I'm trying to make sure that I cover all my bases here and I don't want to leave anything out. I am looking for some recommendations from TGP'ers that have experience playing these amps. I don't play metal, but I would like an amp that can give me a nice chimey clean, but get me a plexi type distortion. I play mainly a "southern rock" type style with some blues incorporated as well. Right now I am giving consideration to 1) Budda SD 18, 30 and 45 (not sure which one yet) 2) Bogner Shiva 3) Marshall JVM 4) Orange Rockerverb 50 5) Whatever recommendations you can give me or analysis of the above amps. Thank you all. I'm kindof obsessive about researching things so I love input.
Budda SD 30 head owner here. Fantastic amp. Based on the tone you want and the types of amps you're looking at - I'd also recommend the Top Hat Emplexador 50w.
You really don't need to look any further than the SD30 but looking at the list of alternatives you provided I would buy the Reinhardt before any of the others.
Personally I would look into the Reinhardt Classic 50 or the Storm. http://www.reinhardtamps.com/Amps.html
If you click on the classic 50, there is a video clip you can download. It's a wmv file and takes a minute to download.
I've got both a bogner shiva and a budda superdrive 18 combo. for chimy cleans and a more southern rock/bluesy distortion I'd recommend the Shiva. The Budda has more of a modern distortion and a more sterile clean sound than the bogner.
I have both the Reinhardt 18, and the Budda 18 and they are both 1x12 combos. I think the Budda may sound a bit bigger, but the Reinhardt is so touch sensitive, and fun to play. I play the same types of music, w/ a Les Paul. I dont think you can go wrong with either. Both really take pedals well too. One other amp I recently played that I though was great, especially for the money is the Suhr Badger. I know there is a good video on You Tube of the Badger with Peter Thorn playing.
RSA23? SuperSonic? I own the RV50 and love it. I also had a 6L6 Shiva and prefered it to the EL34. I would have no problem owning a Budda either 18 or 30, haven't played the 45 yet.
I own a Reinhardt MI-6 head (same as the 18 but uses 6V6's) and 1/12 cab. It has the most amazing marshall crunch in a small pakage. A friend of mine owns a 1969 50 watt plexi and swears this amp sounds exactly like his without blowing your pants off.
I use the exact same two amps and have tried the Badger. Everything bluesman posted has pretty much been my experience too. I find the Budda has the widest variety of tones, but the Reinhardt has the greatest overdriven 70's rock Marshall tone I have ever heard. I actually think the Reinhardt sounds bigger than the Budda as it has this organic open tone to it that the Budda doesn't quite have. The Budda sounds darker and a bit thicker on the distortion side, and has much more clean headroom. If you want versatility I would go with the Budda or a two channel amp like the Bogners previously mentioned. Plus the Budda can get into more modern hard rock types of tones than the Reinhardt gets. If you are usig humbuckers and a thick sounding guitar like a Les Paul I find the Reinhardt does not do super cleans at gig volumes, but the natural overdrive through that amp is so damn good everything else sounds so sterile after playing through it! The Badger is really great too and would be fine for what you are looking for, but keep in mind is only one channel, but I really thought it was a great sounding amp the two times I have played one.
Hey CAC, The thing I really liked about the Badger is the power scaling feature, that being said I am sending my Reinhardt back to get the power scaling feature installed. You are right though, I didn't really think about the 1 channel. The 2 channels on the Budda offer some flexibility.
