Gigging amps

Voxman

Some great suggestions, but kind of like asking how long is a piece of string.  As Arthur Daley might say "the world is your lobster"!  So, I'm wondering if some more info from you might help to narrow things down a little:

• What type of music do you play?  
• Do you need built in effects - if so, just reverb or do you want other built in effects - if so, what?
• What is most important to you straight from the amp - cleans, crunch, or higher gain?
• What guitar(s) do you use?
• Do you have external effects (eg pedal board or MFX unit)?
• What type of venues will you be gigging at (size, audience numbers)?
• Do you want an all-valve amp or would solid-state (eg a modelling amp with effects) be good for you?
• What's your budget?
• Is size and weight an important issue (eg do you need something light and fairly compact?)?
• Are you buying used or new?
• Are you looking for a combo, or would you prefer a head and separate cab?

thomasross20

- 80s pop / rock. I LOVE Fender jangly cleans but at the same time would love to have tone to play anything by Slash / Nuno / VH.

- Built in effects not required - I have pedals. Though wouldn't mind a footswitch to a distorted channel.

- Ooooh, not sure if jangly cleans or high gain is more important. Can't you always get high gains from a decent pedal anyway? 

- PRS Cu 24 and hopefully a Suhr Pro S4 soon!

- Riot Reloaded distortion, Spark Boost, Flashback delay, wah, dreamscape chorus/flange. 

- Small (mainly... ~up to 100?)/medium venues.

- Don't know - don't want faff with tubes breaking but hear they sound better!

- Ideally under a grand (better if under £500 but will pay for quality especially given the cost oft he guitars).

- Hmm, yeah I would not like something big & too heavy.....

- Not sure... does it matter?

- Again, not sure. Never been into the gear side of things so need somebody to tell me what's best. Combo is way more compact, though...

JayGee

Mesa 5:25 Express 1x10 Combo:

Easy one-handed carry, easy to dial in, super versatile, sounds brilliant, built like a tank[1], reliable, loud enough for pretty much any gig[2] where you wouldn't be better off miced up anyway, perfectly usable in any domestic situation where you wouldn't be better off with headphones.

Wasn't even even nearly cheap but on a "buy once" basis I consider it to have been good value as some 5 years into ownership I still genuinely think it's all the amp I'll ever need. 

Mind you the current "Express Plus" series don't entirely look like a step forward - they've got enough extra features to lose some of the "grab'n'go" nature of the original and they're even more expensive, so, unless you really need that graphic equaliser and assignable power amp configuration[3] I'd almost certainly go with a decent used example of the original if I had to replace mine...

[1] Bloody stupid, annoyingly sited foot controller DIN connector excepted.

[2] I quite often use a 2x12 extension cab with mine but in most of the pub venues we play that's more for set-dressing and to lift it up to a convenient height than anything else...

[3] I'll give them the "Solo" volume boost but I get along quite nicely with and EHX LBP in the effects loop doing the same job so, there's a limit to what I'd pay for it...

welshboyo

Gigged my Egnater Rebel 20 for the 1st time at the weekend, didn't have enough time to set up the DI etc so went unmic'd in a decent sized venue with a fairly large crowd..it was plenty loud and had more than usual comments from the muso punters at the end of the night about how much (good sounding) noise was coming out of such a small set-up...

I too play a "fancy PRS" and a CS Strat...and a CS LP.....this little amp has become the mini-rig alternative to my Bogner Shiva which was 6 times more expensive than the Egnater...the Egnater didn't sound 6 times less expensive than the Shiva..in fact, I'm at the point of thinking do I need such an expensive commodity when this little amp does all I need and more..

Don't discount the cheaper/more run of the mill stuff as being sub standard, most punters in a gig environment couldn't care less if you were using a CAE or a Torque 10 watt practice amp and things like Hot Rod Deluxes etc etc are really good - boutique ain't necessarily the "best"..

