I need amp help.

[holy reality]

Okay... I have a Marshall MG100dfx.... it whirs like a bitch everytime you turn it on until the fan kicks in... this is a very common problem.....

Now it's covered under a 3 year warranty, or at least I hope to god it is.... I'm assuming it's standard as long as bought new.....

So umm..... should this be free for them to fix?

But there is a deeper problem... I feel like the amp is about to crap out on me... it just doesn't sound that good anymore.... when I play with lots of bass it sounds crappier than usual and the amp vibrates like crazy.... which is normal but it's like... the sound itself isn't as bassy and clear as it used to be.... it's kind of like that thing where you crank your bass in your car and all you hear is some fuzzy bass and the car vibrating like crazy...... it's not that pleasing to the ear...

Then OD2 is pretty fuzzy when I'm not playing and just sitting there muting the strings.......

This is all at a not very loud volume.. and this amp seems like it would be impossible to gig with given the buzz issues and just how crappy it sounds cranked... but maybe it doesn't sound crappy to people who are over 50 feet away from it... I dunno...

But anyways if I can get them to fix the fan for free... can I also get them to throroughly inspect/service the entire amp and make sure it's in perfect condition? Or if I tell them something is wrong aside from the fan and it turns out I'm just crazy am I gonna get charged for making them do extra work?

All I know is I think I want to get it fixed and sell it on ebay as "like new" considering I don't play it a whole lot and it has just been fixed so it should be working great.

Then I want to get a tube amp.

[psilomind]

Then I want to get a tube amp.

Good luck... a decent tube amp is pretty damn expensive nowadays.

Anyway, you shouldnt have any trouble getting them to fix the whole thing for free, as long as the problem is diagnosable. I personally have never had difficulty with my warranties, so its not something you should worry too much about. Though don't expect to get a very high bid for used equipment even when its freshly fixed... youd be lucky if you got back 2/3 of what you paid for it.

And whilst on this topic... heres the sexy beast of an amp I'm planning on getting next week:

http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=16&brandID=3

350 watts of hybrid tube/solid-state goodness... ooooo I cant wait.

[holy reality]

Good luck... a decent tube amp is pretty damn expensive nowadays.

Anyway, you shouldnt have any trouble getting them to fix the whole thing for free, as long as the problem is diagnosable. I personally have never had difficulty with my warranties, so its not something you should worry too much about. Though don't expect to get a very high bid for used equipment even when its freshly fixed... youd be lucky if you got back 2/3 of what you paid for it.

And whilst on this topic... heres the sexy beast of an amp I'm planning on getting next week:

http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=16&brandID=3

350 watts of hybrid tube/solid-state goodness... ooooo I cant wait.

yeah do you have any guitar tube amp recommendations? I've heard some not so pleasant stories about the Marshall DSLs... and a JCM800 is way too expensive for me...

[elevate]

What kind of sound are you looking for? Do you need this for live/stage use? You may consider getting a seperate preamp and amp (guitar "amp" being something of a misnomer). You could get a Mesa Boogie V-Twin preamp pedal (or preferably, a used rackmount version - they don't make them anymore), and then a seperate power amp, like a Mesa 50/50. That should be attainable for quite a bit less than a JCM800 head, and IMO, would sound better as well.

*disclaimer - I'm just a drummer with discriminating tastes when it comes to music gear.

[holy reality]

What kind of sound are you looking for? Do you need this for live/stage use? You may consider getting a seperate preamp and amp (guitar "amp" being something of a misnomer). You could get a Mesa Boogie V-Twin preamp pedal (or preferably, a used rackmount version - they don't make them anymore), and then a seperate power amp, like a Mesa 50/50. That should be attainable for quite a bit less than a JCM800 head, and IMO, would sound better as well.

*disclaimer - I'm just a drummer with discriminating tastes when it comes to music gear.

well it probably would be for live sound, as well as practice, considering i don't think i'd have any use for a tube amp if i didn't get a band going (which i'm hoping i'll be able to do once school starts)

[elevate]

i don't think i'd have any use for a tube amp if i didn't get a band going
Yes you would - sound/tone. You could always do something like get a Pod Pro (the rackmount version) and then use the direct out straight to the PA. A friend of mine (former guitarist) has a Dual Rectifier, a V-Twin rackmount, and a TriAxis and claims that his regular Pod (ie, non-rackmount) can pretty much hold its own. It's quite a statement coming from him as he's a total gear slut and a perfectionist (a dangerous combination...especially on your wallet).

