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Looking for suggestions for a practice combo amp that fits my needs. Currently I'm using a little tube amp I built myself, but I would like something that I can plug headphones into, has a line-in feature, 2 footswitchable channels (clean/distorted), and an effects loop in order to be easily compatible with my pedalboard setup. I like the Marshall MG series, especially since my main amp is a JCM2000 DSL, but none of the MGs under 50 watts have an effects loop and I'm pretty much just going to use the thing with headphones to write music and practice with in my apartment so I don't need the extra price/power/size of the 50+ watt versions. Is my best bet to just look around for a used MG50, or do any of you ampgoons know of any other amps I should be looking into?
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Feb 8, 2013 22:38
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The Ferret King posted:You'd recommend that over using the pedal on the clean channel? I'll probably experiment of course but I'd always heard about folks using distortion pedals on the clean channels usually. You would be surprised at just how many metal bands use some sort of Tube Screamer type pedal like an SD-1 or Maxon 808 in front of their high gain amps. I looked it up and both Unearth and 3 Inches of Blood use Maxon 808s and Alexi Laiho apparently uses or used an SD-1. You don't use the SD-1 for creating much distortion, it's just that the bit of compression and mid boost that it provides will solve your "soft, mushy" response problem. Using a distortion pedal on the clean channel is a valid option, but I can't think of any that I could recommend for the same price as an SD-1.
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Feb 9, 2013 02:02
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Thanks folks. That was all very helpful. I ordered an SD-1 last night and it'll be here in a week or so.
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Feb 9, 2013 03:41
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I currently have a Fender Deluxe 90 amp, which is way too much amp for what I use it for anymore. I also find the sound kind of flat and makes my fat-strat sound way too bright. What would be a good amp for home playing and make the occasional jam? I'm looking for a much warmer sound than this provides: 
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Feb 11, 2013 02:14
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Sockington posted:What would be a good amp for home playing and make the occasional jam? I'm looking for a much warmer sound than this provides What kind of music do you usually play, how much are you looking to spend, and are you jamming with a full band, or just other guitars or...?
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Feb 11, 2013 03:22
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cornface posted:What kind of music do you usually play, how much are you looking to spend, and are you jamming with a full band, or just other guitars or...? Just basic rock music, nothing exceptionally heavy like metal. Jamming would probably be other guitars, but I wouldn't want to rule out a drummer just in case. Basically, it'd be nice if it could keep up to the rare chance there is something more than guitars. A friend suggested that a Roland Cube (30watt enough?) would fit the bill.
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Feb 11, 2013 03:33
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Sockington posted:Just basic rock music, nothing exceptionally heavy like metal. Jamming would probably be other guitars, but I wouldn't want to rule out a drummer just in case. Basically, it'd be nice if it could keep up to the rare chance there is something more than guitars. I just picked up a Fender Superchamp last week (and wrote mondo words about it on the last page or so) and for $300 or so, it's pretty damned hard to find anything that can compete with it. No effects loop is really the only thing I can think of that could be a problem. Whoever asked for pics and recordings, I'll put some pics up soon but unfortunately haven't had any time to do any recordings with it.
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Feb 11, 2013 03:43
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Sockington posted:Just basic rock music, nothing exceptionally heavy like metal. Jamming would probably be other guitars, but I wouldn't want to rule out a drummer just in case. Basically, it'd be nice if it could keep up to the rare chance there is something more than guitars. Silverface Vibro Champ/Bronco. Best bedroom amp. I got mine for around $200 but they seem to have gotten popular in the last couple of years. (Because they are awesome.)
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Feb 11, 2013 06:14
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nrr posted:Whoever asked for pics and recordings, I'll put some pics up soon but unfortunately haven't had any time to do any recordings with it. I didn't ask but pretend I already did ok
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Feb 11, 2013 06:25
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nrr posted:I just picked up a Fender Superchamp last week (and wrote mondo words about it on the last page or so) and for $300 or so, it's pretty damned hard to find anything that can compete with it. No effects loop is really the only thing I can think of that could be a problem. It looks like I can pickup a Roland Cube 40XL for about $250 new and it seems to be able to provide more "tools" than anything my Fender Deluxe90 could dream of. Loops, decent overdrive, ability to play at volumes other than deafening. I'm just hoping the sound quality will be that much better than my current solid-state experience. I read your review, but I haven't heard that amp before (a friend had a cube and thought it was awesome). My plan is to go into the local shops and try a few out to find my preference. I'm not sold on one particular brand, so I'll have to test a few. Thanks for the recommendation and I'll add it to my list of ones to ask about while shopping. Sockington fucked around with this message at 11:30 on Feb 12, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 11:27
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Problem:I love my AC15C1 to death. It is the amp I have always wanted. But it's too loud. I'm literally a blues dad and I only play in my basement, and that's either with tiny children in the same room, or sleeping two floors away. Solution: Attenuator? I guess? The problem is that the speaker is hard-wired in the cab so things like Webers are, I believe, out of the question. Dr. Z makes a "Z-Brake Lite" that seems like it might work, but I don't know barely a thing about attenuators. Open to basically any suggestions except "headphone digi-POD from Line6 d00d!"
