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The idea that valve amps need extra complex circuitry to make the valves run reliably is not only nonsense, it causes much worse problems when something goes wrong with the unnecessary circuit, up to and including writing the amp off because it's too expensive to replace the entire burned-out PCB it's on and too difficult to rebuild it in a simpler way without it. I've had to do that recently with a Peavey Valve King MkII, and I'm pretty sure one of the other techs here has as well with a Fender of some sort.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'm currently very much leaning toward the Laney VC15. My dream guitar setup is a Gibson 335 and Vox AC30 a la Dave Grohl, Caleb Followill, countless blues players and others.
I suppose my Levin 335 copy and an amp that sounds sort of Voxy is a good place to start.
If you are mostly playing at home volumes, and i mean proper home volumes like I have to, then you will never get the lovely cooked tone of a valve amp, volume has a tone of its own.
Perhaps at least consider a Katana 50 or 100?
Alternatively, I could suggest a Jet City 20w combo, which is excellent; Soldano design, EL84 based with a proper valve reverb. If you can nip up to Manchester @jonnyburgo has one for sale for a scandalously low price (link below)
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/141901/for-sale-trade-jet-city-20w-combo-100/p2
One of the biggest irritations for techs is not actually a reliability fault, it’s that the vinyl cabinet covering is poorly stuck down - it always peels off inside and snags on the chassis when you’re trying to get it in or out... that might not sound like a big deal, but when you’ve worked on a few of them it becomes extremely annoying - it’s time-wasting and frustrating if they get really stuck.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
A Katana* also has several advantages:
- Built in effects (from Boss, so they are very good)
- It has various different selectable power ranges down to 0.5 watts and you can even plug your headphones into it if needed.
- It has an aux in so you can play backing tracks into it and jam along to them. Much more fun and a better challenge than endless noodling.
- You get much more flexibility than with a valve amp - cleans, crunch, dirt
- You can also use them as an acoustic amp (or even an FRFR for a modeller if you plug your modeller into the FX return)
I'd go for the 100w version, rather than the 50w, as it has more preset slots and an effects loop (which may be useful down the line).
*Other modelling amps are available - e.g. Fender Mustang, Line 6 Spider, Blackstar ID, Marshall Code, Vox AV.
However the Katana seems to be the most highly rated.
Edit: One for sale on here for £130....
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/147850/fs-boss-katana-100w-reduced#latest
- Fender Bassbreaker 007 - took 10 minutes trying to get it to work. Concluded one of the valves had blown, put it in the back with a note to send back to Fender. Grade N/A.
- Blackstar HT1 Combo - First impressions were good, but I put that down to it being the first amp I heard. Did medium crunch quite well, but clean not so much. Seemed to also clip/compress quite heavily when I put a Boss BD-2 into it and it lost a lot of definition and sounded muddy. I don't think the tiny speaker did it many favours in sounding like an organic amp. Not the worst, but not the best either. Grade C.
- Blackstar HT5 Combo - A considerable step up from the HT1. Sounded pretty big and the clean tone was usable, if a little uninspiring. Again, it's strength came when putting gain into it, and I particularly enjoyed the clean channel with the gain near max, and the OD channel with the gain around half way. Let down by it's crap built-in reverb and general dark sounding nature. Grade B-
- Albion something or other - Sounded OK. Looked horrid though, and after the experience with the Fender I worried about how much of a ball ache it would be if something went wrong with it. Plus they wanted £340 for it, and nowhere does them second hand. Grade C.
- Peavey Valveking 212 - I loved the sound of it. Sounded exceptionally good when I put the BD-2 into it. I know for sure though that I wouldn't be able to keep it at home without a noise complaint from the rest of the village. Grade B.
- Orange Tiny Terror Combo - Hated it. Too much gain and shredtastic for me, played 4 chords and put it back. Grade E.
- Vox AC15VR - Sounded ace, got very close to that Vox tone, but there was something different in the way it sounded. Until this point was the nicest amp I tried. Grade A-.
- Vox AC4TV - Sounded sort of Voxy, but felt like the 4w mode was too clean and the 1w and less than 1w settings had absolutely no headroom at all and especially the less than a watt setting I could hear the guitar louder than the amp. Tiny speaker sounded tinny too. Grade C
- Marshall Origin 5 combo - Uninspiring. It didn't sound Marshall-esque gainy, nor Fendery clean. Better than some of the amps I tried, but still not super. Grade B.
I didn't try out the Tweaker, although the lad in the shop showed me a picture of him using the tweaker 30 combo and he said he loved it. To be fair to him, he also said the Excelsior wasn't really the best and some of the other amps in the shop were more worth the money.
So, I thought I was done and settled on one of the Vox amps, until Mr PMT man threw in the curveball many of you here have. I tried the Boss Katana 100. As expected it took me 10-15 minutes to find a sound I liked, but once I found it I was set. Clean channel, gain just over half way, built in Blues Driver effect, little bit of reverb. Awesome. No it didn't sound like a Vox, and some of the built in effects were a bit underwhelming (particularly some of the drives and modulations), and it did a weird noise gatey thing, but still the tone from the amp was killer. On the 0.5w setting It had all the volume I would want for home use, I could crank it up to the 50w if I was home alone and should I ever go mad and decide to join a band, the 100w I can imagine being loud enough for pretty much any venue. Grade A.
Moral of the story - Maybe it isn't a valve amp I want, but a really good digital. My only concern would be whether it took pedals well, as I don't want the little collection of effects I have bought to go to waste.
Also - I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend PMT Birmingham. Their staff are incredibly helpful, passionate and I've never in my 6 years of shopping there for bass, live equipment and now guitar, felt pressured into buying anything there. They're very happy to allow you to try anything you like and let the gear sell itself.