New amp advice for a friend

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MadAsAHatter

MadAsAHatter

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So my friend has had only one amp for the last almost 30 years; a Peavey Transtube Supreme with MS412 matching cab. Apparently he loves this thing and it's best sounding amp in the entire universe ever made.

Not his, but this is what his rig looks like
1724147135587.png


Well, the sound is starting to cut in and out at lower volumes and likely needs to go into the shop for a checkup. I looked at it but it's beyond my experience level. There's no good techs around here so it would need to be shipped to a reputable one. I'm guessing between the cost of shipping to & from and repairs it's going to cost more than the amp is worth.

This has him thinking he may get something else while he figures out if it's worth the cost to get the Peavey back in order. He really has no clue about what amps are out there. I'm trying to think of some amps to suggest he look at. To me the Peavey and the way he sets it sounds like muffled farts into hot garbage, but to each their own. Normally I go with the usual suspects, but I don't think he'd care much for them. He played a couple of my amps and I could tell he wasn't vibing with them. So I'm having a really hard time coming up with suggestions he may like. I think he would get along with something similar enough to his Peavey. Best I can come up with is a JSX or XXX from that same era as his amp.

You guys got any suggestions I can pass on?
I don't think it'll matter to him if it's something used or new production.

Edit: Adding - He plays mostly metal and classic hard rock. Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. Mostly a rhythm player as well.
 
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Does he like gainy stuff or tan pants tones?

If he likes high gain, I would suggest one of the Randall RG100s if he likes solid state. Those sound cool as fuck and aren't stupid expensive. H&K Warp 7 also are a cool SS gainy option.

For tube stuff, the JSX and XXX are good shouts as well, as you mentioned. It would help alot if we knew what kind of music he plays.

If he likes tan pantsy stuff, I would suggest a quilter. I think they sound like fucking shit, but lots of low gain guys seem to like it, so who knows?
 
Forgot to mention that. He plays mostly metal and classic hard rock. Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. Mostly a rhythm player as well.

I don't think he has any particular preference for solid state. He's just never owned or really played a tube amp .
 
MadAsAHatter said:
Forgot to mention that. He plays mostly metal and classic hard rock. Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. Mostly a rhythm player as well.

I don't think he has any particular preference for solid state. He's just never owned or really played a tube amp .
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I would probably steer him in the direction of something super easy to dial in, then

PRS MT15/MT100/Archon

JSX/XXX/5150 Variants

DSL/Orange Dual Terror/OR30 etc

IIRC you have a pretty solid collection of stuff, so if nothing struck a chord with him, nothing really nice is going to impress him

I would just guide him towards the standards and tell him to try them out - especially if you have friends with any of these amps. Music stores aren't ideal, and also I assume he's going to want to use his own cabinet which presents its own problems.

That's kind of why I was thinking the standard/basic stuff, because it will be recognizable in his kind of "weird" cab
 
DanTravis62 said:
I would probably steer him in the direction of something super easy to dial in, then

PRS MT15/MT100/Archon

JSX/XXX/5150 Variants

DSL/Orange Dual Terror/OR30 etc

IIRC you have a pretty solid collection of stuff, so if nothing struck a chord with him, nothing really nice is going to impress him

I would just guide him towards the standards and tell him to try them out - especially if you have friends with any of these amps. Music stores aren't ideal, and also I assume he's going to want to use his own cabinet which presents its own problems.

That's kind of why I was thinking the standard/basic stuff, because it will be recognizable in his kind of "weird" cab
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Yeah, I have a pretty decent group of amps. Most are Marshall style upper mid focused; ENGL Inferno, Peters Vega, Skeleton Key, Alta which is what he tried. His Transtube doesn't have that same type of grind. Maybe something with more lower mid girth.

Isn't the Archon more lower mid focused? That may be better in line with what he likes and is used to.
6505/5150 lines has that Peavey-esque midrange that might be similar enough to his Transtube as well.

I'm assuming he'd use the Peavey cab he has. He didn't say anything about looking for a new one. IIRC it has a quad of black widow speakers; not exactly ideal. I have a spare quad of G12T-75's. Not my perfect speaker but a pretty solid all around one that meshes with a lot of amps. He can try them in his cab and have them if they match up well with whatever amps he leans towards.
 
The Peavey XXL is a kickass solid state amp that will serve your friend well. It's the solid state version of the XXX tube head and I think the XXL sounds much better.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Peavey+XXL

But, if you think he'd like a real Marshall, they made some killer solid state amps...