I have learnt the hard/expensive way....

NervousJohn

Old AC-30 and a fire extinguisher.

This is my gigging amp though and will give wonderful jangly clean at sensible gig volume.

steamabacus

How about the Yerasov GTA15?  (Oooooo - looks like they've got some new models on the way, too)

ICBM

NervousJohn said:

Old AC-30 and a fire extinguisher.

This is my gigging amp though and will give wonderful jangly clean at sensible gig volume.

Definitely fit it with an HT fuse, if it doesn't already have one. Faster operating than a fire extinguisher and might save something more expensive...

thomasross20

welshboyo - I'm with you on not having to spend too much.....!!!!

midlifecrisis

normally a laney vc30 212 but last weekend has an outside gig and didn't want to take my valve amp so took my old teal stripe peavey bandit, really loved the sound from it, just cut through everything, unfortunately halfway through  2nd set it farted out, went really quiet and useless.  Luckily had my emergency micro terror with jack plug and pushnon connectors so put that through the bandits speaker,  sounded awesome tbh. gonna rethink my rig now.

ICBM

midlifecrisis said:

took my old teal stripe peavey bandit, really loved the sound from it, just cut through everything, unfortunately halfway through  2nd set it farted out, went really quiet and useless.

That's highly unusual, especially if the problem didn't turn out to be a blown speaker. Check the FX send/return and preamp out/power amp in jacks first - jumper them with a cable - although they more normally just give silence if they go iffy.

midlifecrisis

that's exactly what I did Mr ICBM, , all seems fine now, sprayed it with contact cleaner (did the pots as well as a couple were a bit crackly.  plaed for about an hour at home with it seems good, although I darnt crank it up at the moment. hopefully will go on for a few more years, after all I payed 50 squids for it

bigjon

I gig with a pretty standard '80s rock' sound a la Mr Big era solid-state-based Paul Gilbert etc.

This song (main gtr solo at 3:46) is my standard set up of a Laney World Series 120 1x12 from 1992 (prob £100ish on ebay) preceded by 4 Boss Pedals in one unit -  CS3 compressor, an OD2 overdrive, a DD3 delay, and an NS2 noise-suppressor

ThePrettyDamned

bigjon;359192" said:

I gig with a pretty standard '80s rock' sound a la Mr Big era solid-state-based Paul Gilbert etc.This song (main gtr solo at 3:46) is my standard set up of a Laney World Series 120 1x12 from 1992 (prob £100ish on ebay) preceded by 4 Boss Pedals in one unit -  CS3 compressor, an OD2 overdrive, a DD3 delay, and an NS2 noise-suppressor

What boss unit is that?

Sounds fantastic, great playing too! I never would have guessed it was a cheap Laney solid state jobby.

Are you using a volume pedal to get a rhythm volume? Or is it just a volume boost on the overdrive?

bigjon

ThePrettyDamned said:

bigjon;359192" said:

I gig with a pretty standard '80s rock' sound a la Mr Big era solid-state-based Paul Gilbert etc.This song (main gtr solo at 3:46) is my standard set up of a Laney World Series 120 1x12 from 1992 (prob £100ish on ebay) preceded by 4 Boss Pedals in one unit -  CS3 compressor, an OD2 overdrive, a DD3 delay, and an NS2 noise-suppressor

What boss unit is that?

Sounds fantastic, great playing too! I never would have guessed it was a cheap Laney solid state jobby.

Are you using a volume pedal to get a rhythm volume? Or is it just a volume boost on the overdrive?

It's a Boss BE5 analogue multi-FX unit which I bought 2nd-hand in 1990 from the Guitarist Mag free ads for £200!

Yep, volume variation is just from an Ernie Ball volume pedal. I go through the mix-of-the-2-channels input on the amp (both with a clean sound) for maximum EQ flexibility, although usually everything except reverb (zero) is on 5, with the treble boost and bass boost engaged on the lead channel. Same basic sound therefore for rhythm & lead.

gearaddict

ThePrettyDamned said:

There is a harley benton 2x12 and amt stonehead on ebay cheap at the moment.

