seeking small allround amp

[six]

hi there

i'm looking for a relatively versatile but small (inexpensive) amp. it should have the balls to be heard at least in a bandroom beside drums and a bass. so basically kind of a bigger practice amp.

any suggestions?

[TelePaul]

50 watt solid state would be what you're after for a band practice...I think thats about the minimum you can go and still be heard. My opinion.

[daav]

how inexpensive do you mean? fender blues Jr is about the smallest affordable-est tube amp i can think of, and would be my choice for your situation.
daav

[kid klash]

I've been using a Roland Cube 30 for rehearsals for two years now. It's more than loud enough to keep up with drums, bass, keys and vocals. It's a modeling amp, so you can get just about any amp sound out of it. It also has some good built-in effects. They're ugly, but built like a brick shithouse (VERY well built). New, they're going for around $230. Try one out and see what you think.

[Tadpui]

Good suggestion on the Cube 30. Versatile and affordable.

[wbcsound]

Tech 21 Trademark 60.

36 pounds, 1 x 12 speaker, 2 channels, loud gigable 60 watts (which sounds good quiet as well) with good lowend response, footswitchable FX loop, footswitchable boost, verb, speaker simulated XLR output.

It may not have all the bells and whistles that some modern modelling amps have but what it does have is darn good tone.

In the world of solid state amps I've played/owned various Fender combos, the 1st Flextone series, Roland JC 120, Roland Blues Cube, and a few Peavey combos and it blows them all away.

[Newbie dude]

the line 6 spiders aren't bad. They're small, inexpensive, really good on metal, hard rock, clean, and blues, have presets if you aren't good at tweaking controls yourself, and with the clarion speakers, defintely have the balls you need.

[TelePaul]

Originally Posted by kid klash

I've been using a Roland Cube 30 for rehearsals for two years now. It's more than loud enough to keep up with drums, bass, keys and vocals. It's a modeling amp, so you can get just about any amp sound out of it. It also has some good built-in effects. They're ugly, but built like a brick shithouse (VERY well built). New, they're going for around $230. Try one out and see what you think.

Forgot about these! Yup, for practice these are actually awesome.

[marshall409]

Originally Posted by Newbie dude

the line 6 spiders aren't bad. They're small, inexpensive, really good on metal, hard rock, clean, and blues, have presets if you aren't good at tweaking controls yourself, and with the clarion speakers, defintely have the balls you need.

well im also only fifteen but im smart enough to know that the spiders are garbage. they all have celestion speakers btw. ive never heard of clarion.....sounds more like an allergy medicine.

anyway

they simulate pre recorded guitar tones....poorly. the only barely decent one ive heard was the II 112, and it only sounded good with quality seymour duncans on a jackson and on metal settings. anything else, beginner guitars, single coils, jazzy, bluesy, cruch, clean, anything other than straight out metal sucked the big one. we tried it all.

but then again ive boycotted line 6 since i was old enough to hear the difference between good and terrible tone. a blessing and a burden when you want a good amp at a cheap price.

Adam

[TelePaul]

Originally Posted by marshall409

well im also only fifteen but im smart enough to know that the spiders are garbage. they all have celestion speakers btw. ive never heard of clarion.....sounds more like an allergy medicine.

anyway

they simulate pre recorded guitar tones....poorly. the only barely decent one ive heard was the II 112, and it only sounded good with quality seymour duncans on a jackson and on metal settings. anything else, beginner guitars, single coils, jazzy, bluesy, cruch, clean, anything other than straight out metal sucked the big one. we tried it all.

but then again ive boycotted line 6 since i was old enough to hear the difference between good and terrible tone. a blessing and a burden when you want a good amp at a cheap price.

Adam

I dunno Padawan, they shift units!! I don't like line 6 because im a technophob at heart!

[jonnyc]

My buddy uses my epi valve jr. head thru a single 12" cab with a tubescreamer and he's heard loud and clear during a full practice.

[marshall409]

they sell them to 12 year olds along with epiphones and digitech pedals and tell the kid he can sound like metallica with this.

its quite sad to witness.

Adam

ps

no joke

[Supercreep]

Carvin vintage 16. All tube, class A... and pretty fucking loud.

[NL5]

I suggest one of the Randall MTS 50 watt combo's.

[TelePaul]

Originally Posted by marshall409

they sell them to 12 year olds along with epiphones and digitech pedals and tell the kid he can sound like metallica with this.

its quite sad to witness.

