New Practise Amp!

A sort of continuation of the thread-jack over at the General forum...

I really would like to get a new combo amp, but I don't need a big stage amp just yet. I really just need a sort of tiny amp that I can use to practise, but also crank just loud enough for small gigs if necessary. I'm not going straight into buying an amp now, but i'll use your suggestions and advice soon enough.

So, here's the criteria: -Small enough to carry around without too much hassle (Think the size of a Frontman 25R or less). -Tube or solid, not that important -Controls to a minimum. Drive channel, definitely. Reverb, optional. Anything else is really pushing it. -React well with pedals... please. - Clean < Drive, because I rely on pedals quite often, but I also like a good, straight clean sound

I think that's it. Let me know if I missed anything.

Fender Rumble 500, 2x10 combo.

It's a bass amp, but it meets all the conditions you had. It also doesn't limit itself to never seeing a larger venue. You don't want gear that ONLY lets you do certain shows.

Price: $550

Weight: 36 lbs.

It's always better to have a multitasker. This amp would allow you to play bass or guitar through it, it's light enough to carry just about anywhere, and you'll get a good 500 watts to work with. You can pay about the same price for just a guitar amp and limit yourself, or, you can buy this beast.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/id9H3rCvi9k/hqdefault.jpg

Blackstar HT-5R?

Boom, if I wanted to get 500 watts of amp, then i'd go and smash guitars and do rock operas, while losing my hearing in the process.

I said PRACTISE amp, mate. For guitar! 500 watts would blow my neighbour's faces off. Nice try, though. I'm sure Townshend would approve of your suggestion.

Blackstar, eh? You happen to try one out? I haven't played through one before, so i'm curious.

With the Rumble, you would just turn the master volume down and you could play at lower volumes. Then, you could also reuse it for more than just practice.

Remember, 500 watts ain't exactly the same when going from guitar to bass. Going with bass gear ensures you can use everything you want with it. Going all guitar gear can limit what you play with it.

I had an HT-1 and though I prefer its layout of controls and its possibilities I suppose that the HT-5 would suit better the possibility of a little gigging with it. :-)

I really don't think he will be happy with a bass amp for guitar. The speaker will have a bss cone for sure and while that can be cool coupled with a guitar-voiced amp with small coupling caps and guitr-centric tone control center frequencies, it'll be way boomy (pun intended) for guitar when coupled with a circuit voiced for bass. Hes going to wind up running the bass at 0 all the time (though if he gets a gig playing bass hes set). If hes going to go LOUD solid state in a small package with a master the blackstar ID amps or Roland Blues Cubes will serve a guitarist better for practice and light stage use. And they are pretty darned light 1x12s. I also recommended the old Marshall Lead12 to him. Great little solid state practice/small gig amp... if Narcist were primarlily a bassist the Rumble would eb a cool amp for practice and some gigging that could serve as a guitar amp in a pinch, but as hes primarily (as of now EXLUSIVELY) a guitarist, a bass amp will not make a lot of sense since hes not even going to use it as intended.

in 5 watt tube amps the big cotnenders are the blackstar, the ac4tv, the marshall class 5 and the VHT 5 watter (is it a custom 6 or something? I forget, but its a good value).... ya gotta decide if you need a lot of features or just a good core tone, if you want an EL84 or a 6V6 and then decide if you need it to be handwired.... the VHT with a 6V6 is pretty cheap, is hand-wired on a nice turret board for easy service and gives a nice,bare-bones tweed Princeton type circuit for not a lot of scratch.... a used ac4tv might be even cheaper, but its more british sounding obviously and its made on a PCB... the mashall uses a 6V6 I think but sounds more british than a champ and is a lot darker than the vox (also PCB construction but not nearly as affordable as the AC4TV and for my bucks is a muddy sounding amp comparatively).... then there's the blackstar stuff that is generally higher gain and voiced on the modern-side of things, lots of features to putter with, PCB construction, but I am not familiar with all f their models, the 5 watter included.... I got really turned off to their affordable amps after trying some venue series heads. Not my bad though they will suit many people in the high-gain crowd. Maybe someone know more about that HT-5 than me and can chime in.... I just don't like most of blackstar's offerings other than the artisan stuff that's basically boutique or vintage clones. They're like England's Mesa. Too many options. In brit high gain I find the orange stuff to be cooler, Ade Emseley is really decisive about voicing the amps and oesn't clutter tham with switches and extraneous controls..... but I digress. Maybe someone can describe the HT-5 for our young friend??? OH! There's also the Laney Lionheart 5 watter that sounds fantastic and is a lot like the AC4HW but with Laney's voicing and a switchable extra gain stage that actualy sounds really good... its a got a lot of knobs and switches for a handwired 5 watter though. However, the Laney sounds more like a Marshall to me than the Marshall Class 5, can get voxy set clean, and its made better (a rarity for Laney, usually they are like chintzy plexi, 800 or vox clones). My buddy has a Lionheart 5, I always liked it and still like it.

