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ArtVandelay

Best amp/fx setup for that classic metal sound at home (self.guitars)

submitted 5 months ago by farcaster to c/guitars

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I mostly play and enjoy the sound of "classic" metal. 1980s Judas Priest. Metallica. Maiden. Etc.

What's a good amp/fx setup to reproduce this sound at modest volumes?

I have a friend with a Marshall stack, which sounds amazing but I have neither the budget or the space for something like this. I currently have a Fender amp with a Boss GT-1 effects pedal, which is quite good but no matter what I do I never quite get this to reproduce the tone I'm looking for.

Will a small Marshall combo amp like a MG30GFX work for me? Does it make sense to go for low-wattage tube amps over solid state? Thoughts?

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[–] iamericandre 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

You could get a Marshall DSL40 or smaller if you don’t need as much power. Those amps all do the classic Marshall sound pretty well and for under 1k. If you can afford it, I have the Marshall studio jcm800 that’s 20 watts and it shreds so hard.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Not at modest volumes it won't. A 1W valve amp is going to be more than loud enough for use at home levels, let alone cranking a 20W amp

[–] iamericandre 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You don’t need to crank it to get the sound op is after

Edit: I completely forgot that the 40 and 20 watt versions all have low power modes so you can run them at 20/10/1 watt

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

So many people just assume you need to dime the master volume to get good tone. It's not the 70's anymore. Most amps are made so that the pre-amp does the tonal heavy lifting. The power section doesn't need to be pushed at all to get a serviceable tone. Sure, there's extra sauce in the power amp as you turn it up but its not an absolute necessity like it was 50 years ago.

[–] farcaster 2 points 5 months ago

The DSL40 sounds very appealing indeed, and not too pricey. I'll go around and look for it at the local guitar store. I've also frequently seen those Katanas mentioned above which I'll have to try. Thanks.