I'm desperately trying to not buy it.

Jeez - 250 quid BIN for a Stonehead and a V30 2x12 and...No Bids?!

WTF?

I paid new price (400) for my Stonehead and it was worth every penny. Awesome amp.

ThePrettyDamned

gearaddict;359283" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

There is a harley benton 2x12 and amt stonehead on ebay cheap at the moment.



I'm desperately trying to not buy it.





Jeez - 250 quid BIN for a Stonehead and a V30 2x12 and...No Bids?!

WTF?

I paid new price (400) for my Stonehead and it was worth every penny. Awesome amp.

I keep pressing the buy it now button.

Actually, it's a long journey and my car can't fit a 2x12 cab in it (seriously!).

Even better value when you could sell one of the speakers, get £50 back and use the cab as an oversize 1x12 with port! I'd probably swap one of the speakers for something warm and fat.

I want it so bad

thomasross20

bigjon -nice one!!! You should post more of this in the LIVE section if you don't already!

ThePrettyDamned

bigjon;359280" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

bigjon;359192" said:I gig with a pretty standard '80s rock' sound a la Mr Big era solid-state-based Paul Gilbert etc.This song (main gtr solo at 3:46) is my standard set up of a Laney World Series 120 1x12 from 1992 (prob £100ish on ebay) preceded by 4 Boss Pedals in one unit -  CS3 compressor, an OD2 overdrive, a DD3 delay, and an NS2 noise-suppressor






What boss unit is that?



Sounds fantastic, great playing too! I never would have guessed it was a cheap Laney solid state jobby.



Are you using a volume pedal to get a rhythm volume? Or is it just a volume boost on the overdrive?





It's a Boss BE5 analogue multi-FX unit which I bought 2nd-hand in 1990 from the Guitarist Mag free ads for £200!Yep, volume variation is just from an Ernie Ball volume pedal. I go through the mix-of-the-2-channels input on the amp (both with a clean sound) for maximum EQ flexibility, although usually everything except reverb (zero) is on 5, with the treble boost and bass boost engaged on the lead channel. Same basic sound therefore for rhythm & lead.

A be5, as in the bass one with graphic eq and blend on the od? That's pretty awesome.

I've heard the me5 is really good too.

bigjon

[quote="ThePrettyDamned;359361"][quote="bigjon;359280"]ThePrettyDamned said:
bigjon;359192" said:I gig with a pretty standard '80s rock' sound a la Mr Big era solid-state-based Paul Gilbert etc.This song (main gtr solo at 3:46) is my standard set up of a Laney World Series 120 1x12 from 1992 (prob £100ish on ebay) preceded by 4 Boss Pedals in one unit -  CS3 compressor, an OD2 overdrive, a DD3 delay, and an NS2 noise-suppressor


What boss unit is that?

Sounds fantastic, great playing too! I never would have guessed it was a cheap Laney solid state jobby.

Are you using a volume pedal to get a rhythm volume? Or is it just a volume boost on the overdrive?


It's a Boss BE5 analogue multi-FX unit which I bought 2nd-hand in 1990 from the Guitarist Mag free ads for £200!Yep, volume variation is just from an Ernie Ball volume pedal. I go through the mix-of-the-2-channels input on the amp (both with a clean sound) for maximum EQ flexibility, although usually everything except reverb (zero) is on 5, with the treble boost and bass boost engaged on the lead channel. Same basic sound therefore for rhythm & lead.[/quote] A be5, as in the bass one with graphic eq and blend on the od? That's pretty awesome. I've heard the me5 is really good too. [/quote]g

bigjon

Having a made trying to edit the big comment on my phone - pic of my Boss BE5 hopefully coming up in my next post!