Amp shopping

[MCBTunes]

Ok my lead guitarist buddy is shopping for a guitar amp. He doesnt need overwhelming power, so a mesa dual rectifier and 4x12 is a lil unnecessary. See I like to learn as much as I can about gear before I buy it, I'm the bassist, so I know all about bassh heads haha.

What are some brands other than mesa and marshall to look into? How do tubes effect the volume? I basically dont know what to tell him because he doesnt know anything about gear haha.

The tone he wants....
He wants a really nice clean tone, and he likes a hall or reverb i guess effect. He likes John Pet. tone as well, articulate solo's and nice distortion. And he like's zakk wylds crunch.

I know reverb and distortion can be had with a pedal.... so is there other guitar forums out there dedicated to amp's you can send me to or is there a chance you can help me out here?

 

[brentrocks]

you cant get them new anymore, but they are all over ebay....5150 combo 2x12!!!

AWESOME AMP!!!!!

 

[koogie2k]

You are gonna get a tremendous amount of responses with suggestions for many different amps.

Budget would be helpful in getting the choices narrowed down. I mean, we could say many amps but they might be out of his reach monetarily.

Brentrocks suggestion is definitely a good one.

There are amps by Line 6 (but not tube)
Tech 21
Peavy
F**der
Crate

List goes on.......

Tell him to try some out at a local store....that would be best. Amps are like guitars, you have to find the one that fits you and has the tone you are after.

I use Line 6 Vetta II, some people here will only play tube amps. Nothing wrong with either, but they are different and do different things.

 

[blackspy]

With regard to your comment about tubes and volume, the following link is a good read.

http://www.amptone.com/g112.htm

As for brands.. what everyone else has said, make sure though that you're guitar player checks out the Peavey JSX, sweet amp, great tone, very versatile.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Go to the Roland Cube website and watch their demo on the 60 watt Cube
A few members on this forum have one, and were used by members when they attended
the EB Open day.

It seems a really good amp (solid state)

Spud

 

[Spudmurphy]

Go to the Roland Cube website and watch their demo on the 60 watt Cube
A few members on this forum have one, and were used by members when they attended
the EB Open day.

It seems a really good amp (solid state)

Spud

go to
http://www.rolandus.com/products/details.asp?catid=7&subcatid=32&prodid=Cube+60

and launch the product demo

 

[mbgreene]

Here's a link to the most recent "what amps are you playing thread" from about a month ago.

http://www.ernieball.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75&page=1&pp=15

It gives a wide variey of people's gear and why they use it. I guess its similar to threads on the bass side asking what gear and why. Lots of players = lots of opinions. But if your guitarist can relate to any of the styles or sounds mentioned he may have additional thoughts on what to look into

Like koogie said, the best bet is to try a bunch of stuff within your budget, which can be limiting depending on what gear your local shops carry. This thread may expand his horizons on what to look for.

Personally I just purchased a Traynor and would recommend it, but I'm more into a classic rock / blues vibe than the players you referenced. But they are a Canadian company - eh.

Good Luck

 

[beej]

But they are a Canadian company - eh.

Yeah, never trust those damn Canadians

(Puts down his Molson Ex to drink his Tim Horton's coffee ...)

 

[MCBTunes]

I guess budget is important. sorry for not mentioning it.... he doesnt really want to spend much more than ~650. He is ok with used, but really as far as ebay goes we can only order from Canada because of shipping/duties/14% taxes. He doesnt want a huge marshall stack, but he wants enough to play some gigs with in a rock band.

However, this is a big seller. He needs it to play quietly in his home. Like quietly so the person in the next room can barly hear him. I hear that some amps sound like absolute crap unless you have the volume up and hit the sweet spot.

 

[MrHyde]

With regard to your comment about tubes and volume, the following link is a good read.

http://www.amptone.com/g112.htm

As for brands.. what everyone else has said, make sure though that you're guitar player checks out the Peavey JSX, sweet amp, great tone, very versatile.

This site is insane!!, lots of math...feel dizzy........... but it has tons of info.

 

[MrHyde]

Hey guys what about setting the channel volume to 9 or 10 and the master very low.... you'll get the amp pretty hot while mantaining low volume.....or not?

 

[blackspy]

Hey guys what about setting the channel volume to 9 or 10 and the master very low.... you'll get the amp pretty hot while mantaining low volume.....or not?

That works, but it doesn't really sound the same a cranking the master volume, the power tubes aren't working much.

This goes against all logic I know, but lots of people are getting turned on to this amp as a low-budget all purpose amp. It sounds really good, very tube-like, some decent effects built in, and it's cheap.

http://www.music123.com/Crate-GTX212-i122849.music

 

[mhorse]

Hey guys what about setting the channel volume to 9 or 10 and the master very low.... you'll get the amp pretty hot while mantaining low volume.....or not?

Depends on the amp. If I do equivalent of what you're saying on my Mesa (max out the gain while turning down volume and master volume), I get overdriven sounds a low volumes. However, if you max out the gain on something with less knobs (and better tone) like Soldano Astroverb, keeping it at low volume is harder, because 1 degree turn sometimes doubles the volume level.

 

[MrHyde]

.......because 1 degree turn sometimes doubles the volume level.

YUP YUP....... I know.....and my neighbors know it too...

 

[MCBTunes]

so if you need to play quietly its best to go with a solid state amp?

 

[mhorse]

so if you need to play quietly its best to go with a solid state amp?

That is one option. The other option is to get something like mesa, which usually has gain+volume per channel and a master volume. Tone isn't gonna be that great, but won't suck either. Or you can get a power attenuator, but you'd have to ask someone who owns one for the details of that.

 

[francric]

I have been doing some searching around for the same issues. Want a nice tube amp, not too expensive and versatile. I found a few guys mentioning that if you use a volume pedal, like a EB, you can play your tube amp at home. It acts like a attenuator. Still get decent sound but the level is good enough to play at home. But the experts here need to chime in though and confirm this. My long search has me considering a Mesa F30 or F50. Probably used because new they would be around 950 to 1100. But maybe if I'm a good little boy, Santa might put one under the tree for me...... That's right kiddies, XMAS is just around the corner...........UNBELIEVABLE.......Get your lists ready, Mesa amp, Jp7, JP6, Y2D and the list goes on..........My wife says I'm getting a lump of coal............

 

[mhorse]

I have a 50 watt Mesa combo (DC-5), and I can go as quiet as I want without volume pedal and attenuator. I'm sure you can do the same with F-30/50.

I've used volume pedal in the effects loop to control the volume, but mine (Morley) has adverse effects on the tone. It's not the same thing as attenuator. Attenuator makes your power amp work hard as if it was played at a high volume, and color your sound appropriately. Volume pedal controls the amount of current going into the power amp, and doesn't affect the coloration. (By coloration I mean even harmonics tubes add to the sound. Subjectively we like even harmonics better)