Cheapest amp that will stay clean at band volume

Fuzzdog

ICBM said:

That's actually what I was thinking of about "different definitions of loudness" - I had to play through a Deluxe 85 once, which on paper at 65W and with a 12" speaker should have been enough... but it wasn't, not because it wasn't "loud" but because it broke up in a very unmusical way when I tried to run a fairly heavy-sounding overdrive through it.

I was thinking more of the higher powered ones - I agree on the Deluxe 85. had one for a while and was rather disappointed at how mushy and generally crap it was at high volumes.  The M-80 I used to have had as much clean undistorted headroom as you could take before your eardrums became the weak link and started mushing out.  )

monquixote

This looks like a possibility 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/18902/fs-peavey-classic-chorus-130-2x12-combo

timmysoft

It was me that picked up the peavey special for £20, it's an awesome amp, it's almost impossible to get the clean to clip through just volume, it's also unholy loud! Downside is the weight, it's heavier than Vanessa feltz after visiting the kebabby

close2u

Cheap and cheerful but good nevertheless

Peavey Valveking

Muchos cleans from my 50 watt combo

or solid state ... Peavey Vyper 30watt plus have 12" speakers and can cope on most occasions - may need micing up at gigs

bigjon

Thanks for the namecheck @ThePrettyDamned! Here's the Laney World Series 120R with a clean sound throughout

ThePrettyDamned

bigjon said:

Thanks for the namecheck @ThePrettyDamned! Here's the Laney World Series 120R with a clean sound throughout

'course, it helps a lot when you're a killer player...

frictionfraction

Roland cube 80. Jc setting. One of the old fender ultra chorus if you can find one.

hubobulous

timmysoft said:

It was me that picked up the peavey special for £20, it's an awesome amp, it's almost impossible to get the clean to clip through just volume, it's also unholy loud! Downside is the weight, it's heavier than Vanessa feltz after visiting the kebabby

Good God @kebabkid, what do you fill her up with?

Kebabkid

Like all Greek Gods, Ambrosia Cream @hubobulous

A Cube 40W not staying clean???? It will! IMHO, go for the Cube 60- an older model - as they can be picked up for £90-120 used and I actually think this along with their Micro Cube was the one Roland got right. Stay on the JC or Blackface setting.

JDE

I have a Hughes & Kettner Tour Reverb you can have for nothing if you're ever near Romford or Purfleet in Essex and you wanna collect it. I have just used the clean channel for some live lapsteel gigs and it sounded great. Sadly, the project has run its course and I have a small house, so it needs a new home.

The reverb doesn't work, but it's very loud and very clean on channel 1. Also, being solid sate and German, the other channels also do facemelt uber metal. If.... well, if you're that way inclined.

xSkarloey

The Sessionette 75 goes VERY loud but stays very clean.

The bigger Laney Linebacker combos.

Some of the late 90s/ early 2000s Fender transistor combos e.g. The Princeton 65.

mike257

Early/mid 90s Fender Champ 25 or 25SE - SS pre, valve power, insanely loud and super clean and can be had fairly cheaply. Used one as the clean amp in my brief "let's use two amps" phase until I got bored of carrying two combos around!

Jalapeno

Marshall MG100 - stupidly loud and ridiculously cheap.  I only use the clean channel as my backup, with a TRex Moeller for a psuedo channel switch.

I know MG not very well thought of in these parts, but does this job very well.

ICBM

Jalapeno said:

Marshall MG100 - stupidly loud and ridiculously cheap.  I only use the clean channel as my backup, with a TRex Moeller for a psuedo channel switch.

I know MG not very well thought of in these parts, but does this job very well.

Is it the DFX, or the older one? The original one - which has a discrete-transistor power section and a huge heatsink - is actually not bad at all. The DFX - which has a fan-cooled IC power module - is a liability, and I would suggest not relying on it as a backup since it could quite easily let you down when you need it most… and certainly not buying one for the purpose.

They're horrible things - to the point I won't even accept them for repair any more, as they cannot be guaranteed even when fixed. If you really must use one, make certain you keep the fan clean and get it fixed at the first sign of it not starting properly or making odd noises. And they're not even certain to keep working even if the fan is fine. Also avoid using a 4-ohm load, they're marginally safer into 8 ohms.

Marshall have actually learned from this mistake - it must have cost them a fortune in warranty repairs - and the current 'carbon fibre' (including the short-lived normal-styled version which came before but is the same amp inside) model has returned to a discrete-transistor power amp, which is quite unusual! I haven't seen a singe dead one of these yet.

Jalapeno

See ^^^^ )

(Mine might be a HDFX, but I'm not going in the loft to find out ! )

meltedbuzzbox

Roland Jazz Chorus 

Fender Deluxe 112 

Fender Roc Pro 1000

The  Fenders can be had for under £100 on ebay (infact most solid state fenders can be had for buttons on ebay)

The Roland has a great clean too but its a heavy old thing. 

ICBM

Roc Pros - and the older nearly identical Performer - are questionable value these days even at that sort of price. They have problems with PCB burning around a few high-power components and can be a bit of a hassle to fix. A rehearsal studio I work for has a few of them and it's rare to go more than a month or two without one of them needing attention, despite my best efforts. The Deluxe 112 isn't as bad.

The JC120 is arguably the best clean solid-state amp ever made and the only one which might make a 'top twenty amps of all time' list… but they aren't that cheap even today. I keep a look out for them but I've never seen one for under £250 in any condition, and good ones are about twice that.

samzadgan

ICBM said:

Roc Pros - and the older nearly identical Performer - are questionable value these days even at that sort of price. They have problems with PCB burning around a few high-power components and can be a bit of a hassle to fix. A rehearsal studio I work for has a few of them and it's rare to go more than a month or two without one of them needing attention, despite my best efforts. The Deluxe 112 isn't as bad.

The JC120 is arguably the best clean solid-state amp ever made and the only one which might make a 'top twenty amps of all time' list… but they aren't that cheap even today. I keep a look out for them but I've never seen one for under £250 in any condition, and good ones are about twice that.

how do you think the JC120 compare to the JC channel on a roland cube??

ICBM

samzadgan said:

how do you think the JC120 compare to the JC channel on a roland cube??

In about the same way as a Fender Twin compares to a Mustang.

The JC setting on the Cube is the best sound on it, but it still sounds like a toy compared to a JC120. In my opinion...

samzadgan

ICBM said:

samzadgan said:

how do you think the JC120 compare to the JC channel on a roland cube??

In about the same way as a Fender Twin compares to a Mustang.

The JC setting on the Cube is the best sound on it, but it still sounds like a toy compared to a JC120. In my opinion...

interesting...i kind of thought that comparison of the fender wouldn't hold true since both JC120 and the cube are solid state...so reproducing it should be easier...but i guess cost cutting etc applies to solid state too.

but yeah the JC setting is really good on the cube as is the Dynamic Amp setting...