Amp for Fender stratocaster Deluxe

Hey folks

wonder what is your input on your top 3 amps for home practice amp. I don't need the power but I want the best sound ;)

Clean sound quality is really important to me, I also prefer having 3 parameters EQ (trebel, medium, bass) and if possible an effect loop.

Also best would be a 12inch speaker not a 10inch

this is to go with my future stratocaster deluxe :)

What do you guys think? which ones should I try next time I go to the shop? vavle, solid state, ... ?

I have those on my list so far:

fender hot rod deluxe[br]fender Blues Junior III

fender Champion 40

thank you!

Originally Posted by: gilouch0

wonder what is your input on your top 3 amps for home practice amp. I don't need the power but I want the best sound ;)

Clean sound quality is really important to me, I also prefer having 3 parameters EQ (trebel, medium, bass) and if possible an effect loop.

Also best would be a 12inch speaker not a 10inch

[/quote]

This is a good list of specs. But what are you going to do with it? What style(s) of music are you going to play with it? Do you want it to have onboard FX or are you going to buy pedals or an outboard FX unit to use with it?

I think the best solution is to take your guitar or future Strat down to the local music store & plug into a few amps to get an idea of how each sounds & responds to your playing style.

[quote=gilouch0]

fender hot rod deluxe[br]fender Blues Junior III

fender Champion 40

Those are all great amps, each with pros & cons for any given person or style of music.

I recently got a Boss Katana 50 and it is an outstanding small practice amp! Can't beat it for what's included in such a small package & low price. I've even used it at a couple of gigs! :)

Hope this helps. Happy gear shopping!

Style(s) of music I am going to play : a la John Mayer, some radiohead stuff, some classic rocks, and classic blues. No country, no heavy metal, probably not much of hard rock. Willing to get the nicest clean tones as possible at low volume with an amp that won't get me in trouble with neighbours. And buy pedalspto play with.

Preferably a tube amp. Or would you recomm digital?

I will go to the shop to try, but I wonder which amps you would recommend I should try?

Boss katana 50?

Vox ac15?

Fender blues junior IV?

Orange micro terror?

Bassbreaker 15?

Hot rod deluxe IV?

Hot rod Deville 212 IV?

Originally Posted by: gilouch0

Style(s) of music I am going to play : a la John Mayer, some radiohead stuff, some classic rocks, and classic blues. No country, no heavy metal, probably not much of hard rock. Willing to get the nicest clean tones as possible at low volume with an amp that won't get me in trouble with neighbours. And buy pedalspto play with.

OK, thanks for the info!

The Boss Katana is like the Line6 or Fender Champions, it's digital & it has all the onboard FX you'd ever need. Since you want to use pedals, then it might be a better fit to try one of those smaller tube amps, The Fender Blues Jr, Bassbreaker, Vox AC15. All those are outstanding amps that work well with pedals to get classic rock & blues tones.

Tubes are a little more sensitive to wear & tear. But if you are careful it should be fine.

I encourage you to try ALL THE AMPS! :) Why not?

Hi

thank you again for your input

I will try them out this week-end. I have a question though, as I understand tube amps deliver their best tones and crunch when pushed, and they don't sound as good at low volume. I have been told to go for the lowest wattage possible, ie 1 to 5watts. Do you agree with that or is a 15watt tube amp ok for home use ?

Lastly, since you know the kind of music I will play and for home use, what would you personnally recommend : a tube, solid-state, modelling amp ? Do you have 1amp of each category that is according to you the best, with the wattage you think would suit my needs.

Many thanks in advance, this is (a bit) overwhelming

My latest researches results give me :

-boss katana 50 (or 100 to get the effects loop) - thank you for the advice, reviews are great!!

-fender bassbreaker 007 or 15. The first one has no effects loop :( Do you think a 15watts will be too loud? would a volume pedal in the effects loop, work to reduce volume without affecting the quality of the sound?

thank you

Maybe some people were reading this and are also shopping for an amp.

Conclusion is, for home use a tube amp (bassbreaker 007) sounds amazing but it is loud and when lowering the output you loose the reverb and/or the gain ; and since there is no headphone output well you are paying for a nice amp that you will not hear properly.

Soooo, I followed Christopher's advice and checked the boss katana 50 which is an amazing amp!!! In the end, I bought the Katana 100/212 which is totally epic!!!!

Originally Posted by: gilouch0

Maybe some people were reading this and are also shopping for an amp.

Conclusion is, for home use a tube amp (bassbreaker 007) sounds amazing but it is loud and when lowering the output you loose the reverb and/or the gain ; and since there is no headphone output well you are paying for a nice amp that you will not hear properly.

Soooo, I followed Christopher's advice and checked the boss katana 50 which is an amazing amp!!! In the end, I bought the Katana 100/212 which is totally epic!!!!

Wow, congrats on the new amp! You did the research & tried amp & found what works for you. Well done. :)

You discovered one of the limitations on some tube amps, the more headroom, the more you need to open it up (turn it up!) in order to get it to really sing. And that doesn't always work for home playing.

There are some tube amps with small wattages that can sound decent. I have a couple of tube amps by Reason Amps, a Bambino & a Grande. They have scaleable power output, from 2 to 8 watts for Baminbo, from 10 to 20 for the Grande. And even at 2 watts that Baimbino can get loud! Sadly they aren't made anymore.

I've tried some of the other modern tube amps with scaleable power & some are better than others.

That's one reason I really enjoyed & bought the Boss. They all have adjustable power settings. Also they are well made, 12 inch great sounding speaker & all those Boss effects built right in! The 50 watt has 3 power settings: .5w, 25w & 50w. And they all sound fantastic!

Congrats again. Play lots of guitar this weekend!