Well.. as soon as I get some money saved up my first purchase will be a cabinet and head. I've been to many music stores around here, I found a 120watt tube create head (brand new) for around, $600 I believe. They also had a cabinet but I didn't see a price.

i've found alot of heads/cabinets on ebay by marshall but they range from $300-$2000 and honestly I don't see the difference, they all seem to be 100w (some 50) except for the mf350, which seems really nice for $700.

I've only played on one head/cabinet ever, and it was my cousins 100w tube head marshall/cabinet. Sounded great and was loud!! I think it was a JCM-900 maybe?

My style is metal, I want something loud with a huge crunch! I want the guitar to stand out and hear what is being played.

I've also looked at some Mesa things, but I don't know a great deal about them.

I wanna stay in the $700-$1000 range and not go over. I know Marshall is a great name but should maybe I look at something else? I think I want to stay away from crate.. My friends crate amp is new, and it's stoped working now twice for no reason.. Though, my favorite band Chimaira, they use Mesa.. so I looked them up. Anyone know anything about Mesa?

Firstly, mesa is the sex.
Secondly, mesa is much better value than marshall if you live in the US.

(loads of metal bands use Mesa, as do prog rock bands like Dream Theater)

The Mesa Boogie Mark IV is an AWESOME piece of amp. eBay has used Mark IV heads going for $1000 or less.

Mesa's newer models (Simple/Dual/Triple Rectifier, Road King, Trem-O-Verb, Rectoverb) are pretty much what you hear on most modern rock and metal recordings done in the last while. EVERYBODY mainstream uses them. Their older models (Nomad 55, Mark I, II, III) are often associated with Santana and some early 80's stuff (Metallica used Mark II's on "Master of Puppets," IIRC). The Mark IV is basically the transistion between the two "families" - it's got the thick, heavy and rich distortion of the Mark II/III but hints at the searing crunch typical of the Rectifiers (Rectos).

Another series that Mesa just started last year is the F-series. There's a 100 watt head (the F-100), although I'm not sure on the price. I know the 50-watt combo goes for about $1000, though. I have some sound samples of it that I found, you can check them out here here.

Your best bet, if you want a Mesa, is to go to a store and try them out. Other than on eBay, you'll never find a Mesa Boogie amp in an online store. Mesa's pricing policy forbids sellers from selling outside of their region. Also, the list price is the price. No one's allowed to sell it for a penny less. It gives a chance to the Mom and Pop stores to keep up with the big chains (GC, Sam Ash, etc).

And cabs are expensive. I hope that $1000 isn't your total budget. Also, check out some Marshall amp reviews on Harmony Central. They seem to be having a lot of quality control problems. The owner of the music store I go to almost always has one on repair in his shop. The last time I was there he had a TRANSISTOR Marshall that was broken. I mean, solid-state transistor amps are supposed to be unbreakable. :\

Musciansfriend had a sale not too long ago, the offer may still be valid. Selling a Marshall MG1000HDFX head and a MG412 slant cabinet. The head's 100W, cab's 120W, for $649.

different cabinets have many differences... speakers used, materials used in the cabinet's construction, the overall design (speaker placement size/shape, angles, etc...)

i prefer marshall over mesa because JUST ABOUT EVERYONE WANTS TO USE MESA THESE DAYS

though the best setup i've heard involving a mesa head was on a marshall cabinet (1960AV)

The 1960 is THE heavy guitar cab.

another thing i'd like to say... check out peavey... they have some decent amps for that "i don't sound exactly like everyone else" sound

Great idea, I hadn't thought of Peavey. I've heard some great recordings of Peavey Classics. I think Chuckles has the 5150, the amp designed by Eddie Van Halen. IIRC, he loves it.

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine plays a Marshall JCM800 (or 900, can't remember) into a pair of Peavey cabs.

Yeah I forgot all about peavy!

Except if you buy a Peavey you'll be laughed at eternally.

I love my Orange I just got... but it's kind of expensive.

Same if you buy a solid-state Marshall.

only by the snobs who think music equipment has to cost more than a new car or it's no good

this a good deal?

http://cgi.ebay.com/MESA-BOOGIE-TRIPLE-RECTIFIER-HALFSTACK-PACKAGE_W0QQitemZ7340224565QQcategoryZ43374QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

also, whats the deal with the 4x12 angled half back cabinets. Any reason why they are only.. well half back?

it's basically leaving certain speakers with a closed back and others with an open back...

