looking for a good gigable amp head for under 500 used or new. thoughts?

[littleredguitars2]

Getting pretty serious with a band right now.  Ive been using my mesa boogie dual rectifier for a few months and I love the crunch I get.  But I'm afraid to gig with it with out getting it looked at.  Plus I want a backup anyway.  Thoughts? Been looking at marshall,  black star , peavey and more.  I recently sold my old peavey valve king which would have been fine.  Just bad timing...  can be tube or solid state. Hoping for around 100 watts

[littleredguitars2]

I'm also thinking Maybe the new orange cr120. Seems to good to be true for the price though

[JimmyMoorby]

Not including what you can get for 2nd hand I always think that bugera look very good for the money and also Laney if you just go over your budget by a little.

[Dave Sloven]

Are the EVH 5150 III amps a good price where you live?  If so I'd look into those

[littleredguitars2]

Are the EVH 5150 III amps a good price where you live?  If so I'd look into those

they are a bit pricier than i want to spend at the moment

Not including what you can get for 2nd hand I always think that bugera look very good for the money and also Laney if you just go over your budget by a little.

oh i forgot about those 2. i'll look into them

[JMW1312]

I wouldn't look into Bugera, whenever I have dealt with them, they always seem to break. Maybe look into Jet City, I've heard some very good things about them.

[JimmyMoorby]

I wouldn't look into Bugera, whenever I have dealt with them, they always seem to break. Maybe look into Jet City, I've heard some very good things about them.

Bugera used to have a bad rep but over the past 2 years theyve sorted out whatever problems they used to have.
Prior to that they had a very very bad rep but now theyre extremely good value.

I would have said Jet City but I didnt realise they were under £500 so thats cool.

Ive not heard the new orange solid state properly and i appreciate your budget but if you can get a 2nd hand rockerverb you wont be disappointed.

You could always get an extended warranty on the bugera but lets face it with more money comes more reliability generally any way.  Having said that  I bought two separate hughes and kettner coreblades and both broke within several hours and that was like 1500 quids worth of amps..... no wonder jeff waters doesnt endorse them any more.

I've had my rockerverb for 6-8 years done hundreds of gigs and had it in the back of my car gods knows how many times and never ever had a problem with it.....ive only changed the tubes once and maybe they could do with a change but theyve never ever blown either.  Its weights a fair bit though

[Toe-Knee]

I wouldn't look into Bugera, whenever I have dealt with them, they always seem to break. Maybe look into Jet City, I've heard some very good things about them.

Bugera used to have a bad rep but over the past 2 years theyve sorted out whatever problems they used to have.
Prior to that they had a very very bad rep but now theyre extremely good value.

I would have said Jet City but I didnt realise they were under £500 so thats cool.

Ive not heard the new orange solid state properly and i appreciate your budget but if you can get a 2nd hand rockerverb you wont be disappointed.

You could always get an extended warranty on the bugera but lets face it with more money comes more reliability generally any way.  Having said that  I bought two separate hughes and kettner coreblades and both broke within several hours and that was like 1500 quids worth of amps..... no wonder jeff waters doesnt endorse them any more.

I've had my rockerverb for 6-8 years done hundreds of gigs and had it in the back of my car gods knows how many times and never ever had a problem with it.....ive only changed the tubes once and maybe they could do with a change but theyve never ever blown either.  Its weights a fair bit though

I think the most expensive jet city is £368 new direct.

In my experience bugeras arent even worth the parts they're made of. Unreliable cheap no name junk

[littleredguitars2]

There's a big difference between 500 dollars and pounds haha.  I was looking at the bugera 1990. Nice price and the tone sounds relatively what I'm looking for.  There are good reviews but also some awful ones so I'm not sure. ..

[JimmyMoorby]

The common opinion is theyre awful and back in the day they used to set on fire and allsorts but they really have sorted all that out.  Look for comparison vids on youtube up against the big amps and youll see how good they are if youre worried ring sqaure trade up and get your own warranty.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX-DeHArSNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBDAh7-blGo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP_Qaj8x4rE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfA7qbnS1a4

They dont sound awful to me.

[littleredguitars2]

Well the"awful"reviews were more about reliability than tone.

[JimmyMoorby]

No fair enough I mean I know Toe-Knee makes amps so I respect his opinion but ive seen people gig these regularly first hand and they sound spot on and they didnt create any fire hazards or stop working!

If you got a some warranty on it for 60-80 quid youve not lost owt imo.

[Toe-Knee]

There's a big difference between 500 dollars and pounds haha.  I was looking at the bugera 1990. Nice price and the tone sounds relatively what I'm looking for.  There are good reviews but also some awful ones so I'm not sure. ..

Ahh I didn't realise it was $

[Toe-Knee]

No fair enough I mean I know Toe-Knee makes amps so I respect his opinion but ive seen people gig these regularly first hand and they sound spot on and they didnt create any fire hazards or stop working!

If you got a some warranty on it for 60-80 quid youve not lost owt imo.

The few people I have known to own them had no issues until the warranty was out.

One did have them during the warranty though and did get it replaced free of charge.

[Lucas]

You might also consider Orange Dual Terror. 2 channels (Tiny Terror and Fat) can be run on different power modes like 7W, 15W, 30W ect, small size (VERY easy to transport from venue to venue and easy to carry around),
powerful 30W (looks not too much, but trust me in smaller places you can blow the roof away), not that expensive though, easy to set up (lack of million knobs and switches), reliable, good clean sounds (but quite distinctive in my opinion, have to get used to it or like it  :P)  and nice distortion (not hi gain but you can run distortion pedals in front of it).
The only bad thing about that amp is lack of FX loop.

I have one myself and cannot complain at all. I run it through 2x12 Orange open cab and run distortion pedals in front of it. Good small head if you carry your equipment a lot. (lunchbox type),

you can see it on my avatar photo  :lol: