What is the best 80s hard rock bedroom setup?

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jchrisf

jchrisf

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So I'm still living in the 80s when it comes to what I like to play. I really don't care to play anything else. My favorite bands are Dokken, Ratt, Queensryche, Great White, The Cult, Steel Heart, Tesla... you get the picture. I was never into the harder stuff like Metallica, Megadeath etc but do like the cleaner tones from ACDC, Judas Priest, etc.

I only play in my home office so I'm looking for the ultimate setup to get these tones sounding huge and accurate without being too loud. What are my best options?
 
80's guy as well, I just do the bedroom setup these days as well, my gigging days are over. Dokken and Ratt type tone is pretty much the standard for me. I went down the path for awhile of all the modern tech like modelers...never satisfied in the long term. Tried low wattage amps, never gave me the goods (some 100W amps at whisper volume honestly sounded better).

Finally stumbled on to something really old school and simple...stacked OD's and an EQ. I can pair an SD1 with a BE OD or EVH 5150 OD, then an EQ (MXR 10 band is my favorite), and I've got the core tone and it sounds amazing. It has to be all 3 pedals too, it doesn't come alive until they are all working together. MXR Stereo Chorus and a Carbon Copy round out the chain, though some guys might want reverb added (I run the CC as a mild slapback and that's all I need). All run into a small clean practice amp.

I spend so many more hours just playing now versus trying to adjust tons of digital settings, and so easy to make small adjustments on the fly. When I play the low E riff on something like In My Dreams or Unchain the Night, it just sounds "right"...has that tightness and chunk with plenty of gain. The pedal combination with the right EQ can really dial out the fizz but get some bite without getting too smooth. I'll be honest, while it will never replace the real thing, still more "organic" to my ears than modelers I've used in the past.
 
A Boss TAE and any 100w or 50w head and 412 cabinets. Honestly I run my 100w heads into a TAE and through 2 real 412 cabinets at absolutely whisper volumes and the tone is 80's EVH, Dokken, Ratt, etc all day long. For the price of the TAE, you can keep you original tube amps and have a face melting tone as quiet or as loud as you want to go. You also have the headphone jack and built in IR's on the TAE for even more options. Hands down the best purchase I have made in the past few years.
 
Rivera M60 combo with NOS Mullards and a Mesa 8 ohm V30.

Gets Sykes tones, plexi tones, on up through mod Marshall tones and Fender cleans, plus power scaling, pentode/triode, and 5-watt class A slaving with dedicated loop. You can add some neg feedback too and that tighten it up as well. Get them for a song all day...Run a cable to a 2x12 or 4x12 for recording.
 
Meh on the modelers. If you're recording too, then it's great, but a 2x12" is still more fun to play for me than the axe via monitors.
As a load I use the Torpedo Reload, it's great IMO, and not as expensive as the Tube Amp Expander.
 
Randall RG112SC combo would do the tones you're after in a super compact package.
 
Thanks for all the responses everyone. Right now I am doing the modeler into the studio monitors and while I like it, it is missing something. This might be the best that can be done in the home environment.

I'd really like a real tube sound and I hear that big iron sounds best even in low volume situations?

Can that Yamaha THR really sound huge? I think I have that covered with my modelers and studio monitors though.

I purposely didn't say what I had so I could get an idea of what everyone here thinks is the best bedroom tones in general. So I appreciate everyone's answers.

Would I be able to get great bedroom 80s hard rock and metal tones with a 50 watt tube amp? Which cab/speakers should I pair with it? Or is the modeler/studio monitors what I need to learn to be happy with?

I think if I have to stick with modelers I'll upgrade to the Axe III which seems to be the most popular here.
 
Those are all good suggestions but for bedroom 80s rockin' I'd go with a large mirror, spandex and a can of Aqua Net!!
 
I don't understand the point of buying an expensive 50 watt tube amp, just to run it into an attenuator and then a IR. Before all that, I'd get an Axe FX or Kemper if I wanted big tones at a bedroom/quiet recording volume.
 
What kind of versatility are you needing?

What is a volume that is acceptable?

I would consider a JJ Jr. Nice sounding smaller amps, a bit of versatility and a (supposedly) good line out, and an internal load. Yeah it's not necessarily a JCM thing, but the features are what I would think make a good office tube amp.
 
jchrisf said:
That's probably the magic that I have been missing :)
Click to expand...
Indeed. In all seriousness though, I've had the Yamaha THR10X and Boss Katana and highly recommend them both. I currently have a Positve Grid Spark and it's pretty impressive as well.
If you're set on tubes, Marshall DSL series.
 
Lots of awesome choices in here dude...

I've had the boss katana, twice. For the money it's super-hard to beat. Even at low volume through a good extension cab it’s good,...really good. Turn it up a bit and it gets better.
Kemper. Just sold mine. It’s a phenomenal piece of gear. It's great for recording. It’s good at low volume through monitors, and a speaker cab and it’s really, really good at volume when moving a little air.
Just bought an EVH EL34 112 combo... we'll see how it does. It's got a power sweep, down to one watt, on board reverb, concentric pots...it's a tidy little package.

The bedroom R0ckStar...giving a whole new meaning to chasing tone... cause you just can't crank that shit man! I get it.
 
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