Ive recently moved to a house with a very large garage and my setup needs a lot of help. I have a bc rich nj beast, an esp kh2 and a zoom 30w amp. What should i upgrade to? Do i upgrade to a head and cab system or is there any other options? Thanx Bob

Well it depends on how long you have been playing, how good you are and what type of music you play! Maybe if you tell us we can help more. I'm sure there are some smaller amps that give good sound but generally a half stack or full stack will give you a great sound. Also it depends on how loud an amp you need !

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By virtue of their electrical properties, tubes generate a special waveform when they're saturated, which is why tube engineering has tremendous tonal advantages over solid state or DSP solutions, particularly for crunch and lead sounds. Tubes enter the saturation zone gradually or softly, which lends tube-driven tone its trademark yet totally unique character.

Ive been playing about 2 yrs now and im into metallica and maiden, not nu metal. I'm probably average but learning fast. I like it loud so would probably be needing something in the region of 100w. Again i dont know enough to make a good decision but if it helps we are in the process of getting gigs (small local pubs). I have a boss gt6 for effects. Thanx Bob

To quote Lordathestrings (resident tech guru):

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... and that's all I have to say about that.

ALL generalizations are WRONG

[/sarcasm]

Man you really shouldn't need anything more than 50 watts to play a small club. Also, unless you plan on running in stereo, you only mic one speaker. So a single 50 watt combo will suffice. Of course, purchase the best amp that you can (and sometimes in my case can't) afford. You definitely don't want to skimp there. Check out the all tube marshalls and Mesa's. The new Mesa F-series are wicked and not bad on the pricing considering the cost of some of their other stuff.

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Here's a hairbnd-ism for ya...
(In my best Forrest Gump voice) Life is like a box of chocolates.... it's sweet and enjoyable, but eventually has to turn to $hit....

I have to agree with the hairbndrckr. One of the amps that I have is an old Fender Princeton 60 that is tube driven and I rarely have to turn it over 2 1/2. If I turn it up to 5 it's almost deafening. The best advice is to go to your local music store and play around with the amps in there. Tubes are going to be MUCH louder than most solid state amps and you also get the punch that I think you're looking for too.

From what you've told us, a good 50 watter should do you just fine until you learn more and define what your sound is going to be. Sometimes the only way to learn is to experience it. I had a problem trying to decide what amp/guitar/effects and such to buy. Getting advice here helped alot but until I started to understand what I wanted to do (and I'm still doing that) not too much made sense, most things sounded alike or close enough that it was frustrating to decide where to invest your money.

Any Marshall would be a good choice accualy for the rock/metal player. Head/cabs are solide, and combos are perfect @ home

I have a Marshall Valvestate combo, 2*65 watt RMS, And a BC Rich Warlock. The sound is raw and agressive.
I got a nice Metallica-like sound which blows your ears, I have never pulled it more open then 2,5.

Any harder would just be completely ****ing your ears real bad.