Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Muso on March 01, 2006, 11:49:35 AM
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Hi guys
Basically I'm just looking to buy a very small easily portable practise amp I like the look of the Fender GDEC so far, maybe I will check out something Line 6 as well. This is just for taking around peoples houses for jamming with. Any experience/reccomendations would be fantastic.
Cheers!
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eh up ............
I have a Fender Frontman 25 watt practise amp, it has a great clean and drive channel + a decent reverb (considering the price), it can get pretty darn loud but obviously doesn't have the meatyness of a grown up amp but I use it for moderate playing volumes at band practises in my mates garage where I can't use my 60w valve amp.
Most importantly I can get pretty good sounding distortion tones with the amp still set at low neighbor-friendly volume leves which is what practise amps should do best.
I've had mine for about 5 or 6 years and its never let me down yet its a nice compact robust piece of kit and now they've been around for a few years you can pick them up for peanuts on ebay, i've seen them go for around £25 !
I'd definatley recommend one, especially if you want top sounds for little pennies !!
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I have a Roland micro cube right now, and although it is VERY small it is plenty loud enough for around the house etc. It is so portable and uses batteries too so the possibilities are endless.
It definately is a good "bang for the buck".
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i love my crate gt65.... i think you can get smaller ones if its a little too big for your needs...
but for some strange reason i absolutely love it at the moment.... it doesnt just beat my laney lc30, it batters it completely- (at low volumes of course.)
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If you can find one: an old Fender Princeton with tubes.
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I have a Marshall MG15 DFX 15W amp. I can say that out of a lot of "small" amps I have heard, this one really is a beast for its size. It has awesome distortion, bass mid treb, etc.
It also has 4 effects that you can apply to varying degrees (reverb, flange, chorus and delay). Has a CD in and emulated line out as well. Plus it only costs about £85 online.
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just to try and sell the crate to you some more lol-
http://www.instrumentpro.co.uk/P-CRAGT65?source=froogle
£159 i think it was on there- 3 channels- clean channel- 2 distortion channels, footswitch for channel selection and reverb- cd-in and everything...
quality amp imo.
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get a Laney aor protube 30 watter .. incredible sound from a little package .. insane sustain and gain form this all valve combo..
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If you can find one: an old Fender Princeton with tubes.
A tube Princeton is pretty loud! I've played clubs with one. I have 3, an original blackface, a hotrodded silverface (with 5881's and a vintage 30), and finally a Princeton II (the Rivera design) with a Tone Tubby Hempcone.
If you are going with a valve amp, one of the later Champs is good, or the blues junior for a current amp. Don't pass up the Epiphone 5 watt either.
For a modelling amp, the line 6 Spiders sound good, but they need a lot of power to use live.
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Don't pass up the Epiphone 5 watt either.
Thats the way i'd swing - gotta be pretty good bang for the buck - havent heard anything bad about em
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Well, since everyone has a different suggestion I'll give you my new one, too: get a Vox Pathfinder. I have one and it's the best little non-tube amp ever. The tones on it kill the Line 6 stuff and the Fender practice amps i've heard. But it is best for clean or overdriven tones; you won't get a modern distortion out of it without a pedal.
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If you have the money, get a Matamp Minimat and a 1x12 cab :D
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i suggest a CRATE GX 30
its very good.
good distortion
i´m not sure about the reverb, cause i hate a lot of the amps that has built in reverbs
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^ yer, see! crate is the way to go!
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My Laney LC15R has been running for 5y+ now and it's nice enough. However mine had the original HH invader speaker that wasn't too great, replacing that with a Jensen P10R really opened up the sound.
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i recommend the H&K cream machine. its a 1watt valve amp, but no one seems to realise what it is, and you can get it for stupidly cheap. plenty loud enough for practise through a 1x12 (bit too loud sometimes).
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O.k i'll put my two in. I was looking for the same thing you are and I wound up with a Vox 30 VR ( Valve Reactor) which uses a 12 AX7 in the post amp, not the pre amp section. It is very Tubey sounding and actually breaks up on the clean channel at about 4.5. It's very loud for it's 30 watts. I don't like the reverb, though, but for 150 U.S.. it's pretty nice. Footswitchable with two gain stages. The 15 watt version is probably loud enough and can be bought for $90. Check em out!
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Don't pass up the Epiphone 5 watt either.
Thats the way i'd swing - gotta be pretty good bang for the buck - havent heard anything bad about em
I've got one of those, - Valve Junior, cost me £130, and it's quite loud, plenty for a practice. it overdrives with humbuckers at about halfway up.
good for the bedroom / recording - or mike it up at jams.
its a great little amp if you change the tube out for a good quality one. maybe the speaker too if you can be bothered.
I like it, it's useful
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I'm gonna put another vote in for the Laney LC-15, although it's worth noting that they've since abandonned the HH invader, the version I got came stock with a 10" Celestion speaker. It sounds good, but for under £200 is the best tone you're likely to get in that price range, hands down. And because it's got a master volume etc, you can get useable tones at social volume levels.
I've heard really good things about both Line 6 and Vox's Valvetronix amps as far as modelling amps are concerned. And my friend swears by his Tech 21 10 watt amp. If I went back, I'd deffnitely have looked into one of those, even though it's solid state.
As for the MG15 reccomendation, I can't say I thought much of any of the ones I plugged into. It always seemd kind of flat and restrained and a bit grainy, and it was relatively unresponsive. There's worse out there, but I think the main selling point for the MG series is that it says Marshall on the front and doesn't break the 100 pound barrier which makes it a very realistic option for people without their own income, like students.
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if you're going to get a small solid state amp, get a roland cube over a marshall MG.
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I second the Tech21 Trademark 10 and 60 are very good sounding amps. They don't come cheap compared to the competition 'though.
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I agree that the Vox Valvetronix is a hot lil amp, But the newer Valve reactor30 or 15 use the same 12ax7 Post Amp technology without all the amp modeling for $100 cheaper. I forgot to say that the VR has master volume which you can get a lot of gain out of at low volume, I use the amp straight or with a Zoom GFX-5 multi effects unit and both sound great. Are you planning to use some outboard gear with it?
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Ibanez make a cool little practice valve amp now...the Valbee i think its called...i tried it out in at a music shop and the tone was pretty good...low wattage too
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+1 more for the Crates. I have two of the 20-watt 'Vintage Club' models (with one 10" in each), they sound quite nice and will really "hop off the chair." They sound even better when run in stereo with a lil' ol' Boss chorus pedal. Not sure if Crate makes that exact model any more, but they (or similar ones) shouldn't be too hard to find on eBay, etc.
cjpm
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My vote goes for the Roland Cube if you want solidstate, or the Laney LC15 if you're after valve power.
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Indy: Don't you have an MG50 he may be interested in purchasing? :P
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I have a Roland micro cube right now, and although it is VERY small it is plenty loud enough for around the house etc. It is so portable and uses batteries too so the possibilities are endless.
It definately is a good "bang for the buck".
I own one and defy anyone to show me a better amp for the money. Great amp hands down, and my pick for sure.