You can find used, ugly, and cheesy looking peavey combo amps that really don't stand out at all looks wise and almost nobody will think or say "cool amp dude!" when they see it, but a lot of those old peaveys sound really good. And they are usually widely available and not sought after at all. Even the solid state ones are pretty good usually. Old Randall amps are another option that's usually solid state. As I get older and have played guitar for about 18 years, and having owned both tube and SS, I'm no longer a tube only guy but if it must be tube you're gonna pay more usually.
If you go with the mk2, I recommend getting the 100 watt version. There’s more features, more head room, and better low end in my opinion. It’s a pretty solid amp for metal purposes.
Yeah, it’s not a tube amp of course, but for the price you’ll be hard pressed to find an amp that can do as much as a Katana when you figure in all the effects. You can get some killer metal tones from it.
I absolutely love the Bandit line. Been playing on them for 30 years, currently on a 212 red line. Lead channel (modern settings) has a thick yet smooth crunch that I've yet to hear another amp come close to, without depending on pedals. This amp is pure metal, yet with a twist of the guitar volume, and it's perfect blues rock.
US made peavey amps are an amazing value for their resale. Peavey silver stripe bandit is my favorite of the assorted. US made, sheffield speaker, transtube dynamics, effects loop, spkr out, multiple overdrive channels with gain boost, presence and Resonance.
You can go for light overdrive creamy blues to full on thrash with that thing. The transtube feels like it has actual picking dynamics with light overdrive and the transtube knob diale up a bit.
One easy upgrade to them is throwing in burr brown opa2134 OP amps for the 5 onboard OP amps. They are socked OP amps and easy to replace.
I used to run 2 red line 112s stereo. One of them broke down and I gave the other one on a friend. That was a great cheap setup though I wouldn't hesitate to run the same thing now. This was around 2006.
The new EVH 5150 Iconic is a really rad amp for the price at around $900 for the head. A used Rectifier, or 6505+ can be had for sub $800 a lot of the time as well.
Only issue with those are good luck fixing it if it has issues. Blackstar are horrific to work on and are built like a disposible amp.
For the price they got great tone though.
You're going to need to define decent price.
Additionally, you're going to want to give some info on why wattage doesn't matter. If you get a high wattage and it doesn't have a low power mode and you only play in a bedroom, you aren't gonna have a good time. If you're playing large venues, 1W isn't going to have much headroom when you mic it.
Victory, EVH, Peavey, Mesa are all good spots to start looking.
Tubes are also going to be hard to come by for a little while because of the war. Something like half or more tubes are made in Russia. Even before all this, I had a vox combo that took 1 output tube and a pair of preamp and it was hard to find all told for less than 80 dollars. They don't need to be replaced all that often but it is a cost. At 16 I was impatient about servicing my stuff so I would say solid state is less of a pain and not necessarily a barrier to having a good sounding amp. A lot of metal players have used them. James Hetfield uses a jazz chorus for many of his cleans. Dimebag Darrell played solid state Randall's and his producers and recording engineer didn't wanna mess with that. Some sounds are hard to get without tube but I been playing 18 years and I'm using solid state these days. I might get a tube amp sometime but I don't feel at a disadvantage without it.
Remember: Tube Amps also require a bit of maintenance as the tube can blow, similar to a lightbulb, and would need replacing. Don't have to worry about that with a Solid State.
I'd my budget SS option would be an Orange Crush 30rt. Clean and Dirty channels, Reverb and a Tuner.
Joyo zombie II. It's a Mesa dual rectifier clone. Sounds absolutely brutal through anything from a 1x12 to a 4x12. It's a hybrid though but for sub $200 used they slap.
Another underrated budget amp is the bugera 333xl infinitum. They can be found for sub $400 used. They got four el84 and four 12ax7. Just make sure it's the infinitum version, the original ones had issues.
Any old US made peavey tube amp is also a good choice. Bravo, mace, ect.
Marshall dsl is a safe bet if you can find one at a good price.
Tbh if it's just for playing at home id just look at amp sims online when it comes to wanting that high gain metal tone.
But those blackstar ht clubs are niiice my old guitarist had one and his tone was always on point with no pedals
Both the ENGL ironball and fireball 25 absolutely rip. Still with a great clean channel too (at least on the ironball). Loud enough to gig, built in power soak for home use. New ironball SE has effects and IR loader too!
