa Dual rec?

How would that soubd? a Maxon OB808 or a Ibanez TS808

 

[petereanima]

Lets say i put a boost infron of the Mesa Dual rec?

How would that soubd? a Maxon OB808 or a Ibanez TS808

thats what i would recommend.

the boost gives extra-chug and tightens up the low-end, which is imho a total need for the Mesa, especcially if you are after the sound you mentioned - you dont need a wall of bass booming behind you, that kills the articulation. boosting with an 808 will help!

 

[Lobotomifrit]

sweet, would you recomend the Maxon or the Ibanez?

dO you think ill need a noise gate?

 

[petereanima]

i'm 100% sure you will need a noisegate. see, my amp ususally is DEAD quiet, but when i activate the boost, the feedback is uncontrolable. i recommen the ISP Decimator if you have the spare money. if not - the Boss NS-2 will do the trick also!

as for Maxon vs. Ibanez: if you buy new, i would recommend the Maxon, as its cheaper but almost the same. you won't hear a noticable difference.

if you have soldering skills (or know someone who can use a soldering iron): i would get a Ibanez TS-7 and mod it to 808 specs. its (afair) 2 resistors which need to be changed, they already come with the correct chip.

our second gutiarist uses an original TS-7, and it still sounds cool. its acutally a TS-9 but in the Tone-lok series, including the Hot-switch.

 

[Lobotomifrit]

Thx, I rellu hope il likethe dual rec

 

[Doomcreeper]

Thx, I rellu hope il likethe dual rec

try it and some other amps out and tell us what you think, good luck with the new amp.

 

[Lobotomifrit]

what can u tell me about the Engl Savage, compared to the Mesa?

how us the engl savage?

 

[petereanima]

the Engl Savage is cool, imho one of the best of the Engl line. i didnt like Powerball and Fireball, also not the SE. Savage on the other side was cool. i used it on our last recordings with the Mesa V30 212. (if you want, check out reanima (now on iTunes+Amazon - check the blog!) on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads - the right guitar is the Savage. )

 

[Lobotomifrit]

How do you think it is compared to the Mesa? DUal rec

 

[petereanima]

its completely different. like night and day.

the Savage is pretty tight, where the Mesa has more of "wall of bass"-like low-end...and the Mesa has this low-mid-growl, which is missing on the Engl. the Mesa felt more natural, Savage a bit more compressed (but not like the Powerball) and has more focus on cutting higher mids, its sharper. Cleans were not bad on both, but also not very impreesive to me.

do you have a chance to try both? because they really are completely different amps.

 

[Lobotomifrit]

I tried the Mesa and the powerball, The savage is not possible to try. I loved the msa sound, and hated the powerball I just read a great rewiev about it, and it made me wonder. It was mentioned that it "eats rectifiers for breakfest".

Im looking for the tone like that of Textures, Mehugga, TesseracT etc, so pretty tight

 

[Brord]

Textures if I'm not mistaken use 6505's (5150's), ever tried those?
It's not exactly thesame as a rectifier but there certainly are some similarities in feel and sound. I've owned a powerball, a 5150 and now I own a 2 ch. triple rectifier. Also my brother has a 5150 right now so I play them side by side very often.

5150's and rectifiers both are very big sounding amps, really bold and ballsy sounding, not processed or scooped but sheer raw power and unpolished tone with a really raw sounding distortion, not finegrained like an engl. The 5150 is tighter as a rectifier so the need for an od is somewhat smaller, but still with an od the sound is better imho. Furthermore 5150's have more of a grinding midrange thing going on vs the wall of bass the rectifier has. 5150's cut through with allmost every eq setting, the eq is really fuck-up proof and easy to use. Recto's on the other hand are very easy to mess up eq-wise, with the result of not cutting through quite as good as the 5150 (though still a whole lot better than the powerball). You really need to get the eq-ing of a rectifier down before you get really good tone.

Also, considering you live in Norway and I guess prices won't be that different from the prices we have in the Netherlands you can allmost buy 2 5150's for the price of 1 rectifier this way you'll have spare cash for a bias mod which is really easy to do (my brother's 5150 has one and it made the amp a lot warmer and even fuller sounding while being tighter at thesame time, just more tone), an od, an isp-decimater and a quality cab if you are in need for one.

I'm not trying to talk you out of getting a rectifier at all, they are amazing amps but perhaps a 5150 will also fit the bill at a much lower cost, and since you are going for that textures sound it might not be a bad choice.

There is a lot more to tell about the recto 5150 similarities and differences but I'm sure, if you are interested in those similarities and differences other people will chime in and shed their light.

 

[petereanima]

i personally prefer the Rectifier over the Savage...but thats just me, and for the tone you are after, usually the recommended amp is the Engl Invader. could you try that one out somewhere?

i mean: i wouldnt buy the Savage blind without testing, and if you like the Mesa then i dont see a problem why you shouldnt buy it.

EDIT: good post by Brord - keep that in mind also!

 

[Lobotomifrit]

the thing about 5150. i need a good clean channerl too. thanks alot for you post, was really nice and in debth. I can in no way afford a innvader, nor a savage rly, seeing i didn realise how INSNANrlY expencive they were.

Im pretty sure im gonna go for the rectifier, and just invest in a TS808

 

[Brord]

Well the 5150's clean isn't THAT bad, especially when it's bias modded. It is just clean, nothing fancy, I've never had a problem with it, offcourse you could also check out the 5150II which apperantly has a pretty nice clean channel even. Hell you could even buy a dedicated clean amp if you dislike the 5150's clean that much.

For instance check these video's on youtube

5150
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LerdiYVPXk

5150II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeoYMvQa30w

Are recto's cheaper than Invaders over there? Over here invaders are cheaper, perhaps because we are neighbours with Germany.

 

[rareform707]

I have tried a regular fireball, and i still feel it has that same unnatural sound of the powerball.

well, the fireball 100 is a completely different amp, might be worth a play if you can try it. but like the user posted after that maybe you dont like engl...at least the lower end amps.
i have a boosted 5150 combo, and although the OD helps, its still not as tight of a tone as id like. i wanna retube it and get an eq to run in the loop, and see what happens. but it has a clean channel...loud as hell too!