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Amps / Live

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  • Well check it out!
    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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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356

    The Blackstar dirt is fine for most things, the cleans a bit meh on humbuckers but nice with compressed single coils. I've done about 200 gigs now with the little HT5, if you mic up this is the ideal amp for pubs and small to medium clubs as you can get it cooking without being overly loud. These things are so cheap, typically £150 ish and mines been ultra reliable
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • HT5. Is it SS or valve? 5W? 
    Right now I have a Roland Cube 30W... clean isn't great but who cares. 
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  • Well check it out!
    How about... Lightweight solid state combo that sounds amazing and has power squeeze so you can practice at home.. Bigger Roland? Black star?
    AMT Stonehead or Blackstar ID.

    Does it need multiple channels or is volume clean up okay?  If so, look into the MJW Bantam or Roadstar.  Should be enough power to gig, though it'll be primarily dirty sounds.  


    The Bandit looks VERY cheap...!
    It's also a great sounding solid state amp.  I use one, a silver stripe one, and it's solid.  

    The overdrive channel is best for low gain/edge of breakup tones with some brightness as they get quite dark as the gain goes up, but it is capable of decent tones.  

    The clean channel is nice sounding, too, and takes pedals very well.  

    I have to admit, though, playing 6 grand's worth of guitar through £100 worth of amp seems wrong, and I think you'd be much happier with something like a Laney LC50.  Cracking sounding amp, let down by a lower quality speaker (upgradeable).  

    The Jet City 50 watter alluded to is probably the best of the bunch though, built well, sounds great, and the only reason I don't own one is it'll slow down my purchasing of a custom amp. 
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  • HT5. Is it SS or valve? 5W? 
    It's both. It's got a hybrid preamp (solid state gain stages, valve-driven tone stack from what knowledgeable folk have said) and a valve power section.
    <space for hire>
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  • thomasross20thomasross20 Frets: 4423
    edited October 2014
    Guys - many thanks! Looks like I've a lot to check out. 
    Re valves & solid state... how much trouble is it really if a valve blows? 

    I don't think multiple channels is a big deal. Here are the FX I use (maybe they'd go into the FX loop, of which I know little about):
    Riot Reloaded Distortion
    TC Dreamscape (chorus/flange)
    TC Flashback Delay
    TC Boost
    Dunlop Wah
    Tuner

    If an amp had a GREAT distortion channel I guess I could forgo the distortion pedal in my set-up. 

    I just want something simple (easy to use... Jet City amps look great and very simple, as do some blackstar), light and relatively small, worthy of my guitars but not costing the earth. I don't want to make complicated upgrades - easy ones, no problem. 

    Hold the phone... what are Slash's signature amps like (SL5)? He's always been my hero (God that sounds lame, but it's true!)...

    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....

    For my own reference later:

    Nobody has mentioned Orange amps...? 
    Laney VC30 sounds good. Do you buy spare valves and take them to gigs with you..?

    Tried a Tech 21 Trademark 60?

    Again, for my reference later:

    I'd probably buy used when it comes to an amp... 
    Vox/Laney/Blackstar all look good value. 
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  • The sl5 is a rubbish amp.

    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. :)
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  • If gigging a valve amp, I'd take a couple of fuses (ask an amp tech on here which ones to get and check should it die) and a preamp valve and a power valve set that I know works. If it goes again soon after, it needs to be seen by a professional, and you need to di your guitar (take a joyo di preamp thing! Small, and a get out of jail, and the American sound one takes pedals well, there are also ac and Marshall flavours).

    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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  • thomasross20thomasross20 Frets: 4423
    edited October 2014
    Wow, thanks again!
    Embarrassingly, I've been playing 15 years. I'm of a decent standard but never really needed to have a "proper" amp before.. 
    Yes, I saw that in the amp section... 
    I really like the sound of the Mesa Boogies but they seem vastly, vastly overpriced. 
    Be honest, is solid-state just a no-no?
    Curious what your fave dist pedal is? I tried a few... Blackstar was good... but I honestly thought the Riot blew them all out of the water.
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  • thomasross20;375297" said:
    Wow, thanks again!Embarrassingly, I've been playing 15 years. I'm of a decent standard but never really needed to have a "proper" amp before.. Yes, I saw that in the amp section... I really like the sound of the Mesa Boogies but they seem vastly, vastly overpriced. Be honest, is solid-state just a no-no?
    It's not a no-no... But you want to try them and compare. I quite like the solid state sound, especially cleans, because they can be warm and bright and very, very dynamic - pick quiet and you'll get a very quiet sound, pick loud and it'll blow your ears off.

    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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  • Right, defo need to go try some amps. Guitar shops will hate me even more lol... I'd say around £500 sounds reasonable but willing to pay more for something really good. Over £1k is probably out of the question..!
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    Have to say those Jet-City amps/combos look like superb value - no idea what they sound like ......
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • Jalapeno said:
    Have to say those Jet-City amps/combos look like superb value - no idea what they sound like ......
    Well, you know my opinion on that. There's a reason I've been gigging 'em for the last 3 or 4 years. Tried a lot of more expensive amps, and always kept coming back to Jet City.

    Of course, that's all changed now that I've got their big brother, but it's not really fair to compare a £230 amp to a Soldano ;)
    <space for hire>
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  • How much was the Soldano in comparison? 

    I'm all for an easy life so anything that requires maintenance is a no-no for me.
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  • How much was the Soldano in comparison? 

    I'm all for an easy life so anything that requires maintenance is a no-no for me.
    £1599. As I said...not exactly a fair comparison ;)

    In a few weeks, however, I'll be putting a comparison video up purely because people want to hear it.
    <space for hire>
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  • thomasross20;375342" said:
    How much was the Soldano in comparison? 

    I'm all for an easy life so anything that requires maintenance is a no-no for me.
    Valve amps need maintenance. How much depends on reliability, but they will need valves changing and rebiasing from time to time, which means doing it yourself or (my approach) giving it to someone who knows what they're doing.

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  • Defo want to see/hear the differences, digitalscream.

    I'm an engineer but outside of engineering I just want to play guitar, not be doing more engineering lol
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    Defo want to see/hear the differences, digitalscream.

    I'm an engineer but outside of engineering I just want to play guitar, not be doing more engineering lol
    This.  In Spades - have a Wisdom.

    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).
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • thomasross20thomasross20 Frets: 4423
    edited October 2014
    Cube 80 any good for live you reckon?
    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... :o
    But I realise it's big, loud, and again valves.

    I'll check out those others you use, jal thanks!
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    edited October 2014
    Sounds fricking huge here ->



    The big reveal

    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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