Generally speaking, while it feels like every nuance of everything has been analyzed to death....I feel like there is a segment of classic bass amps for doom-ish, detuned guitars that has yet to be really explored. The thought came to me when I rammed a rat/rams head pedal combo into an old 70s Acoustic bass amp into a 4x12....it was Brutal! (Note the capital "B") Most of the classic bass amps can be had for a lot less $$ than the 'recognized' doom metal classics. The guitars are being tuned down into bass range anyway, so it makes sense. Anyway, would be interesting to see some classic bass amps 're-invigorated' to heavy gtr amps.
Gallien Krueger makes good solid state bass amps for guitar work. The drive channel is iconic for bass, but serves a guitar very well as the EQs foci are shifted to doomy areas. And their cabs and combos emphasize 10" speakers & tweeters/horns, so they are tight and punchy for low end work.
Abso-fucking-lutely my man. I currently have a first gen Sunn Concert Bass into an orange 4x12, using a Gibson Les Paul tuned to standard B, all through an Abominable Electronics Demon Lung pedal and it’s heavy and loud as a fucking dump truck.
That vid is fire, just what I needed. Could you please make a video on cabinets too? Diving into their frequency responses and records they were used in.
Oddly enough, my doom/stoner amp is an older Mesa DC-5. Crank all the knobs on the lead ch & adjust the geq. Love that amp! Does that COC thing like none else.
I Doom metal on a budget. I have a CR-120 solid state I use the clean channel exclusively turned up to where it has break up but still fairly clean. Late 90’s Sunn O))) fender reissue 412. (Yes I know it’s Sunn in name only for the purists out there) with most of my tone coming from my Pedal board of Doom covering most of my tone. HM-2 for my distortion tone and a custom Fuzz pedal for the more groovy parts. With delays and modulation pedals to round out the effects.
The solid state Orange amps are great with an EQ pedal (or 2) in the effects loop to contour the fuzz/overdrive that comes out of the Dirty channel. The Clean channel is a great pedal platform with a lot of headroom. And from a practical perspective, they are affordable, durable, and orange ;-)
I play a Hilbish Beta Amplifier 200. Based on the beta lead bass. I actually use it as a pedal platform, and am very happy with it. I’ve chosen it over an Orange CR120 and Rockerverb 50(both of which I’ve owned). I did like the CR120 a lot, but the low end on the Hilbish is fuller. Possibly because it’s based on the bass version. I’ve had a vintage Beta Lead before and loved it too. I feel like I’m in the minority that’s actually excited Sunn is rebooting with the beta series first. Hoping they turn out to be good and readily available.
I've played through a Beta Lead one time, and it was crushing. Very loud and a really nice unique distortion flavor. I would love to see more solid-state gear on a list like this!
@@siriplaydopethrone8973 Yeah, put a gnarly one knob pedal in front of it running clean and it will doom for days. From my experience, Marshalls are a bit on a sharper side on od channel, find it finicky to go in pair with early Orange sounding amp, for example, and pedals sound kinda thinned out also. But early EW or Cathedral would be dialed in instantly on those
Yup! I love my peavey standard non-master for doom. I also use a coda effects black hole as a preamp for a 70s traynor pm300 for a 300w model t style tone
A couple of amps I’ve had experience with that would absolutely NOT usually be considered for doom: EVH 5150III EL34 50watt blue channel. Most of the thrash and death metal guys hate the blue channel on the EVH EL34 because it’s so loose and bass heavy. Cranked up on the gain and noonish on the eq controls. Another amp is the Marshall DSL20HR. Due to it being a cathode biased amp , it’s got a looser feel and the fizziness of the amp gives it a fuzz type tone . Again, gain up, bass up, treble and mids around noon.
On a similar note, I don't think it was mentioned yet but a Fender 350 rumble either combo or head really burns for a bass amp. Although a solid state amp it's definitely a slept on for it's power.
I've never seen anyone else use it but the Sunn Concert Lead is a phenomenal 200 watt solid state amp. Distorts a bit with the distortion switch on if you have really hot pickups, but it shines with something like a DOD 250 or a fuzz in front of it. The clean setting takes pedals normally but the distortion setting takes them unlike every other amp I've played. It's a real sleeper in my opinion. I've been able to do everything from doom, to sludge, to shred on it with the right pedal combos.
@@FuzzlordEffects had to get the full set. An L120, B120 and a 120R which is pretty rare. Guy I got it off got it totally gone over, new reverb tank and recovered it in slime green tolex. Looks cool.
I have the CR120 and it's a beast running thru V30's. Looking at getting the Pro412 with VOTW speakers. When I think of "Doom/Stoner" metal I think of Laney and Orange. Laney for my bass and Orange for my guitars. But that's just me. In the end it's all about what you like and enjoy and what keeps you motivated to play. This is a very subjective genre to begin with.
I own a mid-70s Ampeg V4 that, sadly, is in need of repairs because I don't think it liked being cranked too high while being plugged into a Two Notes Captor X (100W RMS limit). But for the few hours that it was working, it sounded like Blues For The Red Sun just plugging straight in with no pedals. It made my stock Epi SG Custom sound better than it ever had to my ears. There is a local shop near me that has a 1st gen Sunn Model T with a price tag of $4000, and I'm not gonna lie, whether or not that's way too much for that amp, it's what I'm thinking about while I do OT at work.... 👀
I used to see the Ampeg v4 quite often in the late 90’s early 2000’s. Not sure if I missed it but what about the Marshall Plexi. I’ve seen it with more bands than any other amp.
