I need an amp to use at home that does it all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TheGASMan

darthed1981 said:

TheGASMan said:

Not using pedals - too messy in the lounge

I basically want to be able to play in lounge instead of go into the studio

I don't want loads of effects so I have sold helix as I end up spending more time pissing around with that than playing

I may even try a Fryette Power Station again to go with the Diezel but I wasn't very impressed first time round

If I go modelling I will go Kemper as I know it will do what I want so not gonna go any other stuff like Katana but I appreciate why others would

I was just hoping that somewhere out there there was a valve amp that I could marry and live with happily ever after

I'm not sure I get that...

The Kemper is no simpler than the Helix, I'm sure they are very good indeed but they are incredibly expensive for a secondary thing to kick around in your lounge.

If you want a basic valve amp that does "one tone well" the market is full of them from £200 for the Blackstar HT1R, through the Vox AC4, upto, well Matchless amps and boutique hand-wired ones costing thousands, etc etc etc... but they will not "do it all" without pedals.

But those are opposites, and while the Kemper "does it all" it remains digital technology which will age very quickly as soon as the ongoing support stops, so unless you are also using it for gigging or in your studio, its bluddy expensive for what it is.

Sounds more like you need something like the THR10 or Vox Adio, or simply the Katana.

It sounds like you are rejecting cheaper options out of hand, so if you have already decided to throw money at it... why ask the question?

I looked at the "cheaper solutions" and decided that I really liked the adio so may well try that, however I have been extremely disappointed with the cheap option in the past and I don't smoke, drink or do drugs so all my spare money can go on this hobby so why not "throw money at it if I want"?

JezWynd

ICBM said:

Grumpyrocker said:

The answer to any question thread in the amp section is Katana. Don't fight it.

I'll have to admit to not actually having played one yet, but I haven't heard a single demo of one - any model - that makes me want to. And a friend of mine who I trust to know what is a good sound played through one at a gig recently and said it sounded awful... so I'm not holding out much hope.

If it matters, I don't like the Blackstar IDs either - good amp, well-made and apparently indestructible (I know of rehearsal rooms with them that they have failed to kill, which says a lot), but I just don't like the sound much.

I do like the Vox Valvetronixs - some series are better than others, the best being the 'blue' AD60/120VTX that Voxman mentioned - but they're all at least OK, right down to the little models. My home amp at the moment is an AD15VT, the chrome-grille one. I admit I upgraded the speaker, but it's fine.

The Vox Valvetronics, the old ones at least, sound excellent. They have too many options for my taste, shame they don’t put that tech in Pathfinder 15r format - it would make a fabulous home/ practice combo.

darthed1981

TheGASMan said:

I looked at the "cheaper solutions" and decided that I really liked the adio so may well try that, however I have been extremely disappointed with the cheap option in the past and I don't smoke, drink or do drugs so all my spare money can go on this hobby so why not "throw money at it if I want"?

I didn't mean it that way, of course what you spend money on is your business and not mine

I meant more that for your specified need the Kemper is overkill so you clearly WANT the Kemper, so in that case nothing else will do, it just IMHO isn't necessarily the best fit for what you are talking about. 

They are neat but in my admittedly very brief experience with them they are nothing special at a polite living room volume.

BUT if you want one, and the "living room" idea is just how you are justifying it to yourself or your significant other, then go for it

Actually ironically a similar conversation occurred in a recent Andertons video....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcSPwhyGDc4&

TheGASMan

darthed1981 said:

TheGASMan said:

I looked at the "cheaper solutions" and decided that I really liked the adio so may well try that, however I have been extremely disappointed with the cheap option in the past and I don't smoke, drink or do drugs so all my spare money can go on this hobby so why not "throw money at it if I want"?

I didn't mean it that way, of course what you spend money on is your business and not mine

I meant more that for your specified need the Kemper is overkill so you clearly WANT the Kemper, so in that case nothing else will do, it just IMHO isn't necessarily the best fit for what you are talking about. 

They are neat but in my admittedly very brief experience with them they are nothing special at a polite living room volume.

BUT if you want one, and the "living room" idea is just how you are justifying it to yourself or your significant other, then go for it

Actually ironically a similar conversation occurred in a recent Andertons video....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcSPwhyGDc4&

that's the video i watched - no adio in stock at moment though

DrJazzTap

The Yamaha thr100d is a great sounding amp. 

mli3

Thought about a Carr Mercury? Or I guess won’t do metal really? 

gordiji

I bought a mesa v:35 which 'contains' a v:25 & after a couple of days sent it back. I thought it overrated & overpriced.

I then bought a supersonic 22 which i love. The clean is great at home levels. The distortion will do what your asking.

It sounds even better when pushed which whilst loud isn't insane.They don't get much love for some reason.

The clean & crunch are better than the mesa.(imo).

Worth a look.

dbphoto

I appreciate it is probably too cheap for your tastes but I’m very happy with my new Marshall SL5

Two channels, EL34 and 3x ECC83, reverb and 12” Celestion Vintage 30

markv

I've never tried most of the other amps suggested, but I have a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18 combo and that ticks all the boxes you mentioned. It has 2 channels and a boost on the lead channel, built-in reverb and some sort of automatic tube biasing (they say).

 It covers a lot of ground from glassy cleans to very gained up. It goes from 18W down to 1W and then down to silent, with a recording output that uses H&K's Redbox technology. I like it a lot.

Worth a try I'd say - you might not like the way it sounds of course (I know some people don't).

