Most iconic hard rock/metal amp & speaker?

[callofcthulhu]

1) Ampeg 810
2) Mesa 215 or offset 412
3) Marshall (or whatever) square 412

 

[BogeyBass]

Any variety of the well known Ampeg rackmount heads or tube SVT.

cabinet wise

Definitely Ampeg SVT-810E

Or likewise typical
410 + 115 stacks.
410 + 410 stacks
SVT- 410HE
SVT- 115E

I'd say Otherwise GK 400 /800RB
Or SWR SM or Working Man 400/800

Likewise any combination of the glorious rat fur 410 or 115 cabinets that both offered to go with those heads. From mild to wild painted grills/baffles to chrome polished SWR metal grills.

Could definitely throw in alot of Peavey heads. Nothing specific just alot of Peavey. You definitely see alot of tolex 2x15 then likewise alot of the later metal grill/ rat fur 410 or 115 cabs.

For most part guys with a bigger budget went either
SVT head and matching cabs
Mesa 400+ and matching cabs
SWR and matching cabs

Or you had a GK , Carvin or Peavey
And endless variables of possible matching or mismatched combinations of those brands for cabinets

For short while i remember a bunch of those fancy glowing panel Trace Elliot heads popping up. Alot guys seemed to be picking them up from out of nowhere. Then likewise disappeared just as quick

 

[Curtbass]

I gotta give it to Ampeg SVT and 810
Almost every band I've seen is using that setup. Generally with a p bass.

 

[wmhill]

Some of the SWR stuff really was a game changer along the time Godsmack came into vogue, and still a ton of it out there. those chrome grills really stood out. I have seen a lot of Hartke stuff in the heavy world too.

 

[BogeyBass]

Matamp

Which I hate to wedge into Genres

But for the most part your Doom/Stoner Metal/Rock

anything

Sunn, Orange, Hiwatt, Matamp, Electric, ACC or Original Acoustic and Emperor

 

[burgerdj]

Any variety of the well known Ampeg rackmount heads or tube SVT.

cabinet wise

Definitely Ampeg SVT-810E

Or likewise typical
410 + 115 stacks.
410 + 410 stacks
SVT- 410HE
SVT- 115E

I'd say Otherwise GK 400 /800RB
Or SWR SM or Working Man 400/800

Likewise any combination of the glorious rat fur 410 or 115 cabinets that both offered to go with those heads. From mild to wild painted grills/baffles to chrome polished SWR metal grills.

Could definitely throw in alot of Peavey heads. Nothing specific just alot of Peavey. You definitely see alot of tolex 2x15 then likewise alot of the later metal grill/ rat fur 410 or 115 cabs.

For most part guys with a bigger budget went either
SVT head and matching cabs
Mesa 400+ and matching cabs
SWR and matching cabs

Or you had a GK , Carvin or Peavey
And endless variables of possible matching or mismatched combinations of those brands for cabinets

For short while i remember a bunch of those fancy glowing panel Trace Elliot heads popping up. Alot guys seemed to be picking them up from out of nowhere. Then likewise disappeared just as quick

I recall the SMX Trace amps exploding across the various scenes in the 90s, though not particularly with the hard rock and heavy metal bands as the EQ section was probably a bit too "fancy"

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Why would it not be the SVT + 'Fridge?

 

[BogeyBass]

I recall the SMX Trace amps exploding across the various scenes in the 90s, though not particularly with the hard rock and heavy metal bands as the EQ section was probably a bit too "fancy"

Pretty much , maybe not exactly hardcore metal guys.
But overnight seemed alot more tech or prog rock/metal style bands.

Now that I think of it and the labels we dealt with. The possible glowing fancy Trace amps and all the various wild painted or shiny metal custom cabs all kinda disappeared. When all the glam / prog metal bands got dropped.
Then "Grunge" and the " vintage" equipment thing took over.

