Recommend me a Tube Amp

bairdy97

The time has nearly come, in the not too distant future I shall step away from the Roland Cube (which is a great practice amp) and purchase a lovely tube amp for small gigs etc. Have any of you got any recommendations? I would be playing kinda funky rock, like earlier RHCP (BSSM era), but also some stuff like Audioslave etc. Basically alt rock.

I would prefer a combo amp, however if the perfect one is a head+cab, I would go for it.

I play a Fender Stratocaster sss, and an Epiphone Les Paul HH, so it'd need to work well with both kinds of pickup.

Thanks in advance.

bairdy97

Sorry forgot to mention, price range is anything up to around £750, so it can't break the bank.

bertie

used Chubster

I got an ex-demo for £700

ThePrettyDamned

Jcm 900 slx head. It's got the Marshall cleans that frusciante used a lot, as well as the rockier crunch and some insane gain when you want it.

Harley benton 2x12 cab would do quite nicely.

For possibly nicer cleans, the Laney lh50 head. Goes cheap used (or lc50 combo). Nice crunch, great cleans.

Lastly, the latest hot rod deluxe from fender. Nice cleans, nice crunch. Different to frus tone on crunch, but you could get his cleans fairly easily. He used a mixture of Marshall and fender amps, but mostly Marshall.

Hmm... Others... Maybe the jet city 50 watter?

ThePrettyDamned

bertie;44281" said:

used Chubster

I got an ex-demo for £700

Forgot this one. Bloody lovely amp.

bairdy97

That Chubster does look lovely, and those Marshalls too. I am also seriously considering the Fender. Thanks for the replies

ICBM

You could get a second hand Mesa Rectoverb for that budget, which will definitely cover both those sounds - I have a friend who uses one for exactly that. It's not small or light but it doesn't sound small or light either.

geepers0677

Fender hot rod deluxe preowned, with a decent overdrive pedal to push it. You'd still have 300 quid in your pocket too. The guitarist in my old band played one with a blackstar HT dual in front of it and it sound ace with LP and strats too.

Bellycaster

Have a listen to an Egnater Tweeker, some demos on YT, I quite liked those when I heard them.

Some good Hughes & Kettner models in that price range too.

The Fender Hot Rods are also a good suggestion.

 

 

Dave_Mc

traynor ycv50b is pretty good value on thomann, for ~£475 or so depending on the exchange rate.

if you're willing to go used you have a lot more options, obviously.

bairdy97

Thanks for all the replies. Regarding used tube amps I'm a bit nervous. I would definitely prefer to buy new, however if the perfect one is 2nd hand then I'd go for it so long as I could play it first

not_the_dj

+1 for the Egnater Tweaker. I use the 40w head. Very versatile amp.

Drew_TNBD

Sounds like a job for a Laney, surely? The IRT isn't as metal as you'd think and can do some alt-rock sounds really well! Cheapish too!

bntylr

+1 for the hot rod deluxe
Just get yourself a Marshall voiced drive pedal for the front end and all your bases are covered.

ThePrettyDamned

Why did drew get facepalmed?! That's not a terrible suggestion...

Even a peavey 6505+ has some excellent lower gain crunch in it. But I still reckon a Marshall is the best bet, but new marshalls seem to suffer for reliability. If you're gigging, make sure it's something serviceable. ICBM has made a good suggestion - if one of those came up for 700 and you said no, you need a slap! I think they'll mostly be a little over budget, though.

I still reckon a Laney lc50 or lh50 is an excellent bet, just pair the head up with a good cab and factor in a speaker change in the combo. It'll still be on or under budget, and used, they go for absolutely peanuts. Build quality can be iffy, but I've found them reliable enough to not need to worry - perhaps icbm could elaborate, but I think the biggest thing is the chipboard cab. So get the head and a quality cab used imo. The lh50 has two channels, bright switch on clean (which I used to use for chillis covers), and a Marshall style crunch with a post eq master tone (which is excellent - why don't more amps have this?) and a digital reverb.

Drew_TNBD

Someone is stalking me on here and facepalming everything I post. I'm suspecting good ol' Jimmy Richmond.
)

octatonic

Drew_fx said:

Someone is stalking me on here and facepalming everything I post. I'm suspecting good ol' Jimmy Richmond.
)

No I stopped doing that ages ago- I did it for one day, then removed them all and gave you wisdoms.

It was a slow day.

Axe_meister

+2 on the Tweaker

Drew_TNBD

Axe_meister said:

+2 on the Tweaker

You can't plus 2 unless you're a schizophrenic.

guitarfishbay

Drew_fx said:

Sounds like a job for a Laney, surely? The IRT isn't as metal as you'd think and can do some alt-rock sounds really well! Cheapish too!

I can see it working.  I've got an IRT120h head and use it with a TT412 cab usually.  Both were bought used and the total was well within your budget.  I've actually found that the amp works really well with most 2x12 and 4x12 closed back cabs and speaker types I've tried it with.  I haven't been able to try it with anything open back yet.

The clean channel on the 120h stays clean to really loud and since it only has a volume control (no separate gain) the only way to get breakup is to either drop the wattage and run the channel very high, or boost it.  I don't think I'd want to stand next to it set loud enough to break up on full power.  As such I reckon it'd do Chillies style cleans just fine, if with a bit less character than something like a Mesa.

Straight up rock sounds are what it is best at IMO.  I actually think they have the branding on the amp all wrong personally.  It will do metal, but it needs a bit of help from a Tube Screamer to get it to saturate the way most modern metal players want their amps to.

moogmusic

Axe_meister said:

+2 on the Tweaker

I second this as well - definitely worth trying one out in real life, they sound ace and are very flexible.