What has your amp journey been so far?

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  • Gagaryn said:

    Roland JC-22


    Oh, I'd love to get a crack off one of these? I'd say they're perfect for home use?
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    edited August 2018
    This was good to do as a reminder and since 1979:-

    My Dad's hi-fi
    Custom Sound Trucker
    Peavey Classic
    Sessionette
    Mesa Boogie Studio 22
    Stereo MIDI Rack System (ADA MP1, Alesis Quad, Rocktron, ART rack fx, Otis Power Amps, EV speakers) - Wonderful!
    Stereo MIDI Rack System (Marshall JMP1, JFX, Marshall 8008 Power Amp, Mesa Boogie speakers)
    Dabbled with a Boss GT-8, ME-50 and Behringer pod thing into a powered monitor for a while (bag o' shite)!!!
    Roland Cube 60 (served me for years and now with the guitarist in our Ska band - loved this amp)
    Fender Rivera Concert head
    Various SS Crate amps
    Mesa Boogie Express 5:50 (2x12) - nice but bloody heavy
    Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue (DRRI)

    Still with me
    Divided by 13 JRT9/15 & Tone Tubby cab (2x12) - Guitar & home rig
    Roland Bass Cube 120XL - Bass Rig
    Roland Micro Cube (original) - Acoustic Rig to PA

    Musings
    I like the idea of the Suhr Bella or Hedgehog 50 but fear they may be too loud

    I can see myself going back to something like a DRRI or its boutique derivatives when I want to scale back to something smaller or I'm not gigging

    The Yamaha THR10X has been grabbing my attention for a scratch of an 80s rock itch for home

    Possibly an Aguilar bass rig (Tonehammer 350)
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  • sweepysweepy Frets: 4159
    edited September 2018
    As it’s been nearly 40 yrs, I’ll miss a few no doubt
    Vox Battery powered Amp
    Customsound Trucker 40
    Sessionette 75
    Peavey Classic 50 2x12, the old one with built in Phaser
    Laney Klipp
    60’s Marshall Plexi 100w
    Pro-Amp Viper
    Randall 30
    Laney AOR50
    ADA MP1 Rack System 
    Line 6 Flextone Mk1
    Mesa Boogie Calibre 50+
    Groove Tubes Prototype 50w head
    Mesa Boogie Mk4
    Fender Deluxe 4x10
    Fender 60
    Mesa Boogie Nomad 
    Dallas Rangemaster 2x10
    Fender Bassman, modded by MJW
    Bogner Alchemist
    Helix with Marshall 2020
    Fender SuperSonic 100w head
    Bugera 100w head
    Boss Katana 100
    Peavey Delta Blues 1x15
    Axe Fx2 with Marshall 2020
    Bad Cat Hot Cat 30r
    Fender Princeton
    Fargen Retro Classic

    Im sure I missed a few 


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  • telehacktelehack Frets: 93
    Wollensak valve reel to reel tape deck into Ampro/Jensen alnico cabinet (probably should have stopped here)
    Silverface bandmaster/homemade cabinet/Radio Shack speaker
    Fender Super 60 combo
    Carvin somethingorother
    Peavey tweed type thing
    Silverface Twin Reverb
    Blackface Deluxe non-reverb
    Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb head/2 4x10 cabs
    Crate VC30
    Silverface Champ
    Blackface Tremolux
    Victoria Double Deluxe
    Silverface Deluxe Reverb
    Handwired Princeton Reverb clone

    Probably missed a few



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  • JerkMoansJerkMoans Frets: 8775

    Entirely a hobby player, and not a very good one... Since the late 1980’s as far as I can recall we have had:


    Gorilla thing with built in chorus 

    Carlsbro Scorpion

    RAT modded Epiphone Valve Jr (still have)

    Smokey Amps Marlboro Lites (still have)

    Vox AC30 CC2

    Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

    Rivera 55-12

    Flynn Tweed Deluxe

    Cornell Voyager 

    Lazy J 20 (still here)


    Still pondering the existential differences between the Flynn, the Cornell and the Lazy J...

    Inactivist Lefty Lawyer
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  • shaunmshaunm Frets: 1591
    JerkMoans said:

    Entirely a hobby player, and not a very good one... Since the late 1980’s as far as I can recall we have had:


    Gorilla thing with built in chorus 

    Carlsbro Scorpion

    RAT modded Epiphone Valve Jr (still have)

    Smokey Amps Marlboro Lites (still have)

    Vox AC30 CC2

    Fender Hot Rod Deluxe

    Rivera 55-12

    Flynn Tweed Deluxe

    Cornell Voyager 

    Lazy J 20 (still here)


    Still pondering the existential differences between the Flynn, the Cornell and the Lazy J...

