SS power amp suggestions for guitar>Amptweaker TightMetal>Boss EQ

[earthoverdrive]

Looking for suggestions for a solid state power amp to use with my Amptweaker TightMetal pedal(kind of a high gain metal preamp) and Boss EQ pedal. I want something that sounds tight and clear but quality. Would power 1 or 2 8 ohm cabs which can each handle 300 watts. I've heard it's best to push double the power the cabs are rated at but maybe that's more for bass and PAs. I tune down to B and go for a very heavy and fairly bassy guitar tone. I just need a clean amp with a volume knob and rather than looking for an old Roland JC head or something like that which has a preamp I don't want or need it's been suggested that I go with a pure power amp. I'd like to be able to play way louder than band practice volume even if I never or rarely actually do. My 50 watt tube head breaks up too early and loses it's tightness so I'm retiring it from heavy metal service. Don't want to spend more than $200-300 if that is possible. Been reading about Crown and Behringer models but I'm not sure how durable they are for gigging or how good they actually would sound for guitar. Also confused about power classes- A/B vs D, etc.. the D stuff is really light which would be nice but I'm not sure how is compares to the old technology for tone. Really I'm pretty naive about solid state gear aside from the Laney GH120 and Ampeg SS 150 amps I have. Those units rear effects inputs bypass all of the front knobs leaving me without a master volume knob. My pedals don't have enough headroom to be used to control overall rig volume.

[earthoverdrive]

Buddy of mine is selling a Mosvalve 500 which I've read puts out 360 watts at 8 ohm. Will my 300 watt cabs be able to handle that? I'm guessing I'd have to almost dime the unit for it to actually put out more than 300 watts and I can't imagine ever needed THAT kind of volume. Will try this unit out this week.

[danut]

Rocktron Velocity 300

[Reverse Entropy]

You can get an older Crown or Peavey or QSC power amp fairly cheap, well within your price range. The downside is they're heavy, but the plus side is they are stone reliable. You can get a Y-cable to run both channels from your amp's mono preamp output.

You'll want about 200 watts per channel, that will kepp you running clean, because any distortion from a class AB solid-state amp is going to sound B A D and can easily kill a speaker (200 watts of BBZZCCHHKK !). But you will also find you have tons of low end thump and spank, and if you're playing clean or getting all your dirt from a pedal, a PA amp will give you a hell of a big sound.

Plenty of pros have done the same thing - a head or pedalboard through a load device essentially isn't more than a distortion pedal - then they run it into PA type amps to feed the cabinets on-stage. Edward Van Halen and Alex Lifeson both did it like that for quite a while.

[earthoverdrive]

Actually using the power amp rear input of my Ampeg SS 150('80s guitar amp). 200+ watts total with two 8 ohm cabs.

[earthoverdrive]

Update: The Ampeg SS150 isn't working out, not loud enough, clips and sounds too sludgy in a bad way. I think it puts out 200 watts at 4 ohms. Not enough apparently.

I tune down to B and use a very high gain metal pedal and hot pups.

Borrowed my friends Mosvalve 500 rack power amp again and used it last practice. Towards the end the clip light was on solid through a whole song and it started smelling a bit funny. Was going to buy it from him, not anymore. That amp could be on the fritz because it's old but I'm not sure. I think it puts out about 380 watts at 4 ohms. It's also possible that I just had it maxed out and need more power.

I'm learning that solid state amps do NOT like to be pushed into clipping.
(If only I could find a '70s Ampeg SVT for cheap..)

Looking into rack power amps by Crown, etc.. but I'm quite confused about the power rating for mono, stereo, and bridged..

Originally Posted by Reverse Entropy

You can get an older Crown or Peavey or QSC power amp fairly cheap, well within your price range. The downside is they're heavy, but the plus side is they are stone reliable. You can get a Y-cable to run both channels from your amp's mono preamp output.

You'll want about 200 watts per channel, that will kepp you running clean, because any distortion from a class AB solid-state amp is going to sound B A D and can easily kill a speaker (200 watts of BBZZCCHHKK !). But you will also find you have tons of low end thump and spank, and if you're playing clean or getting all your dirt from a pedal, a PA amp will give you a hell of a big sound.

Plenty of pros have done the same thing - a head or pedalboard through a load device essentially isn't more than a distortion pedal - then they run it into PA type amps to feed the cabinets on-stage. Edward Van Halen and Alex Lifeson both did it like that for quite a while.

So you are saying 200 watts per channel because my cabs can each handle 300? If the Mosvalve was almost 200 and I shouldn't load more than that I'm thinking I may need cabs that can handle more power. That is going to get pricey as I'd kind of need/want to upgrade to two 4x12s each with 100-150 watt speakers so I'd be up at 800-1200 watts, might as well make it 1200 if I'm going all out like that. Big bucks
This is getting ridiculous quick, I never thought I'd need so much power for heavy metal but 50-100 watt tube amps just don't have the kind of headroom that I want. My whole band wears earplugs to save our hearing but the challenge is getting enough volume out of our amps so we can all hear them at practice.

[earthoverdrive]

Oh forgot to add that I'm not using an eq as a preamp anymore, that sucked. Will probably get a rack pre but can use the Ampeg head(being SS) as one for now.