New amp advice, Downsizing for uni

[DanHare46]

Or what about something like a Line 6 Pod or alternative, i dont know a lot about them but from what i understand
they can be plugged into speakers or a PA system, or just used an effects pedal with an amp.

[Andrew W]

Or what about something like a Line 6 Pod or alternative, i dont know a lot about them but from what i understand
they can be plugged into speakers or a PA system, or just used an effects pedal with an amp.

I have a Pod XT which is not a bad piece of kit. If you're mainly playing using a lot of gain you can get some great results but I've never liked the clean tones so much. They may have improved since I bought mine but I also feel like the Pod lacks touch sensitivity and doesn't respond as well to backing off on the guitar volume control as a "real" amp. The other advantage of the Pod is you can plug it into a P.A. or headphones so you have a lot of flexibility in how you use it.

[DanHare46]

And also i believe they are cheaper, as i'm doing a pickup swap on my guitar i only have a budget of about
£300 for and amp which will be difficult to get something decent for that price whereas i could get the Pod floor pro for £200
by the looks of it. And some of the amp settings on the line 6 probably sound better than buying an amp for £300 and finding it not good enough for what i'm after.

And i believe that most rehearsal rooms and stuff usually have amps and speaker cabinets lying around.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Totally forgot about the HK Tubemeister. That's a great amp too.

[gordiji]

Roland 40xl is great if your in uni accomodation.Small, cheap <200,the mesa & marshall model are both v.good at low vol.Light as a feather & it's roland so it won't break.
The orange stuff esp the dual terror are great but still way loud if you've neighbours.The dual is as loud as a 50 watter to my ears.

[HTH AMPS]

just use Amplitube or whatever it is for the iphone, job done - you can even bang it into the PA and get decent results, use a monitor to feed the guitar back on yourself.

its a worthwhile suggestion if you can't transport an amp and it's cheap (if you already have an iphone).

[Fixxxer_1988]

I use a Vox Night Train and prefer it over the Tiny Terror. You can get all sorts of tones from it! (just change the valves to something decent)

Although the Dual Terror is pretty nice but may be a bit powerful for your needs. Oh yes there is the H&K Tube Miester 18, that would be perfect for you!!!

[Slartibartfarst42]

I'd go multi-fx with some sort of Digitech RP, Tonelab, Pod or GT system. You'd have loads of tones available that you can listen to with headphones, as many effects as you'd ever realistically need, it would be very portable and wherever you practice, you could just plug it into the PA. When you do get to use your amp, you can simply use it for effects or use amp modelling. The Digitech RP1000 I use is very flexible in that regard.

[Telerocker]

I'd go multi-fx with some sort of Digitech RP, Tonelab, Pod or GT system. You'd have loads of tones available that you can listen to with headphones, as many effects as you'd ever realistically need, it would be very portable and wherever you practice, you could just plug it into the PA. When you do get to use your amp, you can simply use it for effects or use amp modelling. The Digitech RP1000 I use is very flexible in that regard.

Flexibility yes, but a floorunit seldom provides the crunch and the vibe of a tubeamp like the TH30.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Flexibility yes, but a floorunit seldom provides the crunch and the vibe of a tubeamp like the TH30.

I agree, it's not the same as a real valve amp, which is why on my RP1000 I only use amp modelling on one song in our set and for all the rest I just use it for effects. HOWEVER, the reality is that for a valve amp to really sing, even a 20 or 30W will be bloody loud and it is still going to have the hassle of transportation. Whatever amp he gets it will be bigger than a floor unit and he only has a very limited range of tones so once he starts taking pedals too he's suddenly no better off than he would have been just using his Marshall. A floor unit like an RP1000 means he can use amp modelling when it suits him (home practice with headphones, quick practices) and then incorporate it into his proper amp when the circumstances allow. The other thing of course is that if he gets a tiny valve amp that is OK for home use and maybe very small gigs (for which he'd certainly need effects to go with it), there will inevitably come a time when he'll want and need a bigger amp so the whole process starts again and there's more expense. If he has a floor unit, when that time comes, he simply keeps the floor unit and incorporates it into his new rig. I have far more effects than I've ever had before and my pedalboard is half the size it used to be AND is a lot more flexible. Are those effects the last word in tone? No, obviously not but then I'm not Joe Satriani so I don't need it to be. It gives me something I can use with my valve amp, something I can practice with and not disturb anyone and something that is a backup to my amp as I can always just plug it into the PA.

One final point I'd make is that the OP said he would be going to university in 4 months time. When he gets there it almost certainly won't be exactly as he expected, it certainly won't remain constant during his stay and his requirements will inevitably change again quite quickly. What he needs now is something he can use effectively but has enough flexibility to be able to adapt to whatever situation develops over the next few years. For all he knows he'll make friends with similar interests, form a band and one of his new mates can give him and his amp a lift anywhere. If that happens a tiny valve amp will be obsolete within 6 months and if that doesn't happen and he has a 30w valve amp, he'll soon find that it's still too loud, too cumbersome and too limited without effects. A floor unit can be made to work perfectly well in both those scenarios.