    About £700
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  • DopesickDopesick Frets: 1507
    edited September 2018
    Early 2000s - Marshall MG100DFX combo - sounded good for what it was: my first ever amp for gigging. Sounded not too bad in all honesty (basically not shit) but blew up after playing at full whack at a doom band rehearsal.

    2005 - Crate GT1200H - my first ever guitar head. Light as a feather. Nice distortion if a little bit thin.

    2007 - Randall TITAN - huge motherfucker. 300w solid state. Broke after about ten minutes. Sat in my bedroom for about five years collecting dust. Got it fixed again and it broke again. Piece of shit.

    2008 - Laney GH50L - first valve head. Got it second hand. Loved it. Excellent distortion if a bit wayward when engaging the boost. Nice cleans. Superb value for money. Might get another in the future.

    2015 - Orange OR100 - huge beast. Excellent drive sounds but average cleans. Not very good at taking most OD/fuzz pedals, although sounded GREAT with the Pharaoh.

    2015 - Orange Dual Dark 50 - very high gain and attenuator worked very nice, but way too fizzy for my liking.

    2015 - Randall RG150 - got it just because it was so cheap. High gain nothing spectacular although sounded great with boost/OD. Very solid amp and incredibly good value second hand.

    2015 - Fryette SIG X - a smorgasbord of options. Great cleans, great drive tones...just too much for me in the end.

    2016 - Matamp GT1 - fantastic cleans. Kinda glassy/grainy drive tones (this was the Mk1 low gain head). HUGE bottom end. Sounded fantastic with fuzz/distortion. Am selling next week...boo hoo!

    2017 - Quilter Tone Block 201 - diminutive size but SO goddamn powerful and LOUD. 200w solid state and they ain't messing about here. Cleans are pretty decent, I've never used the drive tones but it takes my pedals like a champ and that's what I got it for. Plus it's light as a feather. Fantastic.

    2017 - Fryette Deliverance 60 - was after one of these for years and it sounded great but a bit too stiff for my liking. Decided to sell it on after a couple of months.

    Should be getting a new head in the next few months with the money from the Matamp.
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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    So in order

    Park G10
    Laney linebacker 30
    Zoom 2100 into "kustom" pa (I was doing modeller into PA back in the mid 90s)
    Marshall avt150h
    Marshall JVM 410h
    Jet City JCA50h
    Diezel VH4

    I still have the JVM, jet city and obviously my amp journey is basically over with the VH4 as can't imagine anything beating it tone wise.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • stickersticker Frets: 869

    Been playing for 28 years ...gosh

    Fender R.A.D 15w  first practice amp and it did my 1st gig too !

    Fender Twin (silverface mid 70's JBL speakers) weighed so much it had it's own gravitational pull - sounded glorious!

    Peavey Deuce 2x12 combo (built in phaser !! 80'stastic)

    Fender Blues DeVille 4x10 (original Usa - beast of a thing - sounded like GOD)

    Fender Deluxe 112 ( solid state - gigged this for years with my functions band as it was reliable/clean and loud enough)

    Aer Compact 60 (I love this amp , i'll never get rid of it)

    Laney VC15 - awesome little amp that I regret getting rid of

    Fender Blues DeVille 4x10 ( Mexican re-issue - 2 modes silent or full blast , too heavy to cart about now i'm over 40 )

    Orange Rocker 30 - (great gigging amp)

    Fender Mustang 2 (bought for home practice 3 years ago - never taken it out of the box...)


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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    Ha that reminds me I have a fender Mustang too for when I can't be arsed turning on my computer to use helix native
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • thecolourboxthecolourbox Frets: 9654
    edited August 2018

    Hmm this could be a bigger list than I’d like but let’s have a go:

    Crappy SS 10w practice amp. It was the kind you get with your first guitar

    Fender Mini Tweed thing, battery powered mini amp. Actually decent, for what they are intended.

    Vox Ad100VTH. Absolutely massive considering it was just a modelling head. Never had a cab so had to use headphones, flogged it for peanuts in part exchange for a…

    Vox Pathfinder 15r. Good practice amp, nice reverb. No idea whether I sold this or traded it in somewhere. At the same time got given a…

    Marshall MG15CDR. I suppose it was decent, had a great spring reverb. Gave it away.

    Vox Lil Night Train. My first valve amp. Loved it, sounded great with gain just before 12 oclock and then boosted. Had no reverb though so sold it.

