metal amp

[jonnywillmott]

Hi guys I'm looking at buying an amp at the momentt with a budget of around £500. Ive seen a orange terror 500 head at a reasonable price,Do you guys think this would work? I'm into music such as periphery and monuments, Any help would be massively appreciated

Cheers

[Fonkbass]

[quote name='jonnywillmott' timestamp='1461398022' post='3034249']
Hi guys I'm looking at buying an amp at the momentt with a budget of around £500. Ive seen a orange terror 500 head at a reasonable price,Do you guys think this would work? I'm into music such as periphery and monuments, Any help would be massively appreciated

Cheers
[/quote]

Hartke LH500 or LH1000 loads of amp for under £500...

[Graham]

I wouldn't go Orange Terror for metal, I've seen bands use them and the bass was an inarticulate, low frequency rumble under everything else. I'd look at something clear sounding and solid state: Hartke HA series, EBS, Gallien-Kruger.

[Lozz196]

Yep I`d be looking at something a lot cleaner sounding, so it can cut through, but which has a good gain/drive on it to add a bit of gnarl to the sound as well. Gallien Krueger would probably be my first stop for metal. The MB amps are pretty reasonable, extremely powerful, and lightweight/portable too.

[Truckstop]

Gallien-Kreuger RB range will be perfect.

700 and 1001 models frequently come up second hand for less than £500, you'd do well to get one of those.

Plenty of poke, gritty and work really well with active instruments.

[Musashimonkey]

Yep, GK range would be my advice too. RB range if you are ok with a larger head, or the MB range if you want super portability. Two channels, foot switchable for gain, real tube pre's as well if you go for the fusion range!

Also; I'm finding a Mesa Subway D800 good for metal at the moment by slightly driving its OD/gain stage...

[jonnywillmott]

thanks for the help guys thats great
do you think this bundle would be good??

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/gallien_krueger_mb2_500_bundle.htm"] http://www.thomann.de/gb/gallien_krueger_mb2_500_bundle.htm[/url]

Cheers

[Dan Dare]

Not sure about the cab. Head decent. I'd look at used, as others suggest.

[jonnywillmott]

what are peoples thoughts on trace elliot gp7 300 watt heads? pretty old but I've seen a few stacks about for £400

[MacDaddy]

http://basschat.co.uk/forum/20-amps-and-cabs-for-sale/

A look through the amp\cabs for sale thread is surely recommended? [size=4] [/size]

[size=4]Plenty of amp there in your budget, that are good for metal \m/[/size]

[Twincam]

[quote name='jonnywillmott' timestamp='1461423838' post='3034543']
what are peoples thoughts on trace elliot gp7 300 watt heads? pretty old but I've seen a few stacks about for £400
[/quote]

My gp7 300w combo was one of the loudest things I've heard sub 500w ss or class d. Didn't like the tone though at all. Very reliable in general. All of them are starting to look a little tatty especially the green, black carpet covered ones. In general the look very dated and the tone is often thought as dated too.
All trace stack system will be heavy but very loud!
People who are fans of that sound love them.

[0175westwood29]

mids are where its at for metal! so id ask first what bass you have? and cab.

for me my 810 and ashdown ctm 100 are a perfect combo! bump the mid on the head and ive got a big ass pedalboard but an always on pedal is my pike vulcan xl, giving a big bump in low mids, the sound really works with my jazz v and even my crazy low tuned 6 string for metal.

i used to use a tb1000 id sometimes put a rack eq infront to boost the mids and take of some lows but it worked really well!

Andy

[Stealth]

Aguilar AG500 the dirty channel will cut through anything kin loud too. Oh look im selling one how fortunate lol seriously though its like an Ampeg with teeth

[Stealth]

Oh yeah and its "none more black" and way under your budget

[hairychris]

GK MBs can definitely do angry. I really like my MB800 but it's over your budget and you need a cab that can deal with it.

A big part of the Periphery bass tone is the Darkglass stuff that Nolly uses. Maybe think of one of their OD pedals into a more vanilla amp?

[thodrik]

Any decent amp will be good for metal, it just depends on what is amp is good for you. If you are using pedals with EQ or drive options (say Darkglass/Sansamp/EBS/Aguilar) your amp won't be doing much of the tone shaping anyway.

If you are running a pedal-less setup and need lots of EQ flexibility, compression etc, a second hand Trace Elliot would be a good shout.

I do really rate the Hartke LH500 and LH1000 though. Great clean sound and super easy to use, though the EQ settings consist of a very basic passive tone stack (mid cut only etc) that some people find too limited.

[rOB]

Another recommend for the GK MB series from me. I use the MB500 through various cabs and although I play more alt rock than metal it is clear and articulate which for me is key. It also has a useful EQ (unlike the Bass Terror which I used to have) for boosting the mids and a lovely bitey drive on the second channel. You can also fit it in a backpack/gigbag pocket/laptop bag.

[CXIII]

I use a tc electronic Rh750 in a death metal band. Does a great job, no problems cutting through the mix. I did use a bh800 for a while which is more in your budget. Again great amp, no problems and there are some decent toneprints for it.

[zep bass]

The terror bass, packs a lot of volume giving its price and can see the appeal. However I have to agree that it's not really a metal amp. Given my years of mixing metal bands, at a moderate level they sound bassy yet gravelly, the eq and drive are more of a vintage vibe.
The key to any good metal tone is solid low end clear high mids with an element of drive and grind to make those riff muscley and to sit well with the guitars.
There are a few great heads out there for you.
Ampeg offer the portiflex series and the svt 7 first being ss and second hybrid with a valve pre. You can crank the both and get the classic svt grind refine the attack with onboard compressors and cut through the the mix with the ultra hi and ultra low switches offering you 40hz and 3khz boost respectively.
TC offer the RH series nice clean heads with great compressor tube tone and tweeter tone on top of that they offer a fully sweepable parametric eq. You can Achieve similar results as ampeg.
Hartke LH series is great for clean headroom, though they've just released a new bass attack pedal which would be a great paring to bring the metal grind to the equation and still in your budget.
Or just run a sansamp through most amps to get a tasty blend. 😊