Lunchbox, Cranked Marshall sound, Countess V30 vs Sheriff 22 vs Pink Taco vs Runt-20?

William Williamson

So in another thread I've posted about how my endgame appears to be a modeller, but in the meantime I feel like I need to make a 'final hurrah' in valve amplification.  I've been using an Orange Crush CR120H into a Laney 2x12 (no-name speakers) and it's definitely OK - using a JHS AT or MXR 5150 into the clean channel gives me pretty much everything from classic rock to stoner doom, modern post-metal or whatever. However, it just doesn't really inspire me the whole shebang takes up alot of space!

I seem to have narrowed down the tone I'm after to that 80's heavy rock / early heavy metal sound - think Whitesnake, Helloween, Manowar, Saxon and Maiden. If possible I'd like to be able to boost into that hairy Orange stoner-metal space, and I'm happy to sacrifice the 5150-style distortion.

The only Victory I've played was a BD1 which was rather uninspiring, and so I'm a little wary of the Countess/Sheriff although they are almost half the price of the Friedmans - to the extent we're close to Mesa Mk. V:25 territory. Between the Friedmans it would appear the PT has more gain (and more gain options), but the Runt has a clean channel. Both sound great to my ears, and I will do some testing in anger with them tomorrow at GuitarGuitar Epsom.

Having said that, I would really appreciate any insight or options too consider - I'm (so far) not gigging and I think my criteria aren't unreasonable!

RaymondLin

Final hurrah?  Metal?

Mesa JP-2C?

Cabicular

I have a peavy 6505 mini, a 5150 III lbx , a Friedman BE100 and. PT-20 all into an amp switcher box going into a Blackstar Artisan 2x12 and a Torpedo loadbox DI'd into a cab sim in Logic

The PT is the best straight 80s 90s Rock tone of the three. It sounds great

it is the only thing it does but it seems that focus serves it really well

even the BE doesn't do 'that' tone as well
I'll post some clips when I get some time

Fez

Have you tried the Orange Jim Root Terror? 
I was pleasantly surprised by a Terror through a 4x12 a few weeks ago when one of the guitarists in the lads band was put through one and the others through Blackstars. 

Cabicular

No
im a big fan of the the tiny terror though
although I used to dime the master and bring the gain up then shove a overdrive into it
not tried the JR one

Evildurka

What's the peavey mini like?

Fortheloveofguitar

Cabicular said:

I have a peavy 6505 mini, a 5150 III lbx , a Friedman BE100 and. PT-20 all into an amp switcher box going into a Blackstar Artisan 2x12 and a Torpedo loadbox DI'd into a cab sim in Logic

The PT is the best straight 80s 90s Rock tone of the three. It sounds great

it is the only thing it does but it seems that focus serves it really well

even the BE doesn't do 'that' tone as well
I'll post some clips when I get some time

@Cabicular ;

I'm still really keen on the PT.  Does it still have a big tone and big bottom end despite it being EL84 loaded?

Also is it good at low volume?

Many thanks 

William Williamson

I played the PT today at GuitarGuitar. It has a really good master volume - even at levels you could easily talk over it had a good sound. It has a lovely drive/distortion which is exactly up my alley. On the other hand, pushing it past 5 on the master volume was louder than you'd want in your house - speaking one of the staff there, he's apparently gigged it no problem.

I tried the Runt and found although it did have the clean channel, the PT cleaned up well by adjusting the volume. I felt that the drive sound was a little more raspy and strident than the PT, which was more full.

I also tried a Mesa Mk V:25 and it sounded AWESOME clean, and had a very different gain sound (obviously). It was a little bit like driving a Turbo-Diesel Lexus versus the Pink Taco which was more like a Porsche 911. There are SO many options - but honestly I do'nt want to fiddle - I want to plug in and play.

It's also worth nooting that the 1x12 Runt cab sounded otherworldly and I'm seriously considering a 1x12 with a Creamback in it too.

Cabicular

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Cabicular said:

I have a peavy 6505 mini, a 5150 III lbx , a Friedman BE100 and. PT-20 all into an amp switcher box going into a Blackstar Artisan 2x12 and a Torpedo loadbox DI'd into a cab sim in Logic

The PT is the best straight 80s 90s Rock tone of the three. It sounds great

it is the only thing it does but it seems that focus serves it really well

even the BE doesn't do 'that' tone as well
I'll post some clips when I get some time

@Cabicular ;

I'm still really keen on the PT.  Does it still have a big tone and big bottom end despite it being EL84 loaded?

Also is it good at low volume?

Many thanks 

As mentioned it has a great MV
it is a big brown sound
its only downfall is that it is a one trick pony
but if you like the trick then it is perfect 

im not at home but I'll do a quick clip comparison when I do

Cabicular

Evildurka said:

What's the peavey mini like?

It has a lot of options . If you play with it long enough you can get a big variety of sounds most of which are usable
decent digital reverb and decent clean tones
insane amount of gain available

William Williamson

Cabicular said:

its only downfall is that it is a one trick pony

This is what I'm worried about honestly, I'm in love with that sound - and the only thing which is pushing me towards the Mesa is that if I got bored of THAT SOUND, I could at least dial in something slightly different with that.

Fortheloveofguitar

Cabicular said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Cabicular said:

I have a peavy 6505 mini, a 5150 III lbx , a Friedman BE100 and. PT-20 all into an amp switcher box going into a Blackstar Artisan 2x12 and a Torpedo loadbox DI'd into a cab sim in Logic

The PT is the best straight 80s 90s Rock tone of the three. It sounds great

it is the only thing it does but it seems that focus serves it really well

even the BE doesn't do 'that' tone as well
I'll post some clips when I get some time

@Cabicular ;

I'm still really keen on the PT.  Does it still have a big tone and big bottom end despite it being EL84 loaded?

Also is it good at low volume?

Many thanks 

As mentioned it has a great MV
it is a big brown sound
its only downfall is that it is a one trick pony
but if you like the trick then it is perfect 

im not at home but I'll do a quick clip comparison when I do

Thanks for the info @Cabicular  

I love that classic 80/90's tone and I've seen some great videos this afternoon of it producing equally good cleaner tones and blues too 

Talking myself into this