    Orange Micro Terror. Awful. Sold it.

    Vox AC4TV. Muddy, muffled, too loud for drive, no reverb. Looked like my nan’s suitcase. Flogged it, terrible amp.

    Blackstar HT5. Not sure why I bought this, but it was decent just didn’t sound right to me. Traded it in as couldn’t sell it, got a Line 6 M5 in return L terrible deal.

    Wangs VT15. Became the Fretboard village bike I believe. Decent amp head in all fairness.

    Fender Pro Junior in Tweed. Despite having no master volume or reverb, was actually nice and useful. Flogged it though as too loud and I wanted a…

    Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Hands down the best amp I’ve ever had. I only sold it because I needed space ahead of moving into my own place. Would have one tomorrow if I had the room for it.

    Vox Brian May Special (deacy copy with treble boost). Great little thing for Brian May sounds, I sold it but may be about to buy it back from the same person.

    Randall RM50 modular amp. Was decent but way too big, I got it mega cheap at an auction but needed the space so it went. Not sure why I bought it as it was bigger than the Hot Rod.

    Mooer Little Monster BM (bassman). Sounded nothing like a bassman, had no gain whatsoever and needed a 12 band eq in order to not sound awful.

    Fender Greta. 2nd best amp I’ve owned. Not sure why I flogged it but I think it’s because I wanted something non-ampy. Would happily have one again.

    Fender 68 Custom Reissue Princeton Reverb. Sold a LOT of stuff at silly prices in order to buy this, and it has been largely underwhelming. Would prefer to sell.

    Marshall JTM1 (the 1watt series). Too loud to overdrive (no master) and no reverb. Sold it for what I paid for it new, not here.

    Supro 1605R Super Reverb. Great little thing, very dinky amp with the Supro sound, but with a master volume and reverb, and some very useful input/output options. Runs the Fender Greta close for 2nd best amp I’ve had but cost nearly 10 times the price of what the Greta cost me. Mental but I would imagine difficult to sell for how much they are so I shall keep it. 

    Hopefully not forgotten anything.

    Considering my complete failure to make music good enough to try playing in public, and my inability to be musically social in any way thus not joining a band, my next steps will be to abandon amps in the traditional sense. At home I either play through a Digitech GSP1101 into low end studio monitors, or through the little Supro (sometimes Supro into GSP into monitors) and that suits my practising and recording needs I think. The Princeton is useless at home and is just sat in its cover under my desk doing nothing. Might consider a couple of FRFR or PA speakers on the off chance I get to play anywhere in public, so as to run the guitar in stereo or use one for vocals and/or keys etc.

    Or maybe two Katana 50s in stereo if I give up on life completely and stop trying to be cool

    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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  • 40 years.

    In chronological order...

    An HlH Performer 150w head and an oversized Marshall 4x12" (that I'm pretty sure was a bass cab), that were gifts from my sister's boyfriend of the time, which was nice ...until it turned out he was a complete dick, so I had no compunction about selling it a year or so later to raise funds for;

    A Roland Jazz Chorus JC77 2x10" combo ...which was only sold in the last year to @Dottore, of this very parish.

    A Fender Prosonic 1x12" combo ...which was great, but I had to sell it in order to afford;

    A Fender Blues Junior conversion, now in a fabulous all-mahogany Mongotone 2x10" cab (the one I idiotically flirted with the idea of selling on here a few weeks ago)

    ...and 2 x Two Rock Exo 15 heads and 1x12" cabs

    The Blues Jr and the two Exo 15's have worked excellently in tandem (tridem?) for years now, so I think I'm probably done.  :o
    Not much of the gear, even less idea.
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  • coltheoxcoltheox Frets: 28

    Oh boy. I am new on here, so let's start somewhere. Amps.

    Started way back with a Selmer 2 x 12 something or other!

    Marshall 50 watt head with 4 x 12 cab

    Hiwatt 50 watt head with 2 x 12 cab

    Fender Blues De Ville 4 x 10 combo

    Laney VC 50 2 X 12 combo

    Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker 2 x 12 combo

    Bad Cat 30 watt 2 x 12 combo

    Soldano Hot Rod 50 head with 2 x 12 cab

    Soldano Reverb O Sonic 2 x 12 combo

    Barnett Davis 15/30 1 x 12 combo

    and finally...................the search is over.............

