What amp to buy?

lincolnblue

At present I own the Laney Cub 10. It's a great little amp and I can get some superb clean tones out of it. It's great for home/recording use and also for use at church where it's mic'd up.

I am thinking of getting something a bit louder though as at church I can sometimes but drowned out a bit on stage. I generally run my amp clean and use pedals to get an OD sound. I would be after something with decent headroom but that can be cranked a bit if needs be (nothing to OTT). Think John Mayer sound - crystal cleans with a bit of break up.

My problem is that I don't have a lot of money to spend so no chance at all of a Two Rock.

I would like a Fender Blues Jr but even £450 is a lot to spend. My Cub 10 is in mint condition so I  would like to think I could get £150 for it. So I'd be looking to buy something for around £250-£300.

What would you recommend? I want a valve amp so no solid state or hybrids. 

ICBM

Hotrod Deluxe. You'll get one for £350 if you're patient. It's a much better amp than a Blues Junior.

Guaranteed to be heard, great clean tone which takes pedals well and a good bluesy overdrive channel if you learn how to set it up right. (Ignore any comments about the drive channel being unusable!)

ThePrettyDamned

Laney LC30 or VC30, both are great but voiced differently.  Not really Mayer esque... But it's hopeless trying to chase his tone because you'll pay thousands for OD pedals and ten times more for amps.  Laney amps can be had silly cheap used.  Actually, you might find the LC50 or LH50 (head version, which has a massive toroidal transformer and AMAZING clean channel) for very cheap, with easily enough spare for a 1x12 cab (assuming £450 budget)

The Blues Jnr is not going to offer you a great deal in my opinion, they are not *that* loud, clean.  The hor rod deluxe is another great option.

midlifecrisis

+1 laney vc 30, can be picked up used £200- £250  much louder than cub , great clean and a bit of break up

dilbert

ThePrettyDamned said:

Laney LC30 or VC30, both are great but voiced differently. 

+1 to either, really. I use an LC30II with a Laney 1x12 extension cab and got both for £325 off the bay. I can really recommend it but (and for me it was a huge 'but'), I later found the fx loop is parallel and you can only get 50% wet max, which in practice makes your'  modulation, delays etc., sound pathetic. I had a friend mod mine for serial/parallel switching, it's an an easy mod if you're okay with SMD components.

The other thing which you need to take into account is the stock speaker, a HH Invader. You really need to budget for a replacement as it is dire. %-(

The above sounds pretty damning but with a little work, it really is a good amp now it's pimped and the extension cab really lifts the sound. 

dilbert   

spacecadet

You could pick one of these up used for about that. Great pedal platform and as you can hear, does the Mayer thing.

BenSirAmos

ICBM said:

Hotrod Deluxe. You'll get one for £350 if you're patient. It's a much better amp than a Blues Junior.

Guaranteed to be heard, great clean tone which takes pedals well and a good bluesy overdrive channel if you learn how to set it up right. (Ignore any comments about the drive channel being unusable!)

I love my Hotrod Deluxe

mart

ICBM said:

Hotrod Deluxe. You'll get one for £350 if you're patient....

Don't even have to be very patient: 

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/11723/fender-hot-rod-deluxe-brown-with-cover-and-new-footswitch-350

meltedbuzzbox

I used a Laney VC30 for a good few months.

Its not a clean amp by any means, at least to my ears. 

I loved the dirt channel and its panzer tank like construction. I reckon it would take a fall down a flight of stairs no worries. 

but Fender clean... nah, 

daveww

If you can get to gear4music check out sub zero (or belcat)  tube 20R

http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/SubZero-Tube-20R-20W-Guitar-Amp/S7P Blues junior clone but better

Dan

Ive got this for sale which seems like it could be suitable for you?

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/9021/fs-traynor-ycv20-wr#latest

Fretwired

lincolnblue said:

I would like a Fender Blues Jr but even £450 is a lot to spend. My Cub 10 is in mint condition so I  would like to think I could get £150 for it. So I'd be looking to buy something for around £250-£300.

What would you recommend? I want a valve amp so no solid state or hybrids. 

A second hand Blues Junior ....

dindude

For what you described, and if you want to buy new, I would consider this. Spose to have decent clean headroom, and comes with free tubescreamer!

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/ibanez-tsa15-guitar-combo-amplifier/56914?gclid=CL3WspGm97wCFekBwwodIb8A_w

relic245

Someone mentioned a laneh LH50 head, I've got one that I'm going to let go stupidly cheap (£100) as it's very tatty. It will be in classifieds soon but pm me if you would like any more details.

ICBM

If the Cub 10 doesn't have enough headroom I wouldn't bother with any 15W amp (which includes the Belcat, which isn't really any more than 15 watts if it's a Blues Junior copy) or even a 20-watter - there's just not that much difference.

