Amplifier holy trinity - Lightweight, Powerful and Cheap?

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

ICBM said:

knuckleberryfinn said:

57Deluxe said:

Session Rockette 30 ! (or Sessionette 75)

Don't get ICBM started on them.

lol

I'll give them cheap, loud, lightweight and reliable .

Meh, 4 out of 5 is pretty good, and as the fifth is completely down to taste, well...

ICBM · August 2014

ThePrettyDamned said:
Meh, 4 out of 5 is pretty good, and as the fifth is completely down to taste, well...

I agree

.

Of course, the Trem-o-verb is four out of five as well. Cheap (for the power and flexibility, at least), loud, reliable and great-sounding

.

But I'd rather compromise on weight than tone :P.

noisepolluter · August 2014

SquireJapan said:

I've been thinking for a while about getting a Blues Junior - I like the idea that I could get on the tube with a guitar on my back and an amp in my hand.

At a (very first) pub gig recently I used a blues junior. Granted it was a semi-acoustic type affair (two guitarists and a singer, no drummer) but for my electrified moments the blues junior was perfectly loud enough on about 4, I even had to turn it down. I have the tweed one with the Jensen C12N in it, which is a bit louder and twangier than the stock speaker.

There's a bit of circuit noise - the deluxe reverb for instance is noticeably quieter - and the reverb really is *far* too bright and crashy - I'm definitely changing it for a MOD or Ruby tank sometime soon, but overall I think it's a great sounding amp for small gigs, especially if you looked into one of the more grunty speaker upgrades such as Celestion G12H, Eminence Texas Heat/Swamp Thang/Cannabis Rex etc. The amp takes drive pedals especially well, I suppose it's something to do with the mid voicing. I'd be very interested to hear one with some BillM upgrades in it actually.

Dave_Mc · August 2014

ICBM said:

Dave_Mc said:

You don't care about sound quality then?
Or reliability...

You can generally get about three out of the five at once, and you might even be able to get four as long as those don't include cheap .

Yeah. It's like that project management triangle ...except I suppose it's a pentagon

SquireJapan · August 2014

"Needs" and "nice to haves"? - How's this

Need :

- light /portable

- loud

- reliable

Nice to have:

- sound quality/tone

"Chance would be a fine thing":

- cheap

- flexible (i.e. Covers lots of ground)

ICBM · August 2014

Then there's the indefinable "mojo"…

I can think of an amp which has all five - six, if you include flexible, which it certainly is - but does seem to lack "mojo".

Peavey Transtube Bandit.

SquireJapan · August 2014

ICBM said:

Peavey Transtube Bandit.

Nice ... I smell chicken (possible "winner winner chicken dinner"?)

Blues Junior - 14Kg

Peavy - 20Kg

(I don't mind mojo, I'm lacking talent. Mojo isn't going to save me, more practice is.)

Added to the list to try this weekend! Cheers!

EDIT: Checking eBay, they're going for about £50-£80. Bonza!

ICBM · August 2014

If you get one, don't forget to try the 'Thrash' or 'High Gain' - depending on the model - modes with the gain turned right down… they can do a nice bluesy, Fendery-sounding overdrive as well.

The older USA-made ones are slightly better than the newer far-east-made ones, but even those are great for the money.

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

ICBM said:

If you get one, don't forget to try the 'Thrash' or 'High Gain' - depending on the model - modes with the gain turned right down… they can do a nice bluesy, Fendery-sounding overdrive as well.

The older USA-made ones are slightly better than the newer far-east-made ones, but even those are great for the money.

Yeah, gain channel in 'thrash' mode with the gain low gives a pretty sweet bluesy breakup.

I was going to say bandit, but everyone knows I always say that

it's a good amp though, and pretty portable. My one has a slight hiss on the reverb and the clean channel (doesn't get louder with volume, so it's only a problem for low volume recording) but bar that it's solid and sounds fine.

As in, it sounds good - nice - it's not exactly inspiring, but sounds good and takes pedals well. I use mine in 'bright' mode on the clean channel, turn the treble down quite low to compensate and use a Son of Hyde for distortion. It sounds good - the first part of this noodle (butchered some RHCP) is the drive channel (though not on thrash mode) the second bit was an on the spot thing just showing the same settings, still neck single coil, but picked lighter with fingers - no drive.

Third bit is the son of hyde into the clean channel. Apologies for the slightly off intonation... Guitar hasn't been sorted for about 5 years now :O

No processing at all - literally, amp - mic - UX2 - Reaper. Not bad, for how little they cost, and I would happily gig it. Actually considered getting a second and running in stereo, but decided to save for a proper bit of posh... And running that in stereo with it!