    633 Ruby with 1 x 12 cab. For me, perfection.

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  • BlueingreenBlueingreen Frets: 2582
    First amp was a Selmer 30 watt.  Literally went up in smoke about a week after I sold it to a pal.  Embarrassing.
    Then various Marshalls.  No master volume on any of them. Had the 50 combo and 50 and 100 watt heads at different times.  Couple of 4 x12s used singly or stacked.  Don't know any more, to me at that time a Marshall was a Marshall, I wasn't aware of different types.  Eventually I wised up to the fact that they only sounded good at too high a volume (I wasn't using pedals).
    Peavey Combo.  This was a hybrid amp but can't remember much else about it except that it sounded amazing at shop volume but thinned out up loud.
    MusicMan 65 1 x 15 Combo. The love of my life, amp-wise.  Used it on every gig for years, never tempted to replace it.  That was a blessing and a curse.  Blessing because it sounded great and I had zero amp GAS.  Curse because I've never accumulated the experience of getting good sounds out of gear that I would have from experimenting more. I switched on the same amp at the same settings and it sounded great. Dirt from the amp, no drive pedals. Now it's too heavy for my dodgy back and I'm having to go through the learning process with amps and pedals much later than I should have.  Cosmetically it's a wreck and just taking up space.  Should sell.
    Rivera Chubster 40.  Bought this when I went back to playing after a long lay-off.  Supposedly a lighter replacement for the MusicMan.  Problem was it was still too heavy, so I never used it.  Had it 5 years plus, it's never been out of the house and switched on about 5 times.  My impression is cleans are superb, but really never used in anger.  Should sell.
    ZT Club.  200 watts, 24lbs. Very light, very loud.  Decent pedal platform, but superseded by Quilter that has better Fendery cleans.  Should sell.
    Quilter MicroPro Mach 2 HD.  Current gigging amp.  Incredibly light, very loud for size, great cleans. Using it as a pedal platform although my impression is on-board dirt sounds are pretty good. Pricey in UK (I imported mine) but a good solution to my need for a light, loud, good sounding amp.
    “To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”
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  • Ross Fame 10 combo practise amp
    Marshall 8080 combo. Board burnt out
    Laney AOR30 combo .Sold to raise funds for x4 CD Writer
    Sound City 50+ head
    Marshall Superlead MkII 100w head
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  • pmgpmg Frets: 298
    Since sometime in the mid 00s:

    Vox valvetronix ad15
    orange battery powered cube -now a music room “ornament”
    blackstar ht5 (still have)
    Vox ac 15 heritage (twice)
    badcat black cat 30r (still have)
    Badcat black cat 15r
    badcat classic deluxe 20r (still have)
    matchless lightning 15r (still have)
    fender tweed deluxe the edge (still have)
    fender champ (still have)

    possibly need a clear out...

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  • I've been playing just over 20 years and have been through:

    Amptech 30 - solid state piece of crap but got me started 

    Roland JC120 - my dad's mate sold it me for £30 (cheap even in 1993).  A bit unreliable but great clean sound. Should have just got it serviced but sold it on. 

    Marshall JCM800 combo - second hand, again unreliable, sold to a mate

    ADA MP1 through a Marshall Valvestate 8008 - this was a great combination until one audition when smoke started pouring out of the Marshall and the sound cut out. Still passed the audition(!) but sadly got rid of the ADA MP1 and still regret it 10 years later. 

    Vox Valvetronix ADV60TH - terrible foray into early modelling amp technology. Lasted 3 gigs. Awful amp

    Fender Pro Reverb - beautiful sounding amp but could never turn it up beyond 1, so never got to turn it up to the sweet spot.  

    Hiwatt HiGain 50 through a Mesa 1x12 EV cab - great cab. Great amp. But wrong size cab for the size of head so bought a ...

    Orange Tiny Terror - brilliant. "But I want an even smaller set up", I thought, "so I can travel to gigs on the tube more easily". So sold the tiny Terror and Mesa cab for a,...

    Fender Pro Jr - great little amp. But then I became a dad and stopped gigging, so sold it. 

    Yamaha THR10C - great desktop amp, no good for recording or gigging but perfect practice amp. 

    Roland Blues Cube Hot - recently acquired for home demos and small gigs. Great, great little combo. Sounds soooo good through headphones as well as through speaker. Digital modelling really is getting there. 




