Amp Suggestion

JDOD said:
Cheers, guys. I will have to go to the bigger shops in Cardiff where I can try the Marshall too. I quite liked the blackstar actually.

I want to take a couple of guitars and a pedal or two along to try amps properly

Any other suggestions?

Thinking about it again, I may have just been so enamoured with it cos I was playing loud through a real amp as opposed to Gearbox.
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UKTexan said:
Personally id plug into a vox ac30cc and try it out
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There was one in the shop today but I didn't try it.
 
JDOD said:
Cheers, guys. I will have to go to the bigger shops in Cardiff where I can try the Marshall too. I quite liked the blackstar actually.
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That's part of it though... I'd say play through a good assortment of them, play with all the controls as you do, and that big decision won't be too hard to figure out. Either that or you'll end up with a few more amps than you thought! :D

And I can't speak for the AC30 but I just got in my AC15 2 days ago and that thing is pretty badass. A little lower wattage and only a 1 x 12 (quite a bit cheaper, too) but it can sing with the best of them.
 
JDOD said:
Any other suggestions?
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I'm now reaching, and i don't have a sense of budget:

1) I see some players around here with egnaters -- I generally haven't liked the sound, but sometimes it seemed like they were in the neighborhood of something nice - I'm sure they can sound great, really

2) A friend of mine has an Engl combo that I think sounds really good. The new prices look out of budget, but maybe a used one would work.

Parting thought -- it can be temping to look at EL84 based amps. I've tried a bunch of them, and I didn't like any of them for heavier crunch tones - some of them sound good clean.
 
JDOD said:
Cheers, guys. I will have to go to the bigger shops in Cardiff where I can try the Marshall too. I quite liked the blackstar actually.

I want to take a couple of guitars and a pedal or two along to try amps properly

Any other suggestions?

Thinking about it again, I may have just been so enamoured with it cos I was playing loud through a real amp as opposed to Gearbox.
Click to expand...
This Engl seems a bit more reasonably priced
Engl E300 30 Watt Gigmaster 1x12 Combo
Need to find a dealer now.
 
Don't really get the pricing on AC30s, they range from 350 quid to over a grand. Suppose there's a lot of different spec options in there and I have no idea of the difference
 
I got my vox ac30cc1 for under £500 new which is in budget. I learnt to read many years ago. however it does look like they may have discontinued them new when they brought out the cc2 but therefore could be a bargain secondhand cc1 on ebay or gumtree or preloved
 
Took my guitar up the shop today and tried the Blackstar 40W with the Vintage 30 in it.
Really liked it; seemed to have all the gain that I would need and was plenty loud enough too. Ran it with some hi-gain and the master up to about 9 O'Clock and thought it sounded great.
 
You mentioned Egnater....I own a Tweaker 15w....it's a decent little amp, pretty loud for 15 watts, but it's like a "generic" version of the amps it tries to copy/imitate (Fender/Marshall/Vox)...yeah, it does sound pretty decent through a good cabinet, but again, it's kinda generic sounding to me...You might like it though, try one out if you're able...that's the bitch about where I live (waaaay back in the sticks), basically everything I get, I'm not able to try out beforehand...Some of the higher powered Egnater amps are better than the T15 (from what I've read anyway....never tried 'em myself)...

On the Blackstar, you might like it more than the T15, it's geared more toward metal/hard rock than the Egnater, but like Greg said, it's kinda "generic" too...I haven't tried the model you mentioned, but I did have an HT-5 combo for a while, & to me, it was ok, but nothing special...Even through a decent 1x12 Greenback cab, or even a 1989 Carvin 4x12 (with original speakers), nothing special....

I do recommend the DSL40 though if you can swing the $$$...The shared eq is really the only thing I don't like about my DSL100, but it's a non-issue for me, as I only record...It's got more gain than you'll ever need on the red channel, & the green/clean/crunch channel sounds kinda like classic rock/older hard rock when you get the gain knob up on it....I'm sure it's pretty loud too, being 40 watts, but it's got a half-power switch that should help if noise is an issue...FWIW, my DSL100 when in 50w mode, is almost like a whole different amp, it feels a little different, & is a little smoother in the top end...In 100w mode, it's loud as fuck, but has clean headroom for anything you'd need, and I'm sure the 40w version is pretty much the same....

I'm a Marshall fan (obviously), but again, I highly recommend the DSL40 if you can swing the $$$ dude...

Let us know what you decide!!!
 
Cheers, there's plenty of options there. I just need to make the time to get over to one of the big shops in Cardiff and actually try out a few different amps to compare against the Blackstar. I'll know it when I hear it!
 
If it were me i would probably go out on the hunt for a 100 Hiwatt. I just haven't heard a Hiwatt i didn't like. And most times i see a band live and a tone catches my ear 9 times in 10 there is a hiwatt up there.

Recently, just for fun i spent an hour at a local guitar store and i tried out a Blackstar Venue HT20 through an Orange 2x12 Cab (not entirely sure what it had for speakers) and that set up sounded REALLY nice. Can only imagine how rad it would be if i could get home to my guitars for a few days.
 
JDOD said:
Cheers, there's plenty of options there. I just need to make the time to get over to one of the big shops in Cardiff and actually try out a few different amps to compare against the Blackstar. I'll know it when I hear it!
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I think 40W might be overkill for home recording only. Have you tried anything by Orange? They mightn't do Metal but they do most other things, and as you said, a good pedal will you take care of the heavy stuff. They have a lush OD. If it were me, I'd take a look at some head/cab options.
 
JDOD said:
Cheers, guys. I will have to go to the bigger shops in Cardiff where I can try the Marshall too. I quite liked the blackstar actually.

I want to take a couple of guitars and a pedal or two along to try amps properly

Any other suggestions?

Thinking about it again, I may have just been so enamoured with it cos I was playing loud through a real amp as opposed to Gearbox.
Click to expand...

TelePaul said:
I think 40W might be overkill for home recording only. Have you tried anything by Orange? They mightn't do Metal but they do most other things, and as you said, a good pedal will you take care of the heavy stuff. They have a lush OD. If it were me, I'd take a look at some head/cab options.
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For home yes, but now I I'm moving back to my home town I will likely be playing in some bands again with old friends
 
Gents, had a spare hour in Cardiff yesterday and tried a Peavey Valve King 20. Didn't plan it so didn't have my guitar with me and stuff but I quite liked it. Valve King 20 seems to basically be a vox clone with a lot more gain and has EL84s. They also had a Valve King 50 which I didn't have to try and that has 6L6s in it. Both were in budget at under 500 quid.

They are Chinese made Peaveys which I suppose is to keep costs down.

Anyone got any thoughts or experience?
 
Nah, I want a two channel amp with a master vol.

Tried a bognor 1 12 tube amp with a built in digital reverb and delay the other day. I think it was called an alchemist or something. That was a good deal, 500 quid cos it was old stock. Not sure about the digital effects though. I think I want something simpler.

Basically I want a clean channel with vol, bass, mid and treble, a dirty channel with vol, gain, bass, mid, treble. Reverb and master. Wouldn't mind presence to but don't want loads of options like crunch, metal, thrash switches us/UK voicing etc.

There were a lot of extra switches on the bognor, the blackstar was simpler.
 
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