Sorry to rant on about this but I've been there and got the t-shirt as they say and I certainly found that small valve amps were great in theory but pointless and expensive in practice for what he wants and will experience. They certainly have their place and they can be excellent in the right circumstances but not for what the OP wants and will need going forward.

[Telerocker]

Flexibility yes, but a floorunit seldom provides the crunch and the vibe of a tubeamp like the TH30.

I agree, it's not the same as a real valve amp, which is why on my RP1000 I only use amp modelling on one song in our set and for all the rest I just use it for effects. HOWEVER, the reality is that for a valve amp to really sing, even a 20 or 30W will be bloody loud and it is still going to have the hassle of transportation. Whatever amp he gets it will be bigger than a floor unit and he only has a very limited range of tones so once he starts taking pedals too he's suddenly no better off than he would have been just using his Marshall. A floor unit like an RP1000 means he can use amp modelling when it suits him (home practice with headphones, quick practices) and then incorporate it into his proper amp when the circumstances allow. The other thing of course is that if he gets a tiny valve amp that is OK for home use and maybe very small gigs (for which he'd certainly need effects to go with it), there will inevitably come a time when he'll want and need a bigger amp so the whole process starts again and there's more expense. If he has a floor unit, when that time comes, he simply keeps the floor unit and incorporates it into his new rig. I have far more effects than I've ever had before and my pedalboard is half the size it used to be AND is a lot more flexible. Are those effects the last word in tone? No, obviously not but then I'm not Joe Satriani so I don't need it to be. It gives me something I can use with my valve amp, something I can practice with and not disturb anyone and something that is a backup to my amp as I can always just plug it into the PA.

One final point I'd make is that the OP said he would be going to university in 4 months time. When he gets there it almost certainly won't be exactly as he expected, it certainly won't remain constant during his stay and his requirements will inevitably change again quite quickly. What he needs now is something he can use effectively but has enough flexibility to be able to adapt to whatever situation develops over the next few years. For all he knows he'll make friends with similar interests, form a band and one of his new mates can give him and his amp a lift anywhere. If that happens a tiny valve amp will be obsolete within 6 months and if that doesn't happen and he has a 30w valve amp, he'll soon find that it's still too loud, too cumbersome and too limited without effects. A floor unit can be made to work perfectly well in both those scenarios.

Sorry to rant on about this but I've been there and got the t-shirt as they say and I certainly found that small valve amps were great in theory but pointless and expensive in practice for what he wants and will experience. They certainly have their place and they can be excellent in the right circumstances but not for what the OP wants and will need going forward.

Of course I see your point, thought the TH30 can be set on 7 watts. In a band it should sing.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I'll grant you the TH30 is a cracking amp and the ability to move from 7w to 30w is ideal. In many ways it's perfect but there are a couple of possible problems:

1) I still think he'd find himself needing some effects; overdrive; delay, tuner, EQ all leap to mind.

2) Even second hand off Ebay, I would imagine it's going to be very tight on the money he has available, especially if he needs some effects too. There's nothing used on Ebay at the moment so the cheapest one there is £657.

In an ideal world, the TH30 and a good multi-fx together would be ideal but he just doesn't have that amount of money available. He's right that £300 doesn't get you a lot of quality when it comes to an amp and certainly not one that has some flexibility in it whereas £200-300 will get you a hell of a lot of multi-fx unit.

[HTH AMPS]

Having just bought a Digitech RP-6 in the last couple of weeks, I'd agree with this recommendation (and I only paid £50.00).  Once I got my head around the editing of patches I've found it very easy to use.  The effects are spot on and even the overdrives are good.

I've started programming a patch in with whatever effect I want (a delay for example), but also have the chorus/flange/phase set so it's usable within the song the patch is programmed for, same with the overdrive.  When you save the patch, just have it saved so only the delay comes on, then you can easily manually knock on/off the other effects. 

If you imagine this for half a dozen patches, you can soon cover a very wide amount of tonal ground.  I'm also digging how the wet/dry levels for things like chorus, flange, phase and such can be set to taste.  I'm not massive on how many modulation effects take over your tone and always want more of the dry signal.

Plus, with the patch levels you can very easily set up a dramatic lead boost in volume.

It's been a long time since I've dabbled with multi effects (Zoom 9000, the grey space-ship one, was my last real one ) and the quality of them now is a million miles better than I thought they would be.  Plus thats considering my RP-6 is a few years old already, so the newer ones are likely even better - I know the TC Nova System is very nice indeed if we're talking of newer multi-effects units.

Since the OP is headed to Uni, a used multi-effects like the RP-6 would offer great value for money and could be incorporated into a gigging setup at a later date.

[Alex]

Having a Krank Rev Jr at 20 Watts I recommend a different lunch box amp. The Krank sounds great and way better than some amps that cost a lot more, but the 20 Watt version already feels a lot like a 50 Watt Marshall.

My 2c:

a) the cabinet/speaker plays a big role as well. I run my Krank through a measly small Blackstar 1x10" and it is a lot quieter & better sounding at lot volumes than through the original Krank 1x12".

b) Orange Dark Terror/Jim Root/etc. (with the 7 Watt modes), the H&k Tubemeister (which is scalable to 1 Watt) and the ENGL Gigmaster (also scalable to 1 Watt) are good options.