Yup, definitely not a showcase of my playing ability...!!!

gearaddict · August 2014

I'm still very happy with my AMT Stonehead. Great little toaster of doom. Stupendously versatile, loud, good sounding, pretty cheap, small, light. I'm puzzled that I don't hear more about these. I guess coz they're not widely available in the shops.

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

gearaddict said:

I'm still very happy with my AMT Stonehead. Great little toaster of doom. Stupendously versatile, loud, good sounding, pretty cheap, small, light. I'm puzzled that I don't hear more about these. I guess coz they're not widely available in the shops.

I'd love to try one of these but as you say, they're just not around at all - which means it's a gamble to buy one. And being solid state, folk are not as likely to take a punt - myself included, sadly.

And I'm pretty open to solid state!

gearaddict · August 2014

Yeah, I must admit I'm pretty agnostic to the whole valve thing these days. I think the Stonehead and my H&K Edition Blue sound good, as does my Orange TH-30. I tend to pick up the solid state amps for practice more often just because they are lighter and smaller. I tend to use the Orange for gigs but I think that's more superstition than anything else. I have gigged with the H&K but only when my valve amps died on me!

digitalscream · August 2014

gearaddict said:

I'm still very happy with my AMT Stonehead. Great little toaster of doom. Stupendously versatile, loud, good sounding, pretty cheap, small, light. I'm puzzled that I don't hear more about these. I guess coz they're not widely available in the shops.

I'm sold on the concept - I just have reservations over the switching arrangement because it seems so ridiculously (and unnecessarily) complicated. Reading the documentation, it's pretty hard to figure out whether I'd be able to use it in my live setup without lots of mucking around and/or tap-dancing.

Phil_aka_Pip · August 2014

Epiphone VJ

Cheap, toneful, lightweight, reliable (failing that, maintainable) - thats 3.5 to 4 out of 5.

Who cares about loud if someone else takes care of the PA?

ICBM · August 2014

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Epiphone VJ

Cheap, toneful, lightweight, reliable (failing that, maintainable) - thats 3.5 to 4 out of 5.

Who cares about loud if someone else takes care of the PA?

Cheap, light and reliable I'll give you

.

The problem with putting it through the PA is that then everyone can hear it :P.

gearaddict · August 2014

digitalscream said:

gearaddict said:

I'm still very happy with my AMT Stonehead. Great little toaster of doom. Stupendously versatile, loud, good sounding, pretty cheap, small, light. I'm puzzled that I don't hear more about these. I guess coz they're not widely available in the shops.

I'm sold on the concept - I just have reservations over the switching arrangement because it seems so ridiculously (and unnecessarily) complicated. Reading the documentation, it's pretty hard to figure out whether I'd be able to use it in my live setup without lots of mucking around and/or tap-dancing.

I'm trying to think how it works now

I use 1 2-button switch because I quickly settled on 1 clean channel and 1 drive channel that I switch between. Initially I had 2 2-button switches so I could access all 4 channels directly. There's another input that does something else...master volume and fx loop I think.

It is different but not particularly awkward once you decide how you want to use it.

monquixote · August 2014

I think you could get someone like bright onion to make you a pedal with 4 buttons and a single multicore cable with two stereo jacks on the end.

Drew_TNBD · August 2014

monquixote said:

I think you could get someone like bright onion to make you a pedal with 4 buttons and a single multicore cable with two stereo jacks on the end.

Be pretty easy to DIY that as well.

SquireJapan · August 2014

Update from me - Tried the Peavey over the weekend, but it didn't really offer me much over my tired World Series Laney (see picture on the left ...).

The Peavey was a bit easier to handle, but tone was comparable, as was actual weight.

I've been looking around at other options, some more pricey than others, but I think I can probably manage with my Laney for the short term (as awkward as it is to get on the bus), rather than just buying more kit.

Interestingly enough, I've been pointed towards using Uber for taxis in London - I could take my head and 2x12 via taxi every other weekend for a year and it would probably cost me less than the Blues Junior.

Given that I'm only now just starting to audition with bands (and hence using the amps available in the practice space) you could argue that I'm getting ahead of myself - any excuse to buy more kit ...

Will hold off for now - thanks for the help guys!

Gassage · August 2014

SquireJapan said:

"Needs" and "nice to haves"? - How's this

Need :
- light /portable
- loud
- reliable

Nice to have:
- sound quality/tone

"Chance would be a fine thing":
- cheap
- flexible (i.e. Covers lots of ground)

If these are the criteria, I'm amazed no-one has said Roland Cube.

It ticks every box above. It isn't valve, it's not cool but it's a hellish good amp and the cleans are superb.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC1.A0.H0.Xcube+40xl&_nkw=cube+40xl&_sacat=0

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Amplifier holy trinity - Lightweight, Powerful and Cheap?

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