One of the limiting factors with the Laney is the speaker though - you would get as much increase in volume as going to a 15/20W amp just by running it through a 12" cab with a 100dB speaker - maybe even more, unless the larger amp itself has a speaker like that. (Most don't.)

You can now buy such a cabinet for well under £100…  http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_g112vintage.htm .

bertie

lincolnblue said:

I would like a Fender Blues Jr ..............................

What would you recommend? 

a hearing test

=================================================================================================

lincolnblue said:

 I want a valve amp so no solid state or hybrids. 

ICBM said:

Hotrod Deluxe. You'll get one for £350 if you're patient. It's a much better amp than a Blues Junior.

this, in buckets

JackGriffiths

Have a browse here.

http://www.gumtree.com/for-sale/uk/fender+hot+rod+deluxe

Jack

ESBlonde

Another vote for the HRD, fenders biggest selling combo ever and longest continuous production run.
You don't have to wonder why for long. Excellent sound and pedal platform. Read the reviews online. They have a few downsides which you can learn about and decide if that an issue for your purposes, it's not all things to all men, but it sounds like what you could use.

Ebait have them all the time. The latest Mk III has all the old issues fixed (volume taper, speaker etc.).

crunchman

Other option is to change the speaker in your existing amp. 

From what I can find on google the speaker you have is 94dB sensitivity.  The G10 Vintage that Celestion do is 97dB so would roughly double the volume you get.  Be careful though, as this is reported to be voiced similar to the 12" V30 which can sound harsh.

If you want to spend lots of money, you could go for a 10" Celestion Gold with 98dB sensitivity.

If you google it, the other relatively inexpensive speaker that gets good reviews in your amp is the Jensen Mod 10 70.  That is listed with 98.2dB sensitivity so should give a volume boost as well, but as its a different company I'm not sure that the dB ratings for sensitivity will be directly compatible with the Celestion ones.

crunchman

I was thinking about this a bit more while I was walking out to get some lunch just now and had a few thoughts.

I've been playing in church settings for more than 30 years now, and amp volume has been a regular issue.  Assuming you are mic'ing into the PA then the sound engineer won't thank you for adding lots of extra volume on the stage.

The first thing I'd look at is amp positioning.  If it's down by your feet, then putting it on a stand pointing up at you would help you to hear it, and keep the sound engineer as your friend:
http://www.studiospares.com/stands-equipment-/studiospares-ampcombospeaker-stand/invt/448470?VBMST=amp stand

If you already have it up off the ground pointing at you and can't hear it, then you will need some way to get more volume, but you probably won't need a lot more unless your drummer is completely mad.  The HRD would most likely be overkill.  I sold mine as it was too much for church use.  If you are in the kind of church where you can play at that kind of volume let me know where you are - I might come and join you! 

I'd think that 15 or 20W would be ok with a 12" speaker, as they are generally more efficient than 10" speakers.  My current amp is 20W (with power scaling that drops the voltage to the power valves), although the speaker is a Celestion Blue so it's a very loud 20W but I always have to use the power scaling in church to keep the volume at manageable levels.

One other thing, if you have the space, then don't stand right next to the drummer!

It might be worth upgrading the speaker in your amp anyway.  The one that it comes with probably isn't great.

lincolnblue

crunchman said:

I was thinking about this a bit more while I was walking out to get some lunch just now and had a few thoughts.

I've been playing in church settings for more than 30 years now, and amp volume has been a regular issue.  Assuming you are mic'ing into the PA then the sound engineer won't thank you for adding lots of extra volume on the stage.

The first thing I'd look at is amp positioning.  If it's down by your feet, then putting it on a stand pointing up at you would help you to hear it, and keep the sound engineer as your friend:
http://www.studiospares.com/stands-equipment-/studiospares-ampcombospeaker-stand/invt/448470?VBMST=amp stand

If you already have it up off the ground pointing at you and can't hear it, then you will need some way to get more volume, but you probably won't need a lot more unless your drummer is completely mad.  The HRD would most likely be overkill.  I sold mine as it was too much for church use.  If you are in the kind of church where you can play at that kind of volume let me know where you are - I might come and join you! 

I'd think that 15 or 20W would be ok with a 12" speaker, as they are generally more efficient than 10" speakers.  My current amp is 20W (with power scaling that drops the voltage to the power valves), although the speaker is a Celestion Blue so it's a very loud 20W but I always have to use the power scaling in church to keep the volume at manageable levels.

One other thing, if you have the space, then don't stand right next to the drummer!

It might be worth upgrading the speaker in your amp anyway.  The one that it comes with probably isn't great.

Thanks Crunchman.

The way I have it at present is I have the amp on an amp stand behind me rather than facing me. I guess, thinking about it, having it facing me could solve the issue. Probably part of me is just wanting to buy something new. I do fancy something a bit louder though for the odd gig or times when the drummer is V loud.

I love the sounds of the hotrod deluxe but wonder if it might be a bit loud. It's a fine line to tread. What amp do you use in your church?