Wife has given me a budget of $1000 (give or take) to buy a new amp with tax refund, looking for advice.

fyeah11 · 3 months

Blackstar amps have a good reputation and seem to be pretty versatile.

Don't buy a Bogner Alchemist. Fenders are rock solid but not really a "metal" amp.

$1000USD should get you something decent.

chrisk018 · 3 months

Go used and get more bang for the buck. Something in the 30-50 watt range.

I personally like Fenders, but for what you're into... maybe a Mesa Boogie? 2x12?

shiner_man · 3 months

It's hard to cover all of those styles you mentioned without adding pedals to the mix. If that's the case, I'd suggest you go for something that gives you a very clean sound to work off of. A Fender amp would do you well. You could pickups something like a Fender Deluxe Reverb used for $700 or so and then have another $300 to get some pedals for a hard rock and metal sound.

sellout216 · 3 months

MESA Stiletto 150 has 3 great gains on one channel, and 3 great cleans on the other. The heads are right around a grand.link

rufusdog · 3 months

Keep her! As for the amp I've found the Carvin V3 to be very versatile. It does the cleans pretty well and the moderate to heavy distortion very well.

AvailableNames · 3 months

Vox AC30

ninja_for_hire · 3 months

vox. they are pricy but your amp will sound better than everyone else.

scottycujo · 3 months

Anyone have any thoughts on Egnater?

nacho945 · 3 months

Evh now has a 50 Watt 5150 III. Incredible amp.

scottycujo · 3 months

People love the Fender blues junior for it's tone and power. When I was amp shopping I fell in love with the Fender blues deluxe reissue - basically the bigger brother version. It just had the presence and tone I was looking for to play a decent range of music, not as gainy as heavy metal though. It's a single 12'' with 40w and is more than enough power for a bar scene and I can also play it in the bed room. Love playing country and classic rock on it. Although if I were to do it over again, I would probably get the twin reverb for a cleaner 'clean' channel; as I do love me some pedals.

I recommend going to guitar center and plugging in the same guitar you have at home into every tube amp that fits your power range. You'll click with one of them - guarantee it.

logen99999 · 3 months

i bought a tweaker. i love it. it does fender, vox, and Marshall voicing really well. and they're very cheap.

Elvis_Pepsi · 3 months

Peavey 5150 or 6505, great amp you could pick up with a 4x12 for under a grand. Absolutely brutal metal/rock tone but still capable of great cleans or semi-dirty tones when you roll back the guitar volume. This amp is very reliable as well.

Anicron · 3 months

I'd look into the Bugera 6262. They are reputed to have good craftsmanship / quality, they dirty up like a Peavey 5150, but the cleans aren't crap (like they are on the 5150). Blackstar was already mentioned, and I personally really like ENGL Fireballs, which are a bit over 1k I believe.

tortangtalong69 · 3 months

For a safe choice, I would go for a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL (you can get one on craigslist for $500 if you're lucky). And a Marshall 4x12 cab, used $200 more or less. I think that rig is pretty versatile.

MinervaDreaming · 3 months

I would definitely recommend the Line 6 DT25. Very versatile, and huge sounding for a 1x12" combo.

The Blackstar recommendation is good, too.

Disclaimer: I work for Line 6. But, this amp has replaced my Orange Rockerverb as my main gigging amp and I use it a LOT in the studio.

radiobrat78 · 3 months

Egnater Rebel

ELDERPE · 3 months

Fender Twin Reverb, Blues Jr., or Peavey Delta Blues.

thejosharms · 3 months

The way I see it you have two options here.

1) Find a versatile amp near the top of your budget that will play all the styles you want but won't excel at any one of them.

2) Get two lower/middle end amps that are tailored to a particular sound.

If you want to go with #1 I'd reccomend looking into the JCM 2000 DSL series. With the right EQ'ing I can get excellent cleans, great crunch and it can easily be pushed into metal territory. Something out of the Mesa Boogie Mark series might work for you too, but will cost you a few bucks for sure.