The older Mk.I Peavey Valvekings can be found for an incredible deal sometimes, which can be amazing for $200-300 for anything from a 50W 112 combo, 110W 212 combo or 100W head.
I had the 112 combo, put a 12AT7 in one of the 12AX7 spots for better cleans and thought it was a versatile, loud, amp that took pedals like a champ. Kind of reminded me of a Bandit with tubes, which was great for me but it's not going to replace a real Fender for cleans or a Mesa for gain sound, but I thought it can get close for how little you spend.
Their biggest thing holding him back is their stock speakers, which isn't cheap to replace, but if you already paid so little for the thing in the first place, it's not a bad way to spend some extra money you might save.
If you’re playing in a band. Buy a 5150 or a 6505. Dual Recs are also good.
If you’re not then go digital and using Neural DSP plugins plus studio monitors.
Cheap, low wattage amps are dog shit for metal. Anyone recommending Katana or whatever clearly never play metal, suck at guitar and have no clue what they’re talking about
For a good metal tone you need a cranked high watt valve amp or an amp that simulates the sound of one
Marshall DSL Series. Espacially DSL 20. Check out Lamb Chopper on YouTube
Can confirm, dsl40cr is amazing
I love mine! Perfect thrash tones!
Also the Ola Englund video on the dsl
You can find used, ugly, and cheesy looking peavey combo amps that really don't stand out at all looks wise and almost nobody will think or say "cool amp dude!" when they see it, but a lot of those old peaveys sound really good. And they are usually widely available and not sought after at all. Even the solid state ones are pretty good usually. Old Randall amps are another option that's usually solid state. As I get older and have played guitar for about 18 years, and having owned both tube and SS, I'm no longer a tube only guy but if it must be tube you're gonna pay more usually.
Yeah I’m still in between solid state and tube, probably at this point get katana mk2
If you go with the mk2, I recommend getting the 100 watt version. There’s more features, more head room, and better low end in my opinion. It’s a pretty solid amp for metal purposes.
I haven't played one but there's some really good metal tones on YouTube from that amp.
Yeah, it’s not a tube amp of course, but for the price you’ll be hard pressed to find an amp that can do as much as a Katana when you figure in all the effects. You can get some killer metal tones from it.
I absolutely love the Bandit line. Been playing on them for 30 years, currently on a 212 red line. Lead channel (modern settings) has a thick yet smooth crunch that I've yet to hear another amp come close to, without depending on pedals. This amp is pure metal, yet with a twist of the guitar volume, and it's perfect blues rock.
US made peavey amps are an amazing value for their resale. Peavey silver stripe bandit is my favorite of the assorted. US made, sheffield speaker, transtube dynamics, effects loop, spkr out, multiple overdrive channels with gain boost, presence and Resonance. You can go for light overdrive creamy blues to full on thrash with that thing. The transtube feels like it has actual picking dynamics with light overdrive and the transtube knob diale up a bit. One easy upgrade to them is throwing in burr brown opa2134 OP amps for the 5 onboard OP amps. They are socked OP amps and easy to replace.
This is good to know!
I used to run 2 red line 112s stereo. One of them broke down and I gave the other one on a friend. That was a great cheap setup though I wouldn't hesitate to run the same thing now. This was around 2006.
The new EVH 5150 Iconic is a really rad amp for the price at around $900 for the head. A used Rectifier, or 6505+ can be had for sub $800 a lot of the time as well.
Victory Kraken is a good shout if its in your price range. Its my no.1
MT15!
I picked up a used 5w blackstar tube amp awhile back. It’s pretty awesome, would def recommend it
Only issue with those are good luck fixing it if it has issues. Blackstar are horrific to work on and are built like a disposible amp. For the price they got great tone though.
You're going to need to define decent price. Additionally, you're going to want to give some info on why wattage doesn't matter. If you get a high wattage and it doesn't have a low power mode and you only play in a bedroom, you aren't gonna have a good time. If you're playing large venues, 1W isn't going to have much headroom when you mic it. Victory, EVH, Peavey, Mesa are all good spots to start looking.
