Most iconic hard rock/metal amp & speaker?

[TuneIn]

in metal these days I've noticed Mesa, GK, and Ashdown, Orange as the bigger iconic bass amps...and that ampeg company.

 

[shadven]

Acoustic 360/361

 

[woodyng2]

A wall of empty Marshall cabs?

 

[diegom]

He's not asking, "What's the best amp for metal?"

He should be asking, "What's the MOST ICONIC amp for metal?"!!!

 

[4stringmf]

I'll throw the iconic Orange amps (with matching cabs) into the fray, even if mostly for looks. Goes back to Black Sabbath as far as I know?

I would imagine you may be referring to Sabbath's Paranoid video. The Orange amps you see in the background of the video were strictly used for the video only.

And now that I think of it, I believe the Mesa BB750 made an impact to a degree in the rock/metal world

 

[Nashrakh]

I would imagine you may be referring to Sabbath's Paranoid video. The Orange amps you see in the background of the video were strictly used for the video only.

And now that I think of it, I believe the Mesa BB750 made an impact to a degree in the rock/metal world

Yes, that's what I'm referring to. But now that you mention it, I think I heard the name Laney being used when it came to recording gear in their early period (possibly even broken?), but I don't know for sure.

 

[NorseBear0903]

Ampeg, Sunn, Fender Bassman

 

[Atshen]

You see way more SVT's than anything else on modern metal festival stages.

Individual bands seem to use pretty much anything, but 10 inch speakers seem to be the norm (either 4x10s or 8x10s).

 

[Thumpr]

#1 - GK 800 (Did that w Hartke's)
#2 - Trace Elliot (AH600 with a Trace 410h and a pair of Bag End S15b-d's came next. Good to have friends schlepping that one. Would crush anything in it's path and sounded crazy good.)
#3 - Let's not forget SWR. (SM-900 and a Goliath SR. was a really loud one-cab stage rig. IIRC the Goliath SR. was designed in conjunction with Jeff Ament. That was my "I need to downsize" rig)
I still have #2 and #3

 

[thetragichero]

in my experience (hundreds of shows played or attended in metal and punk scenes), either svt or orange with sunn as a distant third

 

[osv]

I remember seeing quite a few Peavey Mark IV’s until the GK 800RB took over.

 

[Downunderwonder]

There is only one truly iconic bass rig no matter the genre.

It is called Murder One.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Mesa Boogie 400+ on a Mesa Boogie Roadready 215.

 

[bombpop14]

Back in the day......

 

[StringslamDan]

I used a Genz Benz GBE600 and an Ampeg 810 in a metal band for about 5 years. Any experience with those heads? ;-) lol

 

[matante]

I would imagine you may be referring to Sabbath's Paranoid video. The Orange amps you see in the background of the video were strictly used for the video only.

And now that I think of it, I believe the Mesa BB750 made an impact to a degree in the rock/metal world

Watching live footage of Black Sabbath in concert, the stage is full Orange amps.

 

[dbase]

I've never played thru an SVT ... guess I'm still a virgin in that area .... maybe some day

 

[Atshen]

I've never played thru an SVT ... guess I'm still a virgin in that area .... maybe some day

The couple times I've played through one, I felt like it sounded almost too phat... I was raised on dry sounding SS amps. But millions of players swear by them, so to each his own!

 

[Captain Chaos]

I decided to check out Orange when I saw some dude play through them with a Verellen head or two and a P bass, it sounded MASSIVE.

 

[matante]

How about within the last say 30 years. When Acoustic or Kustom is brought up, much of that is because there wasn't much else available that early.

my answer stays the same.

1. SVT
2. 800RB
3. 400/400+ although i would say the mesa is a distant 3rd.

I would replace SVT by being more specific: the rackmount Ampeg stuff. I suppose it's branded "SVT" as well, but you know what I mean. I don't recall seeing too many Mesa 400s around. Seems like the road ready Mesa cabs were 10x more common than the amps were. A lot of guys used the GK 800rb with Mesa, Hartke, or Ampeg cabs.