"do all" 1x12 combo's

[fancynapkin]

I have decided to splurge and buy something worth while, and I need a nice 1x12 (or anything easier to carry around), that is versatile in all senses of the word (volume, size, and tone).
Amps I was looking at are: orange rocker 30, vht super 30 or pittbull 45, mesa f-50, rivera chubster, zinky blue velvet or the valvetechs. I would like to keep it under 1000$.
Tone wise, it needs to be able to do the jazz thing all the way to modern distortion, and do them well. For distortion I generally like smooth vocal-like leads, and thick, big distortion with good note defintion. I hate, fizzy, buzzy, and grainy tones.

 

[CNOTE]

VHT Super 30

Valvetech

You can't go wrong with either. The S30 will give beautiful and full jazz tones with controlled harmonics on each channel. It crosses over to the blues with easy treble, bass and boost adjustments. It will definitely get loud.

Valvetech needs some serious attention also!

Both are very versatile.

 

[riverastoasters]

Originally posted by fancynapkin
I have decided to splurge and buy something worth while, and I need a nice 1x12 (or anything easier to carry around), that is versatile in all senses of the word (volume, size, and tone).
Amps I was looking at are: orange rocker 30, vht super 30 or pittbull 45, mesa f-50, rivera chubster, zinky blue velvet or the valvetechs. I would like to keep it under 1000$.
Tone wise, it needs to be able to do the jazz thing all the way to modern distortion, and do them well. For distortion I generally like smooth vocal-like leads, and thick, big distortion with good note defintion. I hate, fizzy, buzzy, and grainy tones.

Rivera Chubster is a very nice amp and can do what you want. But I would consider a used Rivera Fandango if you want a slightly more versatile drive channel. Rivera Jake would be even more to my taste for what you describe except it doesn't get that modern as distortion without pedals.

 

[neastguy]

your not gonna get chimmey cleans with a zinky but you'll get everything else you need...

 

[tommyg]

I'd look on eBay for a Mesa Mark-x series (I, II, III, IV's). They were built to do just that. I use mine for a variety of sounds and I can practically coax anything out of it I want.

 

[onemind]

I concur with Neastguy, the Blue Velvet although a channel switcher, excels only at overdriven sounds, the clean side is uninspiring. I'd lean towards the Pitbull. Depending on your style I find I can get very usable cleans out of my rectoverb, in addition to its great scooped, heavy sound.

Steve

 

[GCDEF]

I'm really impressed with the Crate V30. One of the best small combos I've ever owned. Traynor's 50Blue is getting a lot of good word too.

 

[neastguy]

I've never played a KOCH twintone, but that seems to have a lot do all stuff ...

 

[Marcello]

Originally posted by GCDEF
I'm really impressed with the Crate V30. One of the best small combos I've ever owned. Traynor's 50Blue is getting a lot of good word too.

+1 on the blue

tried it several times, loved it

fendery cleans and really good marshally OD, seems robust and the price is more than right

 

[calieng]

Originally posted by onemind
I concur with Neastguy, the Blue Velvet although a channel switcher, excels only at overdriven sounds, the clean side is uninspiring. I'd lean towards the Pitbull. Depending on your style I find I can get very usable cleans out of my rectoverb, in addition to its great scooped, heavy sound.

Steve

I tried a few different speakers in the Blue Velvet and so far have settled with a ceramic Silver Bell. The cleans are actually pretty good with that speaker. The stock Zinky speaker is a little stiff sounding for cleans. The overdrive gets even better with a speaker swap as well. I still want to try a few different speakers from the new Eminence line.

+1 on the Pittbull.

 

[fancynapkin]

Is the vht super 30 still available?? I can't seem to find it on their site.

Anyways, I should note that Im not going to be using alot of sutle breakup, so its really either full on saturation or crystal cleans.

What about the orange rocker 30? It seemed to fit the bill nicely.

 

[calieng]

Originally posted by fancynapkin
Is the vht super 30 still available?? I can't seem to find it on their site.

... its really either full on saturation or crystal cleans.

Sounds like you want the Mesa F-50 then from all the amps you originally mentioned.

 

[hemlock]

Pittbull 45 Would be my pick out of all those mentioned so far, but I haven't played the Orange.

 

[drbob1]

My choice would be a Vibrolux Reverb and a good pedalboard
I haven't played a channel switcher that sounded really good in more than one channel, so I'd prefer to have a REALLY good clean channel and work out the drive other ways. Similarily a Brown Vibrasonic, Blond Bassman, Tweed Bassman, JTM45 etc will give you a great starting place.

If you have to accomplish the thing with an amp, two that were very respectable that I've owned were the Marshall 6100 (quite heavy and hard on tubes from the heat, but really nice Marshall crunch, which is where most of the channel switchers fall down) and the Trace Elliott Trident.

 

[Den]

I spent years looking for a "do all" small combo ... and my ears just never found it. The closest I've gotten is a combo with great cleans and a handful of pedals for different flavors of OD. The Carr Rambler + pedalboard is the one that's made me the most happy so far. Simple, lightweight and inspiring tones.

 

[A440]

you can dirty up a great clean amp tone, but it's hard to clean up a good dirty amp tone

seriously, I have better luck using the od/dist pedal in front of a clean fender type combo. ymmv, but you get the best of both worlds. there are some good channel switchers, but they always seem to be a compromise.

 

[hawkeye17]

Rocker 30. I've had mine for 6 weeks and I like it more everytime I turn it on. From clean to metal..it can do it all and do it well.

 

[modRod]

Valvetech needs some serious attention also!

+1

you will need some time to get used to it, but i can recommend this amp. it does everything i want it to do, and that goes from blues to heavy rock.

arndt

 

[rwe333]

Looking forward to the new reverb/trem-equipped Gibson line:

http://gibson.com/Products/Amplifiers/Gibson Amplifiers/

 

[M@tt C]

I've had my F-50 for almost two years now, and have used it for everything from church/ praise music to high gain modern rock. It does the clean thing very well, and between the regular and "contour" mode on the lead channel I can cover a lot of territory when it comes to the gainy stuff.

It may not be the latest and greatest on the scene, but it's a very solid, versatile, good sounding amp.