In need of an amp, sugestion needed

[LukeGilmour]

well, ive been looking around for amps for a while, and i cant seem to find anything decent for a budget, and theres also the problem that theres not many things to choose from here (im from argentina), you can find almost anything from fender, vox, marshall, peavey, laney, but thats about it, not much from any of the others (suggest them anyway, i might get lucky)

mainly, i want an amp with good cleans, i dont care much about the dist as im gonna use pedals anyway
also, two speakers is almost a must, but i might make an exception

for budget reasons, im sticking with solid state, from my experience cheap tube amps dont sound very good.

as of now my favourite one is a fender princeton chorus, nice cleans (crappy dist but who cares), 50w, two speakers
i also have my eye on a vox cambridge rt (30w, 2speakers, pre tube)

both of them are at around the same price range (and i know the vox might have some problems with the octo)

is there anything you guys could suggest besides those?

thanks a lot!

ps: what about a bass amp? ive always thought of trying that, but never actually did it..

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

I'd suggest a Vox Valvetronix head and 2-12 or 4-12 cab. They're extremely versatile from clean to midgain, and excel at highgain tones. The OD models help to shape the gain quite a bit, so always use them if you demo the amp somewhere. Plus, they're one of the few amps that can be used for direct recording, low volume play, and high volume play. Also variable wattage and headphone out. Buying the head version allows you to choose better speaker setups than what they give you with the combo.

By the way, since you're Argentinian, have you heard of Walter Giardino from Rata Blanca? I know they're sorta 80's sounding, but Walter is a killer player.
He has the best strat tone I've ever heard. He's definitely from the Blackmore/Malmsteen camp, but I like him more than both of them.

 

[LukeGilmour]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

i tried a valvetronix a while ago, it was a 50w combo, didnt like it much, cleans were pretty dirty.. ill go and check the heads anyway.

btw yes, ive seen rata blanca a few times live in my days of metal, hes good, but a malmsteem copycat in the end (try listening to preludio obsesivo, from rata blanca, i think thats his best)

 

[Diego]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

Cleans will probably improve with better cab and speakers than what the Vox combo had, which you could do with the head version. So there you go.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

How much are you looking to spend?

 

[LukeGilmour]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

its kind of hard making those kind of comparisons, because price ranges are totally different here

for instance, the fender princeton chorus is at around 500 u$ here (used, new it might be at around 800 900)

so im looking for something at around that price range, but again, i dont think comparisons are viable here

ps:yep, they certainly rip us off bad...

 

[Artie]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

If you want good cleans and you don't mind SS, its hard to beat the Hughes & Kettner Edition Blu 60. Genuine Celestion 12". (Only one, mind you.) Also, only $250 at Musicians Friend.

Killer amp. (Then again, its the only one I'm familiar with.)

 

[LukeGilmour]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

mmm, do they ship internationally? how does it deal with distortion pedals?

(because theres no chance in hell for it to be found on a store around here)

 

[LukeGilmour]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

any further recomendations?

 

[McLaughysSN]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

Mesa boogie blue angel dual recs can do some great cleans as well as other sounds. Class A tube amp and the've been going CHEAP on ebay. Like $550 to $650. If you could spring for it they're pretty impessive. A little noisy but its Class A, so expect it.

Oh and its usualy only 1x12 that i've seen

 

[Christobevii3]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

I'd get a crate v3112T. I got mine for $525 locally and is amazing for a cheaper tube amp. Has enough gain on tap if i use a compressor for clean boost to do even some metal for boot, but the cleans are sooo smooth.

 

[Omni9X]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

I would try out a Fender Pro Junior. They're 300 dollars new here, and sound fantastic.

Don't look down on it because it only has two knobs. It's a fantastic sounding little amp.

 

[Knuckledragger]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

Check out Epiphone's custom blues 30 ,the cleans are butter smooth , it has a 15 watt class a and a 30 watt class a/b go to Epi's web site ,I've had mine about two weeks now and find new sounds to dial in every day very voxy with Marshall to boot ,the build quality is great and looks very retro ,I've also added a Fulltone OCD to it for a better tube crunch ,the reverb is easily adjusted .the speakers are a new Eminence lady luck daul 12", great mid range .I'm playing a custom Tele w/Texas specials ,a hollow body with Phat Cats ,and a Custom 2392 Ibanez lp with Jazz & JB Humbuckers, let me tell you , I can dial in each Guitar to get an even balanced tone out of each .Like I said before very pedal friendly also if you like that

 

[bloodswords]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

pictured above is my practice amp- Ibanez Valbee 5w amp. yes, it's a tube unit, default drive isn't fantastic but with the Tubescreamer pedal, it's quite incredible.

i'm aware you are after a solidstate unit but at that kinda price, i suggest you grab whatever's appealing tone-wise.

 

[Baltar]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

due to i'm someone who always screws around, i'd suggest to go for a cheap
head and build the cab yourself....
a great cheap head is the orange tiny terror (15w) and randall has something
cheaper in the 30watts range. buy playing around with pre tubes and cab
design you can build yourself the sound you like. a good speaker eg eminence
governour costs about 59 EUR and there are lots of diferent speakers in the
same price range.
otherwise go for a blues junior, which is a great allrounder imo.

 

[thucydides]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

Do you have the same voltage requirements as we have in the States?

 

[LukeGilmour]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

here its 220v, but it can be fixed in a second, so i wouldnt mind dealing with that

 

[loudriver23]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

Maybe you could get your hands on a used Roland JC120, great sounding amps IMO.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

You may wish to give a price range for what you're willing to spend and let us know how hard and fast this limit is. IE if there's something that's $100 over your limit but is exceedingly good sounding and of much greater value to you as a player that you'd still want to hear about it.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: In need of an amp, sugestion needed

OUCH . . .


. . . it is sad to see that there is other countres too (not just SA) where they get shagged up the @R$E, price wise !

Over here, a Peavey Classic 30 will set you back a cool $1100 (USD)

So, i do feel your pain, mate !!!

That said, if you want to stick to S/S, look into the Peavey Bandit (tans tube). OK only one speaker, but that this is seriously loud in the clean channel, & has a useable gain channel. It also has a Vintage / Modern voicing switch - very nice feature !

My brother had the Vox Valvetronix 50, and that amp (modelling or not) is/was Super Loud too. Infact, just as loud as the 85Watts of the Bandit !

If your budget will allow it, do look into the Roland JC 120 !
. . . in fact, that is the first & only amp that i will look into when i hear the word S/S ! - but i had the Bandit for a very short time, and it was OK for the time, but sold it to fund my Fender Blues Jr.


NOW I AM TRUELY HAPPY !


. . . ermmm, but i am already looking at the SuperSonic & Evil Twin !


GOOD LUCK & let us know what you got !