Adam

ps

no joke

Did you know Paul McCartney plays Epiphones??

And whats wrong with digitech? Doesn't Tom Morrello use one ?

[Anfontan]

Originally Posted by TelePaul

Did you know Paul McCartney plays Epiphones??

And whats wrong with digitech? Doesn't Tom Morrello use one ?

If you know what and how to play-you can make Epi's and digitech sound fine. I've had a Digitech delay pedal thats served me well since the early 80's, never a problem at all with it.

[Newbie dude]

Originally Posted by marshall409

well im also only fifteen but im smart enough to know that the spiders are garbage. they all have celestion speakers btw. ive never heard of clarion.....sounds more like an allergy medicine.

anyway

they simulate pre recorded guitar tones....poorly. the only barely decent one ive heard was the II 112, and it only sounded good with quality seymour duncans on a jackson and on metal settings. anything else, beginner guitars, single coils, jazzy, bluesy, cruch, clean, anything other than straight out metal sucked the big one. we tried it all.

but then again ive boycotted line 6 since i was old enough to hear the difference between good and terrible tone. a blessing and a burden when you want a good amp at a cheap price.

Adam

Oops. I meant to say celestion. Ha. My bad. I'm out of it. Clarion is a brand of car speakers.

I used to not like the spider either, and I used to be prejdice to all line 6 gear like you, but I played through one a few weeks ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a great metal tone, of course, I a suprisingly awesome blues tone and a nice, crisp clean tone.

I've learned not to hate certain bands or brands just cause everybodyelse says they suck. I used to post on boards about how much certain guitars and mics and consoles sucked ass cause I had seen more experienced people talk about how much they sucked, so I thought I'd sound smart as well if I agreed.

I know. Pathetic.



Hehe......we have the same name....hehe........

[Micter]

Crate V32 Palomino

[jonnyc]

Originally Posted by marshall409

they sell them to 12 year olds along with epiphones and digitech pedals and tell the kid he can sound like metallica with this.

its quite sad to witness.

Adam

ps

no joke

I've heard some great guitar players do some amazing shit with epi's and digitech. Stop acting like you know shit, you don't.

[IronFlippy]

A couple pedals in front of a blues junior is about all the versatility you're probably going to need, unless you play metal or something.

Do give the modelling amps a try though, you might be surprised.

[Jamal Bucket]

Originally Posted by Tadpui

Good suggestion on the Cube 30. Versatile and affordable.

I'm not sure the "CUBE 30" fits very well with "allROUND" guidelines..???

[Outlaws]

Wait.....wtf is wrong with Celestion as a brand? (outside of the China move) Sure they make some crap speakers, but every company now makes a few crap models. If you have ever heard of "Greenback" or "Vintage 30", then you would know they are not a bad thing. I have never heard anyone speak ill of those two speakers other than if they didn't fit the style of playing.

I know most cheap amps don't come with those two speakers, but be clear when you bash a brand. Just because Marshall has a $100 crap amp doesn't mean they don't make some of the most used and greatest sounding amps in history.

[soundchaser59]

Here is my list of acceptable guitar speakers:

EV
JBL
Tone Tubby
Weber
Eminence
Jensen
Celestion


You will notice that Celestion is at the BOTTOM of the list.....

[raven46]

vox ad15/30/50 all good amps, quailty of the wood is not so great as marshall/fender an so on but if you treat it right you will have no problems, ive had an ad50 for over a year and never had any trouble, i think it sound great and are pretty cheap hence the quality of the wood and yes they are basically a korg from china but i dont couldnt care it can do what i want

[six]

hey, thanks for all the replies so far. hmmm... there's quite a few that i've never heard of .
i also thought about a small modeler. i mean i have a V-amp for recording and I love this thing. i prefer it over the pod. i even tried it out as pre-amp for my 'real' amp (v-amp --> poweramp). not bad at all. but then again i don't know if the poweramp and the speaker of a v-ampire are any good (it's highly praised at harmony-central.com though).
i played thru flextones and spiders a couple of time and... aaaah... i don't like them at all. i don't say they're crap - it's just me.

so the price I want to pay lies below 630, but you have to consider that the price-levels might be higher here (blues junior goes for about 733 - don't know about the US).

any opinions on hughes & kettner matrix? they generally build good amps, don't they?

well now, i'm getting my guitarbag just now and leave for some music-stores, we'll see!