I like simple amps whether they are big or small... 1 to 3 knobs is a good way to go, there's less between your hands and the speaker! and in the case of PCB amps, the simpler the design the better the reliability (and tone! less traces means more space between the traces and therefore less crosstalk and stray capacitance mucking up your sound)

that's the Jim .02

Christ, I don't know why I kept forgetting to comment here.

Simple is the way i'm trying to go here, but i'd really like a good gain channel to accompany me. The Blackstar (ID and HT I believe), Vox AC series, Fender Blues Junior (because come one, why wouldn't I?), and... Laney. I've heard of them on and off. That Laney Cub 12R caught my eye immediately. Has that D'Armond pickup look like on the Martin D-18E's. Classic look, simple controls, EL84's, simple controls... I'd like to try a few Laneys, but Guitar Centre doesn't supply these.

Hrm... quite a few good choices.

2 channels is not simple. channel switching is double not simple, high gain is not simple and also is completely pointless in a small amp unless you want to do metal in your bedroom at whisper levels (and it still won't sound particularly good)

all of you young guys are out to lunch, decide what you are trying to do and get the gear to do the job

Oh crap, my mistake. Blues Junior and Laney Cubs are one channels.

I should probably just go to bed...

I mean, if you go modern solid state you are getting tons of bells and whistles because theya re almost required to give them to you, but the normal channel will be the best sounding

to me a midrange control is complex, my buddy and I were just discussing how some of the ebst sounding guitar gear has 1 to 3 knobs total

if you are going tube, 5 watts and 1 to 3 knobs will sound great in a lot of situatons and will also be cheapest

God no. I can deal with a sold state, but every extra knob makes my eyes water. I don't understand how people can use these amps with so many options and controls. Must take a massive amount of patience to figure out how everything works and which sound has the sweet spot.

Oh, the Lionheart. I just saw that now. Seems very odd that a 1x12 inch speaker only delivers 5 watts... was that done on purpose? It says something about clipping, so I imagine it's meant to be played very loudly.

ugh... speaker size has literally nothing to do with raw electrical power (wattage) and these days is only loosely related to speaker efficiency (AKA dB's of physical loudness per watt)... and, and, and....

I just can't on Monday.

GO PRACTICE UNPLUGGED UNTIL YOU ARE JEFF BECK GOOD

Must take a massive amount of patience to figure out how everything works and which sound has the sweet spot.

there is no sweet spot, just different shades of meh

http://equipboard.com/recent_activity/272646?src=email

I can't get the linkfor the video since i'm on my phone, but that tone from the Vox is pretty badass.

the ac4tv sounds really good for such a cheap amp.... REALLY good, especially if you get the head, then you an shape it with different size cabs for different applications

you can also mod the shit out of it to be even better:

http://www.mercurymagnetics.com/pages/mainframe.htm

So, basically, for just $295, Ican make this Vox sound like an authentic AC15 or such in a little 4-watt box. Did I get that right, because it sure sounded like that was what they were selling. Seems pretty cool. I'll keep that in mind.

Any thoughts on the AC10 as opposed to the AC4TV? I can get an AC4TV for below $150 (which is extremely important to me), but maybe it's worth saving up and investing on an amp that, even with 10 watts, seems to be of studio quality? $450 retail, but used prices can go downwards to $350.

I only spent a few minutes with the ac10 custom when it came out. It was okay. It doesn't sound like an old one and its not laid out like an old one either. I had a lot of trouble bonding with it because I really like the original version which is a rather dark, gainy and chewey affair.

That's not to say there was anything wrong with the 10, just that I was expecting apples and got oranges. Its the same reason I don't like modern ac15s. The old ac15 is its own thing. The earliest ac30 was a double power ac15, but it changed by 60 or 61 and became its own amp with a totally different voicing and gain structure. When the ac15 returned in the 90s it was as a half-power ac30 top boost and that's just no fun, especially once vox started to offer a half-power mode on the ac30.

lets talk practice uses here:

if you get an ac4tv head at 4 to 6 watts RMS and an ac30 head at about 36 watts RMS and run them each trough the same 1x12" cabinet you will find that the ac4 is literally half as loud as the ac30. Get an ac10 or 15 and you will find its much closer to the ac30's volume just less punchy and with a little more dirt creeping into your clean tone when you dig in (the ac10 really isn't 10 watts, an old one runs its tubes a smidge less hard than the 15, but puts out well over 10 watts RMS - it was equipped with two inefficient 10"s versus the ac15s really efficient blue alnico 12" that really accentuated the output differences).

So pretty much know that 5 watts will be too loud for a lot of bedroom uses and you will want to use the attenuator on the ac4tv a lot of the time at home.... the ac10 and 15 will peel the paint off your home's walls though be underpowered for any gig requiring a lot of clean headroom. The ac4 is not going to even try to provide anything resembling clean tone at gig levels, but the drive will be righteous at a volume that won't offend the soundman.... if you want a practice amp, get a practice amp like the ac4, if you want headroom for serious gigs go with the ac30. I have a 4 and a 30 because the 15 is just silly. The 4 is good for the house, recording 'quietly', etc, the 30 can hang with a drummer and cuts the mix like a hot knife through butter on all but the largest stages (which is why I have 3)