A couple amp questions

[SamKS]

What is the deal with those "Avatar" cabs? I've seen a few bands using them and getting them to sound good. I might be looking to invest.

Also I'm looking to either get an Orange AD30 or a Marshall JCM 900. For the Marshall JCM 900 would the better choice for me to get the High Gain version or the Dual Reverb? I play in a Pop Punk band.

http://myspace.com/nowitsthelast
(My Band)

Lets put it this way, which would be the better amp to get to try and mimic this tone between the two JCM 900's?

I know the best way would be getting that amp(Mesa Dual Rectifier) but I'm not looking to spend that much, which is probably why I won't get the Orange.

[theguy77]

great choices for amp heads, especially for pop-punk, those are two of the best you could pick. for the JCM900 i would choose the dual reverb. pop-punk is a fairly high gain style of music but the SL-X has wayyy more than you'd ever need, trust me i used it in the studio and had to keep turning it down. plus its always nice to have a clean channel and reverb. i had to use a differnet head for cleans in the studio.

note that oranges are far more versatile than marshalls, especially on a level of how much gain you want to use (i.e. you may have 3 guitar parts of varying gain levels in your song), but the marshall will give you a better and more powerful distorted rhythm guitar tone for what you're looking for right now. i say if its possible snag the orange for lead guitar and the marshall for rhythm.

[SamKS]

Our parts are kind of mixed. Maybe I'll wait a little bit and save up for the Orange. I really like the tone of them. I was trying one out and it sounded awesome.

I'm going to give the Dual Reverb a try soon. How can I tell the difference, does it say it on the amp like under where it says "JCM900"?

[remoteCONTROL]

get the 50 watt jcm 900

[SamKS]

get the 50 watt jcm 900

Pros/cons of each amp possibly? I'm not going to spend a ton of money on an amp before I get a total analysis. I've been reading reviews but I never see any bad things about either.

[mylastflight]

rocker 30 of orange is good for ya i think, and if you gonna get jcm series i recommend jcm 800 the ones from 80s. also avatar cabs are EXCELLENT. dont spend 700 dollar or something to get orange 212. just get avatar, sounds pretty much the same, high quality cab.

[patrickhowell]

What is the deal with those "Avatar" cabs? I've seen a few bands using them and getting them to sound good. I might be looking to invest.

Also I'm looking to either get an Orange AD30 or a Marshall JCM 900. For the Marshall JCM 900 would the better choice for me to get the High Gain version or the Dual Reverb? I play in a Pop Punk band.

http://myspace.com/nowitsthelast
(My Band)

Lets put it this way, which would be the better amp to get to try and mimic this tone between the two JCM 900's?

I know the best way would be getting that amp(Mesa Dual Rectifier) but I'm not looking to spend that much, which is probably why I won't get the Orange.

A JCM 900 is going to be a totally different sound than a Dual Rec. The Marshall uses diode (solid-state) clipping to achieve it's high gain sound - almost like putting a tube screamer in the middle of your amp, while the Mesa uses cascading 12AX7 gain stages. Also, Marshall's use EL34 power tubes and Mesa generally ships with 6L6GC tubes. The JCM 900 is a great amp, but nothing like a Dual Rec. Probably your best bet to sound like a dual rec on the cheap is a Peavey 5150.

[theguy77]

Our parts are kind of mixed. Maybe I'll wait a little bit and save up for the Orange. I really like the tone of them. I was trying one out and it sounded awesome.

I'm going to give the Dual Reverb a try soon. How can I tell the difference, does it say it on the amp like under where it says "JCM900"?

well there are several models of each but the dual reverbs have a clean channel and the SL-X's dont.

are you the lead guitarist or rhythm guitarist, or do you guys mix and match? if you're the rhythm only, go ahead and get the marshall, but otherwise save for the orange.

[TD-McInnes]

sam is a jack of all trades in the pittsburgh music scene.

[patrickhowell]

well there are several models of each but the dual reverbs have a clean channel and the SL-X's dont.

are you the lead guitarist or rhythm guitarist, or do you guys mix and match? if you're the rhythm only, go ahead and get the marshall, but otherwise save for the orange.

The SL-X doesn't have the Diode Clipping section in the preamp like all the other JCM900s, so it sounds a little bit different. I don't think that Orange is necessarily better than Marshall for lead tones or vice versa. It just depends on which sound you're going for. They have really distinct tones, so you should see if you can try before you buy.

[SamKS]

sam is a jack of all trades in the pittsburgh music scene.


Your username is sick. TD (:
Reunion!

I'm going to try the JCM900 out today.

[thefollowthroug]

In my experience the JCM 900 is really hard to dial in but maybe you'll have better luck with it. I sold mine and was actually relieved to have done so. I ended up buying the Mesa and haven't regretted it ever.

But have you looked into other options like Hughes & Kettner, Crate Blue Voodo, Randall MTS (My Chem uses them), Epiphone So Cal 50 (a very interesting low price entry) or the Peaveys?

[theguy77]

The SL-X doesn't have the Diode Clipping section in the preamp like all the other JCM900s, so it sounds a little bit different. I don't think that Orange is necessarily better than Marshall for lead tones or vice versa. It just depends on which sound you're going for. They have really distinct tones, so you should see if you can try before you buy.

i was just saying that an orange amp is a lot more adaptable.

[patrickhowell]

Also, have you checked out the Single Rectifier? I think that's probably a better choice for you than the Dual/Triple anyways, and much much cheaper.