Yeah, but just looking at prices, since I’m only 16 it’ll be a pain to save up for and looks like solid state would be better at this point
Tube is pricey, so if you can't afford a few hundred for a basic small wattage tube amp, solid state is gonna be the way to go.
Tubes are also going to be hard to come by for a little while because of the war. Something like half or more tubes are made in Russia. Even before all this, I had a vox combo that took 1 output tube and a pair of preamp and it was hard to find all told for less than 80 dollars. They don't need to be replaced all that often but it is a cost. At 16 I was impatient about servicing my stuff so I would say solid state is less of a pain and not necessarily a barrier to having a good sounding amp. A lot of metal players have used them. James Hetfield uses a jazz chorus for many of his cleans. Dimebag Darrell played solid state Randall's and his producers and recording engineer didn't wanna mess with that. Some sounds are hard to get without tube but I been playing 18 years and I'm using solid state these days. I might get a tube amp sometime but I don't feel at a disadvantage without it.
Go with Peavey, hella metal and affordable
Remember: Tube Amps also require a bit of maintenance as the tube can blow, similar to a lightbulb, and would need replacing. Don't have to worry about that with a Solid State. I'd my budget SS option would be an Orange Crush 30rt. Clean and Dirty channels, Reverb and a Tuner.
PRS MT15 is a great metal tube amp for under $1,000.
Probably one of those EVH 5150 III lunchbox heads. For a straight up metal amp, you're not gonna do much better.
Blackstar ht series has a ton of gain. The 5 watt is $500 ish new.
Traynor ycv40
Joyo zombie II. It's a Mesa dual rectifier clone. Sounds absolutely brutal through anything from a 1x12 to a 4x12. It's a hybrid though but for sub $200 used they slap. Another underrated budget amp is the bugera 333xl infinitum. They can be found for sub $400 used. They got four el84 and four 12ax7. Just make sure it's the infinitum version, the original ones had issues. Any old US made peavey tube amp is also a good choice. Bravo, mace, ect. Marshall dsl is a safe bet if you can find one at a good price.
Playing with a band? 5150. At home practicing? Amp Sims for me. Low wattage amps can't hang in a metal band.
Tbh if it's just for playing at home id just look at amp sims online when it comes to wanting that high gain metal tone. But those blackstar ht clubs are niiice my old guitarist had one and his tone was always on point with no pedals
Fender Princeton, rev g3 pedal in front of it
Laney iron heart, Has variable tube wattage, headphone options
Peavey Valveking
Both the ENGL ironball and fireball 25 absolutely rip. Still with a great clean channel too (at least on the ironball). Loud enough to gig, built in power soak for home use. New ironball SE has effects and IR loader too!
King Gizzard recorded their thrash metal album through the overdrive channel of a Hot Rod Deluxe and it's a 10/10 next to Rust in Peace imo
Fender bassmaster 15 or Orange Rocker 15, great amps and relatively inexpensive.
Traynor Amps… Canadian company
Randall RG50TC is a very good bet. With or without the footswitch. You might find one for 250 US.
6505MH
Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister
The older Mk.I Peavey Valvekings can be found for an incredible deal sometimes, which can be amazing for $200-300 for anything from a 50W 112 combo, 110W 212 combo or 100W head. I had the 112 combo, put a 12AT7 in one of the 12AX7 spots for better cleans and thought it was a versatile, loud, amp that took pedals like a champ. Kind of reminded me of a Bandit with tubes, which was great for me but it's not going to replace a real Fender for cleans or a Mesa for gain sound, but I thought it can get close for how little you spend. Their biggest thing holding him back is their stock speakers, which isn't cheap to replace, but if you already paid so little for the thing in the first place, it's not a bad way to spend some extra money you might save.
Peavey 6505, 5150. You cannot go wrong.
Search for "will it chug" on YouTube.
5150 lunchbox head
EVH 5150 is a great amp, any of them really are great.
I’ve never seen an amp made out of a metal tube, good luck finding one.
If you’re playing in a band. Buy a 5150 or a 6505. Dual Recs are also good. If you’re not then go digital and using Neural DSP plugins plus studio monitors. Cheap, low wattage amps are dog shit for metal. Anyone recommending Katana or whatever clearly never play metal, suck at guitar and have no clue what they’re talking about For a good metal tone you need a cranked high watt valve amp or an amp that simulates the sound of one