$300 Tube amp

OhSh1rt

OhSh1rt

Who needs a 57 anyway?
I've been saving my pennys and have finaly reached $300. Finaly. Now on with the question, what do you guys recomend for decent tube amp around my price? It needs to be loud enough for a band practice (my PA is barley enough for vocals) and my style of music is pretty large, I mainly play distorted crap but I love to bring out a great blues sound with my imitation 355 (dot archtop) a rich low end is helpfull.

I've looked at the 15watt Epiphone combo, but it just doesn't seem like what I want and I'm unsure (I know, I know don't get hung up on wattage) if it's volume would suit my needs untill it starts to be too distorted (I do play clean a bit). I love my friends Fender DeVille (and his 70's marshal half stack isn't too shabby).

I've got no problem with a used amp and I have no problem in moding a stock amp.


-jeffrey
 
You won't get much for $300 unless you find a sucker or get lucky.
I would shop around and in the mean time save as much money as you can ... $300 more. Then you can buy a nice Traynor combo or a Peavey Classic 30.
My money is on the Traynor ... they sound great and are built to take a beating.
Peavey's Classic 30 ain't bad with the right tubes.
 
Traynors can be found for that price, but they are going up in price as people are starting to figure out how good they are. I found my Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket for 400 CDN used, so there are good deals out there, but you won't find anything new other than a low wattage Traynor which has a wicked low-mid gain sound and can still get pretty heavy (depending on your tastes) and has decent cleans.
 
Supercreep said:
Just a little bit more for a Carvin Vintage 16.
Click to expand...

Not a bad option if you plan on doing the Hasserl Mods to it. Stock? It blows.

A used Crate V15/16 would be a way better option.
 
Classic 30 is a good salon amp, but it will come up short if you play with a drummer under 30. I know there are old farts that can play out with them, but I think they won't stay clean loud enough.

If you got to the $300 mark, you're really just 3 visits to plasma alliance away from $400 and you will occasionally see $400 Peavey Classic 50s at zzsound/music123/samash in the scratch and dent or closeout sections of the website.

The 212 anyway. I don't really like the 410 sound or portability. A friend of mine has something like a peavey classic with 1 15 in it that sounds good. It's a tweed thing. It might be a real fender.

Anyway, the 30 will be maxed out playing with a band. A 50 gives you headroom if you need it.
 
you can get a crate palomino series tube amp. But the only one you could get in that price range is the smallest one. 5 watts I think with an 8" speaker. Good amp though. Just mic it up when you play with your band. Or try and find a used Peavey ValveKing 112 combo amp. They go for 400 new.
 
You may be able to track down a crate vintage club in that range. I think my head was $200, which does still leave a need for a cab, but for like 4 you should be able to get a combo.
 
A second vote for Traynor. I know it's a weird one, but I picked up an Allied PA from 1948 and it's the circuit of a Gibson GA-20, pair $60 for it and it's righteous.
 
I bet you can get a blues junior for that and it would porbabaly be loud enough. You ought to be able to try it out at a shop to test.

Davav
 
Look for a used American made Peavey Classic 30. They are bullet proof and one of the best values in a tube amp. Like the AC30s, they use a quad of EL 84 pentodes for the power stage, which break up early and have creamy distortion. I repair a lot of amps and seldom do I see any Classic 30s or 20s, unless they need to be serviced with new tubes.

I also second the newer Traynor tube amp combos. They rock and are well made. The vintage ones from the 1970s are also excellent and can be found on eBay.
 
The Pingnose G40V are supposed to be some screamers. From what I've read on some Internet forums, they are a true tube design (not mounted on an IC board like many other cheap tube amps) and there are several mods that can be done to them.
 
Now I don't know how people around here feel about Sovtek, but personally I like them when I played them, and there are a lot of Sovtek tubes floating around out there. They have a Sovtek Mig 50 the 50 watt version on ebay right now for $175 and if you wait a little while I'm sure you can find a Mig 100 watt version for around $300-$450. I remember when I was about to buy one new they were around $400 new until they stopped making them a few years ago.

You just get a suitable speaker cab and your good to go. I think I would definetly take that over anything Peavey, but I'm a Peavey hater to the fullest so......
 
I can definitely vouch for the Mesa Subway Rocket, the Traynor YCVxxWR amps, and the Classic 30.

The Subway Rocket is very affordable. Sounds killer if you stick a Weber speaker in it (if it doesn't have the Black Shadow in it), and is totally atomic if you plug in a Tonker or a pair of Tonkers.

The Traynors are nice because they have features (dual channel, independent gain controls, fx loop, built like small tanks) AND they work well with 8, 4, or 2 ohm loads, and they sound even better thru a Weber or Eminence or Vintage 30 cab. The "WR" versions usually come with some kind of premium speaker installed. The YCV40WR would probably be a very pleasant surprise, I like its sound better than the 50 Blue.

I cannot honestly say I've ever had a problem with any Peavey amp I've ever owned, but they were all solid state so I cannot recommend them for sound quality either. But I now know from experience (I dont own one.....YET! But I've played them a lot...) the only Peavey amp I feel ok recommending right now is the Classic 30 or Classic 50. Haven't tried the Valvekings or the new Windsor head.

If you want versatility at a budget price, AND you know how to road handle an amp with very soft kid gloves, then you might try the hybrid Vox amps, AD50VT or larger. It's not built like a tank, and that's the only reason I hesitate to recommend one for gigging, but they do sound good, they have built in fx, comes with maybe 12 or so hard wired models to start tweaking from, a jack for an external cab, it will sound great if you change the stock 70/80 speaker or plug into a good cab, and the power soak knob on the back is great for setting the speaker volume without changing your tone. The AC amps probably sound even better and are (I think?) all tube.

If you suddenly run into a larger amount of money, you should look at the Orange combos, those things are really screamin right now! Dont over look Rivera, BadCat, or Dr Z.......IF you have money to burn.
 
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