I am looking at getting a tube amp for metal. I recently played a Genz Benz El Diablo 50/100 in a local music shop, and I really liked it. I also know that a lot of my favorite artists use the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. I've watched plenty of videos of the amps, and the Genz Benz reviews do it no justice according to many owners, as well as my opinion after playing one. With the right tubes, I think either one could sound great. Price wise, the Rectifier is slightly more expensive but not enough to alter my decision(About a $200 difference). I play a lot of hard rock and speed/thrash metal, but a good clean tone is also important. Any advice on which one to get and/or tubes to use? Thanks.
Well first things first, Mesa amps are cold biased so that as long as you use Mesa tubes you don't have to bias the amp. Don't know if you have anyone who can do that for you or not. I own the El Diablo and it is a very good amp. I use it for mostly stoner rock and it's awesome for that. I use EL34's in it and a Gibson Firebird and the tone is incredible. However there is a reason so many people use Mesa. The Dual Rec and the Triple Rec heads are built very well and hold up great on the road. The also put out an insane amount of sound. The might be one of the loudest heads out there, for the metal world. Just stuff to think about.
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