Please help me choose a new amp

[mathewlarg24]

Hey all, I'm getting a job soon (I'm a Jr. in high school). Anyway, I've been looking for a new amp for the past year, specifically tube amps. I write a few different styles of music, everything from reggae, 80's hardcore punk, grunge, to alt. rock. Point being that when I'm writing music it's either crisp and clean or cruchy to overdriven (Though I'm not really a fan of metal distortion), could anyone steer me in the direction of a new amp. Since I'm getting a job my budget will be around a grand (maybe more if I save up). I've been looking at a vox AC15, fender bassbreaker 45 (because it has the best rating in its series), and the orange rocker 32. I've played all of them at a guitar center so I didn't get to play them as loud as I probably needed to (however I did get kicked out for cranking an AC30 which is a highlight of my life). Thank you in advanced I'm open to just about anything.

P.S. I will be recording with it and possibly gigging with it (In which case I'm totally cool with micing it). Also I'm not too worried about it being too loud because I mostly only play when I'm home alone.

 

[mathewlarg24]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Also any pedals you might recommend?

 

[SJ318]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hi,
I'd say a Fender Blues Jr. 18 watts I think. Loud, gets nice cleans, on board reverb, has a Master volume so you can get high gain if needed. I never use a gain channel so I think this might come with a foot switch for clean to high grunge or rock with a tap of your foot. It may not, I use pedals for that.
When I play at home or rarely live, I always use a good boost pedal, I have two, one set for grit/rhythm, the other set for high gain/boost) The reason I have two is because when I last went hunting, there were very few that did both, and they sounded awful. I use two Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drives, sometimes I kick on a Klon clone (Archer). But now, I bet you could find a great one that can go from clean to channel 1: dirt/fuzz and also hit 2: boost to goose up the volume more if needed. The best ones make them so you can use one, or both on at the same time on the same pedal. There are too many to choose - but call Sweetwater Music, east coast time, ask for Ben Robinson (there are 2 Bens I think, tell him Steve Buffington sent you, tell him want what I told you, give him a budget, free shipping, great service, and ask him about amps too. I am just telling you what I know. You'll want a combo (speaker in amp) cheaper and easier to haul one thing instead of two. I cannot tell you how cool it is to get a good sounding double boost/dirt pedal that can run both at the same time. Keely just made one that looks great. But now there are dozens.
In a loud band with a loud drummer, the Blues Jr. Might need some microphone going on, but not usually. Again, used if you can find one- there must be many out there in eBay land. Your budget can get you a long way, I think.
Good luck,
Steve Buffington

 

[AlexR]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

It depends on your budget.....but there are a few good amps that are not necessarily tube (or all tube) that might give you some flexibility.

The Boss Katana is one....maybe on the 'very crunchy' side but punk and hardcore often get high gain. That has some onboard effects.
The Roland Blues cube is maybe an option which might be able to be goosed with a cheap Tubescreamer type pedal.
And Blackstar is also an option.....they have the more modern and also more vintage options.

Of course you have Vox AC 10's and 15's too.....but they are quite distinct in their tone which might not work for all styles.....as is the Blues Jr too.

 

[VinceT]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Personally, I would go with the AC15, but with Alex’s caveat that it is it’s own beast tone-wise.

That Pedal Show did a special on it recently - worth a watch:

https://youtu.be/Ggi4Nkwmkf4




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[mathewlarg24]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hi, thank you for your reply. My budget will be $1000, I'm strictly seeking tube amps, I have a solid state head right now, it's a orange cr120. Which is very versatile but I'm looking for a tube amp, so that I can get tones that don't sound... Synthetic (for lack of a better word). I want to go used, I could probably save up more than a thousand dollars, I was actually looking at getting a silver jubilee but wasn't sure if that be overkill. Let me know what you think!

 

[51501984]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Might get some good responses if you put this in the Amplifier Central room

 

[jeremy]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Try all the used amps you can and take the one you love home

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

I would suggest looking into something with an fx loop. At the very least you can stick an MXR Micro Amp in there for a lead volume boost. Not to mention your Reverb, modulation and delay.
Here are many good amps from Fender, Marshall, Blackstar. As already suggested, play as many as you can.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

As others have said you have to play them to know if its what you want or not. In addition to the AC15 some to put on your list to try:

Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue. lots of these on the used market. A classic amp that takes pedals well and sounds great by itself from cleans through crunch.

