5 Amp Heads You Should Know About

I've been playing guitar for a while now, and in that time I've played and owned a great deal of equipment. The thing that I've rifled through the most though is definitely guitar heads. I have a bad policy of trading in my gear every year or so for something different; sometimes better sometimes worse. Part of the fun of gathering new equipment is making mistakes, buying total shit, and having to sell it to get new and better gear. Despite the sheer amount of information out there, you'll never know what you'll like until you play. So I figured what better way to spend my night then to compile yet another catalog of gear that you may or may not have heard. Listed below are five of my favorite "cheap" amps.

These amps have had a rise in popularity the recent years, but still the amount of people playing them vs. the amount of people playing the vastly inferior 5150s is astronomical. Why should you care about the Peavey VTM 120/60? Simple, this amp can generally be purchased for less than 500 dollars. The first one I got, I traded a broken solid Marshall and 100 bucks for. It was one of the best heads I've ever owned. The thing you will hear about the head is that it is essentially a "hot-rodded JCM800", let me be the first to tell you, that is absolutely nonsense. This amp sounds nothing like a JCM800, it is entirely its own beast. It is one of the final heads in a long series of chains that leads to 5150, however I will argue that Peavey got it right at VTM and the quality only went downhill after. The most unique aspect of the head are the dip switches. There are eight switches in all, including: two extra stages of gain, compression circuit, two low end modifications, mid range modification and finally two high end modification switches. So sell your stale 5150 and snag one of these classics.

Say what? A list of great guitar heads including two Peaveys, I must be high, right? Well no, but there is a part of me that almost wants to loop this in with the VTM, but for a few specific reasons I have decided to separate them. The most important being the fact that, despite having a similar build and look, the Butcher is a vastly different sounding amp. The Butcher is the precursor to the VTM, and can be seen as a stripped down version of it. While the VTM is a metal head, allowing for maximal gain, the Butcher is more of a classic sounding head. If you utilize the amp's maximum volume it can get pretty nasty sounding, but doesn't come anywhere close to the overdrive potential of the VTM. If you were to say that any amp in the series of Peavey's evolution were to sound like a JCM800 this amp might be it. However, I would sway away from the comparison as I find the 800s to be brighter and the butchers to be darker. Butchers can still be found for sale anywhere between 200 and 500 dollars. 130 watts and worth every penny.

I know, I know, JCM900? And yes, I agree. The JCM900 is basically my least favorite guitar head of all time. It is absolutely stale and ugly sounding. Totally compressed; with an extremely solid-state sounding distortion. The Sl-x version, however, is in a different league. Marshall did the head a disservice by aligning it with those god-awful sister amps. The SL-X has always been known as the "Kiss" head, because I guess Kiss used them for a while. But Kiss used a lot of amps so that doesn't quite do it for me. What did do it for me was playing through one. If you want to own a JCM800 but don't have the cash don't buy an SL-X, but if you want a great modern sounding amp that can get good classic rock and metal tones, without the use of a distortion pedal, this is the amp for you. There are two things to know when purchasing the head. First of all, know what you are getting, there is a model with el34s and a model with 5881s. I never cared for the 5881 amps personally, but I am sure that they can be altered to use 6l6s. For me, Marshalls are el34 amps, and the SL-X sounds best that way. The second thing to know about the amp deals with a bug in the circuitry. If you jump the effects loop with a cable (run a cable from the out to the in), the amp's volume and clarity are greatly improved. The SL-X isn't quite as cheap as the previous two heads, but can still be snagged for around 500 to 600 dollars if you look hard enough.

Most of you are probably familiar with Acoustic either through their old—and might I add, amazing—solid-state gear, or through their new affordable and honestly decent-sounding solid-state line of amps. I am not going to say the new gear comes anywhere near the 70s era stuff, but I've heard much worse. The Acoustic 160 is a cool and unique amp for the brand. One of the few tube amps the company produced, the Acoustic 160 seems to be kind of a V4 rip off, but doesn't quite have the volume or intensity. It is however a solid and generally cheap amp if you can track one down. It is worth picking up for either guitar or bass, as it handles very well with pedals and has an extreme versatility to it.

Laney made some killer tube heads back in their heyday. In fact, the AOR50 holds a special place in my heart, and is the head that put me on my life long quest for great tone. The AOR50 was the first tube amp I ever owned and it changed how I viewed amps altogether. Funny enough, I was trying to buy an AOR100 at Guitar Center and when I was playing it in the store it caught on fire. Luckily for me, they had the 50 watt version and I was able to leave the store with one in hand. The amp has a very Marshall/British tone to it, and is definitely worth looking into if you like the 800 sound but not the 800's price tag. I'm pretty sure you can snag one of these heads for right around 500 dollars if you look enough, possibly even cheaper. Hopefully, it will mean as much to you as it did for me.

Joseph Yanick can talk about head all day. Follow him on Twitter - @JoeYanick