The time has come for my Peavey Bandit to be retired (sold). Although, i love it, i'm sick of competing with a bass cab, a rabid drummer, and a SG driven Spider II. It's loud but can i hear it over everyone else, no.

So, perenial question i know, but any suggestions for a new amp?

I'm looking to spend not much more than £500, i play a humbucking Strat, loads of pedals, and preferably a combo. The band i'm in play wierd metal - Tool, Helmet, Oxes, Isis, etc.

Amps i have considered:
Fender Hot Rod Series
Marshall DSL01.

Thanks in advance.

get a roland jazzchorus 120. plenty loud for a combo (fricken heavy though), cheap, and you have good control over the sound.

oh just read influences...
might not work out, carry on...

i don't mean to be a smart arse, but, erm, get the bass and other guitar to turn down a bit? really, try it - these loudness wars in practice rooms can get silly, benefit no-one, and will probably just fuck up your ears. is not the whole point of rehearsal for everyone to be able to hear what everyone else is trying to do, rather than to persue an extended mosh n' metal session?

also those line 6 things sound pretty horrible to me - a bit like a dying powerdrill on any setting, and not in a good way. the 'line 6 screech' tended to bore right through everything else, even when turned way down, when I tried playing with someone plugged into one not so long ago.

on the other hand, if you really just want a new amp, sounds like you need a head and 4x12.

m.

mattr wrote:i don't mean to be a smart arse, but, erm, get the bass and other guitar to turn down a bit? really, try it - these loudness wars in practice rooms can get silly, benefit no-one, and will probably just fuck up your ears. is not the whole point of rehearsal for everyone to be able to hear what everyone else is trying to do, rather than to persue an extended mosh n' metal session?

The problem is the acoustics in our practice room are quite bad too, we cannot simply turn the other guitar amp down as at the level we play there are problems with hearing that guitar.

If you like the Tool and Helmet sort of sound, then try out some of the Marshall DSLs. They have a few modes, one of which sounds similar to the JCM800 (although not as bright).

The wee combo DSLs use EL84s, so it won't quite sound the same as the bigger 50W and 100W models, neither better nor worse.

See if you can try one out, but you'll need to get the volume cranked up a bit as they don't sound best at very low volumes.

That is very sad. I too love the Peavey Bandit.
It is underappreciated. That reverb is fantastic.

I don't have any suggestions besides going to a guitar store and plugging into everything.

How about those new(er) Traynors? I haven't had a chance to play one, but hear great things about them.

Ampeg VT22 or VT40.

Both are great and work well with the pedals.

I would be curious to hear how a new Traynor would do, maybe the YCV80Q.

But I think it's pretty much a slam-dunk, for what you're describing... right here.

If you're thinking you'll want to be able to be *really* loud, I would recommend the model that's switchable between 100 and 50W. But the 50/25W version is pretty badass, too.

I'm agonising over this, i hate buying amps.

Any more recommendations? Marshall combos.