Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

[vejiita]

Hey everybody.

I am looking for a 30 watt combo amp that is great for practice
and good enough for a small venue. I realize 30 watt may not
be enough power but being that the venue has a PA and they
usually mike my amp. Its just that my car is in the shop and
my back can't afford to lug my 80lb stack to gigs anymore.

i done some research and have narrowed it down to
vox ad30vt or roland cube 30

both are lightweight. any suggestions?advice

 

[sac]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

Well the vox does have the built in attenuator, so you can adjust the power out from .1 watt to 30. nice feature as this allows you to over drive the tube at hushed practice tones

 

[Lava Man]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

Swart makes a 20W that is absolutley incredible: http://www.swartamps.com

 

[Jackson Distortion]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

I suggest a Crate. www.crateamps.com

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

I'd go with a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT. Only $240 through Musician's Friend, and it sounds really good, so if you want to start recording, you don't have to buy a new amp. They've also got a 50 watter too, if you want to use it for practice and you could play some gigs with it later.

AD30TV: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Guitar/Amps?sku=481959

AD50TV: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Guitar/Amps?sku=482615

Hope that helps.

 

[Telesexual]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

I would look into Dr Z, They are the most affordable boutique style amps on the market. They have great amps with the el84 tone from 18-30 watts.

 

[Pecan]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

Peavey classic 30. Loud enough for a small gig, loud enough for medium gig even. Great tone, kills the cube series, the Vox is also a nice choice.

 

[Simon_F]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

I have a Cube 30 and whilst it's great for practising at home I wouldn't gig with it. The amp models are pretty good but when you turn it up the distortion sounds too harsh and boxy - maybe it's the small speaker. If you're going for a Cube the larger 60 may be a better bet.

If it's within your price range check out the Tech 21 Trademark 60. It has some really great tones and features in a very portable package. Far superior to the Roland IMO. I love this amp.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

A Deluxe Reverb at around 20 watts is a good gigging amp for small clubs. I have a Mesa Boogie DC-3 (35 watts) that is great for small gigs. Mesa made several other amps that are great for this, like the F-30, Nomad 45, Maverick, LoneStar Special, Subway Blues, Subway Rocket, Rocket 44, Studio Caliber, or the .22 Caliber--whew!

Another good sounding tube amp that would fit in nicely with this group is the Marshall DSL 401.

Crate has some nice amps, too, I just found out. I recently played a Palomino V30 and thought it was a good value for the money.

Lots of choices!

Bill

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

Marshall 1959 Plexi Fullstack is a great amp for practice at bedroom levels.

Seriously, are you sure you even want to carry a 30W 1x12 Combo around by hand and then gig? They look pretty lightweight, but over distance, they can really fatigue your arms...

 

[vejiita]

Re: Practice Amp good for home/small clubs?suggestions.

the thing is most of the places i will be playing at will have PA systems.
SO the volume on my amp will never go past 3-4. Even when i
had my bogner shiva combo the sound guys always tolde me to turn down so i never got past 2 on the volume. that combo weighed a ton.

so would the vox ad30vt or roland cube 30 distortion be good enough for gigging? between the two which distortion sounded better?

i figure for clean both are about equal.