Likewise alot of boutique clothing shops that had the leather and fishnet clothing stuff. For the glam or hardcore metal scene

All disappeared as well. And the thrift store and vintage clothing stores popped up and sold alot of flannels and ripped up Levi's etc etc

 

[funkytoe]

Early examples that come to mind:

Felix Pappalardi - Sunn 2000S
Geezer Butler - Orange / Marshall tube heads and cabs
John Paul Jones - GMT 600B / Acoustic Control Corp 360/361
Cliff Burton - Sunn Beta / Sunn Coliseum / Mesa D-180 / Mesa 400
Michael Anthony - Ampeg SVT
Duff McKagan - GK 800RB
Billy Sheehan - Pearce / Hartke

If I had to pick one as the "most iconic" second only to an SVT, I would have to go with the GK 800RB or the Mesa D-180.

 

[Uncle Hanky]

As others have said, the SVT is pretty ubiquitous, but if you're so inclined, we can shuffle over to the doom/stoner/sludge corner. Here you'll find Peavey, Sunn, Orange, and Kustom in addition the the mighty SVT.

 

[packhowitzer]

For me it was always this:

 

[petrus61]

 

[swarfrat]

Hahaha. I saw this thread, didn't noticed who posted it, and my gut reaction was "Do we really need another SVT thread?" I'm not much on 'Metal' or what is called that now, but when I think Hard Rock, there's two basic bass guitar tones I think of.
1) P-bass / SVT, the bloomy low mid WOOOOMPH.
2) The clanky version of above. This can still be SVT but it could probably also fit the GK sound.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

90% of the backlines I see at fests are either the Ampeg or GK stuff mentioned earlier. Gotta be a reason for that.

When I see a headliner or famous group, a lot of those guys are either using custom/boutique stuff or beat-to-$hit Peavey gear.

 

[bass.slinger]

Another vote for SVT set to destruct (volume on 10 and the gain cranked up also).

As for a modern amp version, I would like to see something that only has distortion on the mids / highs and keeps the bass clean for definition - crossover around 125-250Hz. This allows you to not have a clean blend to dilute the distortion while keeping the bass frequencies. The Brimstone Audio XD-2 pedal or the Tech21 Dug1000 do this well (I only own the XD-2). The Darkglass amps also do this to some extent but I find them way too clean (sterile to me) without the distortion.

A modern amp that has the sound of a seriously pushed SVT (powertube distortion) on the mids and highs with the low end of a Walkabout (moderate gain) would be awesome. Distortion switchable on and off for the highs. Something that creates the Moving Pictures sound with tighter lows. Something with tubes or at least the pre.

I was thinking of using a crossover (I also have the Brimstone OB-1 that I run fuzz and modulation on the mids / highs) into a couple of Ampeg PF-20/50t - the low one set cleanish and high one cranked for power tube distortion and then use the transformer DI out for each one to get a killer recorded tone.

As a disclaimer, I favor the Permanent Waves up to Moving Pictures bass tone. I like a moderately dirty tone to start (loving my WD-800) and then when I want distortion, I want a lot of it.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

Weird, isn't it? I think I just got so used to always seeing something different at every show, that I never even considered this question before.

weird indeed!

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I'm trying to get my head around this subject a little better since this isn't a genre I have a lot of on the road experience with. Of course the SVT would be a no-brainer, what other amps and speakers might qualify?

The Ampeg V-4b 2-15 reflex enclosure. The only problem with it was it had a long throw and from the stage, you had a rough time understanding the effect on the audience until the tables started to turn over.... the Acoustic 300 powered cab version was pretty much the same.

As for an amp, although not very common, the original Hiwatts were one heck of an amp back in the day.

 

[CryingBass]

+1 on acoustic 360/361. Multiples as was often done

You want to blast everyone. With audiblle bass notes...

 

[CryingBass]

So Horse: How about a Mesa H361?

 

[tgriley62]

I bet I know someone who would like those amps View attachment 3340199

I know I was kidding but, growing up here in a rural area during the 70's & 80's almost every local group I saw was using a Kustom for everything from rock, pop & country