Best head

thomasross20

Forgot to add - low power (home) mode would also be desirable.

thomasross20

Also I supposed 2 channels isn't a deal-breaker as you can use clean + crunch and a pedal to take crunch into lead mode but that's two clicks as opposed to one.

Kebabkid

You'll have trouble finding one to try let alone buy but there do come up, even here, and it's the Divided by 13 JRT 9/15. Chime, jangle, great cleans and headroom and it can take pedals really well. Not heavy or large at all.

The amp can operate at 9W with 6V6s or 15W with EL84s and it's a loud amp that will keep up and keep clean with a full band, even on the 9W setting!

Oh, Fender now do a Deluxe Reverb Reissue Head and that will take most if not all your boxes. It will begin to break up a bit at around 4 on the volume but you can alter a valve stage to keep it clean (the techs will offer advice and suggestions on that) and then obviously it depends on what cab and speaker you opt for to further assist that.

digitalscream

thomasross20 said:

Not been keeping up to date with ampage. Seems my guitar quest is dying as I realise I'm not going to get much better than what I've got, which is good. So... I quite like those NL212 cabs.. I imagine one of those with a lightweight head would be awesome. Seriously - these ARE good sounding, huggable (edit - giggable!!) and light, right? They seem like the perfect solution unless tone suffers due to material / mass.

Yep, they really are giggable and sound genuinely great - tone really doesn't suffer due to the material and lack of mass, because of the design.

I don't think you'll find anyone else on here who's tried one in more than a demo capacity, though, apart from matey from Matrix himself.

Let's put it this way - I have no plan to get into a band in the next few years, but I'm keeping my NL212 anyway even though I have absolutely no real need for it.

guitarfishbay

Having had the loan of an ID 100 for a few months I do think you should check out the EVH. They aren't similar sounding amps but if you like that kind of tight punch then the EVH does it without needing a boost. The ID sounds tighter than most valve amps I've tried, if you want that kind of feel then you'd probably need to run a TS or SD1 with a valve amp. I think you'd like the EVH red channel for high gain given some of the videos I've seen you post. The 50 watter would probably tick your weight box too, though really it is functionally a 2 channel amp until you add in some kind of switching/multi FX unit.

professorben

digitalscream said:

thomasross20 said:

Not been keeping up to date with ampage. Seems my guitar quest is dying as I realise I'm not going to get much better than what I've got, which is good. So... I quite like those NL212 cabs.. I imagine one of those with a lightweight head would be awesome. Seriously - these ARE good sounding, huggable (edit - giggable!!) and light, right? They seem like the perfect solution unless tone suffers due to material / mass.

Yep, they really are giggable and sound genuinely great - tone really doesn't suffer due to the material and lack of mass, because of the design.

I don't think you'll find anyone else on here who's tried one in more than a demo capacity, though, apart from matey from Matrix himself.

Let's put it this way - I have no plan to get into a band in the next few years, but I'm keeping my NL212 anyway even though I have absolutely no real need for it.

You not in a band? I though you were as of our last convo couple of weeks ago?

Sporky

thomasross20 said:

something with real valves, as folk keep saying I should try

Ignore them. Valves are fine, but use what you want, not what other people tell ou to use. They're probably just after validation if their kit choices.

Actually, that's a bit OTT. Certainly try some valve options, but pick whatever works best for you, be that valve, modeller or solid state analogue.

Also remember that if you're set on the cab, get that first or make sure that wherever you're trying out the heads has one!

ICBM

If you want to get a valve amp, try a Blackstar or a Jet City. I've heard you play and I know both will suit your style and sound. Probably many others would give you something similar but different which you might want to explore, but that may need a bit more experimentation... it's not always obvious what suits a player just going by the sound alone, it's more a feel thing.

Also definitely don't overlook the Yamaha THR100 - it may not have valves in, but it sounds fantastic, very versatile, and it's almost ridiculously small and light. I love the sound of a good valve amp, but I really think the future for modern sounds is this sort of thing. I still think valve amps have a place, but probably more restricted to vintage-type sounds.

thomasross20

Thanks, all - @ICBM I will pop into your shop next time I'm over. 

As ever I'll be YouTube'ing all suggestions and try what I can when I can. 

fretmeister

Buy a Helix.

its awesome.

thomasross20

Sounds complicated lol

thomasross20

YouTube'd the EVH - sounds like way too much gain for my needs!

Nerine

Suhr Badger??

thomasross20

Badger isn't gigging volume? 

THR100 (or the dual-head version) look cool. Do they take pedals well? 

I'll have to watch ohmage as I'm still thinking about a Matrix lightweight cab and I think they're 16 ohms per speaker (and amps like Victory are 8 ohm outs). 

ICBM

thomasross20 said:

Badger isn't gigging volume? 

At 18W I can't see any reason why not. It may not have the sound you would like at that volume, but it will be loud enough. Having heard you play I would say the sound would suit you pretty well though.

thomasross20 said:

I'll have to watch ohmage as I'm still thinking about a Matrix lightweight cab and I think they're 16 ohms per speaker

The THR100 has selectable impedance including 16 ohms. You can fairly easily change speakers anyway - OK not for free, but the cost is relatively small compared to the amp or even the cab, so I wouldn't limit yourself to that extent.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to find out how the one I tried took pedals, ran out of time before I could.

thomasross20

I was also looking at the 2x12 matrix cabs which weigh 13kg or so.... 

However the 1x12 Victory cabs weigh the same. Clearly just the one speaker! I wonder if I could get away with that un-mic'd at a gig...

Saying that, if I went for a 1x12 Matrix cab, that'd be only 8kg!!  

thomasross20

No probs @ICBM - I still have to try one out myself...

If I go the valve head route... I'd defo also be looking for a backup head, just in case main one blows out. 

Whilst I don't need gain on the head for gigs, at home I never use pedals. So either I use a backup head for home practice or get a head that does clean & crunch/distortion.

digitalscream

Amp - Victory Kraken (around 8kg). Would suit what you're doing well. Yes, it's two channel, but it's a bit more flexible than that because both the gain controls and the masters are independently switchable.

Oh, and it works amazingly well with the NL212

I was obsessed with having a three-channel amp for years - eventually got the Soldano Decatone, and one of the things I hated about it...was the fact that it had three channels and got in my way. The thing with three-channel amps is that if you like two gainy-channels, the crunch channel often doesn't behave like it does on a Kraken or Jet City (for example) and doesn't sound particularly great with the volume rolled off on the guitar.

However, if you really want a 3-channel amp, check out the Carvin V3M (there's one here for £699). 3 channels, sound good, and 8.6kg. Seems to tick all your boxes, really

thomasross20

Aha, thank you! Will check that out. 

OK this is probably a silly question but here goes.................

Instead of getting a spare head.... could I just plug guitar into pedal-board..... pedal-board into Orchid DI.... and Orchid DI into PA? 

--> And what do you guys reckon.... 1x12 or 2x12 for gigging?  I'm sure this has been covered before....

I was thinking 2x12 NL212 OR 1x12 Victory cab (or similar).

The Egnater I was raving about at practice goes through a 1x12 cab with a Celestion in it and is pretty loud.

ICBM

If you're going from a pedalboard to the PA via a DI you need some sort of amp+speaker emulator or it will sound terrible. One of the Tech21 'Character' pedals (or the cheap copies of them) is the easiest solution.

1x12" vs 2x12" is more about sound and a little bit of dispersion, not volume. If you're mic'ing up it makes almost no difference.