Happy With Your Cheap Amp?

[brandondrury]

I'm curious how many people have sub- $1,000 amps and are 100% happy with them. I come from the camp that you can get buy with a very cheap guitar if you have a great amp. So, I'm usually skeptical of cheaper amps. I'm big on my Rivera Knucklehead or 1971 Marshall Superlead.

What do you think?
Brandon

[Crandles]

I have a B-52 AT-212 that cost me around $600 and love it.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...Amp?sku=481309

[brandondrury]

Interesting. I've never heard of this one. I'll have to check it out.

Brandon

[Crandles]

I think they're relatively new to the amp market. They've made PA systems and speakers for awhile. The only problem with it is that it came with cheap-ass chinese tubes but I swapped in some JJ's and it sounds a lot better.

[brandondrury]

How does it sound? Is more Fenderish? More Boogieish? More Marshallish?

Brandon

[Crandles]

More along the lines of the mesa/marshall tone. It's a pretty diverse amp. The clean channel has plenty of headroom and when it does break up its not that saturated oozy fender tone but more of a nice chunchy one.

here are a few clips

http://z13.invisionfree.com/B_52_AT_...wtopic=210&hl=
http://z13.invisionfree.com/B_52_AT_...wtopic=296&hl=
http://z13.invisionfree.com/B_52_AT_...wtopic=336&hl=

in this one its a side by side comparison to a mesa
http://z13.invisionfree.com/B_52_AT_...?showtopic=350

[brandondrury]

If I didn't know better, I'd swear he's intentionally sabotaged the Rectofier. But they just sound that useless! I hate those amps!!

The worst part about the Rectofiers is that some people are seriously proud of these amps and think they are actually useful. Listening to the Crazy Babies Zakk Wylde riff shows it all.

Your amp is alot more Marshall ish than Boogiesh.....at least how I define Boogies (which is mostly by the Rectifier since this is what I have to deal with frequently).

I like your amp dude. You can tell it has actual tone. I'll be recommending this amp to others.

Brandon

[gradgt]

I agree that I hate the rectifiers. I've posted that before though. What pisses me off the most is the misconception that they are so awesome. Everyone that has one thinks it's the best amp in the world... lol. "If you want to play metal, dude you need a mesa". I, like an idiot, also fell into that misconception and used to own a rectifier... it looked cool, that's true, but it had a dull lifeless tone that couldn't be turned up over half volume without sounding terrible. So I sold it (for MORE than I paid for it! Mesa does have excellent resale value, so if you buy one and don't like it you can usually get your money back).

Anyways I paid $600 for my Peavey 6505 and I'm happy with it. I've owned much more expensive amps that I've been less happy with, to be honest. I was amazed that I could turn the volume up high on it without it sounding like garbage.

I also own a couple Laney AOR Pro-tube amps, which I paid next to nothing for, and are pretty awesome. They sound like a JCM-800, only with more gain if you want it. They are in the same boat as the Marshall amps from that era, only they cost way less.

And also, yes you can get by with a cheap guitar, but all cheap guitars are not created equal. A lot of companies these days though are making great sounding guitars at good prices. Schecter and Ibanez are some examples. However I'm very picky about intonation and fretwork and this can be where these cheaper import korean/indonesian etc. guitars let down. I own one and it can be very frustrating.

[brandondrury]

I agree that I hate the rectifiers. I've posted that before though. What pisses me off the most is the misconception that they are so awesome. Everyone that has one thinks it's the best amp in the world... lol. "If you want to play metal, dude you need a mesa". I, like an idiot, also fell into that misconception and used to own a rectifier... it looked cool, that's true, but it had a dull lifeless tone that couldn't be turned up over half volume without sounding terrible.

This has been my exact experience with the Rectifiers too.

The only guitar that seems to work with the Rectifiers is the PRS. I can't say I've been too impressed by anything else. I don't like the way the gain / fizz is added on top of the guitar sound and instead of blending in with it like it does on Marshalls and such.

Brandon

[P.P.T.]

Very often when I am at Guitar Center I get to do a little blind testing.
I hear something I like or don't like, then I go to see what it is.
I have never heard a Mesa that sounded good. Even though I have heard many different players using many different guitars.
And don't say Carlos. He has sounded terrible since after the very early days.

Maybe the original Boogie was good. I don't remember.