Best Amp for under £1000

djab1111

Hi everyone
I'm looking for my first "good amp", moving away from my old Vox valvetronix. 

What I'm looking for is versatility-something that could be used for multiple styles of music - in a cover band situation. From heavy rock to funk 

I am aware of the many Amp brands-marshall, blackstar, vox, fender, victory etc so give a reason why you name the amp you say 

fretmeister

Helix LT and a powered cab.

dindude

To cover that range I'd take a good look at the new PRS Sonzera 50 1x12. £799 and sounds very good in the clips I've heard.

Grunfeld

Second hand Marshall JVM410 head?
F*ck knows where you'd find one though.


Oh look!

ICBM

djab1111 said:

Hi everyone
I'm looking for my first "good amp", moving away from my old Vox valvetronix. 

What I'm looking for is versatility-something that could be used for multiple styles of music - in a cover band situation. From heavy rock to funk 

I am aware of the many Amp brands-marshall, blackstar, vox, fender, victory etc so give a reason why you name the amp you say 

Vox Valvetronix AD120

Because it's one of the most versatile amps there is in a cover band situation, good-sounding, and generally very reliable.

Or a Blackstar ID60 or 260 for the same reasons - maybe not quite as varied for sounds but if anything probably even more reliable.

The Boss Katana 100 seems to be getting a lot of good reviews too, but I haven't tried one.

For a plain amp with no onboard effects (other than reverb) - Yamaha THR100HD. I haven't heard a better-sounding new amp. Small and light, but doesn't sound it.

If you're interested in covering a wide variety of different music genres I wouldn't get a valve amp - and if you do, it would probably be something like a Fender Twin which will take a multi-FX unit well.

Placidcasual79

Get a Roland JC120 - totally solid and reliable, clean and chorus straight out the amp will cover your clean/funk stuff - then use pedals for your drives and distortions - the Roland is a great pedal platform and you'll have change left over from £1000 for a few nice pedals

professorben

Placidcasual79 said:

Get a Roland JC120 - totally solid and reliable, clean and chorus straight out the amp will cover your clean/funk stuff - then use pedals for your drives and distortions - the Roland is a great pedal platform and you'll have change left over from £1000 for a few nice pedals

They do weigh more than the moon tho. 

Winny_Pooh

Placidcasual79 said:

Get a Roland JC120 - totally solid and reliable, clean and chorus straight out the amp will cover your clean/funk stuff - then use pedals for your drives and distortions - the Roland is a great pedal platform and you'll have change left over from £1000 for a few nice pedals

I've never found them a good pedal platform for stuff like blues or classic rock. This is not a helpful recommendation.

Exorcist

Man this is a wide open question.. I guess it depends if you want your preferred sound to be overdriven, or clean. If its clean get a nice clean amp, like a twin or something, and use overdrive pedals for your dirt, if its OD, get a nice channel switcher with decent gain channel - Orange/Marshall/*your flavour* and make sure you have a loop for chorus etc to sweeten your clean if you need it? Are you looking for something to use at home too, or just gigging? Combo, head and cab? I think we need a bit more info, what sounds, (give us some references) are you looking to get?

Bridgehouse

professorben said:

Placidcasual79 said:

Get a Roland JC120 - totally solid and reliable, clean and chorus straight out the amp will cover your clean/funk stuff - then use pedals for your drives and distortions - the Roland is a great pedal platform and you'll have change left over from £1000 for a few nice pedals

They do weigh more than the moon tho. 

Surely the moon doesn't weigh anything - it's all about mass and displacement?

professorben

Winny_Pooh said:

Placidcasual79 said:

Get a Roland JC120 - totally solid and reliable, clean and chorus straight out the amp will cover your clean/funk stuff - then use pedals for your drives and distortions - the Roland is a great pedal platform and you'll have change left over from £1000 for a few nice pedals

I've never found them a good pedal platform for stuff like blues or classic rock. This is not a helpful recommendation.

Depends on if harsh, brittle and fizzy it what you are after?

McToot

I haven't done a gig since 1988 and am barely able to cover the Scooby Doo theme tune, but I would recommend a Fender Blues Deluxe or Hotrod Deluxe, plus a good couple of drive pedals.  

I recently bought the Blues Deluxe and love it.  But as I state above, what do I know?

darthed1981

djab1111 said:

Hi everyone
I'm looking for my first "good amp", moving away from my old Vox valvetronix. 

What I'm looking for is versatility-something that could be used for multiple styles of music - in a cover band situation. From heavy rock to funk 

I am aware of the many Amp brands-marshall, blackstar, vox, fender, victory etc so give a reason why you name the amp you say 

Surely the first question to ask is, which patches and models do you like on the valvetronix?  Whichever one you play with most would be the one to look at in a store first for the "real thing"?

For example if you always play with the AC30 patch, you'd be nuts not to try an AC30, a "Brit" model typically means a Marshall etc...

Same with your pedals, if you always have delay and reverb on your modelling amp, you'd logically make sure you have those pedals in your collection.

ChrisCox1994

just get a hotrod/blues deluxe - cant go wrong. 

gubble

Another vote for the Fender HRD here.

I went through five or six amps until getting a HRD and have zero desire for anything else. Great clean sound and a brilliant pedal platform. It has a drive channel (I've never used if I'm honest).

You can pick them up for £350 s/h. Get a swan flightcase for around £100 (keep it safe and makes a snazzy stand), spend a couple of hundred on some drive pedals, a delay, a modulation if you want and you're still well under budget with a fantastic professional set up that will tick every box for ever genre.

Gassage

if you have the ability to run it at decent outputs, a 65 Twin RI all day long for my money. (or an orig good silver face)

colourofsound

Another vote for a HRD, or try and get a Deluxe Reverb second hand. I was seeking warmer tones than my HRD could provide and the '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb got me there. I'd try the Princeton too; both very good.

Cacofonix

Try the Mesa Stiletto.  Two/three channels with a number of different 'feels' and you'll get a second hand one for a reasonable price.  Add an outboard reverb and you'll have an Andy Timmons rig.

TTBZ

I'm going to go against the grain and say don't get a HRDx - I mostly hated mine. I've come to realise I'm probably not much of a fender guy though, even for cleans I prefer more British tones from marshall and vox. The fender worked well with pedals and was loud but that's about it for me.

At least it will be versatile for you if you want a range of drive tones though I guess, but then you could just get a peavey bandit for a lot cheaper that will take pedals just as well if the internet is correct.

Bucket

Yamaha THR100HD is a good shout.

If you want valves, then some kind of Fender with pedals in front is good. Or an Egnater Rebel maybe.

Winny_Pooh

Gassage said:

if you have the ability to run it at decent outputs, a 65 Twin RI all day long for my money. (or an orig good silver face)

Trolling