TheGASMan

dbphoto said:

I appreciate it is probably too cheap for your tastes but I’m very happy with my new Marshall SL5

Two channels, EL34 and 3x ECC83, reverb and 12” Celestion Vintage 30

I love the SL5 - just missed out on one on Ebay a few days ago - not often someone prepared to post and I haven't found one near me recently but they are great amps - maybe not metal but good enough - Congrats on the Purchase

dbphoto

Cheers.

It appeared on GuitarGuitar’s site for £349 and thought bugger it, especially as I could return if I didn’t like as well as having a bit of a warranty.

I’m finding with my R8 and plugged in to input 1 (+6db I think?) it gets heavy enough for my liking.

Voxman

JezWynd said:

The Vox Valvetronics, the old ones at least, sound excellent. They have too many options for my taste, shame they don’t put that tech in Pathfinder 15r format - it would make a fabulous home/ practice combo.

Actually, the 'Blue' series options and functionality are ridiculously simple which is why these are so brilliant for tweaking on the fly and can be used just like a regular amp. You have 32 patch locations (8 banks, 4 patches per bank) or just set it to manual mode and then you're in complete Wysiwyg mode ie it's pretty much like a regular amp. Everything's accessible from the amp, no complex menu's, no computer connections.  Plus you have a Hi & Lo input option too.

Just turn a dial to select one of 16 amp models, press a button to select one of 3 reverbs, 3 delays, or 5 modulations, set the EQ dials like a regular amp (gain, treble, mids, bass, presence, volume, master volume) and turn a dial if you want one of 10 pedals and set the pedal drive & level knobs to taste, press a button and turn a knob if you want a noisegate, and set the power attenuation at the rear of the amp for 1, 15, 30 or 60w output.  To save a patch, press write twice, and to access tuner in any mode ...well - you just press the tuner button!  

And re Pathfinder format, they kind of did - the older first generation Chrome Valvetronix aren't as full featured as the original 'Blue' Valvetronix, but they sound great and are dead simple to use - like the AD15VT @ICBM has.  Available as 15w,30w, 50w, 100w combos or 100w head you can pick these 'old technology' amps up for peanuts!  The best was the AD50VT which came with a proper 12" Celestion seventy eighty speaker, and you can pick one up for circa £75!!

Marktigere1

ICBM said:

Grumpyrocker said:

The answer to any question thread in the amp section is Katana. Don't fight it.

I'll have to admit to not actually having played one yet, but I haven't heard a single demo of one - any model - that makes me want to. And a friend of mine who I trust to know what is a good sound played through one at a gig recently and said it sounded awful... so I'm not holding out much hope.

Strange. My son plays the Katana 100w combo and at a recent large gig (Apex Bury) it sounded epic.

In fact, I've not heard a bad sound out of it yet. 

Subjection is a cruel mistress!

Ta

ICBM

Marktigere1 said:

Strange. My son plays the Katana 100w combo and at a recent large gig (Apex Bury) it sounded epic.

In fact, I've not heard a bad sound out of it yet.

What other amps do you like?

Every demo of the Katana I’ve heard makes it sound middy and overly compressed - but I think that about a lot of valve amps that seem popular too.

Marktigere1

ICBM said:

What other amps do you like?

Every demo of the Katana I’ve heard makes it sound middy and overly compressed - but I think that about a lot of valve amps that seem popular too.

I use a Blackheart Handome Devil 15w and Jet City JCA22H.

I am also lucky enough to have a Broadway catalogue amp from 1955 (old school point to point wiring etc) which I rebuilt a couple of years ago.

I love the sound of all three in different ways but the Katana that's been in my house and used live extensively has a great sound.  I will admit he uses SD1, DS1 and BD2 into the front end, along with a clean boost which also sounds really good.  I did not expect the Katana to react so well to pedals being digital, but it just does.

Maybe I like the middy compressed sort of sound

I wouldn't swap any of my amps for one but I would like one to compliment them and I have seriously considered the Katana Head version.

Other amps I like are VOX AC's (15 & 30).  Never been a big Marshall sound fan but also never owned one to be fair (played a few a long time ago if that counts).

Ta

olafgarten

ICBM said:

Marktigere1 said:

Strange. My son plays the Katana 100w combo and at a recent large gig (Apex Bury) it sounded epic.

In fact, I've not heard a bad sound out of it yet.

What other amps do you like?

Every demo of the Katana I’ve heard makes it sound middy and overly compressed - but I think that about a lot of valve amps that seem popular too.

You can dial out the middiness using the Global EQ in the software, it makes it seem less compressed as well. 

Out of the box it doesn't sound great, but it is so configurable you can get a lot of sounds out of it. 

TheGASMan

For anyone who may be losing sleep wondering what I ended up with I can confirm the following arrived today

a 2014 Mesa Mark V 90W Combo

Very happy and it really works well at low volume

Currently have Ch1 on 45W setting and Ch2 and 3 on 10W setting

Thanks for all the advice and comments

Andrew

Zoolooter

Doesn't exist. Just get a Princeton.

RandallFlagg

TheGASMan said:

For anyone who may be losing sleep wondering what I ended up with I can confirm the following arrived today

a 2014 Mesa Mark V 90W Combo

Very happy and it really works well at low volume

Currently have Ch1 on 45W setting and Ch2 and 3 on 10W setting

Thanks for all the advice and comments

Andrew

Good work.

JayGee

Grumpyrocker said:

The answer to any question thread in the amp section is Katana. Don't fight it.

If the question’s got words like “reasonably priced”, “easily portable”, and “flexible” in it then (speaking as the generally pretty happy owner of a Katana 100, a Blackstar Series One, and a Mesa 5:25 amongst other things) that’s probably true... :-)