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Feb 12, 2013 19:20
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The Ferret King posted:You'd recommend that over using the pedal on the clean channel? I'll probably experiment of course but I'd always heard about folks using distortion pedals on the clean channels usually. TS style overdrives have a honky midrange which is perfect for putting into a distorted amp and turning it into a tight metal machine. In fact I think TSs sound like garbage on totally clean amps. massive spider fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Feb 12, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 20:09
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I'm really excited about the pedal, should be here around the 18th.
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Feb 12, 2013 21:19
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Has anyone tried the Hughes & Kettner TriAmp Mk II? There's a guy selling it for 700€ and it seems like an amp that should cost 2-3x more.
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Feb 12, 2013 21:34
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I went and tried the Roland Cube 40XL. I know it'll never sound as good as a tube amp, but gently caress if I didn't leave impressed with that little bugger. Any reason I should consider something else for a hobby guitarist? I don't have one "set style" of playing, so the variable tones available really interest me. Especially at a price point I can't refuse. 
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Feb 13, 2013 23:18
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Sockington posted:Any reason I should consider something else for a hobby guitarist? I don't have one "set style" of playing, so the variable tones available really interest me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKaCn2wgLw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcXSmBXylWQ
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Feb 14, 2013 00:42
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 Just got the one sandwiched in the middle. It sounds like heaven. 
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Feb 15, 2013 02:48
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I tested out the Blackstar HT40 Club 40w combo amp a couple months ago and found it to be perfect in tone, at least playing solo. But looking around online I found Blackstar makes a 20w version of the same amp. So I have a couple quick questions for some knowledgeable people. 1. Would an all tube 20w amp be loud enough on its own for a live band setting? My drummer always plays extremely loud and I currently have a lovely 50w all tube amp that, while tone sucking and balls-less, is more than adequate volume-wise. 2. How do Blackstars in general sound with a band? They seem to have a pretty full tone when playing by yourself so I don't know how that would translate to a full band situation. Would it be muddy and clash with the bassist? Get buried by the drums? Thank you for any help!
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Feb 15, 2013 12:33
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Personally I've found blackstars to have quite a dark voicing to them, marshalls by comparison have a bit of fizz to them but that high end helps in a mix. Regarding the ISF, left (american) will tend to cut through better than right (british) because american has a cut in the low mids (and percieved high boost) while british has a cut more in the high mids. I was looking for a plexi-ish sound and thats to be found probably closer to the middle than exclusively over to the british side. massive spider fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 15:17
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Anyone want a insanely cheap and pretty good solid state practice amp? http://www.hellomusic.com/Items/em-1-5w-combo Behaves not unlike a tube amp, light as heck, loud as heck. Fun! It's $99, thirty bucks less than when I bought it. Designed by a H-P engineer. Won Best in Show last year's NAMM. Seriously, worth going 'what the heck' and throwing some bucks at it. It'll even drive a cab. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha-qd12JIOo
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Feb 16, 2013 00:39
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massive spider posted:Personally I've found blackstars to have quite a dark voicing to them, marshalls by comparison have a bit of fizz to them but that high end helps in a mix. Thank you, this is very useful advice! I would probably keep it on the American side because the gain sounds richer there. How about volume for a 20w? Does it have to enough to be heard over a full band without pushing it to the limits?
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Feb 16, 2013 17:31
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Stayne Falls posted:Thank you, this is very useful advice! I would probably keep it on the American side because the gain sounds richer there. How about volume for a 20w? Does it have to enough to be heard over a full band without pushing it to the limits? Depends on the amp to be honest. Why do you want the 20 over the 40?
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Feb 16, 2013 17:55
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Because it's cheaper, to be honest.
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Feb 16, 2013 19:02
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I bought a Vox AC4TV combo about a month ago. It was working great until the past week or so. At first the tone knob just stopped working. I can swing it from one extreme to another with no change at all. Two nights ago, it started having this metallic ringing whenever I would try to play anything. Its definitely not my guitar, as it plays fine in my other amp. Is this a tube problem? I have no problems opening it up, as I'm an electrician of sorts. Just not sure where to start testing or what exactly to look for as this is my first tube amp, so any help would be appreciated.