[holy reality]

Yes you would - sound/tone. You could always do something like get a Pod Pro (the rackmount version) and then use the direct out straight to the PA. A friend of mine (former guitarist) has a Dual Rectifier, a V-Twin rackmount, and a TriAxis and claims that his regular Pod (ie, non-rackmount) can pretty much hold its own. It's quite a statement coming from him as he's a total gear slut and a perfectionist (a dangerous combination...especially on your wallet).
what would I run the Pod into considering I don't have a PA at home though?

I played one in a guitar store (not the rackmount though) and it sounded kinda crappy through headphones...

[deviatedwolf625]

Are you sure it wasn't the headphones? They do make shitty "musician's headphones."

I'd advise going back in the store and playing on either a Line6 POD run into any old amp, or a Line6 Vetta combination amp/head-cabinet combo. The two are about the same, except the Vetta has more options and a 200 watt stereo amplifier built into it

I'm personally a big fan of the Line6 gear for guitar, I think that their gear is a great way to go, because they do very accurate amp modeling, which means that in one Line6 amp, you get at least 6 different amps that you can trade off between.

Just my two cents though.

[holy reality]

Are you sure it wasn't the headphones? They do make shitty "musician's headphones."

I'd advise going back in the store and playing on either a Line6 POD run into any old amp, or a Line6 Vetta combination amp/head-cabinet combo. The two are about the same, except the Vetta has more options and a 200 watt stereo amplifier built into it

I'm personally a big fan of the Line6 gear for guitar, I think that their gear is a great way to go, because they do very accurate amp modeling, which means that in one Line6 amp, you get at least 6 different amps that you can trade off between.

Just my two cents though.
I don't know.... I find the idea of amp modeling unappealing..... I mean it's like.... okay you can somewhat reproduce the sound of another amp... but unless you have tons of speakers and stuff it's not going to sound just right.... at least I really don't think so.....

The problem with headphones is they NEVER sound good based upon you have to have the volume low so you don't go deaf.... if you run the same signal through actual speakers and crank it it is bound to sound much better.

Would the Boss GT6 be another good option? I think it has amp modeling....

edit
okay so this POD has me salivating....

it says there are "patches" i don't quite understand what this means...... like.. if your turn a "patch" that you downloaded on... does it override all the settings that you have turned on with the knobs? i.e....... you save your favorite knob settings as a patch, then like one of the buttons in the middle switches to that patch, overriding all knob settings and changing them to the settings you had when you saved?

or what?

i don't quite get it......

and the POD Pro XT looks hella nice... with the bigass footswitch.... it'll cost me like $1000 or so bucks though.... for all that...

1099.98 for pod pro xt + big footswitch
969.98 for pod pro xt + small footswitch

[elevate]

I find the idea of amp modeling unappealing
Go listen to the samples they have on their site, or go listen to my song Loft (http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=1414/singles) as it's a modeled amp sound as well.

[holy reality]

Go listen to the samples they have on their site, or go listen to my song Loft (http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=1414/singles) as it's a modeled amp sound as well.
i can't listen to sound clips until at least tomorrow

but what did you use?

and has your friend tried the POD pro versions? becuase i've heard reviews where people say they like the regular pod better than the pod pro... or that the regular pod pro sounds better than the podxt pro

[elevate]

but what did you use?
I used Amplitube, which is software, in the form of a VST plugin. They make a stand alone version, but it's only for Mac at the moment.
and has your friend tried the POD pro versions?
Not that I know of. He has an old regular Pod. You also might want to check into the Behringer V-Amp 2 or V-Amp Pro. I've heard good things about the distortion sounds they produce, but then it's a Behringer product, so that may cause some to hesitate over purchasing it. I dunno...Behringer gets a pretty bad rap, but I own a Behringer mic pre and I have absolutely no complaints.

[holy reality]

well i'm starting to waver back toward the boss gt6, because i hear the pod will not sound that good if you plug into your amp... which makes sense given that the only place to plug it in would be the line in, or the fx loop...... and since i want the amp to act as just speakers it would have to go in the line in.... thus my amp settings are going to fuck with the pods tone...

so i'm wondering if maybe the boss gt6's amp modeling will suffice and give me a more killer tone as well as good effects...

[elevate]

well i'm starting to waver back toward the boss gt6, because i hear the pod will not sound that good if you plug into your amp
I dont' see how the Boss unit will be any different when plugging into an amp. Perhaps the problem is that people are plugging their Pod into a guitar amp, which is not really what you're supposed to do. A guitar preamp is not usually meant to cleanly and accurately produce sound. Likewise, the speakers usually in guitar cabinets aren't anything resembling high fidelity. You would be better off plugging the Pod into a mixer, and then something like a powered PA speaker.