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Any love for high gain amps here? I'm talking Mesa Boogie, Engl, Blackstar etc. The only amps that seem to get mentioned here are vintage style ones.

I personally would love one of these

Love Blackstar and have always wanted to try an Engl. I think Mesa are a lot more diverse than just high gain stuff, but I suppose the same is true for Blackstar.

Always liked Engls just because of how mean they looked.

I've always wanted to try a Soldano too. Not too keen on trying a Diezel, though, just because they've a stupid name. I'm fickle, I suppose.

BacchusPaul wrote:Love Blackstar and have always wanted to try an Engl. I think Mesa are a lot more diverse than just high gain stuff, but I suppose the same is true for Blackstar.

Always liked Engls just because of how mean they looked.

I've always wanted to try a Soldano too. Not too keen on trying a Diezel, though, just because they've a stupid name. I'm fickle, I suppose.

Same, Diezel makes me think of Kevin Nash, the WWF wrestler. I also hate how weird the vh4 looks

Actually i have the chance to buy an engl fireball 60 head for around $800 but i think it would be wayyyy too loud for my japanese shoebox apartment

Yeah, you'll never, ever be able to turn that on.

I've played through a friend's 1x12 ENGL combo and it sounded pretty amazing. I wasn't massively aware that they were considered to be 'high gain' amps though, in fact it the two bands he's been in have both played post-punk sort of stuff, so it seems like an odd choice if ENGL has that reputation.

JJLipton wrote:Actually i have the chance to buy an engl fireball 60 head for around $800 but i think it would be wayyyy too loud for my japanese shoebox apartment

Surely that's exactly as loud as your amp ought to be. Do it!

I'm not a fan of mesa boogie's high gain amps like the rectifier series. I've never played through a soldano but I've heard good things about them, and one band that my old band played a show with had one, and it sounded pretty good. I'm not a diezel fan either, it seemed like a lot of bands were jumping on the diezel bandwagon a few years ago, but it seems to have died down.

My ideal gain sound is an orange AD30.

sometimes i play through one of these that i got for $100.

I used to own a Fireball.

For scooped out, really heavy distortion it sounds much better than a mesa recto imo. It's really a one trick pony though.