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Feb 16, 2013 19:08
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Rye Bread posted:I bought a Vox AC4TV combo about a month ago. It was working great until the past week or so. At first the tone knob just stopped working. I can swing it from one extreme to another with no change at all. Two nights ago, it started having this metallic ringing whenever I would try to play anything. Its definitely not my guitar, as it plays fine in my other amp. Does it sound like this? Then you just replace the offending tube. Usually pots start to click and scratch before they go bad, so it may be related to the tube. If it isn't, it's probably a bad solder joint.
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Feb 16, 2013 21:11
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Dumb crosspost because the small questions thread yielded nothing. :\Gorilla Salsa posted:As much as I should probably know better, I'm going to ask for the sake of my own sanity.
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Feb 16, 2013 21:36
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Gorilla Salsa posted:Dumb crosspost because the small questions thread yielded nothing. :\ You should be fine with that setup. Naturally a 4x12 would sound better and fill a lot more space, but a decent 1x12 should produce enough volume to be heard over a drummer.
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Feb 17, 2013 01:26
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Stayne Falls posted:Because it's cheaper, to be honest. I don't know about the volume but fwiw the emulated out on the ht series is real nice so if you've got a PA reinforcing it with that is an option. massive spider fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Feb 17, 2013 |
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Feb 17, 2013 11:07
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How do know if I bias my amp correctly? I always read about how you bias an amp, but never how you know when your amp is biased.
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Feb 17, 2013 22:27
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Boz0r posted:How do know if I bias my amp correctly? I always read about how you bias an amp, but never how you know when your amp is biased. I like to think of it like the idle speed on a car engine. You don't want it too high or too low, but somewhere just right. If the bias is too high, the amp will be overheating and burning up tubes prematurely. If the bias is too low, the amp won't get enough signal through the tube and will sound lovely and crackly. If your amp is working fine, you can fiddle with it a bit in order to push the tubes harder for breakup or back off for more headroom. The reason to rebias when putting in new tubes is that every tube conducts and distorts up at a different bias point. What works for one tube may be way off for another.
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Feb 17, 2013 22:46
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So it's sort of "to taste" within a reasonable interval?
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Feb 17, 2013 23:34
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I have a question regarding headphones. Bit of backstory first though. I currently run a Vox Pathfinder10 (10W solid state practice thing) which is a lovely little thing. For cleans at least. Overdrive is, honestly, horrendous. It has three modes: Completely clean, the tiniest bit of overdrive or terrible white noise. So I'm looking at replacing it some time this year, but I'm not in a hurry. I've basically decided to go for something nice but not overkill like a 100W Marshall stack. My budget will probably be around AU$1000 plus or minus a bit. The main culprits I'm looking at are Vox AC15s in the price range, possibly an AC30VR and Blackstars (HT-5R or Club 40 or something). The music I want to play ranges from folk-esque stuff (Bright Eyes, Neutral Milk Hotel) to alt rock (Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth) and punk (Dillinger Four, Green Day, Blink) to even some metal (Woods of Ypres, Tool). So I'm all over the place. I'm not aiming for some golden tone where I have exactly one thing in mind. I just want something that will do everything I need clean well while still going dark and heavy when I feel like downtuning. So any suggestions in that price range would be good. I do want to test drive them before blindly buying so I'll be doing that over the course of the year. I want something I can conceivably gig with in small venues. I have no idea if a Club 40 is overkill for that. The other side is I still want to play and practice with something nice, so it needs to be able to play nicely low. I'm not concerned about the "tube break-up at high volumes". So it needs to be able to deliver bedroom sounds. Now my question. I notice no tube amps really have headphone jacks, which would give me the best of both worlds. But many (At least the Blackstars) have speaker emulated output. Can I use this to drive headphones? I'd really like to just deal with one amp, and if I can use headphones but still use it for small gigs (House parties or whatever) that'd be sweet as. IS this achievable?
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Feb 21, 2013 08:10
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syntaxfunction posted:Now my question. I notice no tube amps really have headphone jacks, which would give me the best of both worlds. But many (At least the Blackstars) have speaker emulated output. Can I use this to drive headphones? I'd really like to just deal with one amp, and if I can use headphones but still use it for small gigs (House parties or whatever) that'd be sweet as. IS this achievable?
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Feb 21, 2013 08:16
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The blackstar would be more versatile than the vox for hard rock. You can use headphones from the emulated out though I recall it being only in mono from one ear. If you really want to use headphones a pocket POD or similar is what I would recommend, rather than trying to get an amp which has it as a feature because many gigging designed amps dont. I have a POD HD sitting on my computer desktop which both acts as my soundcard and goes into either headphones or regular computer speakers for all my home practicing. My amps just sit in the basement until I have a gig.