Two side notes, if you’re a bass player I highly recommend using the Sunn concert slave for each speaker stack you run. I run 3 stacks an acoustic 370 and a fender Bassman with matching two 12 and 2x15 JBL version to and and 2 ampeg 4x12 bass cabs so that coliseum give me plenty of extra power to drive all three stacks. Plus maintaining the tube sound via the Bassman. To get that poor white trash budget NOLA sound everyone down there used in the 90’s I know jimmy bowers used the RG100 solid state head and a fully cranked up BOSS super overdrive pedal to get his sound in eyehategod. Which we all know is the filthiest most swampy southern sound there is.
As much as I love the Orange/Matamp family there are two important missings: the Marshall Plexi, which can beat any of those amps as long as you know how to set the knobs and the 5150 in the green channel (crunch mod), amazing beast!
A band we share the rehearsal room with has an Orange OR120, when I tried it out and I was a bit underwhelmed. It's not that loud, my AOR 30 is very compareable volumewise, sounds good but nothing spectacular. The same thing happened wehn I teid out a Randall RG 100ES. So I have to admit, for me the Laney AOR is the best Doom amp out there.
I only have really used amp sims so far besides my lil orange crush 12 combo lol but tried a couple of the Model T and Beta Lead, and they definitely deserve the spots. Definitely also interested in the Matamp. From the demos I've heard and the aesthetics, it seems like all I'd need in an amp haha
Matt Talbot of Hum uses a OR120. Hum is not a doom band, but check out the song The Summoning. Very doomy. The other guitarist Tim Lash uses the Hiwatt. Both run them clean and uses pedals to drive them into OD/ dist.
Holy shit! This was my second amp that i got new back in ‘95. i got a 7-string RG IBANEZ with Floyd rose stuck EMG 707 in there. Got a fuzz factory back in ‘98 and that was my sound for the next 20 years. First time i heard someone mention this amp in any context. the “mid shape/ tone control” on the drive channel was versatile af. deep scooped mids all the way to QOTSA. i broke my reverb spring in it and had it replaced. The shop told me it was an expensive replacement and i didnt care. but it ended being the best fuckin reverb i ever heard and been chasing that reverb in a pedal form for about 20 years. Yeah my doom machine has the most godlike reverb lol
I use a joyo splinter into a peavey bandit for sludgy stoner sounds, and the lead channel in high gain mode set to 11 o'clock kicks ass for non-stoner doom and post-metal. I was playing some pentagram last night on the lead channel and it smoked. I believe there is a head version of the bandit called the transtube supreme. I love this channel, and stoner doom is great, but i wish you'd acknowledge other genres of doom.
I’m sad that I recently had to part with my AOR 50 (though not as much as I could have been, since they’ve gotten a whole lot more popular than they were back when bought it). Definitely my favorite doom amp. For the biggest possible tone, my secret was usually running a stereo set up with my drive blend, octave, chorus, and occasionally wah into a clean Super crush 100 with the second running straight into the front of the AOR 50 cranked within an inch of its life and my stereo time effects in both loops. That AOR on its own was the nastiest thing I could throw down and will remain one of the most fun to play.
I bet you got a lot more than you paid for it! Such an amazing amp that didn’t get enough attention until the last couple of years. Would take one over a JCM800 any day 🔥
I would check out the Traynor YBA-1 (40 watts) or YBA-3 (100 watts) from the 70's They are loosely based on a Mashall Plexi/Fender Bassman but built to handle rigours of touring across Canada. They have their own tone due to the transformers they use and have a nice fuzzy overdrive when driven hard
I’m looking at getting a gigging amp for my doom/sludge metal project. Budget is around $1000. preferably combo. looking at the orange rocker 32 or the hi watt t40/20 combo. have a solid pedal setup already from abominable electronics. let me know any recommendations! I’m a drummer first so I’m still learning about gear on this side of the world.
Good luck “picking up” that V4, man. Mine weighs damn near 90lbs. 😂. I’ve had a vt-22 for decades and thought if I got a head it would be easier to tote around. I was very very wrong.
Hey Jason, how do you think a Laney Lionheart 50w head and cab would go for doom using pedals? There is a really good deal on the head and cab as a set locally. Haven’t had a chance to play yet. Cab is closed back loaded with 4 x G12 H 75hz heritage speakers. The thing I’m not sure about - the amp is class A 50w, so takes 5 EL34’s. Being class A and less efficient amps I am guessing the tubes would not have the longevity of those in class AB amps? I don’t know. Sounds good in demos but haven’t seen any with fuzz/distortion pedals. What do you reckon?
I have a Vox AC-30 (that I'm trying to sell for $1000 if anyone's interested) that sounds great for doom, IMO. Running a Ram's Head into it gets you all the warmth you could ask for.
My buddy had a green, and a matamp Black, i dont believe green was made for peter green as matamp made amps in a number of colours, they did, white and red as well, they created orange but sold that to another company
I’m thinking we’ll do another amp video with all bedroom amp choices, as well as going a video where I just use a small practice amp and see how good of a tone we can get out of it 🔊
If you like saggy and loose but need it at bedroom volumes I suggest a roland/boss with tube logic. The best for that situation is the blues cube hot, despite the name it absolutely will doom with the right pedals hitting it, just know it breaks up quickly. Other options would be the nextone or katana. Cheaper, but tone wise the blues cube destroys them. All have a 12 inch speaker.
