Building a rig.. Need suggestions.

[iamajoshua]

I primarily play contemporary christian music, like hillsong united, jesus culture, passion, etc, so I'm not needing something that can slay the world with sound. I'm going for stupid good tone, though.

There's a few problems that seem common when I've jumped from amp to amp, guitar to guitar.. so I'll tell you guys what I want and hopefully sift through this stuff...

Orange 2x12's with vintage 30s have reasonable prices on top of them, so I'm going to use that as my cab. I'm going for a good rhythm tone; I don't really need disgusting lead because my bandmate's got that covered. However, it's no compromise on tone. I've always experienced straight up muddiness from most of the amps that I've played through. I need clarity in the strings when I play, not jumbled mess. I've always been an acoustic guy, so that's where my money has generally gone. That being said, the best electric guitar I've played on is a Les Paul Studio with a Seymour Duncan distortion pick up. The strings ring out and don't dominate each other... The sound isn't wimpy, it doesn't lack anything as far as fullness is concerned, and it's not heavily distorted or overpowered.

So, what I need..

I'm going to guitar center to check out different heads on the 2x12 cab. I can get a rockerverb 50 for 1250, but it seems a little much for what I need... Also, there's a Rocker 30 made in UK I have an offer on.

What heads should I try with the cab, especially with the studio?
What heads / guitar should I try if I'm going for $700 on a head, $700 on a guitar?

I'm just running up there to try things out. I plan on buying used..


I plan on getting the cab for $515 and have about $1300 ~ $1500 left for a guitar and head, or just a head with the studio. Let me know what you guys think.. I don't know how clear my post is, but I'll be checking.

[iamajoshua]

BTW, I don't HAVE to have an orange head. I can do about 1.2k for a head, or about 1.5ish for a guitar / head.

[Jondog]

If you can get that Rocker 30 you'll be golden. Maybe an AD30 might suit you too as well.

[iamajoshua]

I found the verb 50 for 1250.
The AD 30 would cost around 940,
the rocker 30 would cost 920.

I think the deal is the 50 right now..

[Les Paul Lover]

The RV50 is a very good amp for sure.

If you can get one, I'd recommend it, though I have a small AD5 and love its tone too. If is reasonnably similar to an AD30, that would be very interesting!!


This said the RV50 is an excellent jack of all trades. It does good tone from clean to high gain, excellent all the way through. Can't recommend it enough. I saved 8 month fors mine....

[iamajoshua]

the ad30 is sick, too. the 50 seems like too much..

[Ronnie Robinson]

If its Christian music does that mean the majority of the songs u play are clean ? ( Please excuse my ignorance here, I'm not familiar with the songs u mention)

if so would a Fender Valve Amp - Hot Rod Deluxe III etc , perhaps be more suitable?

Orange clean sounds may be decent but they are built to Rock and have great overdrive. None can match the lovely cleans of a Fender.

[Bensen]

PLayed in a few Worshipcombos too and my ad30 always did a great job. It has great dynamic cleans, like a dark AC30.
However to the last job I took the aformentioned ad5 and that sounded great too, could turn it up into powerampbreakup and wasn't too loud.

[jason41224]

for that kind of sound, i really think you need a Vox AC30, because those kinda groups really go for a U2 type tone. if you do go Orange, i would reccomend an AD30. like some people have said, the cleans are kinda darker than an AD30, and it takes pedals surprisingly well for not having a loop.

[tadaitstyler]

I'm surprised this hasn't been squashed for listing prices on in production amps. (AD30, RV50, the cabinet)

Anyways,

Dual Terror should be pretty cheap and they sound fantastic. Won't give you a crazy clean tone if you need it, but it cleans up alright. If you need a good clean and a good dirt sound, I'd try to find a used fender head. Bassman or something. Then push it will a good od/distortion pedal. The lovepedal amp 11 I'm using is fantastic. Super transparent OD. Sounds just like my Laney would sound if I could get the gain up higher.

I dunno. Worth some thought...

[David Verb]

Get the Orange RV50 or AD30.

The RV50 is tighter, whereas the AD30 is spongier.

I did an a/b comparison on a Dual Terror and my RV100 (Mark I) plugged stereo into my PPC412 HP. I used an RG style Yamaha with Seymour Duncan JB Bridge and Jazz Neck. They are hot pickups like a Les Paul.

The cleans on the RV100 stayed super clean up until 12 o'clock, then they started to get all distorted and nice (at a ridiculously loud volume). Whereas, the Dual Terror had a nice compressed clean with a lot of bite, and then broke out in distortion much earlier.

I really dug the saturated clean sound on the DT. But the real difference came in the dirt sounds. The RV100 destroyed the dual terror. The RV100 distortion was super silky, whereas the DT got a bit harsh.

By the sounds of it, the RV50 will suit your style. I would assume that you would need a contrast of nice cleans and light to moderate gain. The RV50 will do that for you AND sit nicely in the bands mix.

Plus you could take full advantage of that super ambient reverb in those sermon breakdown sections that you crazy hillsong dudes do.

[flea]

I haven't played the other ones, but I do music at a church, and have played my R30 combo for a year and a half for it, and love it. I just bought a Vox AC30 this Saturday, and love it as well. Would recommend either!

[Bensen]

And keep some money for delays and stuff

[chimpboyjay1]

Make sure to get yourself a badmonkey as well!

I remember an old forum member onewaycpr used to play similar music. He played a rockerverb and the other guitarist in his band played an ad30.

So I'm sure you'd be very happy with either, but if I were you I'd go with the rockerverb, more versatile!

[flea]

Another bit of advice I would give: Find the amp that does the style you want to play regardless of whether it's "christian" or not, and don't worry so much about sounding exactly like Hillsong or whoever. Unless that's your goal, of course. I find gear that inspires me and I don't worry about sounding exactly like this or that. Also, Bensen is right, delays are addictive!