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  • TeleMasterTeleMaster Frets: 10103
    Laney practice amp thingie
    Fender Super 60
    Laney VC50
    Fender Supersonic 60
    Fender Bassman RI
    Orange Rockerverb 50 Mk2 (Head & Cab)
    Fender Princeton 65 RI
    Supro Dualtone
    Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12
    Fender DDRI 65

    I've also owned these modelling units

    Eleven Rack
    Boxx GT100
    Kemper Powerhead
    Line 6 Helix
    Line 6 Helix LT

    And these FRFR Solutions

    Atomic CLR
    Matrix Q12
    Matrix FR212
    Yamaha HS10's x2
    Matrix FR10p

    Still own:
    Friedman Dirty Shirley 40 Head & Cab
    Carol-Ann Tucana 3r.
    Kemper Powerhead
    Helix LT
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  •    In 20 years I've owned

    A fender 112 deluxe
    A fender the twin
    A Hiwatt SA212

    I still have the twin and the hiwatt
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • AdamskiAdamski Frets: 1278
    My first amp was the first in the Marshall MG series, the 10w combo. It wasn’t the best amp ever but as my first amp I consider myself quite lucky to get it because it genuinely had an OK clean and crunch - certainly good enough that as I got good enough to play some songs, I could replicate the sounds relatively faithfully to untrained ears, and that was a big reason that I kept playing. 

    Next was the Marshall Valvestate 2000 50w combo. Valve pre amp and solid state power amp was a relatively new concept back then (or the marketing seemed to tell me it was) and this was bought by my Mum new from PMT Romford for £340. A major upgrade and an amp I kept for a few years - I remember it sounding good and it certainly roared like my MG never did. eventually though when I started playing in a few bands, it didn’t have the headroom that I needed. 

    Next was surprisingly a Line 6 Spider 2. One of my friends had bought one and for some reason I was impressed with it (maybe it was the effects?) so I got one. It was NOT remotely as good as the Marshall and although I kept it for a little while as my only amp, it was THE worst amp I’ve ever owned. Since then (and a few bad Pods) I’ve vowed never to own another Line 6 product, I was THAT put off! 

    After the Line 6 debacle it was time to venture in to the world of tubes and a significant upgrade - the Blackstar Series One 45 combo.  I really liked this amp and still do, despite not owning it anymore. I feel like it has a lot of the things a gigging guitarist could want - a good solid clean with w couple of useful voicings, VERY nice edge of breakup tones and SRV sounds, good Marshall like crunch and an almost Mesa-esque high gain. Footswitchable across all that, well built and light. Can be had in the £400 ish range now and I wouldn’t rule out picking one up again someday. 

    Thr Blackstar was sold in a trade with a guy that was selling a Slash AFD100. At the time I got a good deal, just putting a couple of hundred on top. At least I thought it was a good deal - I’ll say it now, I hated this amp! I was expecting some decent Slash tones and great gain but it was a complete pansy! The channel that was not called AFD was utterly rubbish, couldn’t get w good sound from it and the AFD channel ONLY did that tone, nothing else. The variable wattage worked terrible and it attenuated any of the tone that was there completely away. 

    Wary of Marshalls, I moved to.....a Marshall! This time a bargain JVM210h (having bought a Zilla cab for my AFD, I was now firmly in the head/cab world).it was £340 on eBay and it was a nice amp that initially I really thought was great but then realised all the ‘good’ tones were just hidden under a mountain of gain and that’s why I thought it sounded good, because it hid the shit parts of my playing! Didn’t last long, was moved on for a ......

    Mesa Boogie Dual Rec Reborn! Bought from Leerocker on here, as were most peoples amps at the time, it was an amp I’d always lusted after but could never afford so when it came up I stretched myself financially and got it. I loved and hated it - could get it to sound great after some tweaking but then you’d go back to it the next day and it sounded garbage. The clean pushed channel was by far my favourite, instant Foo Fighters, but you couldn’t footswitchable between that and the regular clean so you could only have one of those two voices with the balls to the wall channels. It’s lack of flexibility despite having so many channels and options was a real deal breaker for me so it too got moved on....

    Now comes my amp. My tone. The rock that has stood by me since 2011(ish), the Bogner Shiva 20th Anniversary. I don’t have enough good things to say about this amp - gorgeous cleans with a nice bright switch and footswitchable boost, amazing Marshall crunch with a very 3D sound and clarity across the notes and a real Alice in Chains style grind when wound up, this amp does every sound I’ve ever thrown at it, has never let me down and is most probably going to be my backline for a long, long time. Flirted with selling it a few times but not sure I ever will. A truly wonderful amp. 

    Ive had a few others in between that didn’t stay for long or were practice amps - 

    PRS 2 Channel Custom 50 (gorgeous to look at, Great clean but no mild dirt, just high gain) 
    Bogner Mojavo (VERY loud single channel, zero flexibility) 
    Blackstar ID:Core 20v2. (Great practice amp but I prefer valves even at low volumes)
    Yamaha THR10 (see above) 

    That’s it! Thanks for the ramble! 

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