Amplifiers

[overdrive]

I am going to get an amp soon and I was wondering if anyone knew a well made amp at a considerable price. I'm kind of loading up on equiptment this summer and I need to know these things.
If any of you know amps please reply.

[trendkillah]

Well, I'm sure we could give you some tips.
But what kind of music do you play? What kind of sound are you looking for?
Also, what's your budget?


Greetz, TK

[overdrive]

Well I play rock. GnR, Ozzy, AcDc.$300 is my price range.Trendkillah could you please reply a.s.a.p! Thanks.

[PonyOne]

I have a piddly little $120 Vox Pathfinder... and it has killer sound when you consider the cost. I've hauled it all over Boston, on and off the subway, it's been rained, snowed, hailed, and sun-ed on, it's been knocked over, it's skinned on curbs, and still plays like mint. They also make a tube version that's otherwise the same, it's louder though, and has a warmer tone. Very nice. Black Sabbath used Vox's back in the day.

If you want more of a screamer, with a higher wattage, I tried out a Behringer amp, the Blue Devil i think, that was really good, but only for like thirty seconds. When I tried to use another effect, i hit a brick wall.
Marshall has a Valvestate for $300 that's really good, as well as the MicroStack, a miniature stack, which can get some good sound out plus it's stereo. Fender makes a multitude of amps that run in that range that vary in quality, and some love em, some hate em, but then you gotta form your own opinion. They generally are better for blues, soft rock, and that stuff. If you're looking to spend $500 though Fender makes the Ultimate Chorus, which i adore.
Also check out the local guitar stores and pawnshops; you can often find amps that were originally $750-$1000 that have been around the block a few times, but still sound A+.

[Zeppelin]

I've got a marshall valvestate.. i got the last they had in the shop, and as far as i know they are not produce anymore..
too bad this is a killer amp, though mine is only 15 watt
but i dont think that for practicing you need more, because when i'm playing alone that's enough for me and when i'm with my band we playing in our musicial school, where we have big amps and stuff..
so if you can find good marshall amp get it... because this is what the pro's use... all of them

[trendkillah]

For $300 personally, I'd go for the Marshall Valvestate.
They have those series in about every price range.

I'm selling my Marshall VS100 combo, if you're interested, hehe. Just kidding, shipping that thing will make me broke!


Greetz, TK

[fendermonkey77]

For 300 bucks you should be able to get a nice used Fender Tube amp. I bought a 1978 Vintage Fender Pro Reverb 2x12 amp. It's a killer amp. You could also get a Blues Jr. for about that price. It's a 1x10 cab with full tube circiutry. I would actually go for the Vox or a Fender over the Valvestate. Valvesate is a hybrid that has a tube preamp section, but is powered mostly by solid state power. This won't give you as rich and lush as a full tube circuitry would allow. That's what I would do....but my best advice would be to go to every guitar store in town and play every amp in your range...and buy the one you like the best! Nothing will sound better than what you think is best.

[Zeppelin]

actually i think that you can also get the bluesbraker by marshall for this money... it should be a great amp

[overdrive]

Hey guys this is Overdrive. Thanks for your help. Right now I'm playing on a 4-12" speaker HIWATT. It's a really nice amp. I'm buying my own guitar soon so i need something of my own to practice on. Right now I'm playing a Fender Telecaster. I'm planing to buy a Gibson SG. So it sounds like the Marshall is the way to go. Thanks!!

[PonyOne]

Marshall still makes the Valvestates; you can get them at pretty much any guitar store. They range from a 20 watt, 10-inch for $300 (AVT20) to a 2x75watt x2 12-inch combo for $900, plus a couple heads.
They also have the MR series; they have higher wattage but are solid-state, but still have a very good tone to them. They're definitely a good value; their 50 watt model (MG-50RCD) is the only one I've tried but it is very good.
Musician's Friend (www.musiciansfriend.com) has some good deals on Marshalls; you can probably find them for cheaper used at a local guitar store.

[Zeppelin]

i'm really quite sure that the valvestates are not produced anymore, altough you can find them in most shops, you can't buy them from places like 123music.com, and i think that this is because there is still certain ammount of them which was not sold yet

[fendermonkey77]

Valvestates are still actually in production. You can check them out at http://www.marshallamps.com/ Or you can check with your local Marshall Amp dealer...(my local dealer says they are still in production and he still orders them straight from Marshall.

Here's a better link for a full Marshall product list: http://www.marshallamps.com/images/home/home.htm

[Edited by fendermonkey77 on 06-02-2001 at 12:47 PM]

[Zeppelin]

hmmm the site said that they are making some new model, based on the valvestate tech but better or something like that it called atv i think
but maybe the valvestates are produced too,i didnt read the whole page anyway they are really good amps in my opinion

[trendkillah]

The AVT series will eventually be the replacement models for the Valvestate series.