Fender Supersonic. These come in 22 watt, and 60 watt versions. These have a clean channel with two modes, Vibroverb and Bassmann, and a modern distortion channel. A good reverb, and they take pedals well.

Marshall DSL40C. You can buy this one new in your budget range, and if you order it from sweetwater it comes with a free Creamback speaker upgrade (which is needed). If you buy used you should have plenty enough left over for a speaker upgrade. DSL 40s have two channels each with two modes. The green channel gives either a clean clean or a crunch and takes pedals well. The red channel is the distortion channel. FX loop. This amp covers a lot ground, although most tend to play it as single channel amp, rather than a channel switching amp.

Orange OR15. This comes as a head only so you need to also buy a cab. Buying used should allow both within your budget. It's single channel amp but you can set it up for a wide range of sounds and it responds well to guitar volume adjustments.

I see you listed the Silver Jubilee as a possibility. Great amp. I have played them for decades. But it may bust your budget.

 

[mathewlarg24]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hey, thank you for your reply. Since I'll be getting a job, getting a silver jubilee is totally a possibility, but my next question would be. How does it compare to a rockerverb 50 watt or 100watt?
Sorry if I'm jumping around a lot.

 

[mathewlarg24]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hey, sorry. I'm new to the forums how do I put the thread in that category?

 

[dystrust]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

As others have said you have to play them to know if its what you want or not. In addition to the AC15 some to put on your list to try:

Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue. lots of these on the used market. A classic amp that takes pedals well and sounds great by itself from cleans through crunch.

Fender Supersonic. These come in 22 watt, and 60 watt versions. These have a clean channel with two modes, Vibroverb and Bassmann, and a modern distortion channel. A good reverb, and they take pedals well.

Marshall DSL40C. You can buy this one new in your budget range, and if you order it from sweetwater it comes with a free Creamback speaker upgrade (which is needed). If you buy used you should have plenty enough left over for a speaker upgrade. DSL 40s have two channels each with two modes. The green channel gives either a clean clean or a crunch and takes pedals well. The red channel is the distortion channel. FX loop. This amp covers a lot ground, although most tend to play it as single channel amp, rather than a channel switching amp.

Orange OR15. This comes as a head only so you need to also buy a cab. Buying used should allow both within your budget. It's single channel amp but you can set it up for a wide range of sounds and it responds well to guitar volume adjustments.

I see you listed the Silver Jubilee as a possibility. Great amp. I have played them for decades. But it may bust your budget.

I've had my 2555 since 2001, so not as much experience as LPB though I have played them for years. The amp is unforgiving in terms of sloppy playing, and it can be a bit difficult to balance the gain levels of the two "channels". That aside, originals will utterly destroy your budget. You might be able to find a used 2555X for a grand or slightly more, but I wouldn't recommend one. They're heavy, but most importantly a 100W Marshall is loud like you can hardly imagine. Mine is bordering on painful (without ear plugs) with the volume on 2, and it doesn't really get to sounding its best until the volume is on 4-5. That's literally loud enough to move small objects on nearby shelves. If you do gig with it, you'll rarely or never get to play that loud unless you're outdoors or in a huge room.

For those reasons I'd recommend a used 2525H (I paid $850 for mine) or I've seen used 2525Cs going for $900-1000. It doesn't sound identical to my 2555, but I can't tell the difference unless I'm literally moving the cable between amps. You may also have to replace the stock tubes for it to sound its best; my 2525H is A LOT more particular about tubes than my 2555. From the factory they have Tung-Sol EL-34s in the power section with 1 JJ and 2 Chinese 12AX7s in the preamp. Both LPB and myself weren't impressed with the factory tubes and I'm pretty sure we ended up with a different tube complement. I found the stock tubes to be harsh and a bit thin in terms of bass, though the clean channel had a nice Fender-y chime. I ended up with JJ EL-34s, a Tung-Sol 12AX7 in V1, an EH in V2 and a Sovtek 12AX7LPS in V3.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hey, thank you for your reply. Since I'll be getting a job, getting a silver jubilee is totally a possibility, but my next question would be. How does it compare to a rockerverb 50 watt or 100watt?
Sorry if I'm jumping around a lot.

The Rockerverb is an Orange and the Jubilee is a Marshall; they're both British-sounding amps but not overly similar. At 50 or 100W they'll all be extremely loud. If you can, try to play as many different amps as you can. You may find out that you don't actually like the way you sound through this or that amp. I don't particularly like how modern Orange amps sound but you might. You might also find that you don't like the way a Marshall Jubilee sounds as it's a rather unique tone.

