They all sound the same...recommend something new!

[Gas Hed]

My amp journey has been fun, no regrets, what is interesting is for the most part they have all sounded the same and I've finally found the best of the bunch. Here's how it went:

In the before time a Roland solid state something or other, then used student loan money to start the snowballing:

Mesa Tremoverb (I started big!)
Mesa 5:50 Express
65 Amps London Pro
Bogner Atma
Bogner Shiva
65 Amps Whiskey
Suhr Badger 30
Suhr PT15IR - end all be all of the list

Aside from the Tremoverb and Shiva the amps have all had that classic British tone and I've settled in on the PT15 as my #1. So now I want something that sounds different and am leaning towards a high gain, smooth sounding compressed amp. Hoping you folks can recommend something that sounds different...I'm looking at the SLO 30 and the Mesa Badlander 50. Am I on the right track? Anything else I should be checking out?

Cheers TGPers!

 

[drbob1]

I'd argue that there's no such thing as "classic British" because you've got to cover Marshall, Vox and Hiwatt to cover British. A NMV Vox is a pretty different animal from a Marshall.
That aside, the thing that Brit amps tend to share is ample mids, so the furthest thing from where you are is a BF Fender clone. Mesa/Dumble don't cover it because the first thing they did was add mids! If I were building an amp collection based with the Suhr as the first thing...

Princeton Reverb/Clone-I'd recommend a 70s version, not SUPER expensive and they hold their value well, plus they're durable as heck
Then move on to your smooth/high gain-I'd probably not go with the SLO because it's more a Marshall derived. A Mark III or Mark V are a pretty good investment right now, and are quite different than the Tremoverb. But there's a world of Dumble based amps out there that will scratch that itch, too, from Fuchs to Carol-Ann to Louis Electric etc.
After that it's Tweed, then brown Fender.

 

[fiveightandten]

a high gain, smooth sounding compressed amp.

IMO you're describing a Friedman.

 

[beckstriad]

IMO you're describing a Friedman.

And boy is it glorious!

 

[Flatfish.]

Aa864 bassman.

 

[Produktsumme]

IMO you're describing a Friedman.

Spot on. BE50DLX, BE100DLX, or if you want to go in a totally unique direction (it sounds like you want to OP) the Dirty Shirley/Twin Sister

 

[LesPaul70]

Haha, when someone asks for a high gain amp, you can rely on TGP to recommend an old Fender amp. Respect! At least TGP is consistent.

That said, if all these amps sound the same to the OP...

Mesa 5:50 Express
65 Amps London Pro
Bogner Atma
65 Amps Whiskey
Suhr Badger 30
Suhr PT15IR

...it doesn't really much matter which high-gain amp you get. Virtually any of them is capable of smooth, compressed high-gain sound. Pretty easily. For example, a Mesa Rectifier reaches that compressed sustain zone when the Gain is around 1-2 o'clock (Vintage or Modern mode), without any extra pedals.

I find that the differences between high-gain amps often lie more in their mid-gain/crunch sounds. It is sometimes more difficult to get ballsy, tight, articulate and dynamic rhythm tones from high-gain amps. That might actually be a more interesting test when you are shopping for high-gain amps than their compressed high-gain sounds.