Amp advice needed

fritsthegirl

fritsthegirl

Taste of home
Hiya, I tried out a blackstar tube amp at a guitar shop not long ago. It was the first real amp I ever tried. I think it was around £140 but I forget which model it was now. It was awesome playing with a real amp, and now of course, I want one. I have a Behringer Vamp now, but I'm getting a bit bored and frustrated with it. After loving it for quite a long time, I think it's time to move on and get the real thing.

I'm not sure if the Blackstar is what I want though, seemed a bit rough for my style. Maybe it was because I didn't know what I was doing with it. I had a similar, but different guitar to mine plugged into it. I don't know anything about amps. Should I bring my own guitar in to try out amps? Seems to make sense.

If I had an inkling of which amps I should try when I walk into the shop though, it would really help. I see them all lined up, and I really just don't know.

I guess I just want a practice amp, nothing too loud but something I can get a clean, sweet and gentle sound out of. I do a lot of finger picking stuff and I don't go for hard rock so much, but it'd be cool if that was still a possibility with whatever amp I get. I guess I'm looking for a all-round amp that lends itself more to a nice mellow electric/acoustic sound over a crunchy hard rock guitar sound. If that makes sense?

I'm hoping that someone/s can offer some suggestion of which brands and models I should try. Some of you probably understand the sound I have going on with my guitar better much than I do, in terms of matching it with the right amp.

I'm thinking my budget is about £120, but that's ALWAYS my supposed budget. Inevitably, I always spend more, so let's say £200 is the max. :D

Thank you.
 
fritsthegirl said:
Cool, thanks Greg. And on budget. :D I'd probably be happy to buy it on your recommendation alone. It looks really cool, I just watched a you tube video - does heaps.

I'll go try one out on Friday. :guitar:
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Be careful. It could be like a gateway drug. Before you know it you'll have an arsenal of amps and pedals and your neighbors will be ready to kill you.
 
I had a look at both online. the Blackstar has the advantage of being a valve jobbie BUT I couldn't say how it sounds for cleantones such as you've used to date.
The Mustang V is quite powerful for the money too.
Happy playing/testing and YES take your guitar!
Both amps are astronomically prices down this end of the world.
The V Combo is over $500 and that's about $485 US.
The Balckstar 1watt is $300 & the 5 is $650.
 
I might be one of the few people in the world that doesn't really like Blackstar's stuff. So many people rave about the amps, and I'm just not impressed. To be fair, I haven't tried their bigger wattage amps, but the small stuff is just meh to me. It's not bad, it's just not anything special or exciting. They're certainly not as good sounding to me as comparable amps from Orange, Mesa, Marshall, Hughes and Kettner, Rivera, etc. I kind of look at Blackstar like Egnater. They're nice, and do the job, but there's just no wow factor to them.
 
My neighbours kids 'play' piano at 9am on a Saturday morning. If anyone rings my doorbell to complain and or kill me about the noise I make, I'm totally going to smash their piano first. :D

I took the afternoon off work, tried and then bought that little Fender bastard, and I carried it all the way home.

I'm not an equipment/instrument junkie yet, am I? I did need it, didn't I?

It's so much more fun than the vamp, such nice sounds. Much meatier.

I knew it was a winner when the half dead guy (he'd just been aiding some kid with effects pedals) walking around the shop floor totally perked up when I mentioned wanting to try it. And I did try it, for ages. Maybe I should have tried something else too, but fuck it. I think if you like the sound of something, you can go with it. I knew exactly what it was about what I had, that wasn't doing it for me, and this was basically the opposite of that. Liked everything about it instantly.

Cheers Greg, I had a Fender pegged for myself, but not this particular one, so yeh, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Well happy.
 
rayc said:
I had a look at both online. the Blackstar has the advantage of being a valve jobbie BUT I couldn't say how it sounds for cleantones such as you've used to date.
The Mustang V is quite powerful for the money too.
Happy playing/testing and YES take your guitar!
Both amps are astronomically prices down this end of the world.
The V Combo is over $500 and that's about $485 US.
The Balckstar 1watt is $300 & the 5 is $650.
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Boy, that's so expensive. One of the perks of living in London I guess is very competitive prices. I didn't lug my guitar with me, I wanted to, but I couldn't have managed carrying both the amp and the guitar back.

I tried the amp with one of their brand new Strat standards, supposedly the same as mine, but actually very much lacking in quality and build over the one I have. Weird. I guess mine is older, I bought it second hand. Still sounded good enough to convince me to buy the amp though. :)
 
fritsthegirl said:
My neighbours kids 'play' piano at 9am on a Saturday morning. If anyone rings my doorbell to complain and or kill me about the noise I make, I'm totally going to smash their piano first. :D

I took the afternoon off work, tried and then bought that little Fender bastard, and I carried it all the way home.

I'm not an equipment/instrument junkie yet, am I? I did need it, didn't I?

It's so much more fun than the vamp, such nice sounds. Much meatier.

I knew it was a winner when the half dead guy (he'd just been aiding some kid with effects pedals) walking around the shop floor totally perked up when I mentioned wanting to try it. And I did try it, for ages. Maybe I should have tried something else too, but fuck it. I think if you like the sound of something, you can go with it. I knew exactly what it was about what I had, that wasn't doing it for me, and this was basically the opposite of that. Liked everything about it instantly.

Cheers Greg, I had a Fender pegged for myself, but not this particular one, so yeh, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Well happy.
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Haha, awesome. Congrats. It's rare that I offer an opinion and not have someone go apeshit mental over it, so I'm glad it all worked out. :D
 
Wow- you were pretty quick to pull the trigger, fritsthegirl. I was going to suggest the Fender SCXD (newer model with slightly different name now out,) but it appears to be too late. Not ragging on Gerg's suggestion (I have no experience with that amp, sure it's good) but I just wonder if it is the best for your needs.

Anyway, enjoy.
 
fritsthegirl said:
I took the afternoon off work, tried and then bought that little Fender bastard, and I carried it all the way home.

I'm not an equipment/instrument junkie yet, am I? I did need it, didn't I?

.
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yes ...... yes you did need it ....... so don't worry. :)

I think it's a great choice for a first amp ........ ummmm, a gig I played bass on a few months back; the git player used a Mustang amp ...... it really sounded good and a lot of sound came out of a small package ...... it was pretty impressive actually.
Congrats.
 
The Mustang V is head, with a matching 4x12 stereo cabinet available, not a "combo" amp, so which model did you get?

I've been gigging with the Mustang IIIv2 for about eight months now and I love it. I've owned a Princeton, Bassman, and Quad Reverb but, even though this may be considered to be blasphemous, the M3v2 has become my favorite Fender. What a bargain---it's a steal!

Paj
8^)
 
Greg_L said:
I might be one of the few people in the world that doesn't really like Blackstar's stuff. So many people rave about the amps, and I'm just not impressed. To be fair, I haven't tried their bigger wattage amps, but the small stuff is just meh to me. It's not bad, it's just not anything special or exciting. They're certainly not as good sounding to me as comparable amps from Orange, Mesa, Marshall, Hughes and Kettner, Rivera, etc. I kind of look at Blackstar like Egnater. They're nice, and do the job, but there's just no wow factor to them.
Click to expand...

I didn't like the 5W Blackstar combo I tried out. After, I said to the man in the shop that it's sound was obviously a modeler and to my surprise he told me it was all tube. I prefer the sound of my little old Marshall VS15R (solid state practice amp).

I didn't see this thread before today - nice one Frits, you're starting to get a bit of a gear collection going!!!
 
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