Peavy XXX ll vs ENGL Savage 120 vs Marshall JVM 410H

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Liquid Thrash
I currently own the XXX and want to upgrade, I mainly play Thrash but play pretty much everything, I'm looking for the best tone from thrash/heavy metal to blues,jazz and classical. (An all genre amp basically) Most importantly the better clean channel tone. Opinions on my choices? and Suggest other amps too please
cecilbag

Splawn quickrod covers most anything. I like the engl but skip the jvm

Murdoc

Have you jammed through a Blackstar? They have some good old school rock distortions. :cool: I can't comment on the Engl though, never played one.

Geetarguy70

Buy a Mesa. They make any Peavy or Marshall sound like an AM radio stock. Otherwise Engl is the way to go!

Fender868

Buy a Mesa. They make any Peavy or Marshall sound like an AM radio stock. Otherwise Engl is the way to go!

Not unless you mod them like crazy and buy then you paid as much as it would cost to commission a boutique style custom. I don't have any problems with mesa, but their amp heads are overrated sometimes.

I had a few mesa's , Fender, Marshalls, peaveys. I now run a JSX (pretty much the same as your XXX) on el34's and a high gain set up. It's a really versatile amp. The ultra channel is where I live. That's not too say, you can't find the same elsewhere, but I find that it groups a lot of usable tones and for once i have an amp with a crunch channel that sounds great.

You can't wrong with it. Then again if you're into trash metal, you might be happier with an old 5150 or a 6505. They just tear shit apart and they are perfect for metal. Pretty cheap too. Try to find a block letter 5150 though, they are worth the coin

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Fender868

I hope you don't bet as bad as you think because you'd lose lol. Ive had a brand new Dual Rec, a Stilletto and a Mark IV Combo. (I'm a gear whore, sue me) I ran the Dual rec and stilleto through a Mesa American Slant loaded with Celestion V-30's (That cabinet is sick though, no doubt about it). I hated the amps. If all you play with are guitars with actives and all you play is chuggs, then this amp is for you. I found myself plugging it with an arsenal of pedals and rack effects to make it sound somewhat like the 2300$ it ran me, but at the end it just felt like an old dude in an iron lung; Something that needs to be unplugged. I will admit the clean channel on the stiletto was nice, but much more so on my guitars with lower output pick-ups. The Dual gathered dust and I regretted buying it new. The Mark IV was actually really cool. It too sounded better with an effects unit, but the amp itself colored most of the tone i used. I say this because theres nothing more annoying than paying 3 gs for a rig only to have it sound mostly like the 300$ worth of pedal you plugged into it.

My experience speaks for itself, but keep in mind that you are the only true author and critic of your sound. I wouldn't tell you not to try it, but if you want more for you money, stick to something else.

On a side note, I did play a modded Dual Rectifier. I think it may have been a Voodoo mod, but I cant remember. It was in Montreal a few years back at rehearsal hall and I was shooting the shit with some other bands. Anyways, this amp was just bullet proof. The red channel had a higher gain, but it didn't have that muddy chunk it used to. It was razor sharp and yet it was thick enough that you didn't need to sacrifice your mids to get good bottom on it.

That's the extent of my opinion. As you can see, two experienced players, two different opinions.

Play them and be the judge

cecilbag

It's all personal taste with amps. None of the listed ones suck but I have been a longtime Mesa devotee and plugged into my Splawn once and it changed everything. I still use mesas and still love them but how splawns keep flying under the radar is a mystery to me. They are very affordable used and new isn't ridiculous plus comes with lifetime warranty. If you get a chance please just try one

Geetarguy70

It's all personal taste with amps. None of the listed ones suck but I have been a longtime Mesa devotee and plugged into my Splawn once and it changed everything. I still use mesas and still love them but how splawns keep flying under the radar is a mystery to me. They are very affordable used and new isn't ridiculous plus comes with lifetime warranty. If you get a chance please just try one

Give it time dude. It's going to take a famous dude to use one and then bam! Once Metallica made known they used Mesa, the demand went haywire so they just need to find the right artist

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ozzuk1

You may not like the savage's clean tone the high gain engls cleans are very compressed which imo inst a good thing, they are almost sterile sounding, the savage has the best clean tone from what i've heard of the high gainers, but it may not suit your jazz/blues tastes...

Theres also the 3120 with el34's and the JSX too.... a change of tubes in the pres and power section makes the world of difference in peaveys... I like JJ's some dont.

I doubt any of the HT series of blackstars will get you going they are very fizzy, due to the diode clipping, and as cool as the isf feature is, they are pretty gimmicky, they seem to suit djent quite well but other than that and very early 80's metal, the gain stages dont sound quite right to my ears...

I personally like how the jvm sounds many dont like it but the clean's seem to get good reviews though....

Good luck amp hunting. It's a pain when you keep trying to find the right sound...

bazguitarman

I've owned and/or played through most of the amps mentioned on this thread except for the XXX II. But I did own that amp when it was called the JSX. This is my $.02 on the subject.

Just buy the amp that sounds good to you and suites your playing style. Period.

Anyone, pro or amateur that tells you any of those amps sucks is just a brand fanboy. They are all great amps. But they are different.

The first thing you need to decide is whether you want an amp voiced for upper or lower mids. That is the voice of your guitar. From there it's gain structure, # of channels and misc. features that make the amps different. You have to try them all and be honest about what you are looking for.

After all the amps I've owned, I went full circle back to a 5150 II. I just love the way it sounds and feels for me. Some guitarists wouldn't shit on a 5150 II, but it works great for me.

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