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How about... Lightweight solid state combo that sounds amazing and has power squeeze so you can practice at home.. Bigger Roland? Black star?
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EDIT - thing I love about my Roland Cube is how I can practice with it using power squeeze or headphones. I'd HATE to have an expensive amp sitting around for 99% of the time because I couldn't play it at home....
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Well, okay, maybe overstatement, but for the money you expect both better built and better sounding.
You could do worse than this http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/24462/fs-blackstar-ht20-combo-v30-upgrade-reduced-225#latest and blackstar amps are reliable. Some don't like the darker voicing, but I really quite like it. Solid sounding amps.
How long have you been playing? And in that time, what amps have you owned? If just the one practice amp, you're pretty much in the world of going out and trying them first before you buy, but a 5 watt amp would not be suitable for gigs, unless it's gonna DI and even then... 20 would be my start point, and that blackstar with upgraded speaker represents good value.
You wouldn't need the distortion pedal so you could possibly sell the riot if you liked the amp distortion. The riot is not my favourite distortion pedal, but I don't think it would sound good through the blackstar - it would probably get muddy (or muddier - like I said, I'm not a fan!).
Another "mod" common on blackstar amps is running an eq in the loop to boost up the brightness a touch.
Actually, I'm not sure I'd take fuses and valves - I might be tempted to just take a di preamp. @monquixote uses one for rehearsals I think and has been very impressed. You can use pedals for dirt - maybe not time to sell the riot after all.
But as for amps, either take a punt on a bargain, or get out and try some. If you want cleans and a slash type of crunch (but hopefully without his nasty top end thing), the Blackstar is a decent option, as would a Laney lc50. Again, these benefit from a speaker upgrade but are not *awful* stock.
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Don't be embarrassed I've been playing about 10 years, I suck at playing and I use a solid state amp!
Well, you say you like mesa, but that's like me saying I like fender - what ones? They're all vastly different, and sound cemetery different. I don't like mark series boogies. I actually don't like that many mesa amps, I like the express series and the old dual recs (not tried the newest ones).
Is it just a brand and marketing you've fallen in love with? If so, you'll inevitably buy a "mesa boogie", love it in the honeymoon period, then realise that it doesn't sound anything like the sound in your head.
Most mesa amps are reliable and well built apparently, so that's good.
The only mesa I'd want to own would be a dual rec. The express amps are nice but I'd still be hankering. Plenty of folks would say the exact opposite.
Get to a shop and plug into a few amps. Take your favourite guitar along with you, and your ears will tell you what's best for you. Then, if it's out of budget, at least you know the sound you want, and people on here can advise as to ways of achieving that sound without breaking the bank
But you need a budget first.
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I'm an engineer but outside of engineering I just want to play guitar, not be doing more engineering lol
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Get a new Valve amp and it's unlikely anything will need changing for a long time *
* depending on how often you do actually run the amp hard gigging.
Did you look at that Cube 80 video from Chappers @thomasross20 ?
I use a Boogie Mini Rectifier or Dr Z Maz as the mood takes me. Backup is a Marshall S/S on clean with a TRex Moeller for dirt switching in front of my pedals. DI out the back of the amp into PA, amp+speakers for my monitoring only. These amps are all simply too f*cking loud for rehearsal studios though - looking for something else (used to use a Fender BJ, but nowhere near enough clean headroom, and no FX loop).
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Concern is getting these amps then never being able to use them for 90+% of the time at home.
Got to admit one thing... being a HUE Slash fan... I would LOVE an AFD100 head...
But I realise it's big, loud, and again valves.
I'll check out those others you use, jal thanks!
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