Which amp is best for me?

lukespeirss

What is the best sort of blues/psych rock (15W/20W) amp for a small venue player that's under £150?

HAL9000

I assume you mean a solid state combo judging by the price you've mentioned?

professorben

Who's gonna say Katana first?

oh me lol

I know it's a touch over £150 and 50w but as it's solid state it's about equivalent to a 20w valve combo, great basic tones and fx ontop if needed, I honestly can't think of a better in that price range without going s/h

in which case

Peavey Bandit. 

jonnyburgo

You might just get a Blackheart Handsome Devil combo for that, 15watt single channel, Marshally sounds, hard to beat for the price 2nd hand.

Stevepage

Randall Satan

usedtobe

professorben said:

Who's gonna say Katana first?

oh me lol

I know it's a touch over £150 and 50w but as it's solid state it's about equivalent to a 20w valve combo, great basic tones and fx ontop if needed, I honestly can't think of a better in that price range without going s/h

in which case

Peavey Bandit. 

Pretty much what I was going to say!
  

ThePrettyDamned

usedtobe said:

professorben said:

Who's gonna say Katana first?

oh me lol

I know it's a touch over £150 and 50w but as it's solid state it's about equivalent to a 20w valve combo, great basic tones and fx ontop if needed, I honestly can't think of a better in that price range without going s/h

in which case

Peavey Bandit. 

Pretty much what I was going to say!
  

Me too. 

I have only heard a katana once, but on hearing it I thought I'd be looking at a Marshall. Good sounding amp, and has effects built in. 

If you wanted an effects pedal too, to get some swirlies, you could probably pick up a beat up Laney world series, peavey bandit or peavey special for under £100 then look out for a zoom or line 6 multi effects unit second hand - I got an M5 for £70 new on sale. 

It's weird, but not that long ago £150 would be laughed at as a budget for an amp - nowadays, if you can't sound good with a £150 amp the money would have been better spent in lessons. 

usedtobe

There's a World Series head on the bay, just now. Collect from Hampshire though.. No connection.

usedtobe

Just seen you're in Glasgow.. Bit far ...

ICBM

You'll really struggle to get a valve amp of that sort of power for that budget, probably even anything decent used.

But… for gigging, the size and quality of the speaker probably matters more than the amp power, so I would look for the cheapest decent solid-state/hybrid amp with a 12" speaker, or at the absolute minimum a 10". Most small cheap valve amps have an 8" which isn't really going to cut it, even though 5W (valve) is probably just about enough through a *good* speaker… if that makes sense! You'll need a bit more power if you're using solid-state, although 30/40W should still be plenty.

For the sort of sound you're looking for I would probably suggest something more American-voiced - the Fender Champion 40 is around £150 new, and you'll get plenty of the older solid-state models for that.

JezWynd

You can pick up a used Laney Cub 10 for that budget. 2 x 6v6 power valves. It sounds perfectly okay with the built in 10" but if you can stretch to an external cabinet it can get very loud. I use it with a 15" cab and also a 2x10". It's a really simple amp (Vol,Gain and Tone) but has beautiful cleans and you can dial in some nice OD grit. Brilliant little amps, they typically go for around 100 used on eBay.

tony99

only had my boss katana 50 a couple of days but it's very good I must say

ToneFerDayz!!1!

professorben said:

Peavey Bandit. 

Those are surprisingly underrated amps for a variety of use. I know, I know, no valves and all. But I've always been pleasantly surprised by them.