Small / Budget / "practice" Amps

UnclePsychosis

Hey guys

I know there's a million threads like this but here's another "which amp" question. 

At the moment I rather amusingly don't actually own an amp. When I get the chance to play (small kids) I just plug headphones into my Zoom G3X. 

This is fine most of the time, but occasionally I want to play out loud and I also have a few pedals (fuzzes/OD) that don't really work into the amp models on the Zoom. So I'm thinking about getting a little amp for use at home---it won't get gigged. Here's my requirements:

• Small. It'll only get used once or twice a month! 
  
• Cheap, £50 target price. It'll only get used once or twice a month! 
  
• Good cleans. Nice crunch preferable. I don't play teh brutalz metalz (often...)
  
• Takes pedals well.  
  
• Don't need FX or millions of models
  
• Don't care if its valve or solid state
  
• Must sound good at low volumes!
  
• Headphone socket a nice bonus

I'm tempted by the Vox Pathfinder (probably the 10W one, the 15W one is hard to find now) and also the SubZero amps that Gear4Music sell---someone else here was raving about those.  I used to have an Epiphone VJ, I could almost be tempted to get another (or something similar) I suppose. 

Thoughts? 

matt1973

90s Marshall practice amps were pretty good and turn on ebay regularly.

UnclePsychosis

Really? 

I used to have an MG15DFX. I seem to remember it was poo but that was a while back. 

matt1973

It was called a Lead 12 IIRC

close2u

@UnclePsychosis

I have a Vox DA5 I could do you a deal on.

UnclePsychosis

@close2u thanks but that's not really what I'm looking for.

Cheers

jonnyburgo

second hand Peavey Rage

chrispy108

I'd get a decent set of computer speakers/monitors to plug the Zoom into if you like it, will sound way better and be better than a practise amp.

bingefeller

One of the Roland Cube Amps.

uncledick

+1 for the Vox DA5.  Brilliant piece of kit. 

mark_jwedge

There was a marshall lead 12 in the classifieds not so long ago, if it's still around it may be worth checking out

57Deluxe

Hotone British Invasion and a Harley Benton Vintage 1x12 would be my choice -

http://www.thomann.de/gb/hotone_nano_legacy_british_invasion.htm

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_g112vintage.htm

£153 delivered... and you have seperates for other uses later into the bargain...

Sassafras

Get another Epi VJ. They do pretty much what you want apart from headphone output and they can be modded fairly easily. You might be able to get one on ebay to suit your budget.

xscaramanga

UnclePsychosis said:

Really? 

I used to have an MG15DFX. I seem to remember it was poo but that was a while back. 

Yeah, the MGs were early 2000s and were uniformly horrible amps. The early 90s Valvestate 8080, on the other hand, was highly regarded. They also did an 8020 (20 watt) and 8010 (10 watt). Maybe those were decent. I have no experience.

My second amp was a Park G25R. With hindsight, that was a reasonably decent practice amp and would be worth next to nothing secondhand.

I think you could probably do better for what you need, but at work we have the smallest Blackstar ID:core amps. They're £90 new so you might find one secondhand in budget. The 'warm clean' setting is nice and builds up to a solid crunch with the gain on full. Downsides: You'd never use its high gain amp models, from the sounds of it, and you have to connect it by USB to a computer if you want to access the 3-band EQ, which is rubbish. They sound good for money though. I'm seriously considering selling my Yamaha THR10, getting a Blackstar, and pocketing* the change.

*By "pocketing", I of course mean "buying pedals with".

midlifecrisis

cant go wrong with a used Kustom kg10 off ebay or similar for £10-£15. 10w solid state doesn't sound too bad. headphone socket, line out socket , ext speaker socket, input mini jack for mp3. im not selling one btw. I use mine at home a lot.

Chalky

I bought a 30 watt Trace Elliott for about £50. Real Celestion V30 as the stock speaker and real spring reverb tank. Solid state but for that money just brilliant.

JookyChap

I'm waiting for one of the SubZero jobbies to show up, so if you give it a week or so it'll no doubt be going for pennies in the classifieds

UnclePsychosis

@jookychap not sure whether to lol that or wisdom it! Give me a shout if you are selling!

Thanks for the other tips folks. Not sure I want to spend 3x my guide budget though... ;-)

JookyChap

UnclePsychosis said:

@jookychap not sure whether to lol that or wisdom it! Give me a shout if you are selling!

Yeah, they really need a self-awareness option Will do..

JookyChap

UnclePsychosis said:

@jookychap not sure whether to lol that or wisdom it! Give me a shout if you are selling!

Yeah, they really need a self-awareness option Will do..

BigMonka

JookyChap said:

I'm waiting for one of the SubZero jobbies to show up, so if you give it a week or so it'll no doubt be going for pennies in the classifieds

Which subzero one have you gone for, I played through a few of the valve ones in the shop but will be interested in a real world review.