Find Pierre an amp!

[Pierre]

I'm so tired of thinking left and right on what could be good for me...So since I may be able to order online for that, I figured I'd ask you guys... Here's what I want/need.

1) Loud enough for small gigs and band rehearsal, PORTABLE enough to bring to uni.
2) for use with pedals so with a decent clean channel and possibly footswitchable gain. The goal is to have it clean for bedroom, and very lightly distorted for live. I'd use boosts live and distortions in the bedroom.
3) under 250 British pound. That's 500 USD but everything here is twice as expensive :P

I'd go for the amp before the Strat. So I MAY be able to stretch to 300GBP.

Suggest away!

Ah by the way it's to use with a blues band :P So it needs a beautiful and probably a bit thicker than Fender like clean channel and a creamy overdrive if any. Though I use a lot of pedals so mostly decent cleans and headroom is good :)
Thanks!

[the_bleeding]

do you want tubes or is SS okay?  Your pricerange is also quite a stretch...

aaand... i have a marshall stack in uni hahahahahhahaha ooohh man.  My neighbors hate me.   :roll:

[Pierre]

Valve is better. Don't jump on me for being snobbish, I just, so far, prefer te sound of valve amps and I know that some I tried had that responsiveness I tried out of it.

So far it' basically a fight between the Laney LC15 and the VC15. The VC15 is winning but I'll try them side by side. I'm looking for other options you guys may have :)
300 pounds in the UK gets you a Fender pro junior for instance... it's not that low for a valve amp.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Look for a used Laney Pro-Tube 50.

[Pierre]

Hahahah I have a 30W combo Laney AOR :)
It needs a recaping bad but I found someone who could help me or do it, or I may do it myself. It's an ok amp. Not much of a blueser I find though. And WAAAAYYYY too big man :(

[dave_mc]

i have no experience with the older laneys, but on past experience, if ben suggests something as being good, it's worth a look!

(out of the currently available new models) i'd say vc15 or even 30 (the 30 is great value on gak at the moment) would be great for those tones. haven't tried the lc15, but i wasn't super-impresed with the lc30... i think davey says they sound terrible cranked, while the vc's sound pretty good cranked. don't know how they cope with pedals, so that might be worth investigating too.

[Twinfan]

I tried an SG out through a VC30 yesterday.  Great amp and would be a top choice for you.

[the_bleeding]

Valve is better. Don't jump on me for being snobbish,  

nobody in their right mind would jump on you for that. Everybody knows that valves are sweeter.  Infact, im selling my last SS amp this weekend to get some money to spend on some more valvy goodness.
After buying my marshall 30th anniversary (all valve), there's been no turning back.

For blues recommendations, try to find a Sunn Solarus or sceptre.  They can be had for your price range and are very bluesy.  Heads are common but combos are rare...
other good bluesy sunns that are SS are the beta lead, concert lead, coliseum lead... or pretty much any sunn SS amp.  Even the bass amps can sound good with guitar, not muddy or boomy at all.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Valve is better. Don't jump on me for being snobbish,  

nobody in their right mind would jump on you for that.

I think that Pierre's original post is covering all bases, as I'm sure he copied/pasted it onto several forums. A little post whoring? PDT_008

[Pierre]

Oooops I got caught eh?  :lol:

I bought a VC15 from Glasgow today :) Happy.

[dave_mc]

^ glad you're happy!

:drink:

[Jazz Rock]

T'es aussi par là toi?!?

[Pierre]

:lol: heheh bien sur ;) J'avais un BK avant toi  8)

[Muzzzz]

nobody in their right mind would jump on you for that. Everybody knows that valves are sweeter.

Probably true, but there are certainly a couple of nice SS amps, the Roland JC-120, for instance is a very very nice amp indeed. To my ears anyway.