Lower end amps

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Rhythmschism

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Anyone have any suggestions for an amp around $150 or less that has a decent clean lead sound? I want less of a crunchy overdriven distortion, and more of melodic metal tone. I know I can't ask for a whole lot with my budget, but does anyone know of any amps they might suggest? I really dont care about size or loudness, as this will be almost exclusively for recording. I'm mainly concerned with the sound tone/quality.

P.S. I apologize for the vague description, but this will be my first guitar amp purchase, so I'm still learning about all this, thanks.
 
This probably won't be much help. But at that price point, you might get closer to your desired tone by relying on a distortion pedal rather than the amp distortion.

I don't know what the options are for entry-level amps nowadays but my experience (about 15 years ago) was the distortion in those amps wasn't all that great. But if you focus on finding a distortion pedal you like, you should be able to get a better sound. If you take that route, just find a cheap amp with a clean sound you can tolerate (or even like) because you will be getting your distortion from the pedal.

Just remember that people buy cheap amps as beginner amps (when tone doesn’t really matter), practice amps, something just to mess around with, or because it’s all they can afford. Nobody buys amps at that price range for their “sound.”
 
Check out the Vox Brian May Special recording amp. Pretty much everywhere has them for $150. I haven't used it extensively, but it sounds good and is a Vox.

Pete
 
Vox Pathfinder

I had heard a hundred great things about these and didn't believe them since I heard the same about the Tech 21 Trademark (junk imo). Then one day I realized my friend has had one sitting in my studio for over a month but was only using it to run into a Silvertone. Well, I asked him to use just the Vox, and was really impressed with how good it sounds and records - especially for under $100!

Here's a long thread ranting about it. May give you a better idea as to whether or not it has the tone you want...
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=4292&highlight=vox+pathfinder
 
Your budget is around mine and I went to a pawn shop and picked up a fender automatic 90 watt amp,I was not that impressed with the clean sound but the builtin distortion allows for a couple of different options, anyway I bought it for 90.00 and realized a few weeks later that I would be doing some demo recording. I was nervous that the amp would not stand up to the sound we were looking for,so I started adding effects to it (there we go)invest in a cheap amp then buy some pedals to fatten up your sound, go to a pawn shop look around. The sound will be much better with the right pedals,processer. This is just a cheap way, although buying pedals gets pretty expensive.So to sum it up, your in a position where you must rely on effects to get the amp to sound a little bit better,also you never mentioned what kind of guitar you have???that will also determine what kind of quality sound you will get. GOOD LUCK!!!
 
SubA said:
Vox Pathfinder
. . .
Well, I asked him to use just the Vox, and was really impressed with how good it sounds and records - especially for under $100!
Click to expand...

Gotta agree here... I've had mine a couple of months, and took it to a jam session. The guy who help me schlep my stuff in ( good friend and an amazing bass player ) commented, "What's this, a briefcase with a speaker?" I smiled, and told him to just wait 'til he heard it.

The look on his face during the first tune was a true Kodak moment.

I've also used it in some rather large halls performing as part of the pit orchestra for a musical production by my daughter's high school.

It had more than enough swat for the auditorium at the high school (seats about 1100), and worked really nicely at the Carpenter Center here in Richmond( seats about 2000).

Vox has created a true little gem with the Pathfinder 15.
 
Try a used Tech21 Trademark 10. I think you might be able to find one for 150 to 200.

I find it works great for me - from Fender to Mesa. Lots of room to play with the sound. I use mine on stage at church as a monitor for my guitar - the Trademark has an XLR out that goes right into the mixer.
 
Check out the Roland Cube 15. It costs around $100.00. I wasnt expecting much for the price, but I was blown away by the sound.
 
Ditto on the roland...those amps are amazing.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. One issue I have to consider is that I'm in a college dorm room and cannot make a lot of noise. Does anyone know how the Pathfinder 15, Trademark 10, or Cube 15 would sound recorded from the lineout? Micing the amp would be pretty difficult and not very feasable on a regular basis. Not only can I not make a lot of noise, but there is almost always some sort of background noise in my dorm.
 
I haven't used the line out on the Vox, but we had a Trademark in here for a while, and I thought the line out on that sounded anemic. Of course, I thought the same about the sound the speaker on it made too. If you have to go direct, maybe a POD or something similar would serve you better.
 
The Trademark has both a headphone out and an XLR out. If you plug in a headphone, it by passes the speaker so no body else hears it. If you want to use the XLR for best quality, just plug in a headphone also and the speakers get bypassed.
 
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