The solid state Marshall 3210 Lead MOSFET 100 is next on my buy list. I'm selling my Peavey XXX tube head to get one.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=marshall+3210+lead+100+mosfet
 
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Randall RG3003H, also has a built in noise gate. I had a Randall RG1503-212.

That Marshall Mosfet 100 sounded better than I expected.

For something different, Boss Katana-MkII 100 head? They're $370 new.

Marshall Origin 50H, with a boost/od/dist will get into thrash levels
 
MadAsAHatter said:
So my friend has had only one amp for the last almost 30 years; a Peavey Transtube Supreme with MS412 matching cab. Apparently he loves this thing and it's best sounding amp in the entire universe ever made.

Not his, but this is what his rig looks like
View attachment 333612

Well, the sound is starting to cut in and out at lower volumes and likely needs to go into the shop for a checkup. I looked at it but it's beyond my experience level. There's no good techs around here so it would need to be shipped to a reputable one. I'm guessing between the cost of shipping to & from and repairs it's going to cost more than the amp is worth.

This has him thinking he may get something else while he figures out if it's worth the cost to get the Peavey back in order. He really has no clue about what amps are out there. I'm trying to think of some amps to suggest he look at. To me the Peavey and the way he sets it sounds like muffled farts into hot garbage, but to each their own. Normally I go with the usual suspects, but I don't think he'd care much for them. He played a couple of my amps and I could tell he wasn't vibing with them. So I'm having a really hard time coming up with suggestions he may like. I think he would get along with something similar enough to his Peavey. Best I can come up with is a JSX or XXX from that same era as his amp.

You guys got any suggestions I can pass on?
I don't think it'll matter to him if it's something used or new production.

Edit: Adding - He plays mostly metal and classic hard rock. Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. Mostly a rhythm player as well.
Click to expand...
For vol cut/fade issues, I'd first tell him to buy a can of Deoxit spray and clean all the jacks...input, loop, speakers. They could simply be oxidized and cleaning them could solve his issues.
 
Don't think I am being a jerk, but I have a question:

In todays age of gear, and being a fan of solid state, seems to me it would be easier and a bit more modern to go with one of these digital modeling paths?

I think if I were looking for a new amp and getting away from tubes, that would be the path I would be looking at...
 
dcburn said:
Don't think I am being a jerk, but I have a question:

In todays age of gear, and being a fan of solid state, seems to me it would be easier and a bit more modern to go with one of these digital modeling paths?

I think if I were looking for a new amp and getting away from tubes, that would be the path I would be looking at...
Click to expand...

If dude has been rocking a trans tube ss amp forever, and isn't super into gear, I sincerely fucking doubt he wants to dick around with modeler presets 😂
 
A decades long guitar player that isn’t a gear head?! That is a rare breed around these parts. And owns a head w/ 4x12 even!
 
Racerxrated said:
For vol cut/fade issues, I'd first tell him to buy a can of Deoxit spray and clean all the jacks...input, loop, speakers. They could simply be oxidized and cleaning them could solve his issues.
Click to expand...

I've had his amp this past weekend and gave all the pots and jacks a good cleaning. It got rid of all the scratchiness in the pots, but unfortunately didn't help with the volume issue. I may go through it one last time to make sure I didn't miss anything.
 
I would steer him towards an EVH 5150 iii Not that expensive, covers a plethora of tones and isn't too far from the sound he is used to.
 
DanTravis62 said:
If dude has been rocking a trans tube ss amp forever, and isn't super into gear, I sincerely fucking doubt he wants to dick around with modeler presets 😂
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Fuck!
Great point!
I never think of that, and that's a big reason why I'd never go down that route.
More than B/M/T/Gain-Vol and I get option paralysis!
 
dcburn said:
Don't think I am being a jerk, but I have a question:

In todays age of gear, and being a fan of solid state, seems to me it would be easier and a bit more modern to go with one of these digital modeling paths?

I think if I were looking for a new amp and getting away from tubes, that would be the path I would be looking at...
Click to expand...

I'll run that idea by him, but I doubt he'd be to into fiddling with a modeler, especially having to match a power amp with it. I know he'll want to play through a cab and not into monitors or headphones.
 
acceptance said:
A decades long guitar player that isn’t a gear head?! That is a rare breed around these parts. And owns a head w/ 4x12 even!
Click to expand...

He is a rare breed. He's only owned 2 guitars and 2 amps in his entire life. His original practice amp and Ibanez RG he learned on and the Transtube amp/412 and King Vee I built for him over a decade ago.
 
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