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Feb 21, 2013 11:28
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massive spider posted:The blackstar would be more versatile than the vox for hard rock. You can use headphones from the emulated out though I recall it being only in mono from one ear. Bugger. I did some more reading and the HT1/5 series have stereo out. The larger ones are mono. I know I was expecting too much probably, but I was really hoping there'd be a way where I only need one amp/sound thing. I guess just using my current amp clean as what it's meant to do (Practice) with maybe a fuzz so I know what dirty sound I might get? I really wanted someone to say "Get the larger amp, you can sit it on one and it'll be bedroom playable!" I guess.
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Feb 22, 2013 08:36
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syntaxfunction posted:I really wanted someone to say "Get the larger amp, you can sit it on one and it'll be bedroom playable!" I guess. That's what I do. I think my upstairs neighbors have already set their plans to murder me in motion.
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Feb 22, 2013 16:24
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The SD-1 came in earlier this week and it really had transformed my Marshall AVT-150. I'm still messing around with setting it up (still not exactly sure what I'm doing) but it really cranks up the signal. For the first time since I've been playing at this volume, I'm getting a lot of feedback, which is probably due to my proximity to the amp when I'm practicing, other than that though I'm really happy with what this pedal does to the sound.
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Feb 22, 2013 21:25
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Went to a local shop to dick around like a showrooming rear end in a top hat, grabbed a Tele Deluxe because I had never played one and plugged into a Mesa Electra Dyne just to see what it was like. Clean channel owns, slightly dirty owns, and hot balls it can kind of do metal if you use the right pickup and enough (all?) gain. Now all I can think about is how fuckin' rad it would be to show up to a metal gig with that setup and watch a crowd of prejudiced faces change with an open chord.
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Feb 22, 2013 23:19
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I recently purchased a Fender Superchamp X2 combo amp, which has a tube channel and a digital model channel. The tube model sounds great, as perfect a Fender tone as you might expect from any of their larger amps, especially when cranked and when the tubes are warmed up. The treble especially seems to be very creamy on this one when using the middle or neck pickup positions on my guitar, and I'm getting some great lead tones. When I switch to the bridge pickup, and roll back the bass a bit I get really nice rhythm guitar sounds. It's also very, very responsive to dynamics which is great, because I've noticed I can really pop certain notes or fills out of/over a chord with minimal mush, even with the gain high up. I'm pretty underwhelmed, however, with some of the digital amp models and effects. Most of the effects are tough to put to use, and although you can change them up quite a bit using Fender fuse software, I haven't found anything there that I particularly like either. Plus it's a hassle to plug in, open up, tweak settings on the computer, and save when you finally get something you like (at least a 20 minute project, if not hours). The digital reverb, though, is pretty nice sounding and very close to the classic fender reverb, so there's that at least. Most of the amp models sound just mediocre on channel 2, and definitely not as good as the tube only channel. There are some options for hard rock and metal, but they don't even come close to a real high gain metal amp like a mesa. You also can't use the gain control when playing on the channel 1 (tube only). I would hesitantly recommend this amp to someone, and I would say to look at other older, used Fender amps before looking at this one. Don't be too tempted by the amp models and effects, none of them are above mediocre. I find myself wanting analog pedals now to achieve gain, distortion, and effects when using channel 1, which will definitely sound great, but will of course cost a lot. The Channel 1 (tube only) is great, and totally everything I wanted/expected out of a tube amp. I find it to be very acceptable for recording both lead and rhythm guitar in multiple styles through my SM57. I would like to add however that this amp specifically sounds GREAT for fingerstyle picking (blues/country/bluegrass/folk) even with my electric (non hollybody) guitar. I put my guitar in drop D major tuning, and added the built in delay on the amp and it sounds almost exactly like Chet Atkins or Merl Travis. coolbian57 fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Mar 4, 2013 |
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Feb 26, 2013 06:41
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coolbian57 posted:Plus it's a hassle to plug in, open up, tweak settings on the computer, and save when you finally get something you like (at least a 20 minute project, if not hours). The digital reverb, though, is pretty nice sounding and very close to the classic fender reverb, so there's that at least. Most of the amp models sound just mediocre on channel 2, and definitely not as good as the tube only channel. There are some options for hard rock and metal, but they don't even come close to a real high gain metal amp like a mesa. The Fuse thing sounded neat at first when I was looking, but came to the same conclusion that I'd never end up using something like that given the time involved. I ended up with a Roland Cube 40XL as it did all the modeling I could want without too much fooling around. I definitely looked at the Superchamp/Mustangs, but none of their features were worth if for me when weighing price as well.
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Feb 26, 2013 12:34
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