If you like option #2 better I'd recommend looking into something along the lines of a Fender Blues Jr or Classic 30 for your country and low-gain playing and then look into the Orange Dark Terror, a Bugera 6262 or (if you're willing o invest in new speakers and tubes) a Peavy Valveking.

You should be able to get any 2 of those amps for under $1,000 if you're patient on the used market or find decent in-store deals.

Oh, and I'm not currently in a band but have been searching for guys to jam with so would need to be larger than "practice" amp.

Any tube amp >15w will be enough for band use.

JamesFuckinLahey · 3 months

If you like Vox amps, check out the Valvetech Hayseed 30. It's basically an AC30, but way better. Slightly tweaked '63 circuit. They sound way better than the actual Vox AC30 hand wired amps. The transformers are HUGE and they're 100% hand built, point-to-point. I got my head with EF86 option for about $700. If you look around you can find them under a grand pretty easily.

itmeowsback · 3 months

Try some Oranges. The Orange Rocker 30 has one of the best dirty channels I've ever heard, great for blues and rock-n-roll. It's pretty versatile and the cleans are decent, but I'm not sure if it will be good for country. Also check out the Thunder 30. It's more versatile and has great cleans. The dirty channel is also more suited for hard rock/metal than the rocker. You can get a used combo for less than $800 on either if you know where to look.

cantredditright · 3 months

a 2-12 line 6 amp with built in effects and a pedal board $500ish at GC - for the price solid state will have to work. Then I would play as many guitars within your budget that you like and have fun doing it - I feel it should be like the scene in seven years in Tibet where the Dali lama reincarnate picks his rattle and that is how they know he is the chosen one....

EndlessOcean · 3 months

Look at the Laney Ironheart.

It's a beast and you can afford it.

Does everything a Blackstar does but more. A great amp if you want to kick ass.

60 or 100w, but there's a knob where you can dial from 1w-full and anywhere in between.

Seriously good shit.

orangesalamander · 3 months

peavy jsx buy it now for 999.99! Its the most underrated amp ever. Metal, crunchy, non-colored clean chan, slightly overdriven blues... You can get 'em cheap because they're so underrated.

CharleHuff · 3 months

Fender Prosonic. Best amp on the planet. Or you can buy a power amp, a speaker cab and hook all of that up to your computer. Install some amp modeler software and go nuts until you can afford a Pod or some other dedicated modeling hardware. Amp modeling is the future and the future sounds great.

itrunner · 3 months

Vox AC30

DatGuy45 · 3 months

Marshall Class5 (thing's loud for 5 watts, and can be plugged into a cab) or an Orange Tiny Terror. They're small, sound absolutely amazing, and you can mic em or plug em into a bigger cab.

Colemaj · 3 months

A fender hot rod deville and some pedals to take you into the metal territory. It'll be plenty loud, get plenty country and be awesome for rock.

avw94 · 3 months

Fender SuperSonic 22 or a Marshall MA100C

uglyducker · 3 months

Randall makes some fairly nice modular tube amps in varying sizes and powers. They have removable preamps that can be replaced with many different ones based on real amps.

http://www.randallamplifiers.com/Products/Amplifiers/MTS-Series-Landing-Page.html

Modules: http://www.randallamplifiers.com/Amplifiers/MTS-Modules/

http://salvationmods.com/

http://www.jadedfaithmods.com/

The technology is designed and licensed by Bruce Egnater to Randall - but Randall's license has expired and they are clearing out their existing stock at insanely low prices. Egnater will probably be picking back up production of modular stuff, but the modders are what really makes these amps shine. For those of us who will never be able to afford a real Plexi or a Diezel this is a fantastic way to get those sounds for a fraction of the cost.

auxsend · 3 months

This thread has been very informative. I am in the same situation, and it answered a lot of questions. Awesome.

Dr_Pimpinstein · 3 months

carvin v3m

tonyled · 3 months

used classic twin reverb without a doubt

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