cheap practice amps

i am needing a little bit of help. i cant afford the amp i want right now (epi blues custom) and i really need a better amp than i have now (a rogue 30 watt ss). what im looking for is a nice 5-15 watt amp for under $250 usd that gives atleast ok tone. tube amps are great but if you know a solid state thats ok too. i want this amp for practice, i need it to play everything from zep to metallica from bb king to zakk wylde.

i have been reading around and have come up with so many names.
crate palamino
crate v series
marshall
vox
epiphone
fender

all these guys make amps in that catagory but i have no idea how to compair them. im not expecting miracles but an ok bridge between what i get and where im going would be great.

Do you really need an amp? If it is just for practice and not playing out with friends and if you have a computer you should look at the GuitarPort from Line6. It has all of the sounds you would need. The downside is you will need to be attached to the computer and need some good speakers/monitors.

I have a Fender G-Dec junior and it is a great practice amp. Paid about $215 for it new.
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=2351000000

Vox makes a great little practice amp, I think it's like 5 watts. it's a small valvetronix, and it gives you great tone and versitility. It's battery powered, and you can choose the chrome grill with red or black or you can choose the classic cloth cover. Just my opinion. It's the Vox DA5 btw.

U.S $ 139

thats pretty much the exact one by vox i was looking at even though it does have onboardfx. as for the g-dec they look good but i dont like all the added stuff thrown into mix with the onboard on board metrenome and backing tracks.

I have a lil micro cube made by roland and i love it can ge almost any sound out of it at reasonable volume! I maybe wrong but i think it is also cheaper than the lil vox amp! also i know crate have not long brought out a lil practice amp it looks similar to the micro cube worth a look

link to the crate amp i mean
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Crate-Profiler-MLX5-5W-1x8-Guitar-Combo-Amp?sku=482076
herd gd stuff about it.
the micro cube is quite popular and will be on most guitar shop sites

I also needed a practice amp so I went to the big music store in our area and started trying them out. Long story short I went with the VOX AD15, it's bigger then the battery powered one. This little amp rocks gets quite loud and you can get a ton of tones out of it. I think I paid under $200.00. After playing Marshal, Fender, Roland, Crate ext. I went with the VOX, hands down the best bang for your buck in the small amp market. Let us know what works for you. Merry Rockin Christmas, Bill Kelley

line 6 make some pretty sweet amps for a reasonable price

Originally Posted by: BrokenJerai am needing a little bit of help. i cant afford the amp i want right now (epi blues custom) and i really need a better amp than i have now (a rogue 30 watt ss). what im looking for is a nice 5-15 watt amp for under $250 usd that gives atleast ok tone. tube amps are great but if you know a solid state thats ok too. i want this amp for practice, i need it to play everything from zep to metallica from bb king to zakk wylde.

i have been reading around and have come up with so many names.
crate palamino
crate v series
marshall
vox
epiphone
fender

all these guys make amps in that catagory but i have no idea how to compair them. im not expecting miracles but an ok bridge between what i get and where im going would be great.

I'm not not too sure your ever gonna achieve metallica or zakk wylde with a epiphone blues custom....but anyway....for a cheap ss practice amp you've plenty of options, if you don't use pedals/multi-effects then i would opt for either a Vox Ad series (valvetronix) or Da series (same as a valvetronix but without the valve) if you use pedals/multi-effects then i would go for either a Vox pathfinder or a Orange Crush both have a great clean channel from which you can build your tone with effects, any of these will serve you well.

You could go with.....


Line 6 Spider 3=Great modeling, 15w is $100
Marshall mg=simple 2 channel amps, not too bad.
Crate- Some amps with ok tone, 15w for like $80!
Vox- I don't really like the Vox's non-tube amps, but there ok.
I have a micro-cube, and it's probably what i would recomend. I think it's 8w, but it can get loud!

Someone mentioned the guitarport. I have one, and truly, I love it. I dont use my microcube too much, so I use that. I just ordered a marshall vs265, which are good if you wana look on ebay. Once I get that though...oh...ya...

I'd go with Fender, They aren't that expensive and they aren't bad amps either. Try to get a Tube Amp

What is the opinion on the Line 6 amps? I see them all the time pretty cheap, and it makes me wonder if they are any good. Thoughts?

The Fender Pro Junior, from what I've heard, is a great practice amp for the price. It's not too expensive, and its a tube amp as well.

I have a Fender Frontman 25R (it cost me $135) has 2 channels, good tone, jacks for headphones, (while the kids are sleeping ;) ), and has a pretty good gain. they say 25 watts, but it plays like a 40-50 watt monster!

I would suggest going to a guitar shop and bringing your guitar in and trying some different models. (I know my local shop and GC both allow that...)

Gus

just a thought but if its tone your after, haveyou thought about keeping your old amp and just buying some good efects for it like a pod or something