$2000 Budget for Amp

Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

OH OH OH!!!!

Hand wired fender champ!!!!!

You can still put $1200 in the bank!!!

I LOVE my champ. All 5 watts will kill a grown man at 30 paces.

Try one first. It takes pedals VERY well and you won't even know it's there.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

45w is a lot for playing at home. honestly i havent played the fryette stuff but i wasnt under the impression they were known for their blues, blues/rock tones

Steve's amps are Swiss army knives. The Pittbull 45 is perfect for Blues and Blues rock. Check out the Memphis 30 if you get bored. That amp kills at the lower gained tones.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

I'd like to throw a recommendation for the Bogner Atma out. Great sounding amp, does blues, blues rock, rock and more very well. Power scales down from 18w to 5w to 1W and still sounds great on the lower wattage settings.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 36, if you want versatility. Under you budget, and with what's left you can invest on a MIDI pedalboard, either the same brand, or some other thing....
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley... YOU NEED ONE!!! It's a blues/rock MACHINE! And the best lunch box I've ever played (and that's a lot). You won't do better than it for low wattage blues/rock. Trust me.

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Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

Almost nothing sounds good at true "talking level" – not even an old Vibro Champ.

Based on everything in your description other than the taking level thing, I'd say get an antique (i.e. "real vintage") blackface Princeton Reverb. It's a very versatile amp, nothing can touch it for tonal quality, and it will do nothing but appreciate in value.

I disagree. A lot of these master volume small tube amps sound great at lower volumes. Bogner, Friedman, and Hughes & Kettner make some great sounding low-wattage tube amps with rock tones in them.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

Btw... I have to throw out an honorable mention for the Tone King Royalist 15. Next to the Friedman Mini Shirley... it's the best low wattage rock/blues amp I've ever played.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

Btw... I have to throw out an honorable mention for the Tone King Royalist 15. Next to the Friedman Mini Shirley... it's the best low wattage rock/blues amp I've ever played.

I need to check out the Tone King Royalist 15. I've loved every Tone King amp I've ever plugged into.
http://www.humbuckermusic.com/produ...t=3328517121&gclid=CIDMxMOCgMwCFYqPfgodCkgJvw

EDIT - I just discovered the new Tone King Sky King. Now that is a great blues/bluesrock amp!!

 
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Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

I disagree. A lot of these master volume small tube amps sound great at lower volumes. Bogner, Friedman, and Hughes & Kettner make some great sounding low-wattage tube amps with rock tones in them.

I agree that there are decent sounding low volume amps. Just not "talking volume." To me, talking volume means very close to silent.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

For sitting around, playing in your living room, nothing will beat a 1959 Marshall Super Lead full stack, with all the knobs dimed :D
 
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Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

See if you can find a used or modded Jet City Picovalve. The 2 watt setting sounds good in the room and it won't wake the wife on the other side of the house. This being through a closed back 1X12 cab with an Eminence C-Rex in it. The 5 watt setting will keep up with a drummer and bass in a small room. And it will take any octal based power tube you can find.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

I have a $2000 tax return and I am being irresponsible and blowing it on an amp. It could be a Head or a Combo....

It will be very hard to find an answer in such a forum like here because it is purely a matter of taste and anybody who answers is just describing his own taste.

There are plenty of modern low wattage tube amps that can sound great even on room talking volume. Peavey mini head amps for example have fantastically sounding built-in attenuators (down to 1W), or you can get an A class 5W Laney Lionheart either as head or as a combo, with an 0.5W output... a really beautiful tube amp fat blues rock sound. Wouldn't be that good for jazz, though.
Mesa mini rectifier can offer you pretty any sound you could ever need, but it needs an attenuator at home.

Otherwise buy just any amp you like and use a good attenuator.
 
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Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

Mesa mini rectifier can offer you pretty any sound you could ever need, but it needs an attenuator at home.

I was checking out a mini Rectoverb a few days ago in hopes that the volume would be more manageable than my 100W Marshall Jubilee. I'm a bit disappointed to say, "Not really". On the 25W setting that amp is LOUD. I was more than a little surprised at how little the volume differed between them; at the point I'll probably just stick with the amp I have.
 
Re: $2000 Budget for Amp

The amp I've had the most fun with at home (and on the gig) in a long, long time is the Fender Mustang 3 V.2. $320.

Once I got it figured out and set up my own presets and deleted most of the factory presets.

I don't need use a single pedal in front of it or in the effects loop.

The Mustang 3 has them all built right in.
 
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