Practice Amps - What's the state of play?

noisepolluter

Rocker said:

My point is that for learning to play guitar, you only need ONE tone. A sound that tells you that you played the note/chord correctly or that one or more strings sound muffled or are not ringing out (if they should ring out).

Once you’re beyond the very basics and can play a few chords and a scale or two, maybe the basics of a couple of songs, I’d suggest it would be nice to have an amp that sounds flattering enough to encourage you to persevere. 

Learning guitar no longer has to be a battle against bad sounding amps and cheese grater guitars. 

rlw

VimFuego said:

TM = fender tone master? I had a brief look at them yesterday, they look interesting. I'd like to try one out before splashing that kind of cash, but they could well be an option.

I don’t think you’ll find anything that works better at low volumes and sounds like a proper amp at whisper levels.
Mine lives on the .5 watt setting and can still be loud enough to piss off other people in the house but at, typically, 4/5 on the volume control it sounds fantastic.  

more

The trouble with some simple questions is, you end up with too  many answers . So to add mine  , if your looking for a  bargain  that sounds good I would suggest a Kustom . A  much underrated brand , so you can buy one relatively cheaply   . Unlike the mini  clip on tinny things , Kustom  practise amps are closer in build and sound to a stage amp . 

boogieman

The nicest sounding home amp set up I’ve ever had was a low output valve head through a decent sized cab. I had a Laney Studio 5 and a 1x12 cab.  I went through a lot of the usual home use amp suspects (the THR10C was the best of the bunch ) but I always missed the clout from a bigger speaker moving air. 

I play through a Helix and headphones 99% of the time nowadays although I’ve still got a combo if I fancy playing proper loud. 

Sassafras

Favourite home and recording amp is the tiny ZVex Nano Head. Play it through any sized cab.

HAL9000

boogieman said:

The nicest sounding home amp set up I’ve ever had was a low output valve head through a decent sized cab. I had a Laney Studio 5 and a 1x12but I always missed the clout from a bigger speaker moving air. 

^ This.

Keiko

Boss Katana 50. Got one a couple of weeks back, really happy with it. Sounds crap through headphones, but I was expecting that. For low volume practise it's perfect. Has all the sounds you could want and looks neat too.

Rob chapman uses them. I'm not his number one fan, but he has clearly tried a lot more amps than I ever will. If that's the amp he's chosen for his own personal use and in non sponsored youtube videos, then that says a lot to me. That Danish Pete guy uses them too.

CaseOfAce

rossi said:

Blackstar Fly  is neat and far from simple ,loved by many .If you sound crap on it you will on anything .Bluetooth 
version is best. 

Nailed it.
My preferred option these days.
£60, powers on immediately, portable, small, lightweight.

Easy to make it sound rubbish - I don't even press the Gain switch in (or bother with the delay) - just crank the clean master, EQ at noon and adjust gain pot to taste along with guitar volume control - voila - straight down to practice / learning songs.

I don't bother with tube amps at home these days ("like oil and water" as one old sage once said on the gear page).

Purchased a '68 Vibro Champ reverb last year and discovered 5 watt amps are ideal for rehearsals with drums when I don't want to haul my main amp around.