 

[mathewlarg24]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hey, I'm really thinking about the 2525 now, the reason it (the silver jub in general) appealed to me was because it had a gain knob (so I can practice at a reasonable volume without killing myself) . I also like amps that have channel volumes as well as power amp volume. Would you suggest the orange rocker 30 (I know it's discontinued but you can get them used for cheap) or a rockerverb 50?

 

[mathewlarg24]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hey, sorry I just saw your reply. Thank you! I guess I'll just do what everyone says and keep trying more, hopefully I'll find one that'll make my jaw drop soon.

 

[mathewlarg24]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

:smack: how could I forget! I only have 1 more year of high school then I'm moving out to live in a relatively empty area, so even if it collects dust this year and next year, it will see glory soon.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Honestly, I would look for a used Mesa amp. You'll get solid cleans and the best lead tone ever. Here are some of the amps I've seen for your budget (or less!)

Maverick, Mark III, Single Recto, Blue Angel, Heartbreaker, Lonestar, Lonestar Special, Nomad Series, F-Series, Dual Calibre Series, Trem-O-Verb, Subway Series, Mini-Recto, TA-15/TA-30, Express and Express+ Series....and more.

Even a Mark IV might be possible; I'm seeing combos for $1,100 to $1,250 in my area. Recently saw a Mark V:25 head and a Mini-Recto Reverb combo, each for a grand. But some of these amps can be had for half of your budget.

There's a smorgasbord of amps here, heads and combos, and ranging from switchable 10-15-25 watt models to 100-watt monsters and everything in between. I like (and own) three Mark IIIs, a IV, a Maverick, a DC-3 and the Mark V, V:25 and V:35 series.

I'd rather see you spend your money on a used, versatile, pro-quality amp with excellent reliability and solid factory support, than searching for your tone on amp after amp after amp. There's no economy or value in going down that road.

Good luck!

Bill

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

Hey, I'm really thinking about the 2525 now, the reason it (the silver jub in general) appealed to me was because it had a gain knob (so I can practice at a reasonable volume without killing myself) . I also like amps that have channel volumes as well as power amp volume. Would you suggest the orange rocker 30 (I know it's discontinued but you can get them used for cheap) or a rockerverb 50?

Jubilees have a shared input gain control for both channels. However, I have never found this to be a big problem, and I use them often as a channel switching amp. What gain setting works for distortion also works for clean in most cases. More so on the mini than on the originals. I think they are better as a channel switcher than the DSLs. The EQ is very effective and sensitive on these but you can't dial in a bad tone. They are very easy to set up.

The 2525 has a 20 watt and a 5 watt mode (both pentode). The 5 watt mode allows me to turn up the master volume and the input gain both way up without being stupid loud. High volume knob settings are where Marshalls come to life.

I currently use KT66 tubes in my mini instead of EL34s. With the 2525 you can run most of the common big bottle tubes without worrying about adjusting the bias*. Just plug in and play. It will run EL34s, 6CA7s, 5881s, 6L6s, 6550s, kT66, Kt77, KT88 ...ect all with out getting hot or running any risks of damage. (With KT66s, and probably KT88s, you must remove the bear trap retainers, and you must notch the mounting frame for the back panel to put the chassis back in the head box, though.) If you find the 5 watt mode lacks bass, then you can pop in some 6CA7s and you got plenty of tight low end.

With kT66s I have almost Fender cleans right up to power tube break up, by just rolling up or down the guitar volume on the clean channel. Then there's the overdrive channel yet to go. If you want to get a light classic crunch from the clean channel at bedroom levels there's the pull rhythm clip mode.

If your playing with a drummer you have the 20 watt mode and it will be loud enough in most cases.

The mini is almost the only amp I play right now. All the other amps are collecting dust.

* The reissue 100 watt Jubilee can run several different power tube types as well. The bias adjustment has enough range to do this, unlike the originals. On the 2555x the bias is easily adjusted without pulling the chassis, and it lists the proper adjustment range readings for each tube type right on the amp.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Please help me choose a new amp

The styles you quoted had me thinking Orange Rockerverb. You can score the 2x12 combo for cheap these days and it's a solid workhorse of an amp. I don't need another amp for any reason but I'd still like to own a first generation 6V6 Rockerverb 50 because they're such solid and flexible amps.

Your posts remind me of the **** i used to post on here when i was 15, and i mean that in a good way. I was into those styles too. I'm happy to offer advice where i can man.