Izakm

I recently purchased a used Ibanez RG350DX and replaced a few parts and overall only paid about $130. The guitar has custom Seymour duncan SH-13 and SH-4 and the stock single coil pickup (INFS-3, i believe). I play in drop C (with a blocked tremelo) on 11 gauge strings. I run my guitar through a whimpy (yet pleasing) Line 6 Spider IV 15watt.

Obviously I haven't had a lot of money for the equipment I am using. I do not know the first thing about effects/amps. I do not wish to get a new guitar (considering I got mine this month), but I'd like an upgrade in amp equipment, what should I get? I'm looking at about $350, and I'd like to be using a pedal, not a preset distortion setting. I play music like Killswitch Engage/ August Burns Red. Any help would suffice considering I do not know the first thing about anything technical/ tone related. The setup I have no does not sound bad, but I feel it lacks a little.

Perverockstar69

Sell the Line 6 and get a Peavey 5150/6505

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diskothek

Your guitar sounds fine. Although most people don't like the SH-13 tone. I have one but am replacing it in the near future.

An amp is your best bet. As the post above said, sell the Line 6 and his recommendation of a 5150/6505 is the standard around here for metal. You should be able to find a combo at a decent price.

Where are you located? Craigslist is always a good option and MusiciansFriend/GC.com used deals.

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Axes
Schecter C-1 Plus (SH-2 Jazz neck, SH-13 Dime bridge)
Peavey Firenza (SD Hot Rails middle, Duncan Designed HB102 bridge)
Breedlove Passport C250/CMe
Amps
Peavey VTM 120 > Orange PPC 212-C
VOX VT20+
Pedal/Effects
Korg DT-10
Boss NS-2

Leather Sleeves

6505+ is probably the best bet. If you get the combo and replace the speaker with something decent you'll have a great rig. Don't know why you'd want to use a pedal specifically, but you could get a cheaper tube amp and use a metal zone. It would sound alright but not as good as the 6505 imo

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leigh596

6505+ 112, or a Vypyr 60 tube if youre wanting decent cleans too

__________________
CURRENT GEAR
Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH MN
Yamaha 12 string acoustic
Line 6 Spider IV 30
Boss ME50

Izakm

Well, don't you have to use pedals eventually? I've always been under the impression that pedals are tonally superior? I guess I was wrong?

Offworld92

+1

__________________
In your mind, you can fly.

HUMANIZER

This isn't 1968. Use the volume knob.

Main Rig
Ibanez | S420 |
LTD | EC-1000 |
Peavey | 6505 | MS412 (WGS) |
Boss | TU-3 | CS-3 | GT-10 | NS-2 |
MXR | M77 |

Blktiger0

Nope.

Having a great pedal and a crappy amp will still give you crappy tone. However, a cheap pedal through a great amp will sound better, but still not the greatest.

I would like to give a +1 to the 6505/5150 recommendations. However, with what you're playing, you should grab an Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer or a clone (The DigiTech Bad Monkey is cheaper, and IIRC, most guys on here prefer it) to boost the amp and tighten up the sound some more. Basically, you turn the Gain on the pedal to 0, turn the Level or Volume to 10 (or the whatever it's highest setting is) and set the Tone to whatever tickles your fancy.

Most pedals that you see on pedalboards of big-time bands are usually stuff like Delay, Reverb, Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Wah, Whammy, and EQ pedals. If they have a Distortion/Overdrive pedal, they're using it for a boost like I recommended you do above.

As a word of warning, the 6505 is going to sound very different from your Line 6. The Spider is a very digital sounding, fizzy, thin, and gainy amp. The 6505 is going to be a MASSIVE upgrade, but it'll probably sound really weird to your ears at first, since you aren't used to playing with Tube tone. The key thing to remember with the 6505's is to keep the mids up and the gain down. Most guys on here don't push their gain knob past half way. That's just a general tip, though. Set the amp to what sounds good to you

I also second the Vypyr recommendation. You could easily get a Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 used in that price range. It's basically a modelling preamp paired with the 6505 Power Amp. It's going to be a much more flexible amp, but for the two bands you listed, a 6505 would be all you need.

