Amp

Should i buy a Peavey XXX, 5150,Mark IV or triple rectifier?

I myself want to check out the xxx because a tube amp in my price range, but guitar center and the other shop by me dont carry them so I'm still on my "amp quest" also

Im thinking a the 40watt xxx combo would be perfect, because it has the high gain im lookin for and im gonna be able to crank that motha, and it should sound really good. I dont think i would need a bigger amp, if im just gonna mic it anyway.

I've never owned any of those, but I've heard-

-The XXX is more harsh sounding than the 5150
-Do you mean the 5150 or the 5150v.2? The clean channel is different, I believe.
-The triple rectif. isn't really any better than the double or single
-As far as wattage goes headroom can be (I've never owned that amp so I can't say for sure either way) a consideration, although there are several other threads over the issue of wattage here with some very good points on both sides and way more knowledge than I have. I highly recommend you do a search and read them sometime, it's a very interesting subject.

Some further thoughts-
-Have you looked at Engl? They make a great line of amps which I believe have the american distortion sound it sounds like you're looking for, unless I'm horribly confused from it being early AM.
-Which of those amps have you had the opportunity to play around with using your gear? It's very important to know exactly what you're getting when you buy an amp, especially the relatively expensive ones like Mesa. We can't tell you what you're going to like, just give recommendations.

a 40 watt combo should be plenty loud, IF it's tube driven...

that's one thing that i've learned that tubes bark louder than solid state (at least with the amps I've played with)

best advice.. find a guitar shop by you that does have these models and play the hell out of em.. I wandered in and out of shops for 2 months before settling on my vox... but that is a story for another post =)

Go for the 5150 II. This has better tone than the first one. If you dont like the distortion you can just get it modded. Its good for the price compare to triple rectifier i think. The triple xxx is ok from what i've heard but isnt that great !
As said by hammurabi, you should check out the engl amps. From what i've heard they are very good. I know the powerball and fireball are both good amps that will do a similar job to the amps you've mentioned and probably better from what i've heard.
Also merker, you talk about having a 40 watt combo. I have to agree that this would be a good idea. If you arent going to be needing a very loud amp for a band practising this would probably be fine. I know that the engl powerball still sounds very good at low volumes which is why i have my eyes set on it at the moment.

I have the head version of the XXX. For high gain, you just can't beat it. I have also been fairly impressed with the clean channel. If metal is your thing, then defanately look into the XXX. The 5150 might be slightly more versatile as far as coaxing various tones from the amp, but I can get a fairly decent 80's hard rock tone to all out brutal, make you wanna break stuff, high gain tones from the XXX.

Thanks alot for helping. I went to harmony-central and read the reviews, and the Powerball sounds Awsome! But at the time it sounds a little to pricy. I am sometime gonna get a half stack, and when i do its gonna be a Powerball. The 5150 sounds sweet also, but i need a nice sounding clean channel. Im thinking the xxx 40(tube-driven), might be the ticket, because im looking for a really good tube amp thats small. Im not really into the whole marshall thing either, I think thier kind of overated. I guess a big sound from a little amp is really what im looking for. But my searching shall continue.

Does anyone know of any low wattage amps that sound good?

Just get a Fender M-80 300 watt 1x12 combo amp. That's as brutal as it gets!

Fender? Brutal? This is new to me..

Well, I suppose with that many watts it had better be able to do something.

I've never heard of a Fender M-80. Also never heard of a 300 watt Fender amp, unless it was a bass amp. Also never heard the word "brutal" associated with a Fender amp.

Originally posted by PRSplaya
I've never heard of a Fender M-80. Also never heard of a 300 watt Fender amp, unless it was a bass amp. Also never heard the word "brutal" associated with a Fender amp.

Well, there's a first time for everything, y'know! Hyuk! Hyuk!

Originally posted by DiminishedDevil
Just get a Fender M-80 300 watt 1x12 combo amp. That's as brutal as it gets!

300 Watts into [u]one[/u] 12" speaker? I want to see the spec (dB SPL / Watt @ 1 meter) on that speaker! Unless that single speaker has about 2" of free movement, I suspect some marketing BS here. If the speaker only produces 86 dB SPL @ 1 Watt, a Blues Junior will actually be louder!

I saw that and had to look around... there are a few M80's out there that I found but NONE were even CLOSE to 300 watts... and the reviews said that the clean was a typical fender smooth; nothing to write home about and that the distortion SUCKED!!! I can't think of anyone who would classify any fender amp distortion as brutal but hey- opinions are opinions...

I was wondering, would the dude that posted that have any more info on the one he was talking about? I'd like to read up on it.. the idea of using a single speaker for over 300w of power is confusing.....

I have an old H&H 1200-sries speaker rated at 300 Watts rms, but that alone is worth about US$400.

Thanks for the help

PRSplaya,
Does your xxx sound good at lower volumes. because if i were to get the head i wouldnt want to have to to blast my ear-drums apart to get good tone.