Amp Hunting - the shortlist

Parker

As you may have seen on these pages, I'm on the hunt for a new combo. Had lots of great offers here and on Facebook. I have whittled it down to three and now would like people's opinions. They are:

Cornford Hellcat
Mesa Boogie Mk4
H&K Puretone

All are in my £700 budget. The H&K is cheaper at sub £500, but would need to spend the difference on a nice high gain pedal...!

Any experiences or prefences? They're all spread across the country so can't try each one before deciding.

Thanks

thomasross20

Sounds heavy lok

webrthomson

The Cornford and Mesa are both very good - stellar tones for sure! I've not tried the H&K, good rep though.

I still own a Mark IV Combo with the EV speaker and it must be the physically heaviest 1x12 amp ever - make sure you get one with castors, or a case with one. Even with the 90 watt speaker version it's still stupid heavy.

The reward in terms of tone is massive and it can pretty much do any style from country to thrash, although I find the control layout a little counter intuitive. Great little amp and totally bullet proof in terms of reliability!

ennspek

Puretone under £500 is a steal. Class A fantastic cleans bloody loud.

Never played the others.

Parker

ennspek;1064620" said:

Puretone under £500 is a steal. Class A fantastic cleans bloody loud.

Never played the others.

That's the thing - I used to have the head and it was a great loud clean platform for pedals, but getting the volume right at smaller gigs was literally a nightmare! My mate borrowed it once, tried to turn it up a smidge mid set and ended up getting the cheap blond in the front row pregnant! Wasn't even a woman!! Haven't tried the combo and that's what's putting me off.

Fortheloveofguitar

Coda have a Hellcat in the secondhand section

http://www.coda-music.com/cornford-hellcat-2x12-combo-with-cracked-cabinet-secondhand-p-23804.html