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Egnater Vengeance
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Izakm

Alright, I'll be looking into those. I'm not used to anything other that what I have. Anything that I learn is from stuff people post. I do have a question about the 6505.. It is a small tube amp correct? Are you supposed to run it through a pair amp? like the 5150 mentioned above? I believe the two of them paired sounds like too much for what I can afford at the moment, so the Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 sounds to be the only thing in my range. I'll defintely try to read up on this stuff, considering I do not know anyone else who knows anything techincal.

leigh596

it is definitely not a small tube amp, it is a big combo, 60 watts, which will go very loud. Its the 6505 1x12, not the 6505 head, theres like a £500 difference

__________________
CURRENT GEAR
Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH MN
Yamaha 12 string acoustic
Line 6 Spider IV 30
Boss ME50

Blktiger0

I'm assuming by "pair amp" you mean a stack, which would look like this:



That's a 6505 halfstack, but the one we're referring to is the combo version, which looks like this:



There isn't going to be hardly any sound difference between the two, if any.

Just to fill you in, a "stack" is when you take amp amplifier "head" and pair it with a speaker cabinet. The most common is a half-stack, which is an amp head and one 4x12 speaker cabinet. The 4x12 refers to 4 speakers that are each 12 inches in diameter that reside in the cabinet. The reason for this is that the amp "head" doesn't have speakers, so you have to connect it to an external cabinet. The reason for this is flexibility. You can have multiple cabinets with different speakers and physical attributes for different scenarios and sounds. For example, I have a 2x12 cabinet that makes up my "quarter-stack" because it's more portable and smaller for traveling with my gear. However, once I have the extra hauling space, I'm going to get a 4x12 cabinet because they provide more projection onstage, so you can hear yourself a little better when standing up.

A combo is just the head and a cabinet in one package. Usually, these are found in either 1x12 or 2x12 arrangements, but they can also be found in 4x10 and 4x12 arrangements. The only downsides are that combos can be quite heavy, and you won't want to use certain preamp tubes in them, as the vibrations from the speaker will cause them to go micrphonic quite easily. That's something you can worry about later, though. Most combo amps can still be connected to an external speaker cabinet, though, and used just like a head.

Hopefully this helps clear it up a little If you're unclear about anything else, just ask and either myself or one of the other guys on here will be happy to help out

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

Offworld92

I still facepalm every time I see that 'MURICA 6505. Seriously gross. Like, who the hell would actually buy that, and then USE it?

__________________
In your mind, you can fly.

HUMANIZER

This isn't 1968. Use the volume knob.

Main Rig
Ibanez | S420 |
LTD | EC-1000 |
Peavey | 6505 | MS412 (WGS) |
Boss | TU-3 | CS-3 | GT-10 | NS-2 |
MXR | M77 |

Blktiger0

I would buy the head, because it's subtle. I imagine it's widely geared towards people who are/were in the Armed Forces or are very patriotic. Personally, if I had a Peavey endorsement, I would have no issue using that setup, but it's not something I would go buy. I would buy that before something with bright red tolex, though.

I also imagine this is geared toward the people eho would buy Kerry King Tribal V's. Talk about goddamn ugly

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

Offworld92

I dunno. I think patriotism, like religion, should be kept behind closed doors. I don't care if you have a fetish for whatever country you happened to be born in, just don't force it on me.

Then again, I also don't understand why people put political stickers on their cars.

Maybe I'm just weird.

__________________
In your mind, you can fly.

HUMANIZER

This isn't 1968. Use the volume knob.

Main Rig
Ibanez | S420 |
LTD | EC-1000 |
Peavey | 6505 | MS412 (WGS) |
Boss | TU-3 | CS-3 | GT-10 | NS-2 |
MXR | M77 |