It'll be difficult to get a head and a cab for under $1000. You might want to get a combo. The Mark IV is a great combo and I think it's possible to find one for $900. Keep in mind that you really don't need much wattage when looking for amps. I'm sure you've heard that double the wattage does not equal double the volume; you need ten times the wattage for twice the volume.

Go to a guitar store and check stuff out. I know it's cool to have a stack but for $1000 it'll be difficult. Buy used. I have a Carvin 4x12 ($399 used), an ADA MP-1 ($120 used) which I modded myself, and a Mesa/Boogie 50/50 poweramp ($500 used), which come out to $1020. It'll really be hard to find a good head or preamp/poweramp combo for cheap, and don't skip on the cab, it contributes way more to the sound than people give it credit for. If you want an inexpensive cab, Avatars sound very good and have good prices.

[QUOTE=Murc XIII] Especially if the store has your guitar. [/QUOTE]

or you can just you know... take your own guitar in

Although I don't know much about individual heads, I'd say go to a store and try a bunch out. Especially if the store has your guitar. That way you'll be able to hear the differences and decide what you like/dislike about each one.

yep. I'm a snob. And I'm not being sarcastic. I will judge a band sometimes based entirely on their equipment setup. If I see them on Epiphones and Fender Frontmen/Peavey stuff with a cheap *** Pearl drumset, I'll usually give them one song to sway me. I think it has to do with, if you're serious about what you do, you get serious equipment.

If it sounds good, its serious equipment. Thats all that should matter to a musician.

Depends what the reserve is. I think the triple recto head by itself goes for $1600-1700 US, new, so at $1400 with the 4x12, that would be a decent deal.


I went into Steve's with $3000 looking to buy a guitar. I wound up getting a $500 Ibanez instead of the PRS McCarty I had the intention of buying. My Ibanez just felt more confortable.

Good choice, cause PRS' are ooogly.

Says you, gear-snob.

yep, it's ooogly.... but that picture is from a good angle. you cant see the dumb looking headstock.

i am kidding.... kind of.

Ok, so the headstock on this:



or the headstock on this:



Fender = oogly

I like the Fender headstock... it reminds me of Evil Dead.

I like the heads on telecasters. They aren't as bulky an disgusting.

I'm a Jackson man myself...



Now that's ****ing metal!!! \m/


In regards to these two though, I prefer Fender's Strato > Shintock's

Fender Strat Headstock < *

I hate that thing.

And don't say that using peavey will get you lauged at eternally. Is Tony Iommi laughed at eternally? I think not.

Strats are pretty ugly guitars anyway, the only thing they have going for them is that they're good for a certain kind of tone.

I had the two humbuckers on my RG coil-tapped. That, with the middle single coil pickup, maple neck and long scale length, it sounds pretty Strat-ish. No need for a fugly headstock.

No need for that heathen temolo system either.

I locked the tremolo on my RG. It will never budge at all. ****ing Floyd Rose knock-off.

I like my Crate...

what'd you lock it with?

A block of wood under the bridge and some wire around the tremolo springs.

Alot of people do that to a floyd. Which is mainly the product of resting your hand on the bridge when you're learning to play. Being that resting your hand on the bridge is a bad habit, I am fortunate enough to have learned on a guitar with a Floyd, ergo eliminating the possibility of developing this bad habit.

Don't kill your floyd, learn to divebomb. Learn to love it.

Alright.. just making sure I wasn't the only one. Though actually right now there is nothing cause I wanted to use my wammy bar so there is nothing... but I can't tune any higher than a B because the bridge is at a crazy angle and the action off the finger board is rediculously high...

Well said, well said. I learned electric on floyd's as well, so have no problem at all with resting my hand on bridge throwing off the tuning. Plus the things rarely go out of tune for me, no matter what the hell I do with the strings

I don't have any problems playing with Floyds. I used to love mine. What I hate is not being able to tune down my guitar to Eb or lower. I bought my RG back when I was practically just started, I learned to play with the Floyd, without the "tremolo-hand-resting" effect.