Advice needed under $800 combo

voggin

voggin

Well-known member
I'm looking to get a tube combo in the near future (next 3 months-ish). Right now I play through a Fender Pro Junior (great little tweed guy) and a Hughes and Kettner edition blonde solid state combo for practice (mainly because I'm lazy and it's easier to use for gain/reverb settings than to use pedals etc. with the pro junior)

Anyway, I'm hoping to jam/perform with a small blues combo (picture 50 seat bar) with a drummer. My needs are:

1. Loud enough to play with drums, not loud enough for large stage type bars;

2. Good overdrive channel and good clean channel;

3. Not death metal-type gain, but a little more than typical fendery gain;

4. Reverb would be nice;

5. Effects loop;

6. Hopefully single speaker (I'm a wimp and I don't want to carry a 4x12 or anything like that!)

I've looked at the following:

1. Marshall Haze: Nice sound, great idea, even posted a thread here about it. However, I've heard there are some QC issues (may be myths);

2. Hughes & Kettner 25th anniversary edition tube, 20 watts: Love H & K statesman(s? Statesmen) Is 20 watts enough?

3. Marshall MA50: great price, haven't played it

4. Traynor equivalents.

The amp has to be versatile as I will be using both a SSS strat and a PRS se singlecut with JB/Jazz pickups, and, god willing someday, a Les Paul. I'm a little weird as a blues player in that I like my overdrive sound to come close to an 80's rock-type sound.

Opinions? Do you need more info?

thanks
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

Blackstar had good clean and great distortion... made by former Marshall employees, but id have to look up which model has send loop cuz ive mostly played the 5. watt. . . which is def louder than the drummer, no frills except shaping... Egnaters also have non deathmetal gain but versatile. If i were you id look into just get a one channel and a good modded tube screamer/ blues driver for gain sound. i wd think no tube combo quite delivers deathmetal w out modeling, but some do have very usable distortion channels.
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

Either the Hot rod Deluxe or a Deluxe Reverb. The DR is not channel switching but you could fix that with an appropriate stomp box. Not sure what the wattage is on the HRD(maybe 25W) the DR is 22. that would be perfect. I use a DR with many small gigs I have played and they work perfectly until you get the volume to about 7. they don't get louder they get muddy!
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

Blackstar HT-Club 40 or the JCA5212RC. I hear good things about Traynor on this forum.
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

I play sabb/zepp stuff, I am really wanting a tiny terror 1x10 combo - they cost $550
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

I just got a Blackstar HT-40 last week and its a great amp! Thats my vote lol... or the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III. (Maybe a Peavey Classic 30...?)
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

BTW I like the haze 40, but the stock speaker makes it feel a little dark. Not a ton of gain, but responds well to dirt pedals. The dirt channel with a rangemaster clone is the closest I've gotten to a legit Clapton Beano album tone.

the circuit board is kinda thin, thinner than on the DSL. that's the only quality thing I've noticed besides the fact that I think it's an MDF cab.

I hear the MA is the opposite. Very bright, cutting distortion, but I haven't played one to confirm this.
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

Hot Rod Deluxe does not have a good OD channel, nor does it do "a little more gain than Fender". Nothing on his wish list says "HRDx". Now, if your open to incorporating a couple pedals into the rig then the HRDx is a great choice.

Egnator Rebel would be a good choice or even one of the Vox Closet Classics (AC15C1)
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

The voice of reason:





CHECK 1. Loud enough to play with drums, not loud enough for large stage type bars;


CHECK 2. Good overdrive channel and good clean channel;


CHECK 3. Not death metal-type gain, but a little more than typical fendery gain;


CHECK 4. Reverb would be nice;


CHECK 5. Effects loop;

CHECK The amp has to be versatile...I like my overdrive sound to come close to an 80's rock-type sound.

CHECK Sub-$800

It weighs 40 pounds. It runs two 6L6s and two 12AX7s. It has one 12" speaker.





...it's like they took a Deluxe Reverb's Input 1 and then the SuperSonic's channel 2 and put them together.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

Immortal6, thanks for the suggestion. I had never heard of the Deluxe VM. I'm going to google it now. I guess I have another on my list!

Thanks to everyone else, too. I'll post when I decide/buy.
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

Traynor! Check out their YCV40 series of amps . . . they're loud enough to play cleanly with a hard hitting drummer, they've got two nicely voiced channels (distorted channel is Fendery, but with the built in boost function it'll go all the way up to hard rock sounds), built in reverb (although it's not the world's greatest reverb circuit it's quite servicable), and they come with an effects loop. It's a single speaker amp, but you can buy a matching extension cab . . . making it easier to lug around a 2x12 setup if you decide you need it later on.

The YCV40WR has red tolex and a V30 speaker, the regular YCV40 has black tolex and a Celestion 70/80, the YCV40T has two 10 inch speakers. All can be had for below 800$ and have 6L6s.

ycv40wr_med.jpg


TraynorYCV40%20Frontback.gif


YCV40TBack.gif



If you want to go more into Marshall sounding territory, the YCV50 Blue has the same basic amp but is built around EL34s.

ycv50_stack2.jpg
 
Re: Advice needed under $800 combo

sbecker67 said:
Hot Rod Deluxe does not have a good OD channel, nor does it do "a little more gain than Fender". Nothing on his wish list says "HRDx". Now, if your open to incorporating a couple pedals into the rig then the HRDx is a great choice.

Egnator Rebel would be a good choice or even one of the Vox Closet Classics (AC15C1)
Click to expand...

The new Hot Rod Deluxe III actually does have a decent gain channel.
 
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