best tube amp for $4-500?

[mig50]

i've got a friend that may be in the market for an amp soon (used is just fine) and has a $4-500 budget.

i've heard great things about the peavey delta blues series as well as the classic 30s, but i'm looking for more suggestions to give him.

he's really not sure of what he wants, but doesn't want a single channel amp.

 

[Stringmachine]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

All of Peavey's classic are great amps. I used to have one and I really recommend it. Hughes & Kettner's Tube series are very good as well. It is discontinued, but you should be able to find them used.

 

[gordon_39422]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

What style of music is he into?

I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe... It has the classic Fender chime, and I run pedals through the front to cover the other tones I seek... I think they are in the $5oo range.... I got mine for $350

I am advising a student on his investment in a tube amp, and we actually went shopping today... The Crate V-Series are also VERY nice for the dough, but the cleans werent quite chimey like Fender, but they were still nice! The gain channels were more useful than the Hot Rod, but as I said, I use pedals anyway.....

The Rolland G50TC was pretty nice as well... It has 2 channels... The clean was glassy, but could be tamed with the onbaord eq... It still wasnt FEnder, but that is the point, isnt it?!?! The OD Channel was nice... It has to gain settings available, but they are controlled by the same eq... So, you can't really call it a 3-channel amp, like the salesman tried to say, but the 2nd gain switch could prove useful.... I turned the 2 gain knobs to 10 and A/B'd the swtich, you couldnt tell a difference, so the salemsan finally walked away embarrased that he tried so hard to prove that he was right, only to have the gear prove him wrong... Anwyway, the problem therein, is that when you turn the gain down on one, the tone is too thin... If you turn the bass down on that one, the bass is also down on the 2nd one, so that function is useless to me.... However, I brought my pedalbaord with me, and used just the clean channel with my pedals doing the dirty work... If I were in the market, I would probably drop $500 on it...

There are several others that are worth mentioning... One thing you want to keep in mind... If you are getting it for mainly bedroom, it needs to be conservatively rated in the power section... If you are getting it for gigging, then you want higher wattages....

I have a 45 watt, which is just right... I can turn it down to practicing levels (MUCH higher than bedroom levels), and still get good tone... I had a 100 watt tube amp before, and could never get the tones I wanted... The tubes needed to be pushed to get that soulful connection the personifies the vacuum tube amps, and I could never do that in my bedroom....

 

[gordon_39422]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

Oh yeah!!! the Peavey Classic's are definitley worth mentioning as well!!! Very good tube amps!!!!!!

 

[aleclee]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

The old Peavey Encore is a killer amp for the money. They practically give 'em away on evilBay.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

+1 for the Hot Rod Deluxe. Althought the going rate for a new one is
closer to $600. I got mine used for $350.

 

[philthis]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

i've got a friend that may be in the market for an amp soon (used is just fine) and has a $4-500 budget.

i've heard great things about the peavey delta blues series as well as the classic 30s, but i'm looking for more suggestions to give him.

he's really not sure of what he wants, but doesn't want a single channel amp.

there isnt one amp that you can buy that does every thing the best. It simply isnt made. However that being said you can do what the pro's do and thats a/b between 2 amps that specialize in only clean and only in distortion. If your pal is psycho about tone thats what he should do. a/b switch between some creamy clean sounding fender and some realy hot distortion amp. thats the best of both worlds and the pro's do it all the time. other wise you will have to settle on an amp that can do both but it will realy excell only at one when played loud like in a band per say. if you can find an amp you like that you can play loud and are happy with both tones then you should buy it if you can be satisfied with it. As for me? I love those fender delux reverb tones for clean and the bogner extasy tones for dirty. I know to much for my own good and now Ime gunna pay for it :smack: but oh well. an amp that does both well for most people is a Mesa rectoverb. its cleans are good and its distortion can go rectifyer or brown sound. keep in mind that the amp is 6L6 tube distortion but it can be switched to El34 tubes but then you will lose alittle of its sweet cleans sound but you will get more clipy midrange from the distortion. see what I mean? theres always a tradeoff. but this amp does both well. just go play it and decide for yourself. oh ya-and laud-this amp is all tubes so it will not mush. good luck and let us know what your-pal-decides on.
:beerchug:

 

[slash857]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

i think for $450 my marshall avt50 sounds really nice. i mean its not amazing for both channels, but i think it sounds pretty good. the clean channel isnt very adjustable but still gives a pretty nice sound. the overdrive channel i was pretty impressed with for a marshall that isnt all tube. my friend got a $3k+ marshall 212 all tube amp (not sure wat model exactly) and i didnt think it sounded THAT much better than my avt50. that made me pretty happy.

 

[Stevo]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

Another vote for the peavey classics. You might be able to get a classic 50 in that range. That's a really decent amp. It has foot switchable clean/distortion tones. It has plenty of power and I think the tone is very good for many styles.

 

[bbking1021]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

the peavey classics are great amps. But also the Peavey Ultra is a good amp too. I got mine on ebay for $350 and its a 60w with 3 channels. Very versatile amp.

 

[Biu]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

Another vote for Peavey Classics! They are really tonally flexible, and if you stick pedals in front of it, that only opens up more oppurtunities for tonal versatility.

 

[mig50]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

alright, thanks for the suggestions, guys.

looks like i'm going to be urging him to get a peavey.

 

[coachc55]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

Also, don't forget to look into Traynors. A new Blue 50 might be out of your price range but you can look through ebay and see what you can find. But Peavey Classics are excellent amps.

CoachC

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

+1 on the HRD. A used one can be had for under $400. I had one for a couple of years and loved it. When I bought my Boogie I sold it to the other guitarist in my band, and he loves it too.

Traynors (Go Canada, eh!) and Peavey Classics are also great choices.

There sure are a lot more good, cheap tube amps out nowadays than when I was starting out. Between that, and the high quality of import guitars these days, it's a good time to be a guitarist!

 

[jmcorey]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

Great cleans are THE starting point. There are some medium - high end that get you great dirty sounds. The dirty sounds from smaller amps, typically with el84 power sections, sound rather weak to me. A good pedal from Stratdeluxer97 or Analogman into a Fender or Peavey clean channel is a fantastic way to go. I have a Stratdeluxer modded OS-2 and an Analogman SD-1/808/silver and both give amp-like distortion at small volumes into a clean tube amp.

Yes, the two amp solution is great, and the pros do that: Fender/Marshall; Matchless/Marshall, etc. But if the guy can only afford a $400 tube amp, he's not in the market for that!

 

[V-Spot]

Re: best tube amp for $4-500?

Try and find a used Fender Deluxe 'Verb, they'd probably go for around $500, maybe a little bit more.

+1 for the Traynor!