Ive been playing on a Line 6 Spider II practice amp for 3 years and I'm looking to upgrade so I can play gigs and achieve a better tone overall. My budget is about $1000, but i can go slightly over that. I play mostly melodic death metal, hardcore punk, funk, and blues, and I'd want a head that can support these styles adequately. I plan on going out and trying out several different heads at local stores, but I'm hoping that I can narrow down my search and get on the right track with the advice of fellow MA'ers. Thank you .

There are many great amps once you get to the 1000 range. Though, once you get to that quality, it's all a matter of opinion. You must try them yourself, though I can direct you to great brands.

VHT makes great amps, you could get a Deliverance used at that price.

Thanks for the response. Have you used the Deliverance first hand? If so how was it?

The Deliverance is an awesome amp...but I'll be brutally honest (just like the amp itself is)...if you're used to a Line 6 practice amp, you probably won't like it. Unlike pretty much anything by Line 6, it's VERY unforgiving, and extremely sensitive to nuances in playing, as well as differences in guitars, pickups, cables, speakers, cabs, etc. What this means is, if you fuck up, it'll show, very clearly (the plus side of this is that it'll force you to become a better player). It also means that you'd probably want to be sure you have a good quality cab, and all the VHT/Fryette stuff really sounds its best with the VHT/Eminence P50E speakers. Your guitar might not sound that great with it, either. Some of my favorite guitars with just about any other amp sound mediocre to just outright bad with the Deliverance...but when you find a guitar it does get along with, you're definitely rewarded. Definitely an amp to try before you buy.

You'd also have to be ok with a single-channel amp with nothing footswitchable and no FX loop. You'd probably also want to use an overdrive pedal in front to get a more saturated tone out of it. Here's a recording I did a few months ago with mine. It's an Agile PS-900 (maple-capped mahogany body, maple set neck, rosewood fingerboard, 24.75" scale) with a Seymour Duncah SH-6 Distortion in the bridge and a DiMarzio Air Norton in the neck, through a Bodenhamer-modified DOD YJM308 overdrive (used as a clean boost), then into my Deliverance 60 and a custom-built cabinet loaded with P50Es. There's some post-processing on it, but this should give you an idea of what the amp is capable of: http://www.mp3lizard.com/download.cfm?id=26895

Let me know if you have any questions.

I'd probably recommend something more like a Peavey 5150/6505 (or 5150II/6505+), Ultra Plus, Triple XXX, or 3120 for what you're looking for, though.

You could also get an ENGL Fireball used for about that much, or a Blackmore if you were crafty.

There are a ton of good amp heads you can get for around $1000. Mesa Single Rectifier, Mesa Mark III, Marshall JCM800, Peavey 5150, ENGL Fireball, VHT Deliverance... Basically any tone you want is available.

Nice to see a good range of music.

Check out Marshall Hand wired series. I suggest looking at JCM-800 or Plexi heads.

Thanks for the responses guys. I actually just saw a listing on CL for a Line 6 HD147 half stack for $650, condition looks pretty good, I'm going to try it out this Sunday .

That is a killer deal on the HD147! Definitely go for it. It takes a bit of tweaking to get a really good sound, but for that price, you can't beat the versatility and tone.

To me the HD147 is the best solid state head you can get. What I love about Line 6es is having inbuilt effects. I much prefer that with a single footboard than a fiddly cluster of FX pedals. Thing is, I've not seen it anywhere less than £600 and save another £100-200 and I can afford myself a Laney VH100R or possibly Peavey 6505 head.

My best recommendation is my own kit, the line6 Spider HD100 valve head. All I can say is amazing.....

No reason to even consider this when he can get the HD147.

I was actually considering the hd100 valve head for a while, but i much rather have the hd147 considering how much money i'd save for what i'd get in return.

Well personally I prefer the sound of the hd100 over the 147, just a matter of personal taste I guess.

Spider preamp with solid state power amp = Shit

Spider preamp with tube power amp = Less shit, but still not good

HD147 preamp with SS power amp = Pretty good

When you consider cost, versatility, function, recording ability, the HD147 pwns the Spider valve.

thank you for the breakdown, this cleared things up for me.

:O the hd147 has been sold, therefore im back on the market. any other suggestions?

Several notable melodic death metal musicians use the Peavey 5150/6505, it is a very nice amp, fairly versatile too. I personally use a Peavey Triple XXX and I love the crunchy tone of the amp, and the clean is pretty good too (though I rarely use that).

I have a JSX which is really similar to the XXX but less modern. This might be better for him than a 5150 because he could get those punk, funk, and blues tones too.

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Ha, I love my 6505 head to death!

To the OP:

Have you gone into a large music store and tried out all of their amps?

I have tried JSX heads a few times and that is a fair description, it will probably work better for non-metal/hard rock applications.



Easy way to check them out, but a lot of the tube amps in retail stores have been abused by people who don't let them warm up, so be careful with tube amps that could have been misused.

I've made an attempt but in every store I have walked into they always have the cheap spider 3/raven/mg heads on display and various combos otherwise. My band is going to a rehersal studio next friday and supposedly they have top notch gear there so I'll be sure to try out whatever heads are present there.

If you shit money buy a Mesa Boogie.