How to spend £400 budget for bedroom set up

geetarguy85

My current set up is a Line 6 pod go and some AKG monitoring headphones, and also a Blackstsr Fly 3 which is surprisingly good as a tiny portable amp.

I recently moved house and have a spare room that now houses my gear and recording PC, and after years of playing with headphones I've got a hankering for an amp.

I've got a budget of £300-£400 to get something that will be used in the house 99% of the time, with the odd jam at a friend's house. Used gear is fine.

Some criteria:
FX loop
2 channels ideally
Separate EQ per channel is nice, but I know not all options will have this
Needs to work well at bedroom levels, so attenuation could be useful
Preferably a line out or USB out for recording without mic'ing up
Reverb / delay is a nice to have but if not I can put a pedal in the FX loop
I don't have a cab currently so if it's a head then the cab needs to fit in budget too

How would you spend this budget? Some ideas are:
Orange Rocker 15
Marshall DSL 20
Blackstar HT5
Boss Katana 100 or Artist
PRS MT15 and a load box, not in budget though...
Sell the Pod Go to free up another couple of hundred and buy a used helix stomp and an FRFR/powered cab?! This would only really give me the benefit of more DSP

I mostly play hard rock and 2000s metal, but some blues and would like decent cleans to give me flexibility.

Thanks!

ecc83

Well! I am gonna say "HT-5" innit!  But seriously, you will struggle IMHO to find a more versatile and well featured amp* and you could even gig it through a decent 1 or 2x12. You are also only about an hour away from them SHOULD you need service.

I would definitely go for a head, why pay for a speaker you might not like? (one is haunted by the Rocket 50!) As to what cab and speaker to go for I shall leave to the good offices of chaps like ICBM who has vast knowledge of the many options. He will probably be able to suggest the drive unit best suited to your particular genre.

Idea: Had you thought of 'miccing up' the cab? If so the Behringer XM8500 dynamic mic is very good for 25 quid or so.

Do you have an audio interface? If not give the MOTU M2/M4/M6 a serious looky atty.

*Both it and the HT-1 are reviewed in the current edition of Sound on Sound.

Dave.

geetarguy85

Thanks Dave. The main reasons I wasn't thinking of recording via a mic are because I haven't done it before and tbh laziness

Revolutions

Humboldt Simplifier DLX will do everything you need plus more. And it sounds excellent in all three amp modes (Marshall, Fender, Vox).

You’d need an FRFR cab if you want monitoring. At home I use it connected to my Adams powered monitors. Bought it as a tiny gig backup.

I’m probably going to sell mine as it’s surplus to requirements.

Wazmeister

Id try an HX Stomp

Winny_Pooh

These are two seperate things IMO
-headphones
-amp in room

For the first, keep the pod go and use it for recording too.

For the second possibility an Orange rocker or Marshall sc20, a modeller will not give you the same feel as amp in room. (95% of the time more enjoyable than a modeller into headphones or monitors)

Teyeplayer

As above. Orange Rocker or Tremlord (if you want it as a clean pedal/pod platform) for home use and the odd trip out. Keep the existing set up for recording.

DiscoStu

No idea what it's like and slightly above budget but GuitarGuitar are doing the EVH Iconic 15W combo for £479 just now. 

Jonathangus

Laney Cub Super?  15W but has a <1W input, FX loop, switchable boost, reverb.  Or the original Laney Cub, but that's just a single channel.

chrisj1602

The Orange Rocker 15 is a great amp and seems to do what you want and is compatible with the genres you play. The lack of EQ on the clean never bothered me, and I’ve had the 15 and the original 30.

if you like your Pod Go models then the Catalyst could work well.

relic245

I'm going to say DSL but get a 40cr not a 20. 

A secondhand one will be in budget if you're patient. 

That model gives you a respectable line out for recording which I'm pretty sure the 20 doesn't have. 

I have the 40cr, it doesn't have an attenuator but the master volume works well and sounds great at home levels.  Plus is you ever do go out and play with others you turn it up and you've got a beast!

Cleans are great - will it do metal? Depends on your definition of metal but you might want a boost pedal in front to kick it a bit. 

It has built in reverb but tbh it's shit. It's the only thing on the amp but it really is so you would probably want a pedal in the loop too, but you can get a good 2nd hand basic reverb for not much money. 

Pabcrane

If you're looking at secondhand ams, two I've had great experience with are the Peavey Classic 30 and the Laney LC15r. I had a quick look online and there are some of both on Reverb and eBay for well under £400 at the moment.

The Classic 30 might be a bit overkill if you're only using it at home 99 percent of the time.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Jonathangus said:

Laney Cub Super?  15W but has a <1W input, FX loop, switchable boost, reverb.  Or the original Laney Cub, but that's just a single channel.

Good shout. The Cub Super 12 is a cracking amp.